shrI lalitAtrishatI (k of vAgbhava kUTa)

[Ravi Mayavaram]

namaskAram

I am summarizing the first twenty names for which I posted
shrI shrI shankara's bhAShyam. This summary is mainly to comtemplate
on the meaning of the names while chanting the mantra, which I think
not only increase the joy of chanting but also make it powerful. If
you find any flaws in the summary, please forgive me.

As a side note to what Ramakrishnan wrote, the panchadashAkSharI
mantra is also coded in the verse 32 of saundaryalaharI. If time
permits I will write about it later.

Ravi

----------------------------------------------------------------
k
==
1. kakArarupA
   AUM kakAraUpAyai namaH
   SHE who is the source of everything.

2. kalyANI
   AUM kalyANyai namaH
   SHE who is bliss.

3. kalyANa-guNa-shAlinI
   AUM kalyANaguNashAlinyai namaH
   SHE who has blissful attributes.

4. kalyANa-shaila-nilayA
   AUM kalyANashailanilayAyai namaH
   SHE who is established in HER form which is solidified bliss.

5. kamanIyA
   AUM kamanIyAyai namaH
   SHE who is endearing to jnaninaH because SHE is bliss.

6. kalAvatI
   AUM kalAvatyai namaH
   SHE who possesses kalAs to facilitate meditation of HER bhaktAs.

7. kamalAkShI
   AUM kamalAkShyai namaH
   SHE who has eyes like kamalA (lakShmI) which can confer great powers.

8. kalmaShaghnI
   AUM kalmaShaghnyAi namaH
   SHE who can destroy the sins of HER devotees.

9. karuNAmr^ita sAgarA
   AUM karuNAmR^itasAgarAyai namaH
   SHE who is an ocean of nectar like compassion

10. kadambakAnanAvAsA
   AUM kadambakAnanAvAsAyai namaH
   SHE who resides in kadamba forests.


11. kadambakusumapriyA
    AUM kadambakusumapriyAyai namaH
    SHE who is fond of kadamba flowers.

12. kandarpavidyA
    AUM kandarpavidyAyai namaH
   SHE whose is expressed by the mantra whose seer is kandarpa(manmatha).

13. kandarpajanakApangavIkShaNA
    AUM kandarpajanakApAngavIkShanAyai namaH
    SHE whose side glances can confer with power, youth and beauty.

14. karpUravITI-saurabhya-kallolita-kakuptaTA
    AUM karpUravITIsaurabhyakallolitakakuptaTAyai namaH
    SHE who has supremely regal pleasures and a form of cosmic dimensions.

15. kalidoShaharA
    AUM kalidoShaharAyai namaH
    SHE who can destroy the sins of kali age.

16. ka.njalochaNA
    AUM ka.njalochaNAyai namaH
    SHE who can create billions of brahmANDas by HER mere look.

17. kamravigrahA
    AUM kamravigrahAyai namaH
    SHE who has a form which is entrancing with blissful attributes.


18. karmAdisAkShiNI
    AUM karmAdisAkShiNyai namaH
    SHE who is a witness of karma (actions) like upAsana, yoga and so on.

19. kArayitrI
    AUM kArayitrai namaH
    SHE who has the commanding power.

20. karmaphalapradA
    AUM karmaphalapradAyai namaH
    SHE who gives the fruits of all actions.

>From  Sat Apr 18 18:07:47 1998
Message-Id: <SAT.18.APR.1998.180747.0500.>
Date: Sat, 18 Apr 1998 18:07:47 -0500
Reply-To: niche at ameritech.net
To: "Advaita (non-duality) with reverence" <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
From: Parisi & Watson <niche at AMERITECH.NET>
Organization: Knitters Niche
Subject: Re: Questions
Comments: To: "Advaita (non-duality) with reverence" <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Frank Maiello wrote:
>
> The goal of any spiritual philosophy is experiential, notintellectual.
> Although intellect is an inescapable avenue for
> getting there, what transpires within it is quite arbitrary,
> and only as valuable as it is capable of affecting "experience."
> In the case of nondual philosophy (reaching its distillation
> in advaita, IMO), the experience enters the core of the primal
> Life-essence we refer to as satchidananda (the pure bliss
> realized to be existing in unalloyed consciousness).
>
> Within the textual tradition of vedanta is found an ordering of
> approaches re the apprehension of reality, from three levels:
> srishthi-drishthi vada, drishthi-srishthi vada, and ajativada.
> The first approach holds that mind is a product of world, the
> second that world is a product of mind, while the last proclaims
> that both and neither of these views are an issue.  This last
> approach is an obvious assault on logic, and is considered to be
> one of the weapons of brahman, designed to quash the mind of its
> relentless desire to contract and differentiate, thus breaking
> the boundaries of its resulting egoic pretense.  The successful
> application of this weapon diffuses the tyranical manipulation
> of the mind, allowing the individual to simply be.
>
> The real thrust of what advaita is saying has nothing to do with
> creation theories, origins of karma, free will vs. fate, or any other
> philosophy spun by the phenomenal mind, but rather the hypothesis
> that we are holograms of the totality of what is, which is contended
> as a unified field of noumenal/phenomenal existence--wholistically
> incomprehensible...thus the mind cannot be used to get there.
>
> TAT TVAM ASI (thou art That) is the whole of advaita.
> (Its Western counterpart: "I and my Father are ONE.")
>
> Namaste.

