SAUNDARYA LAHARI
VERSE 26
NATARAJA - VERTICALIZED FUNCTIONS
NEGATIVE BECOMING
THE FOURTH-DIMENSIONAL SHIVA
विरिञ्चिः पञ्चत्वं व्रजति हरिराप्नोति विरतिं
विनाशं कीनाशो भजति धनदो याति निधनम् ।
वितन्द्री माहेन्द्री-विततिरपि संमीलित-दृशा
महासंहारेஉस्मिन् विहरति सति त्वत्पति रसौ
virincih pancatvam vrajati harir apnoti viratim
vinasam kinaso bhajati dhanado yati nidhanam
vitandri mahendri vitatir api sammilita drsa
mahasamhare'smin viharati sati tvat patir asau
Brahma regains his pure quintuple nature; Vishnu becomes passionless;
The God of Death destruction meets; the God of Wealth becomes bankrupt;
The great Indra becomes functionless, with half-shut eyes;
In this great doom, he sports, o constant spouse, Your Lord alone.
Between the three verses, 24, 25 and 26, there is a two-sided dynamism that we can recognize as a world process on a certain kind of world ground, which the philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita (VII, 18) calls avyakta (unmanifested). Everything has a vague, amorphous or mathematical status at a given time, anteriorly. It assumes a colourful real form with different perspectives at a middle stage and in a final stage re-absorption again takes place. Besides the Bhagavad Gita, Cartesian Philosophy can also understand this cyclically alternating process with these three phases as taking place between what it calls res cogitans and res extensa. Thus, we could have the same basic reference in terms of Cartesian correlates instead of by description. Res cogitans would be a vertical perspective, and res extensa the alternative horizontal version of the same. Bergson would prefer to distinguish these as time-like and space-like counterparts. Vedanta is familiar with a similar theory, having a double perspective in the manner of viewing the status of the elementals. Professor O.Lacombe describes this theoretical process, called pancikarana, as simply as possible:
"The great elementals do not enter as such into the composition of individual realities, but undergo first a sort of shaking-up which is called quintipartition - panchikarana. Each of them is divided by the creator into two parts, and one of these two halves again into four parts. Each one of these quarters is then mixed with the half that has been left intact of each of these four elements.
It thus results that each element composes itself thereafter as follows: one half element pure, plus one-eighth of each of the four other elements. It is these composite elements which serve for the constitution of individual things.
The dominant proportion of the primary element safeguards its authenticity. But the adjunction of the other elements explains the participation of things with all other things and explains certain anomalies of perception."
(O. Lacombe, "L'Absolu Selon le Vedanta" (Paris 1937), our translation.)
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When the elementals remain in their pure self-transparent form, they consist of tanmatras (entities-in-themselves). Manifestation, in realistic terms, takes place when these rays are brought under a perspective by which they attain different degrees of opacity or transparency between themselves.
In the world of light, various interference effects occur when double-polarized light is brought into interplay; depending on the angle of incidence or refraction and due to diffraction or dispersal of light, various interesting interference figures could be seen. There is a mesh or lattice which obstructs or permits light waves of different wave lengths to pass through crystals, depending on whether the obstruction is placed at right angles or not.
Without entering into the intricacies of such optical phenomena, we shall merely say that Vedanta has long adhered to the theory of pancikarana. Horizontally perceived, the elementals show a heterogeneity between the five of them, but when the tanmatras, as basic elemental units, are rearranged serially and vertically, after being subjected to the processes called "quintuplication" or "quintipartition" - they attain to a certain homogeneous and serial continuity and transparency along the vertical axis. Elementals, when remaining in a crude state, give a horizontal outlook to the world of manifestation. When subjected to quintuplication, they become transparent in themselves. In television, it is two sets of waves intersecting at right angles, on the basis of an orthogonal matrix or lattice consisting of small rectangular units, that results in a picture.
Even in chemistry we can either see the elements arranged in a vertical series according to the periodic law, or we could study the properties of chemicals by reactions in the laboratory. The periodic law gives us a verticalized perspective, while the actual properties of chemicals are presented to the senses as a horizontalized reference.
Verse 24 is a reference to a positive creative process, but Verse 26 presents the same picture as a negative process. In Verse 24, the balancing factor comes from the Devi's eyebrow-twigs, while in Verse 26, the Devi herself lends her reality to keep her husband continuously alive, even as a thin parameter. In Verse 25, we find a double picture, as seen through two kinds of translucency: one in which the horizontal prevails over the vertical and one in which the vertical prevails over the horizontal. Creation and dissolution are brackets facing opposite ways, traversed by the parameter that represents pure becoming, independent of time or space.
