Saundarya Lahari

Saundarya Lahari

SAUNDARYA LAHARI - VERSE 66

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SAUNDARYA LAHARI

 

 

VERSE 66

A LINE OF SEPARATION
THE PRIMACY OF PARTICIPATION PASSES TO ONTOLOGY

 

विपञ्च्या गायन्ती विविध-मपदानं पशुपते-
स्त्वयारब्धे वक्तुं चलितशिरसा साधुवचने ।
तदीयै-र्माधुर्यै-रपलपित-तन्त्रीकलरवां
निजां वीणां वाणीं निचुलयति चोलेन निभृतम्

 

vipancya gayanti vividham apadanam pashupates
tvaya´rabdhe vaktum calita sirasa sadhu vacane
tadiyair madhuryair apalapita tantri kalaravam
nijam vinam vani niculayati colena nibhrtam
 
Starting as You do to sing with Your vina, with head movements,
Of the varied exploits of the Lord of Beasts, You, as the Goddess of the Word
The one of lovely speech, You promptly cover up to silence
Your instrument as mocking the sweetness thereof by sounds of strings.
 
 
Starting as You do to sing with Your vina, with head movements,
Of the varied exploits of the Lord of Beasts, You, as the Goddess of the Word
The one of lovely speech, You promptly cover up to silence
Your instrument as mocking the sweetness thereof by sounds of strings.
 

In Verse 66 we are still in a general setting where the greatness of Shiva is being praised by Parvati. She is starting to sing to the accompaniment of her favourite instrument, the vina, which is seen to be inseparably associated with her wherever she is represented in the traditional style. She and her instrument are to be treated as belonging together to one and the same context. Although she starts to sing accompanied by the vina, which is held horizontally at right angles to the body, she soon decides that its accompaniment does not come up to expectation. This is seen to be an afterthought.
 
Two movements are specifically referred to in this situation, in which vocal as well as an instrumental music start together. The first is when, almost abruptly, the Goddess stops playing her instrument, putting it out of commi­ssion. The second movement is the nodding her head in approval of the music. The two have to be treated together. The voice of the Goddess is here praised as being of a very superior quality.
 
We are asked to extract whatever meaning we possibly can, given this data, but this meaning must also necessarily enhance the absolute beauty-value of the Goddess. This is an overall requirement in every verse. It is easy to see that no Tantric viewpoint or doctrine is meant to be brought into the light by the situation depicted here. Tantra Sastra, as we know it, is not especially interested in music, nor is it a teaching in which a vina is to be silenced in favour of glorifying vocal music, as is evidently intended here. The above limitations make it almost inevitable for us to rely on some doctrine of Advaita Vedanta as the main theme which the Goddess´s abrupt change of mind is intended to reveal. We therefore surmise that this situation is meant to bring out a double-sided method peculiar to Vedanta when it wishes to abolish, dissolve, or transcend the duality implied in any paradox. Paradox first recognizes two truths. Vedanta abolishes paradox finally, not by recognizing the contradiction, but by absorbing the contradiction into a unitive vision, by a higher intuitive way of thinking. We shall not be reading too much into the context here if we say that it is a schematic structural pattern that is to be presupposed as guiding the poetic imagination of Sankara, while, as always, his intention is to underline an Advaitic doctrine conforming to the methodology proper to Vedanta.
 
Instrumental music from a vina placed horizontally across the figure of the Goddess represents the arithmetic or mechanistic aspect of inert life in the universe, while she herself represents the vertical axis. Her nods approving her own vocal music represent something like saying "yes, yes" or a double assertion, Translated into philosophical terms, this would amount to saying, "What exists thus really exists and can never be abolished." The horizontal, mechanistic world is to be recognized as real enough initially; but when philosophical thought gains ground, it would abolish itself and become absorbed into the vertical axis. The relation between the two parameters or correlates is the same as what Descartes would say exists between res cogitans and res extensa. The latter is space-like and the former time-like, understood in terms of pure duration.
 
