DEIVATHIN KURAL # 164 (Vol # 6) Dated 30 Apr 2013

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 164 (Vol # 6) Dated 30 Apr 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 page No 1127 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 constantly)

838.                Normally great poets are not too liberal with the use of words.  Being rather selective with the minimum number of words, they will leave the meanings to be more suggestive than apparent.  They will use synonyms rather sparingly except when wishing to emphasize the gravity in some rare cases.  Here, 'Lahari', 'Parévãham', 'Srotas' and 'SaraNi'; are four words of almost similar meanings about the flow.  May be the poet got literally carried away as he was describing the flow of the indescribable beauty of AmbãL!  There is a point in my saying 'words of almost similar meanings', which means that they are not exactly synonyms, but with just shades of differences.  Though the general public may look at it as synonyms, the discerning experts will appreciate the subtle and minute shades of differences.  So, literary maestros will aim for such shades of differences while selecting words, known as 'vãk-kumbanam' in Sanskrit literature!

839.                Here, between these four words there are some slight variations in meaning.  Lahari means the upward thrust from within as it happen in eddies but not the sucking motion as in a whirl pool.  Parévãham on the other hand is the slow spread in all directions as it happens when we drop ink on a blotting paper.  Srotas is the quiet gurgling flow of water along the channels.  SaraNi as I said before is the running of water in a straight line between embankments.  Evidently this cannot happen in a natural rivulet but a man-made canal or channel.  The beauty of AmbãL ebbs up as a Lahari, spreads as a Parévãham, touching the top-centre of the fore-head it becomes a Srotas and runs like a canal along the Seamantha SaraNi!  But when the Kesha Bhãram becomes its embankments, the flow refuses to be contained within those perimeters.  AmbãL's beauty has to be illimitable.

840.                Lalitha Sahasranãma says – 'vaktra lakshmi parévãha chalan meenãbha lochana' – 'वक्त्र लक्ष्मी परीवाह चलन मीनाभ लोचना' – meaning that 'if the face is the expanding torrent of beauty, the two eyes are the fishes moving around that pond'. Within the circular face it is somewhat under control then it flows up through that channel made by the dark hair on either side in a straight line along the Seamantha SaraNi.  If the face gets the importance for the whole body as –'vadana soundarya lahari', this Vakidu gets added importance as the channel of such flow of beauty, kindness and compassion!  When Sri Krishna was born, he had to be taken to the safety of Brindavan across the flooded Yamuna River, for which a path was created by tearing a way through the flood, comparable to Moses taking the downtrodden slaves to the promised-land through separation of a violent water channel!  Similarly there was a channel created here setting the 'Kesha Bhãram' on either side!

841.                This sloka should be meditated up on every day, deeply and wholesomely wishing for, 'तनोतु क्षेमं' so that AmbãL's beauty will protect us from being imprisoned by six the fold enemies of 'द्विषां ब्रुन्दै:' such as 'काम:, क्रोध:, मोह:, लोभ:, मद व आस्चर्य:' and increase our resilience making us immune to such temptations and pitfalls, thereby enabling us to attain to personal 'आत्म क्षेमं' without being 'बन्दी कृतं', thereby contributing towards the wellbeing of humanity in the true spirit of 'लोक क्षेमं वहाम्यहम्'!

तनोतुक्षेमं नस्तव वदन सौन्दर्यलहरी परीवाहस्रोत:सरणिरिव सीमन्तसरणि: |

वहन्ती सिन्दूरं प्रबलकबरीभारतिमिर-द्विषां बृन्दैरबन्दीकृतं इव नवीनार्क किरणं ||

இடம் மாறிய இரு பாதி சந்திரர்கள்!

Two Half Moons Which Had to Change Places!