With these preliminaries in our mind, we have to understand that, in line one, the figure of Brahma, as a member of the Hindu trinity, is the first to be put into the melting pot, because of the quintuplication to which all the elementals are going to be subjected in the negative process that is being represented in this verse. In the case of Vishnu, the effect of such a negative process is to make him passionless, because the passions absorb each other without finding horizontal expression. He is subjected to a state of neutralization or normalization at the central stratum, wherein he alone is operative. When we apply the same cancellation of tendencies to the principle of death, we see that the very meaning of death cancels itself out by the double negation involved. Indra is a god at the stratum where hypostatic values prevail. He is also struck by a certain verticalized immobility, by which all his horizontalized tendencies are balanced against their opposites. The result is that he remains immobile, as if in a picture, neither opening his eyes too wide to show any curiosity, nor fully unaware of the interests with which he is surrounded.
This state of dissolution into the original amorphous transparency of the elementals in themselves is called pralaya (merging back into a pure and primary formless absolutist status). This picture is not unlike that of doomsday, except that in the idea of doomsday the dissolution has a futuristic or apocalyptic status. The deluge of doomsday could be treated as complementary to the present image, if we like. The prophetic religions give primacy to a doomsday or a day of judgement, but the antediluvian picture is also a part of the Old Testament. Whatever the theory involved, all that we have to know here is that, in the form of an amorphous matrix, or in the form of crystals once again dissolved, we can get different perspectives, three of which are given in Verses 24, 25 and 26. Many other perspectives could also be visualized without violating the requirements of the Science of the Absolute. When we take a normalized position, the result is the one stated in the Bhagavad Gita, where Krishna tells Arjuna that the kings and the armies are not there except in Brahman, and that they are not going to be created thereafter either. This is the perfectly normalized picture, based on which we could have as many varied perspectives as we like, all of which, however, have to be put within the limits indicated here without contradiction. A crypto-crystalline homogeneous rock is as good a rock as a porphyritic one (full of different kinds of well-formed crystals put together). The Absolute is the matrix or mother liquid for all of them.
What we have to note here is whether the process is a positive or a negative one. The status of the Absolute, represented by the vertical parameter, remains unaffected and the same throughout, as in the case of the entropy of the universe tending to be a zero or attaining to a maximum. Brahman, the Absolute, as a correlating thread passing through all possible values, is familiar to us in the Gita (VII, 7) which says that everything in the universe is threaded through by Krishna, the absolute Value of all values. Narayana Guru also identifies the Absolute as God and compares him to the highly mathematical dimension called the depth of the sea in his "Daivadasakam" (Verse 4). "Fire cannot burn this (parameter), nor water wet it....the sword does not cleave it" as the Gita says (II, 23, 24). This eternal and changeless parameter or line is what represents the Absolute as nearly as we could think of it in any concrete terms.
We have added the word "pure" in brackets in the first line to show that it is a negative process that is taking place here, rather than one of positive creation. By saying that the God of Death meets destruction, we are only indulging in a tautology. We can neither improve death nor degrade him in any way. It just marks the O point by being doubly corrected.
Concerning the reference to the God of Wealth becoming bankrupt: wealth functions by getting and spending, which are horizontal processes. Without these two actions, the bank becomes sealed to the public, although this does not mean that the bank no longer has any money.
Tan-Matra , a subtle element, or rudiment of elementary matter, of which five are popularly enumerated, viz: sabda, sparsa, rupa, rasa and gandha, from which are produced the five gross elements. (tat, that; matra, element.)
Daivadasakam (A Prayer for Humanity)
by Narayana Guru
1
0 God, as ever from there keep watch on us here,
Never letting go your hand; You are the great Captain,
And the mighty steamship on the ocean,
Of change and becoming is Your foot.
2
Counting all here, one by one,
When all things touched are done with,
Then the seeing eye (alone) remains,
So let the inner self in you attain its rest.
3
Food, clothes, and all else we need
You give to us unceasingly,
Ever saving us, seeing us well-provided.
Such a one, You, are for us our only Chief.
4
As ocean, wave, wind and depth
Let us within see the scheme
Of us, of nescience,
Your glory and you.
5
You are creation, the Creator,
And the magical variety of created things.
Are You not, 0 God,
Even the substance of creation too!
6
You are Maya,
The Agent thereof and its Enjoyer too;
You are that Good One also who removes Maya too,
To grant the Unitive State!
7
You are the Existent; the Subsistent and the Value-Factor Supreme
You are the Present and the Past,
Add the Future is none else but You.
Even the spoken Word, when we consider it, is but You alone.
8
You state of glory that fills
Both inside and outside
We for ever praise!
Victory be, 0 God, to You!
9
Victory to You! Great and Radiant One!
Ever intent upon saving the needy.
