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Saundaryalahari !!

II సౌందర్యలహరి II

II सौंदर्यलहरि II

|| సౌందర్యలహరి ||
Saundaryalahari
|| सौंदर्यलहरि ||

SivaH SaktyAyuktO yadi Bavati SaktaH praBavitum
na cEdEvaM dEvO na Kalu kuSalaH spaMditumapi |
atastvm ArAdhyAM hari hara viriMcAdiBi rapi
praNaMtuM stOtuM vA kathamakRutapuNyaH praBavati ||

Lord Shiva, only becomes able.
to do creation in this world.
along with Shakthi
without her,
even an inch he cannot move,
And so how can, one who does not do good deeds,
or one who does not sing your praise,
become adequate to worship you
Oh , Goddess mine,
who is worshipped by the trinity,
(Hari Hara Virinchaadibhirapi)

The english translation of the sloka may sound stilted if you are not familiar with the modes translating Sanskrit to English ! Effectively the prayer is saying that ' even Lord Siva is incapable to moving an inch without the support of Shakthi who is object of prayer for even for 'Hari Hara etc .

And it goes on to refer to those offering prayers saying " even for performing prayer to you or hearing your praise , one must have earned lots of good karma if not one would not even have been able to pray to you !!"

That is simply a way of acknowledging being humble !!

om tat sat

Notes on Saundaryala.

Notes on Saundaryalajhari;

Kundalini;

The Suandarya lahari – “the flood of beauty” can be looked at in many ways.

It is a poem displaying the finest touches of poetry which is extremely pleasing to read. But knowing its antecedents this aspect is probably of least concern to the most.

The most ardently felt thought about " Saundaryalahari " is that - it is a Stotra . It is a stotra in praise of Goddess Tripura Sundari

For the practitioners of Saundaryalahari , it is a series of Mantras to be used by upasakas ( ardent believers) along with Yantras where in the Goddess is to be conceived as residing.

From the point of view of Vedantins , it is also an exposition of the Agama or and Tantras bearing on the worship of the Supreme being in its aspect of Sakti , known as Srividjya .

There are several legends about this work. One legend says that, once Adi Shankara visited Kailash to worship Shiva and Parvathi . There, the Lord gave him a manuscript containing 100 verses which described the many facets of the Goddess, as a gift to him. While Shankara was returning after visiting Kailash, Nandi stopped him on the way. He snatched the manuscript from him, tore it into two, took one part and gave the other to Shankara. Shankara, desolate, ran to Shiva and narrated the incident to him. Shiva, smiling, commanded him to retain the 41 verses with him as the initial part of the 100 verses and then, write an extra 59 verses in praise of the Goddess himself. Thus, verses 1 - 41 are the original work of Lord Shiva, shedding great light on the ancient rituals of Tantra , Yantra and various powerful Mantras . The remaining verses, i.e. 42-100 are composed by Adi Shankara himself, which mainly focuses on the appearance of the Sakti.

A very good exposition on Saundaryalahari is a book published by Theosophical Publishing House, Adayar , Madras ( 1937) authored by Pandit Subramanya Sastri and Srinivasaiyyengar .

This book has an interesting Appendix listing for each mantra the method of Japa ( number of times the mantra is to recited ), the chakra associated , the expected benefit , and the number of days for the Japa etc !

To guard against one being carried away by the tantra lore and apply the same for crude materialistic purposes, there is one illuminating line which is as follows. ' The very essence of of Sri-Vidya consists in its being availed by its votaries to serve lofty and altruistic purposes' !!!

Even in tantra there are two schools of thought. One which follows the Advaita - the Sankara school- which looks at tantra also for knowing the 'Brahman'. These are also called ' Samayins' referring to the sameness of Shiva and Shakthi

The other school ( Kaula-s) being focused on Kundalini ( see Wikipedia). They worship Kundalini and are satisfied with the attainment and enjoyment of temporal objects , believing that with the rousing of Kundalini they attain Moksha or liberation

A copy of this book is available on the web

Om tat sat !!

Saundaryalahari !!

II సౌందర్యలహరి II

II सौंदर्यलहरि II

Notes on Saundaryala.