842.                In the next sloka (No 45) also though there is mention of the hair, the description of the face is more important.  About that only, there is a portrayal of the small hair known as 'alakam', which look like the filaments in the flowers.  Normally it is the custom to compare the face with the Lotus flower saying 'Muka Kamalam' and or 'vadana aravindam'.  Instead of such general comparisons, here the poet has compared the two part by part. One of the endearing aspects of the beauty of the lotus is the gradual blooming, which you may not be able to notice in smaller flowers.  The 'budding smile' of AmbãL's known as 'manda smitam – 'मन्द स्मितं', is similar to this slow blooming of the flower.  That smile reveals the nice set of teeth which look like the series of filaments known as 'किञ्जल्कं' seen inside the flower!  Like the lotus flower the face of AmbãL also has a pleasant fragrance.  In the lotus flower, there will be honey bees hovering outside as well as imbedded inside drinking the nectar!  Here the eyes of Parameswara, (who had burnt to ashes Manmata who had a bow with a string made of a series of bees), have become bees which are hovering around the face of AmbãL, drinking the nectar of the sweetness of her looks!  The series of very small hair around her face look like an army of small insects have invaded this lotus flower!  The poet draws many such parallels between the flower and the face!

843.                Like comparing the face with Lotus flower, it is quite normal to compare the face with the Moon!  But what can be interesting is when within such comparisons, if the poet can come out with some novel ideas! That is what he has done in the next sloka. The sloka runs like this:-

ललाटं लावण्यद्युति विमलं आभाति तव यत्

lalãtam lãvaNyadyuti vimalam ãbhãti tava yat

द्वितीयं तन्मन्ये मकुट घटितं चन्द्रशकलं |

dviteeyam tanmanye makuta ghatitam chandrasakalam |

विपर्यासन्यासाद् उभयमपि संभूयचमिथ:

viparyãsanyãsãd ubhayamapi sambhuya cha mita:

सुधालेपस्यूति: परिणमति राकाहिमकर: ||

sudhalepasyuti: pariNamati rãkãhimakara: ||

844.                To compare the whole face with the full moon is a comparison handled by many poets from time immemorial!  Our ÃchãryãL himself has handled many such comparisons.   Mooka says in his 11 Sadakam, 'राका चन्द्र समान कान्ति वदना', wherein 'Rãkã' means a full moon.  Deekshidar for example in 'Kancha Dalayadãkshi' says – 'राका शशी वदने' comparing the face with the full moon.  Even the sloka under consideration is finishing with – 'राकाहिमकर:' talking about the full moon only, but not in comparison with the face of AmbãL, and had it been so also, there is nothing great about it. But what has the poet done?  From the earlier explanations you must have gathered that the set of words as –'मकुट घटितं चन्द्रशकलं'means that it is talking about the gems in-laid in AmbãL's crown which look like crescent moon and that 'ललाटं' means the fore-head.  The words 'लावण्यम्' and 'विमलं', everybody understands as 'beauty' and 'spotlessly so', respectively!  Now, 'द्युति' means 'brightness' and 'आभाति' means 'shines' and is the verb.  Now, 'तव' is yours and 'यत्' means which and 'तत्' means that and 'tat-manye' and 'tan-manye' both mean the same and 'manye' means, 'I think'.  Now if you put them all together, what do you get?

845.                "This beautiful and brightly shining forehead of yours which is without any faults or blemishes is the second form of the crescent moon of gems in your crown I think".  In more easily understood words there is a half-moon in AmbãL's head!  Both AmbãL and Easwara have the thin sliver of the crescent moon of the third night after new-moon and not the half-moon of the eighth night in their head or crown.  The difference between the half-moon and crescent-moon is quite clear whether you see in drawings or the statues.  In the half moon of the eighth night, the half circle will be clearly defined by the diameter.  In the crescent moon, the outer arc remaining the same, the inner arc will be touching the two ends of the diameter while the balance portion will seem to have been chiselled away.  Normally the crescent moon of the third night after the new moon appears only for a short period when some amount of twilight is still there and then vanishes, by the time the twilight is no more.  As compared to that, the fourth night's crescent moon would be rather noticeable!