It is permitted to think, in terms of Cartesian or Bergsonian philosophy, that one attains the Absolute. Sankara´s doctrine is not basically different. That which does not exist is abolished by double negation. By double assertion, the picture of the Absolute emerges in terms of a highly significant value, which is the Beauty of the Goddess here. The more she appreciates the beauty of her own voice, the more it becomes evident to her that the instrument, with its poor twanging imitations by the sound of metallic wires, cannot add anything to the richness that her own voice can give to music in a fully real sense. Although the instrument is dear to her, she does not hesitate for a moment to cover it with a shawl, perhaps one of a dark colour, which is a form of double negation applied to the arithmetical side of the total situation representing the Absolute as a value. Paradox thus stands aboli­shed, dissolved or transcended. Each approving nod of the head of the Goddess describes an implied figure-eight which we can see through the transparency of the total formless space-­time situation, reflecting the structure that properly belongs to the content of the Absolute. The change of mind only introduces a dynamic touch to this otherwise static picture; which Bergson would perhaps distinguish by his term schéma moteur, as against the mere schema of conceptualists or rationalists like Kant or Descartes. The quickness with which the Goddess covers her vina reflects a dynamism which is not meant to be of a gradual or hesitant order. Higher intuition comes, not by instalments, but by split-second understanding.
 
The overall situation can be summed up in the following words: "The Goddess of the Word, finding that her speech is superior to its own mechanistic imitation, changes her mind quickly and silences her instrument because the imitation cannot add anything that is not already there to the original. Speech is better than just sound, which is included in it already".
 
We could note also that Kalidasa, in the “Meghaduta”, has a picture of the wife of a yaksha (divine being) who is separated from her husband and trying to play the vina to pass her unhappy hours in a cavern in the Himalayas, where she is destined to live in loneliness. There the version is similar but slightly different. She is unable to play the vina because of her tears, which come from the richer content of her memories stimulated by vocally articulated words of music. Here, it is a more neutral way of abolishing paradox. In both cases, it is the glory of the husband that is the subject matter of the music. The pangs of separation are not found in the Goddess here, unless slightly reflected in the quickness of the gesture of silencing her instru­ment. The vina could be thought of as being a dear and insepar­able companion, having the effect of consoling her loneliness, like a baby in the arms of a mother.
 
 
(Bergson's schéma moteur - an analysis of Bergson’s motor schemes shows how there is a logic within the body, one that informs the recognition of images, and thence perception and memory. But for Bergson, this logic of the body is entirely explicit, and is distinct from the implicit logic that we find in thinking. ED.)

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ADDITIONAL COMMENTS WITH STRUCTURAL DIAGRAMS RELATED TO THIS VERSE FROM SAUNDARYA LAHARI/NOTES.

 

WORD FOR WORD
Vipancya gayanti - You sing by the vina.
Vividham apadanam pashupateh - varied exploits of Shiva Pashupati.
Tvaya arabhde vaktum calita shirasa sadhu vachanam - by You begun to utter with head-nods the good words.
Tadiyair madhuraih - of such the sweetness.
Apalapita tantri karalavam - string-sound thus insulted by You.
Nijam vinam vani - Her proper Vina, the Goddess of the Word.
Niculayati colena nibhrtam - cover with a cover so as to silence.


 

The relationship between Shiva and the Devi is dealt with here.

Shiva is approached hierophantically in this verse, from the negative side.

 

(He is called Pashupati - the Lord of Beasts - which has a negative, denominator reference to a prehistoric context where Shiva was a wild hunter-god belonging to the primitive Pre-Aryan Indian world.

This also emphasizes Shiva's position as an "akula" - from "kula" - a family or clan, and "a-" - without; in other words an outcast(e). ED)

 

 

 A popular print of Saraswati.


So the Devi sits with Her vina (stringed instrument) to sing the praises of Shiva, Lord of Beasts.

 

 She is playing the vina horizontally.


There are many names for Shiva: why "Lord of Beasts" here? Because here the approach is from the denominator side.

 

An early image of the Lord of Beasts.