I think I have come full circle. Like most people, at least in the West,
I began by thinking of self realization as a dazzlingly discontinuous
event that would instantly change everything. Then slowly, mostly
through the teachings of Ramana Maharshi, I became comfortable with the
idea that we already are the Self here and now, and always have been,
and that all that is needed is to clear away our confused identification
of ourselves with the body/mind; but the I-am, the sense of self
awareness as we experience it every moment, already is the Self. So
instead of being like a stroke of lightning, realization might be more
like a gradual clearing of the mist that makes plain what is already
there. Then I began to think of Advaita as something that could be
explained to anyone in just a few simple words, calling upon everyone's
sense of contentless consciousness or self awareness as a strong
indication of its truth.

But the danger of this way of thinking, of putting Advaita in a sense on
almost the same level as any ordinary concept, is that equally ordinary
objections to it start to seem legitimate and relevant. In other words,
once it has been brought into everyday life, it no longer seems to
reside on an unapproachable mountain top, far above the issues of daily
living, and it becomes as assailable as any other idea. I'm afraid I may
not be expressing this very well, but I can't think of other words.

So at this point I am at a loss to find the proper balance between
discrimination and experience, and between working constructively toward
eventual realization and contending with nagging practical doubts. If it
is true that everything about human life can be understood (at least in
principle) without Advaita, then it becomes very difficult to keep going
and hold doubts at bay. If, on the other hand, there are aspects of the
human condition that don't make sense in their own terms, then I would
think that one legitimate role of discrimination would be to point them
out, even if only as an aid to the ongoing work toward the direct
experience of realization.

Robert.

>From  Sat Apr 18 21:34:31 1998
Message-Id: <SAT.18.APR.1998.213431.0400.>
Date: Sat, 18 Apr 1998 21:34:31 -0400
Reply-To: ramakris at erols.com
To: "Advaita (non-duality) with reverence" <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
From: Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian <ramakris at EROLS.COM>
Subject: Re: Questions
Comments: To: Advaita-L <advaita-l at tamu.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Parisi & Watson wrote:

> My reservations about Advaita begin here, for the simple reason that all
> of the above remains equally true even if we assume for the sake of
> argument that the Western view is correct, and consciousness is a
> biological function of the physical organism. Descartes pointed out
> three hundred years ago that only 'I am' or 'I exist' is certain, and

No!!! Descartes said "I think, therefore I am". In imprecise terms
advaita says "I am, therefore there is thought, this thought has
empirical reality only, but is actually an illusion". These two are
_far_ from being equivalent.

_Please_ read _classical_ advaita texts to get a proper idea of advaita.
There are lots of teachers out there who are supposed to be "advaitins".
This is only in a very loose sense. In any case, _this_ list is _only_
for discussing advaita as taught by shrI sha.nkara and his disciples. I
suggest in the order 1) Atma bodha of shrI sha.nkara, 2) dR^ik dR^ishhya
viveka of shrI vidyAraNya and then more intense texts like 3)
vivekachUDAmaNi of shrI sha.nkara. There is an excellent two volume
commentary on the daxiNAmUrti stotra by shrI Subbaramaiya, a disciple of
HH abhinava vidyAtIrtha, the previous head of the Sringeri Mutt. This
can be consulted after getting a background from the other 3 texts.

Please consult for starters the FAQ by Vidyasankar at:

http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~vidya/advaita/ad_faq.html

Please also see the advaita homepage at

http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~vidya/advaita/

Ramakrishnan.