846.                Now if you look at the forehead of AmbãL, it will be seen to be almost like the half-moon as Lalitha Sahasranãma says, 'ashtami chandra vibrãja dalika sthala shobhitã' – 'अष्टमी चन्द्र विब्राज दलिकस्थ्लशोभिता'.  So what have you?  One crescent moon is with its bottom down and another half-moon with its bottom up.  That means that they are not concentric!  Now is the fun!  Now let us put the last two lines of the sloka in prose order and try and understand the message!  The end two lines of the sloka are as under:-

विपर्यासन्यासाद् उभयमपि संभूयचमिथ:

viparyãsanyãsãd ubhayamapi sambhuya cha mita:

सुधालेपस्यूति: परिणमति राकाहिमकर: ||

sudhalepasyuti: pariNamati rãkãhimakara: ||  Let us rephrase them in prose order and try to understand.  Let us take this 'उभयमपि मिथ:' –   These two half-moon in the crown and the other half in the forehead are mutually opposite – that is the upper half is down and lower half is up.  Now let us reverse them and put them together, that is, join them – 'विपर्यास न्यासाद्'.  Please do not read it as 'viparya –sanyãsãt' as though somebody has taken to 'Sannyãsa' after resigning from this worldly life.  Read it as – 'viparya nyãsãt'.  As of now the moon in the crown and the moon formed by the forehead – 'lalãta' are not concentric – let us put them 'ulta – pulta' and make them concentric – that is the meaning of 'viparya nyãsãt' – now do we not have a full-moon?  They have to be joined – 'संभूय: च' – made to stick together!  How is it to be done?  What is the material to be used as a gum or glue?

847.                Yes there is a way!  You do not have to go searching very far.  There is the Amrita in the Chandra itself, isn't it?  That itself is a good paste as well as a good adherent – 'सुधा' = Amrita and 'लेप' = paste.  It also'स्यूति:' stitches; the English word 'sew' is derived from this root word only.  Normal sticking can tear off but not what is well stitched!  Putting these two halves together, making use of the sticking glue from the Moon itself, if both are joined together as though well stitched; it can become a wholesome moon – 'राकाहिमकर: परिणमति' – we will see to it that it does get converted in to – 'परिणमति' become a Full-Moon!  Instead of comparing AmbãL's complete face with a full moon, describing only the forehead as half a moon and then bringing the crescent in the crown into play, reversing their orders and joining them making use of the Amrita as the sticker paste and stitching them together after reversing their order; thus having made quite a bit of factitious moves the poet finally completes the imagination by making it into a full moon as 'राका हिमकर:'!

848.                Finally while talking about the full moon, having said the Amrita in it as 'Sudha', thinking of its production of cold dew as related the 'Raka' – full Moon to production of dew, snow and ice.  Especially the full moon in the month of 'Mrugasèrsha' or 'மார்கழி' is in the star 'Thiruvãdirai' known as 'ஆதிரை' in Tamil and 'आर्द्रा' meaning very wet which is mentioned as 'आरुद्रा' star.  As it is there is onset of winter.  With that, is the full effect of 'राका हिमकर:' in that night.  That night they will be doing Abhishekam to Nataraja Swami the whole night with sandal wood paste.  That fully wet condition is what is known as 'आर्द्रा'.  Next to him will be the daughter of the Himalayas fully and equally drenched in kindness and compassion, as given in a sloka by Appayya Dikshidar, 'vãme bhãge dayãrdrã himagiri duhitã' – 'वामे भागे दयार्द्रा हिमगिरि दुहिता'!  Having called her 'Hima Giri Sute' at the very start of the Soundarya Lahari, in 42nd sloka; while talking about her with 'राका हिमकर:' now, it seems that our ÃchãryãL was deeply thinking about Thiruvãdirai Abhishekam in the month of Mrugasèrsha it seems.  This talk was also on that particular day in the month of Margazhi - 'மார்கழி' in the year 1958!

(To be continued.)

Sambhomahadeva