 

Even cavemen are capable of conceiving the vertical axis.
The roaring bull is their concept of value on the denominator side of love, sex and vitality, so here, with the name "The Lord of Beasts", there is a reference to a prehistoric negative religious context.

 

Shiva is married to the daughter of a demi-god, Daksha, a personification of the Himalayas.

(A note from the Glossary: Daksha was evidently a person of some status in Vedic society, and for that reason refused to give his daughter in marriage to Shiva because he was an akula (one without kula or clan), however, the marriage does take place mysteriously, in spite of Daksha's objections. Dakshayani, the daughter, later proves her loyalty to Shiva, whom Daksha continues to slight, by her death at Daksha's famous sacrifice which is held without inviting Shiva. ED)

 


Daksha gives a ritual celebration (yaga) and Shiva's wife goes to it, against the wishes of Shiva.
Her father insults Shiva and She kills Herself.
Shiva drinks poison, his neck turns blue, but he is otherwise unaffected. He then kills Daksha, cutting off his head.

 

(He also tramples and extinguishes the sacrificial fire of the Yaga or sacrifice, This typifies his role as one outside the context of Vedic ritual practices. This can be viewed in parallel with the statement of Shankara in Verse 1, where he calls himself an "akrta punya" - one of ungained merit" - in other words, one who does not take part in the ritual worship of the Devi by the three gods.

 

It is because of Shiva's asocial role, beyond the norms of traditional society, that he is the god of ascetics (sanyasis), and why his mythological puranas (legends) are part of the subject matter of the Saundarya Lahari. Advaita Vedanta and sanyasa are inseperable.

 

Sanyasa: The act of renunciation, especially of ritualistic Vedic religious life in favour of monastic life of austerity, where philosophy gains the foreground and has primacy in the life of the individual. ED)

  

 

(The Goddess negates her song by covering her vina and silencing it. Shiva - who is usually numerator - is here given a negative reference as he is called the Lord of Beasts. ED)

.

 

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(This structure is reproduced as it is found in the original manuscript. It is obscure and possibly incorrect. "Dakshi" presumably refers to Daksha. Much of the material relating to this verse is unsatisfactory. The main commentary is, however, clear and precise. ED.)

 

 

 

 (This structure seems to mean that Shiva's action in furiously attacking Daksha, which could be viewed as evil in dualistic horiziontal terms, when viewed from the position of Shiva at the summit of the vertical axis have the status of Absolute Action, as described in the Darsana Mala. ED.)

(DARSANA MALA

VI. VISION OF ACTION

It is indeed the Self, though self-luminous
And detached, that through negativity
Does action bearing many forms,
Like the dream-agent in sleep.
 
"I think, I speak, I grasp, I hear."
In forms such as these are actions accomplished
By the supreme Self, which is also
The Self of pure reason and the senses.
 
From the Self, not different from itself
There exists a certain undefinable specificatory power
By that power, all actions
Are falsely attributed to the actionless Self.
 
The Self is always detached indeed.
One performs action as if attached due to ignorance.
The wise man, saying "I do nothing,"
Is not interested in action.
 
The one Self alone as fire it burns,
As wind it blows,
As water it rains,
As earth it supports and as a river it flows.
 
The one Self alone, remaining actionless,
Moves as upward and downward vital tendencies
Within the nervous centres, indeed,
It beats, murmurs and pulsates. 
 
Here in this visible world, as what exists,
Grows, transforms, decreases and attains its end-
As subject to six forms of becoming-
That is no other than the actionless Self. 
 
By means of the inner organs and the senses
Actions become Self-accomplished.
However, the wise man knows,
"I am the unattached, inner well-founded one" 
 
Because of being an object of experience,
Even the "I" is a conditioning factor,
Superimposed like the mother-of-pearl gleam.
Above everything else, today and tomorrow one alone is.)
 

 

The Devi shakes Her head in appreciation as She sings.
"By the beautiful shaking of the head and living words, the strings of the vina are insulted".

Shiva is hypostatic and positive in his origin, but in this verse, he is approached hierophantically, from the negative side - he is called pashupati - the Lord of Beasts - which has a denominator reference.