Victory to You, perceptual Abode of Joy!
Ocean of Mercy, Hail!
10
In the ocean of Your Glory
Of great profundity
Let us all, together, become sunk,
To dwell there everlastingly in Happiness!
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS WITH STRUCTURAL DIAGRAMS RELATED TO THIS VERSE FROM SAUNDARYA LAHARI/NOTES.
The vertical axis is not abolished.
Virincih pancatvam vrajati - Brahma regains his pure quintuple nature
Harihi apnoti viratim - Vishnu becomes passionless
Vinasam kinaso bhajati - the God of Death destruction meets
Dhana daha yati nidhanam - the God of Wealth courts bankruptcy
Vitandri mahendri vitatir api - the great Indra becomes functionless
Sammilita drsha - with half-shut eyes
Maha samhare asmin - in this great doom
Viharati - he sports
Sati - o constant spouse
Tvat patihi asau - Your lord alone
Dhana daha yati nidhanam - the God of Wealth courts bankruptcy
dhana daha refers to the God of Wealth - Kubera.
Vinasam kinaso bhajati - the God of Death destruction meets
Kinaso refers to Yama, the God of Death.
Virinci is Brahma, the God of Creation.
Here all the functions of the gods and the fourteen Manus (lawgivers) cease to be operative "in the great dissolution" - the destruction which is the function of Shiva, as represented by his dance.
All of the horizontal factors are disintegrated.
The Devi remains chaste - only the vertical factor remains - the relationship between Shiva and his chaste spouse, the Devi; thus Shiva remains - the integration of positive and negative - of Shiva and the Devi - is never lost.
Destroy Samsara, the relativistic horizontal.
Shiva dances with the Devi, because of her chastity; horizontal factors are abolished.
The vertical Pati - Sati (Shiva-Shakti) union avoids final dissolution.
There is reciprocity between Sati and Pati (the faithful wife and her spouse).
Another version:
TRANSLATION
- Brahma (five-fold) inertness gains
- Vishnu (Hari) attains cessation from passion (or desire)
- Death accomplishes its final (function) extinction
- The God of Wealth goes bankrupt (to his death)
- Even the incessantly active 14 light principles of Indra's domain (of high Numerator value - the 14 Manus - the fortnight)
- With shut eyes (half asleep - as if drugged)
- In this great time of dissolution
- O chaste one (This is the key line)
- Your Lord alone
- He sports (and is happy - when every phenomenological and cosmological function is destroyed.)
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According to "quintuplication" (panchikarana) the five elementals, when mixed together in certain proportions will produce all of the things in creation.
The functions of creation, proper to Brahma, cease(in this great time of dissolution and Vishnu, as pleasure principle, attains to a passionless state. He too is abolished - as his function of preservation is abolished.
The God of Death, Yama (or Shiva) accomplishes his final function.
The God of Wealth goes to his death - i.e. loses his money.
The chastity of the Devi is the key here - She is so true to her husband that when she becomes verticalized (chaste), then all of the horizontal functions disappear.
(The universe is, by definition, horizontal - subject to creation, preservation and dissolution - and dissolves when the pure verticality of the union between Shiva and the Devi prevails. ED)
This verse is an example of psycho-dynamics - the dynamics of the structure are revealed.
The structure is universal - the sun (Shiva) and water (Devi) cancel out and produce mangoes on a tree.
You have to participate in the structure of something dear to You.
All of the fourteen Manus, who are hypostatic functionaries, close their eyes and go out of commission.
(Manus are the progenitors of mankind, who are said to have been the very first kings to rule this earth. During each age of mankind, 14 Manus are said to appear, one after the other, who manifest and regulate this world. ED)
This is not good for them, but it is good for Shiva.
For, when Parvati is completely verticalized at the Alpha Point, then he too can become completely vertical.
Even the numerator world of the intelligibles ceases to have these functions - thus it says, "with shut eyes".
These horizontal relativistic gods, who are functionaries of the Vedic context, become inoperative.
Here a great period of dissolution has come and Shiva is in charge of destruction - and he is right.
"Only Your husband enjoys all of this - because You, O Devi, are chaste; Shiva is happy."
Now Shiva can dance. Shiva's destructive factor involves drawing or absorbing everything into the vertical axis.
(Proto-language is best found in the Saundarya Lahari - Narayana Guru's language is even more mathematical - more compressed, like a billiard ball. Sankara has not pressed it so hard, it is more loose.)
The key to this verse is why all the gods become functionless.
The inert bones of my hand are ready to move at the command of my mind, which is a theoretical entity. What is the connection between mind as agent and the arm as that which functions?
This means that mind participates in matter; but in what way?
This is a basic question in philosophy.
