DEIVATHIN KURAL # 132 (Vol # 6) Dated 23 Feb 2013

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 132 (Vol # 6) Dated 23 Feb 2013

(These e-mails are translations of talks given by PeriyavaaL of Kanchi Kaamakoti Peetam, over a period of some 60 years while he was the pontiff in the earlier part of the last century. These have been published by Vanadi Padippagam, Chennai, in seven volumes of a thousand pages each as Deivathin Kural. Today we are going ahead from the middle of page No 905 of Volume 6 of the Tamil original. The readers may note that herein ‘man/he’ includes ‘woman/she’ too mostly. These e-mails are all available at   http://Advaitham.blogspot.com updated consonantly)

கால ஸ்வரூபமாக அம்பாள்

AmbãL as Personification of Time

506.  (PeriyavãL by-passes the Sloka No 13, which talks about the greatness of the glance of AmbãL, that even if the devotee were to be old, uncouth and ugly, if by chance the glance of Ambãl falls on him, he becomes attractive to women that they virtually fall all over him uncaring for their lack of decency and decorum!  I do not know if it is the effect of Number 13!  But we will also by-pass with that much of explanation.)   The next sloka is one in which AmbãL is depicted as a manifestation and embodiment of Time;-

"क्षितौ षट्पञ्चाशत् द्विसमधिक पन्चाशदुदके

kshitou shatpanchãshath dwimsamadhika panchãsadudake

     हुताशे द्वाषष्टिस्चतुरधिकपन्चाशदनिले |

     hutãshe dwashashtischaturadhika panchãshadanile |

दिविद्वि:शट्त्रिंशन मनसि च चतुषष्टिरिति ये

divi dvihshat thrimsan manasi cha chatusshashtiritiye

          मयूखास्तेषामप्युपरि तव पादांबुजयुगं ||"   

          mayukhasteshamapyupari tava paadaambujayugam ||

507.  Let us take the first line of the stanza – '"क्शितौ षट्पञ्चाशत् द्विसमधिक पन्चाशदुदके'.  This poem brings out clearly the following observations or statements of facts.  In a year there are six seasons and totally 360 days, isn't it?  These 360 plus five or six is also the number of rays of light coming out of the KuNdalini Jyoti.  Each Chakra of the Sri Chakra (as also the Power Chakras in the human body) are representing one season each.  Though she is beyond time, she subjects herself to the confines of time.  Depending on the number of days that season (known as 'Ritu' in Sanskrit) is to last, that many rays shine in each Chakra; as mentioned in the sloka.  In the base Moola Ãdhãra Chakra ' क्शितौ षट्पञ्चाशत्' 56 rays, that is, as Vasanta Ritu lasting 56 days AmbãL is there.  Then for 52 rays / days in Jala Tattva – MaNi Pooraka Chakra; then Agni Tattva – Swadishtãna Chakra for 62 rays / days; in Vãyu Tatva of  Anãhata Chakra for 54 rays /days; in Ãkãsha Tattva of Vishuddhi Chakra for 72 rays / days; then in Manas Tattva of Ãgnã Chakra 64 rays / days; then above all – 'teshãm api upari' – in Sahasrara Padma your pair of two lotus feet are brilliantly effulgent.

வாக்கு வன்மை அருள்வது; சாக்தத்தில் சப்தத்தின் விசேஷம்

Granting of Power of Speech; Value of Sound in Sãktam

508.  Within the Ãnanda Lahari slokas, there is description of AmbãL not necessarily in the form of Lalitha but in the form of some other Devata related to Sri Vidya Tantra, doing Anugraha to the devotees.  One such is the 15th sloka:-

"शरज्ज्योत्स्नाशुद्धाम् शशियुत जटाजूटमकुटां

sharat jyotna shuddhãm shashiyuta jatajuta makutãm

वरत्रासत्राणस्पटिकघुटिका पुस्तककराम् |

varatrãsathrãNa spatika gutikã pustaka karãm

सकृन्नत्वा नत्वा कथमिव सतां संनिधत्ते

sakrun natva kathamiva satãm sannidhate

मधु क्षीर द्राक्षा मधुरिम धुरीणा: फणितय: ||"

madhuksheera drãkshã madura madureeNa: phaNitaya: ||  Now let us look at the meaning.  [शरज्ज्योत्स्नाशुद्धाम् = One who is pure as the moon of the Sarat Ritu or the autumn season; शशियुत जटाजूटमकुटां  = having her Jatamudi of hair arranged like a crown on her head with the effulgent crescent moon placed there; वर = showing Vara Mudra in one hand and; त्रासत्राण = showing Abhaya Mudra that saves one from fear in the other hand; स्पटिक – घुटिका = Spatika Aksha Mala in the third hand; पुस्तककराम् = having the book in the fourth hand; त्वाम् =  to you; सकृन्नत्वा = by doing Namaskãra to you once; सतां = great Mahatmas; get the मधुरि = sweetness of; मधु क्षीर द्राक्षा = honey, milk and grapes; मधुरि मधुरीणा: = sweetness par excellence in; फणितय: = in their spoken and written expressions; कथमिव = how not; संनिधत्ते = be endowed with or achieve?]