 

 


 

 

-

(The above structures are unclear and without any accompanying explanation in the original manuscript. ED.)

 
A song of praise for Shiva is being sung by the Devi, who is shaking Her head.
 
 
 

The shaking of the head absorbs the numerator words.
The covering of the vina absorbs the Devi.
 
(Note that the words of the song are numerator; the notes of the vina are denominator. ED)

All spirituality is a cancellation of these two factors or aspects of the Devi into the neutral Absolute.

She puts Her own shawl on the vina - this is double negation.
Here we arrive at something positive through double negation.
 
The Devi covers the vina to silence it.
This is like covering a baby to get it to be quiet and go to sleep.
 
 
 

This means that, structurally, the horizontal factor sinks down to the negative Alpha Point.
 
(The structure clearly says: "below the Alpha Point" and the text says "to the negative Alpha Point". It probably does not matter all that much which. ED)

This process occurs throughout the work: the horizontal function is first removed - like removing the inside brackets in an equation - to reveal the pure negative aspect of the Devi.
 
Structuralism is a language reserved for great minds - and all great minds indulge in it.
 
"I am singing, and my song is both from the Numerator and Denominator sides": but the vina (stringed instrument) is only from the Denominator side, so she covers it to silence it.
"Shut up!" is the secret. There is a line between percepts and concepts, the vina is only half the situation, but the Devi is both sides.
 
 
 
 
The vina fills only half the circle, while the Devi fills the whole circle.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Nama-Rupa (name and form) cancel out into the Absolute.
 
GANESHA (NEGATIVE) AND SUBRAHMANYA  (POSITIVE) TOGETHER MAKE UP THE ABSOLUTE.

The string is horizontal music.
THE HORIZONTAL IS ONTOLOGICALLY RICH AND TELEOLOGICALLY POOR.
 
The Devi is numerator, the strings are denominator.
 
  
 
 

 

SAUNDARYA LAHARI - VERSE 67

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SAUNDARYA LAHARI

 

 

VERSE 67

THE FATHER'S TOUCHING OF THE DEVI'S CHIN IS STATIC
THE HUSBAND'S TOUCH IS A DYNAMIC FIGURE-8
 
करग्रेण स्पृष्टं तुहिनगिरिणा वत्सलतया
गिरिशेनो-दस्तं मुहुरधरपानाकुलतया ।
करग्राह्यं शम्भोर्मुखमुकुरवृन्तं गिरिसुते
कथङ्करं ब्रूम-स्तव चुबुकमोपम्यरहितम्
 
karagrena sprstam tuhinagirina valsalataya
girisenodastam muhur adhara panakulataya
kara grahyam sambhor mukhamukura vrntam girisute
katham karam brumas tava cubukam aupamya rahitam
 
Affectionately touched by the tip of the hand of the Mountain king,
And lifted again and again by that Shiva out of desire
To drink of the lips thereof, that which makes the handle
For Your face-mirror, how could we ever speak of it, Your peerless chin.
.
 
In Verse 67 the beauty of the chin of the Goddess is the central locus. This region of the face has an appeal both to the father of Parvati as well as to her beloved husband. Her father is referred to here as touching the chin with tender parental affection. The husband, although he is interested in the more erotic act of kissing the Goddess on her lips to enjoy the bliss it can give him, is here referred to as treating the face of the Goddess as a mirror, for which her chin is something like a handle. He lifts this handle so that it could assume a verticalized position as he approaches the face, which is only a reflection of his own face in essence. As he looks into it to enjoy the counterpart, as it were, of his own beauty, the reflected version is essentially the same Absolute Beauty. The duality of husband and wife is thus seen to be abolished, and herein lies the Advaitic doctrine hidden from superficial view. The touch of the father gives the chin a hypostatic dignity. The lifting of the “handle of the mirror” gives it a status of equality or parity of subject and object, one of which alone could be real, in keeping with the Advaitic doctrine. The reflection is just an appearance derived from the real. The resultant beauty, however, is not vitiated by any unilateral consideration of reality, but is the “Real of reals” as a value, and thus becomes unique, as stated in the last line.
 