(The problem of mind and matter was dealt with by René Descartes in the 17th century, resulting in Cartesian dualism, and by pre-Aristotelian philosophers. A variety of approaches have been proposed. Most are either dualist or monist.
Dualism maintains a rigid distinction between the realms of mind and matter. Monism maintains that there is only one unifying reality, substance or essence in terms of which everything can be explained. ED)
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Here the gods as functionaries are cancelled out in a certain order.
Only with this in mind can you understand why sati is the key word. (sati means "a constant" or "chaste" wife.)
There is a vertical axis between Parvati and Shiva.
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Shiva dancing - Nataraja.
Shiva is "sporting" while all the gods are cancelled out.
This means he is dancing the dance of Nataraja.
It is for itself, in itself, of itself - it is pure action or transmission.
(See Bergson for the difference between transportation and transmission. Transportation is horizontal; transmission is vertical. ED)
Contrast a truck taking stones to a radio sending a message.
THE TRUCK IS HORIZONTAL - THIS IS TRANSPORTATION
THE RADIO IS VERTICAL, WHICH IS TRANSMISSION
A child refusing to go to a stranger's hands is both horizontal and vertical - its hesitation is a figure-eight.
A frightened deer forgetting to eat grass and running away is horizontal
- the neck is a sinus curve.
A girl hesitating to be made love to, consenting and refusing at the same time, makes a sinus curve, a figure-eight.
The idea of this verse is to reveal a vertical parameter, with the Alpha and Omega Points, which exhibits cancellation, complementarity etc.
This chastity of the Devi (sati) represents constancy and thus belongs to the Absolute.
Why does everything go out of commission? Why do the gods dissolve?
To neutralize everything into the Absolute means to schematize and abstract.
(In other words, to verticalize. The structural methodology used by Nataraja Guru is a process of abstraction and generalisation. ED)
The situation in this verse represents pure (vertical) consciousness.
In this spiritual world of value are all of the relativistic Vedic Gods: Brahma, Vishnu, Death, Wealth and the Manus, and in this order they are all eliminated, that is, verticalized.
Only the chastity of the Devi at the Alpha Point - which is independent - remains. All other functions have been eliminated.
This can be seen as a line of electricity, with an electric bulb at the Alpha Point, like the seed at the base of a plant.
Shiva is sporting; in himself, by himself, for himself - that is, like your mind.
The fires which have been burning in the fourteen worlds of the intelligibles (of the Manus) have gone out.
Contingency and necessity have cancelled out.
This is where the Vedas end and Vedanta begins.
(The Vedas deal with the horizontal world of contingency and necessity; Vedanta deals with the vertical only - this is the difference between Karma Kanda - the Vedic domain of action - and Jnana Kanda - the Vedantic world of wisdom alone. ED)
The movement of the Denominator is horizontal - like transportation.
The Numerator movement is vertical, like transmission.
Brahma is out of commission, Vishnu is trying to kiss Parvati, all the lights are going dim, the God of Wealth is going bankrupt, the pure vertical axis remains, then a light which dims into negativity, with Shiva sporting.
Shiva has to be a Numerator - a flame has to burn all the brighter if it is the Numerator aspect of chastity.
The functional aspects of the Alpha and Omega are clarified here;
so Alpha and Omega do not cancel.
This is a verticalization into the noumenal state within brackets.
Shiva is sporting, when everything else has been destroyed.
This is all due to the Devi's chastity.
The lesser truth is always hidden by the greater truth.
A list of gods is abolished in a certain graded order of values.
The universe is here reduced to noumenal content.
(An expanding universe = red shift,
a contracting universe = violet shift.)
Magenta exists in the negative zone between infra-red and ultra-violet.
This is a picture of the great dissolution of the universe and the phenomenal aspects of the universe are demolished in a certain order - from the most horizontal towards the vertical.
(Brahma could therefore be seen as the most horizontal, then Vishnu, the gods of death and wealth, then a more vertical Indra and finally Shiva. This seems to the Editor as only roughly correct, but the manuscript seems clear. ED)
The horizontal is demolished from the ontologically rich Alpha Point at the negative lowest point of the vertical axis.
Another version:
TRANSLATION
- Brahma loses his five-fold expanding function
(Viriñci)
- Vishnu attains disinterestedness (Hari )
- The God of Death has destruction for his own counterpart
(he vertically destroys himself, as an event )
- The Wealth Giver has become bankrupt
- The great Indra is put out of function by dispersion also (Mahendra)
- With half-shut eyes (from too much enjoyment)
- In this great act of destruction (or dissolution)
- Sports
- O constant spouse (Sati)
- Your Lord alone
Sati (the Devi's constancy) is the key. Without this constancy he, Shiva, would have evaporated long ago.
The secret is in the absolute constancy of the wife.