 509. Herein AmbãL has been described as if she is Saraswathi, the Goddess of all learning and knowledge but, sans VeeNa, that would have normally been there.  As AmbãL is the sister of VishNu, it may not be in the knowledge of many that Lakshmi is Brahma's sibling and Saraswathi is sister of Siva!  Elder brother and younger sister – means facial and bodily resemblance, similar looks, attitudes and complexion.  Like that, Saraswathi is similar to Parama Siva, very fair coloured.  'Sarat jyotna shuddhãm', like the moon in Sarat season, brilliantly clean white.  Her pooja is also scheduled in that season only.  Because of the Sarat season, she is called, 'Sãrada'.

510.  ÃchãryãL had a special attachment to the name Sãrada.  He had to compete with many learned Pundits in the course of his Dig Vijayam for which he had to have a mastery of the totality of any and every subject from the basics to the high pinnacles of erudition.  For this he had to have her blessings.  Amongst many of the names of Saraswathi he had a special liking for this Sãrada.  May be her extreme whiteness of her complexion and dress and coolness of her demeanour was one of the reasons. She is Sãrada as well as Shãrada or rather the Sanskrit 'शारदा' – the giver of the essence of meaning!  More than all word meanings, the most essential is Gnãnam, she grants that 'Sãra Tattvam' – the essence of knowledge.   In Sringeri he has installed AmbãL as SaradambãL only and the Guru Peetam there is known as Sãrada Peetam.  Here in Kanchipuram, it is Kãmakoti Peetam and Sãrada Matam.  That is the sort of attraction he had for that name and Saraswathi Devi as Goddess of Learning and Knowledge!  Still in Soundarya Lahari as he has not mentioned anywhere the name as LalithãmbãL or Tripura Sundari, he has not mentioned this name Sãrada also, I suppose.  But in this sloka, by saying 'Sarat – Jyotsna' at the very beginning, he has managed to remind us of Sãrada aka Saraswathi! 

511.  Like Easwara, she is pure white.  Like him she has 'Jata-Makutam' and wearing the crescent-moon on it.  She is herself very fair with remarkable whiteness like that of the moon. She has four arms, having Vara and Abhaya Hasta Mudras – as the sloka says, 'वरत्रासत्राण' – 'Vara' as we know already and 'thrasa' – means fear and 'thraNa' means protection that is Abhaya Hasta mentioned with rhyme.  Did he not say earlier that other than you all other deities are displaying 'Vara and Abhaya'Hasta Mudras; so now describing her, slightly different form other than Lalitha, he has described a form like that of Saraswathi sans other identification marks such as VeeNa and Parrot, normally associated with the way Saraswathi is depicted. 

512.  Then typically like Saraswathi, she is said to be having 'Aksha Mala and Pustaka also.  Her elder brother as DakshiNa Murthy also has these two, 'spatika ghutika' and 'pustaka karãm'; spatika ghutika meaning the chain made of 51 crystal stones as aksha mala and the 'pustaka karãm' of course means the hand holding the books.  Aksha Mala is the same as Akshara Mala.  In Sanskrit the number of consonants and vowels adds up to 51, from 'अ' to 'क्ष'. Akshara has two meanings as 'imperishable' ('a + kshara = akshara') and 'letters' 'अ' to 'क्ष'.  Letters are of course imperishable and so there is one word for both.  A rosary made of 51 crystal stones well rounded and polished, each connected with gold or silver to form a continuous chain, is the Aksha Mala aka Akshara Mala. 

513.  In Sãkta Sãstrã there is a principle which is like a 'Jiva Nãdi' or Life Line, which should be mentioned.  That is the importance given to the Aksharãs, and in that too the importance given to the sounds that make up the Aksharãs – the value of the sound.  We had seen earlier as to how the whole of creation is from the vibrations.  In the principle of Ãkãsã – space – the sky; the vibrations are the subtle sounds from which is the Srushti, all the sounds of the Mantras and the Vedas formed by the Mantras.  So, the Srushti is Evolution and merging back is Involution.  This oscillation between Evolution and Involution is the Srushti Leela; which is like the spinal cord of Sãkta doctrine and in it the 'PrãNa Nãdi' is the Principle of Sound or what is called the 'शब्द तत्वं'!  In Sãktam, on the one side is 'Artha / Vastu Prapancham', in which there are Siva Tattva, Shakti Tattva, Sadasiva Tattva, Easwara Tattva and Suddha Vidya Tattva, totalling five principles.  Starting from Parabrhmam, with these five principles we come down to Sthula Bhootha Prapancham encompassing all gross universe of things, materials both animate and inanimate.  Exactly parallel to this is the extremely subtle idea of Para.  Starting from the principle of Para, there are five types of Sound Principles known as, Para, Pasyanti, Madhyama, Vaikhari, and VarNam /Aksharam – 'परा, पश्यन्ति, मध्यमा, वैखरी व वर्णम् / अक्षरम्'; make up the five. 

(We will see more of these Sãkta Principles in the next e-mail.  To be continued.)

Sambhomahadeva