The first half of this verse contrasts the way in which the father and the husband touch the chin of their beloved. We notice that what is lost in actuality is gained in virtuality. The father only touches the daughter with the tip of his fingers. While this actual contact is minimal, the contact made by the husband is only figurative and thus there is no actual contact at all, in principle. What is underlined here is Shiva´s intention to drink of the lips. There is no actual contact here, either. Even if it had been depicted, it would only have been contact with the mirror surface intervening between them. Thus the union of Shiva and Parvati is fully real but not physical in the factual everyday sense. Dialectical counterparts can operate only on a ground which knows no duality between subject and object.

.

 

 

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS WITH STRUCTURAL DIAGRAMS RELATED TO THIS VERSE FROM SAUNDARYA LAHARI/NOTES.

 

WORD FOR WORD
Kara grena sprshtam - touched by the tip of the hand
Tuhina girina - by the high mountain lord
Vatsalataya - by affection.
Giri Shena dastam muhuh - lifted again and again by the mountain lord
Adhara pana kulataya - by the painful yearning for the drinking of lips
Kara grahyam shambhoh - by the lord capable of being held
Mukha mukura vrantam - handle of the mirror of the face
Giri sute - o daughter of the mountain
Katham karam brumah - how can we say
Tava cubukam aupamya rahitam - your lower face (or kiss) without compare.
 

(We may note that in this verse, Shiva is not called, as previously, "The Lord of Beasts" but Shambho, often taken to mean "Abode of Joy" or "Giver of Joy" , but here translated as "The Lord capable of being held." ED)

An alternative version:
 
TRANSLATION:
1) Touches with the tip of the hand
2) By the...Mountain Lord (Illegible)
3) By affection
4) Again and again by the Mountain Lord
5) By the painful yearning for the drinking,
or: of lips I desire to kiss, Goddess
6) By the Lord capable of being held
7) The handle of the mirror of the face
8) O Daughter of the Mountain (Suté means" Goddess")
9) Katham = how. How to describe the Absolute Value
10) Of one lower face (a lot of this is ILLEGIBLE. ED )

Length, breadth, thickness, make a pyramid. (This is unclear. ED)
This is Protolinguistics without using the name of a colour.
The colour-solid is to be used as a frame of reference.
 
 
 
Concepts are in the upper cone of the structure - percepts in the lower cone.
Cancellation between the two is the subject of this verse.
 
This god, the Lord of the Himalayas, the Devi's father, touches the handle of the mirror.
This is a pure vertical motion - it is electromagnetic.
Why move the handle up and down?
.
.
.

This is an incomparable Absolute.
An indirect contact, such as that between the Devi and Shiva, means "spiritual".
(They cancel out through the mirror. ED).
 

.
.
When a woman looks into a mirror she sees God.
 
 
 

 

 

 

.

 

 

 

 

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THE COLOUR SOLID

.

 

PROTOLINGUISTICS - THE COLOUR SOLID IS THE FRAME OF REFERENCE
Pure motion is vertical as opposed to mere horizontal movement, which is vulgar.
Shiva lifts the mirror but does not hold it - this is pure motion.

The principle of Absolute Beauty for wisdom seekers is the fourth dimension of the space-time continuum (see Bergson's "Durée et Simultanéité").
 
(Einstein’s theory of special relativity created a fundamental link between space and time. The universe can be viewed as having three space dimensions — up/down, left/right, forward/backward — and one time dimension. This 4-dimensional space is referred to as the space-time continuum.
 
Space-time is usually interpreted with space as existing in three dimensions and time playing the role of a fourth dimension that is of a different sort from the spatial dimensions. From a Euclidian perspective, the universe has three dimensions of space and one of time. Time can devour space and space time, both according to Descartes as well as in the overall context of Einsteinian space-time relationships. ED)


 
(THESE PAGES OF THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT IN THE GURU'S HAND HAVE TO BE REPRODUCED FACSIMILE AS THEY ARE AMBIGUOUS AND WE WOULD HESITATE TO GIVE MORE THAN TENTATIVE EXPLANATIONS. ED.)
 
"Your kiss cannot be compared to anything because of being Absolute".

"Where Shiva touches the handle of thy face -the mirror used for..."
 
 
"Your face is a mirror...". When Shiva touches the handle, it is to participate in the denominator beauty of the Devi.
 
The poet says there is no figure of speech to describe the chin, because the meeting point between Numerator and Denominator - the handle of the mirror, the Devi's face, in which He sees a reflection of Himself - is too ineffable.

Shiva takes the trouble of descending the vertical axis and touching the Denominator.
.

The handle of the face is touched by the finger of Shiva.
Thus they must have the same epistemological status.
The chin of Her face is the handle and the lower lip is what Shiva wants to kiss.
 
"Again and again the Mountain Lord lifts..." - this is pure vertical motion.
"And how can we describe this ineffable participation between the Numerator and the Denominator?"
(Or try to describe the "parts" which participate.)
 

 

We have here complete Vedanta, structurally understood: the father sees his daughter in the normal, horizontal way; but Shiva sees his own Self reflected in her face, vertically.
 

One is static, the other dynamic.
The Devi is the Denominator side of Shiva, as he recognizes.
This is complete cancellation of Numerator and Denominator.

 

There are two levels to a woman, inner and outer: rejection outside, enjoyment inside.
This is the paradox in religion.

 

 

SAUNDARYA LAHARI - VERSE 68

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SAUNDARYA LAHARI

 

 

VERSE 68

CONTRAST ENHANCES BEAUTY
MUDDY PUTS CLEAR IN RELIEF
A MERGING OF THE TWO SIDES OF THE SITUATION
 
भुजाश्लेषान्नित्यं पुरदमयितुः कन्टकवती
तव ग्रीवा धत्ते मुखकमलनाल-श्रियमियम् ।
स्वतः श्वेता काला गरु बहुल-जम्बालमलिना
मृणालीलालित्यं वहति यदधो हारलतिका
 
bhujaslesan nityam pura damayituh kantakavati
tava griva dhatte mukha kamala nala sriyam iyam
svatah sveta kalagaru bahula jambala malina
mrnali lalityam vahati yad adho hara latika
 
Incessantly embraced by the arms of the City-Burner,
And thrilled to thorny bristling of the hair of Your neck,
It shows a lotus-stalk grace, smudged by excess of dark cosmetic paste
By itself it retains beneath the creeper-tendril suppleness of the pearly necklace lotus-core
.
 
The erotic advances made by Shiva toward Parvati are of a subtle and ineffable order. We have seen, even from the second verse that the realism, if any, in these verses has to be understood as belonging to the world of fine particles. Shiva is represented in the opening verse of one of Kalidasa´s plays (Malavikagnimitra) as having his body intimately mixed up with that of his wife, Parvati, but in spite of such a communion, still remaining the best of ascetics It is reasonable to expect that Sankara respects the same Sanskritic tradition. There­fore, it is important for us to extract the meaning of this verse in such a way as not to do violence to any of the tacit conventions respected by Sankara.
 
We have to establish the meaning here on a very thin schematic and conceptual ground, where name and form are just able to participate with each other in terms of light, shade and line. The corresponding conceptions have in turn to belong to a world of discourse rather than of brute fact. Such a ground would fit in with the verses that follow, as well as establish a continuity with the previous verses.
 
In Verse 67 we saw the father and the husband treat the chin of the Goddess with a certain aloofness because the chin is neither matter nor mind, but something participating both ways. To Shiva it was figurative; while to her father it was existent, though his participation was of a very light order. All these details are important for us to remember so that the Advaitic doctrine hidden under this living pictorial language could be correctly appreciated.
 
The incessant embrace in the first line, producing horripilation or “a thorny bristling” of the hair of the neck of the Goddess, is to be understood in terms of a thrilling sense of inner bliss, more akin to salvation than to ordinary erotic play. The best eroticism is one in which this kind of two-sided participation is perfectly balanced between subject and object, matter and mind. Unilateral stress on one or the other can only spoil the case of both. Therefore, we have to place ourselves sympathetically on a sort of middle ground and understand that the bristling of the hair only represents the exalted nature of the thrill enjoyed by the Goddess. On the side of Shiva, it is to be noted that he is not thinking in terms of an ordinary sex act lasting only a short time, but he is engaged in an everlasting embrace. This is a revised form of erotic relationship in keeping with mystical eroticism rather than merely sexual eroticism. Kalidasa's “Kumarasambhava”, in the last canto, also describes Shiva as everlastingly remaining in the bedroom of Parvati. Any value could be treated sub specie aeternitatis in this manner.
 
The lotus plant is dear to Sanskrit poets and to wise philosophers who want to use it as an analogy for all laudable spiritual attributes , especially as seen from an ontological perspective. The lotus plant is noted for its tenderness, purity and beauty of colour and especially for its inner thread-like core (mrnala tantu) made of vascular bundles forming gleaming supple strands within the stalk, as well as for its fragrance and the patches of brown and pink when the petals are half-open. These are items offered by the lotus which the Sanskrit poet loves to work upon in his essentially contemplative poetry. In the case of erotic mystical poetry, the wonder of the lotus plant and its virtue are a source never expended and constantly to be drawn upon, age after age; not given up even in the present-day literature of vernaculars based on Sanskrit. The stalk of the lotus has on it the very bristles that are referred to in this verse. They may not be beautiful to an ordinary poet, but for Sankara, to whom good and bad have to reveal the same beauty-value, even the thorny hair of the lotus becomes a precious analogy. Eroticism between the God and Goddess refers to the context of an eternal bliss that can induce samadhi in a votary who can meditate on the subject correctly.
 
In the third line, we find a reference to beauty smudged by dark cosmetic pastes. This blemish, instead of detracting from the beauty, only enhances it, according to the Advaitic poet, as we have already explained in a previous verse. Shakuntala is more beautiful wearing her bark garment than dressed in rustling silks and living in the King's palace. Contrast is at the core of the Absolute, and only when it is cancelled-out effectively could the absolute beauty-value emerge to view. This doctrine should give a key to justify these laboured analogies that would other­wise seem to be artificially pressed into the service of this kind of poetry, making it merely mechanistic and metaphysical in an objectionable sense.
 
The mud or dross in which the lotus plant has to live gives it a status that belongs to it by natural necessity. Even frailties, when they are fully human, could not be treated finally as frailties at all. Human nature has room for many natural deficiencies, and the totality of all such cancel out in a tragic hero, such as Othello, giving an absolutist touch to his character which remains fully human in spite of defects like passion or jealousy. It is when such passions do not cancel out against the overall nobility of the character that the situation can become an anticlimax.
 
The Absolute is a “thing-in-itself”, but this quality of being “in itself” implies its dialectical counterpart to set it off in proper relief, without which it cannot be appreciated at all. In the name of such an appreciation of beauty, the contrast insisted upon here is fully justified. Furthermore, we have to note that the poet intends to descend step-by-step into beauty items at the core of the personality of the Goddess herself, which are not the same as their counterparts at the peripheral limits. The elephant skin that Shiva is supposed to wear, while remaining the pure spirit dancing vertically at the core of the universe, contains the same type of ideogram as here. In this verse the thing-in-itself is compared to a pearly necklace showing beneath an excess of dark cosmetic paste . Peripherally, there is what is extraneous to the thing-in-itself, which is not to be omitted in a complete and realistic picture of beauty in the context of the Absolute. Evil is not to be explained away, but is to be transcended after it has been given its proper place in the total scheme. The pearly necklace reveals a fully verticalized beauty-factor, whereas the thorny bristles represent the horizon­talized version of the same. The variation is between interiority and peripherality, as also verticality and horizontality. Absolute beauty has to be viewed in its four-fold polyvalent relief to have that overwhelming character which is called lahari in this work.

-

(Samadhi - attaining final loneliness or peace; passing into the peace beyond, the term and goal of intelligent humanity; contemplative calmness. ED)


.

 

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS WITH STRUCTURAL DIAGRAMS RELATED TO THIS VERSE FROM SAUNDARYA LAHARI/NOTES.

 

WORD FOR WORD
Bhujashleshan - by being embraced by arms
Nityam pura damayituh - ever (incessantly) of the City-Burner
Kantakavati - thrilled to thorny bristling
Tava griva dhatte - Your neck shows
Mukha kamala nala shriyam - a lotus-stalk grace
Iyam svatah shveta - this, by itself white
Kala garu bahula jambala malina - smudged by excess of black cosmetic paste
Mrnali lalityam vahati - the lotus creeper suppleness
Yad adah - beneath the same
Hara latika - a garland of pearls
 
WORD FOR WORD
1) Bhuja shleshas - by arm embrace
2) Nityam pura damayituh - always of the three city burner
3) Kanta kavati - made thorny
4) Tava griva dhatte - Your neck bears
5) Mukha kamala nala shriyam - the auspicious richness of the stalk for the lotus face
6) Ayam svatah shveta - this naturally white (thing), this intrinsically white object.
7) Kala guru bahula jambala malina - dirty by the excessive contact with the karakil. (cosmetic paste)
8) Mrnali lalityam vahati - the rich beauty of the lotus flower receptacle.
9) Yad adha - in the lower part of the neck
10) Hara latika - garland of pearls
 
 
Now Shiva will embrace the Goddess physically.
 

Another version:

TRANSLATION
By the embrace with the arms of the Devi.
Always by the God who burns the three cities.
By arm embrace.
Always, ever, by the burner of three cities. (City-burner).
Neck thorny.
Your neck bears, supports.
The auspicious riches of the stalk for the lotus face.
This intrinsically white.... (Illegible)
Dirty by excessive contact with karakil (cosmetic paste)
 



 (Each of the figure-8's represents a dynamism - presumably the cancellation between Shiva and the Devi. This structure is obscure. It is possible that the figure-8's represent the cancellations between Shiva and the Devi in each individual verse of the Saundarya Lahari, surrounding the central cancellation between these two factors. This is purely speculation on our part. ED)
 
 
 

 

Another version:

TRANSLATION
By the burner of the three cities at all times
Having little thorns due to hairs standing on end
Your neck gives
The beauty of the lotus stalk of Your face
These which are by nature white
Becoming dirty by...
Bears the resemblance of a lotus flower receptacle
The pearl necklace below.
 
.
 
Shiva is always embracing the Devi at the neck.
.
.
"Eternally" - this is meant to bring out the Absolute touch.
This is not a real, physical thing - but the union of masculine and feminine factors.
.
.
The hair standing on end represents an Absolute emotion: the wonder of the numerator Absolute - Shiva, the Burner of Three Cities descending.

(Note that Shiva is the Lord of Beasts in Verse 66, before becoming the City-Burner in this verse. ED)
 
 
 
The higher pole on the vertical axis is the face of the Devi, and the lower pole is the string of pearls with the thin central thread of the lotus-stalk (mrinala tantu) as parameter.

The pearls are pure, but they are in mud - the "dark cosmetic paste", which is like the mud from which the lotus grows - and hierophantic and negative; if they were bright, they would be hypostatic.
 
(This detail - the mud the lotus grows from - emphasizes the negativity which is the ground of the Devi. The two factors - pearls and mud - are counterparts. It should maybe also be kept in mind that pearls are traditionally to be found in the skull of an elephant. The elephant is huge, heavy and dark - a negative factor. The Guru said that space was like sitting inside an elephant. ED)

"Full of thorns" means - "don't touch!"
There is a tragic double feeling here.
 
(Attraction and repulsion. She repels horizontal advances and feels vertical attraction to Shiva. ED)

Anyway, She does not want anyone to come horizontally and embrace Her.
Where horizontal meets vertical, there is an intermediate zone.