[Advaita-l] Digest of Paramacharya's Discourses on Soundaryalahari (DPDS-33)

[V. Krishnamurthy]

Namaste.
Recall the Note about the organization of the ‘Digest’, 
from DPDS – 26 or the earlier ones.
V. Krishnamurthy
A Digest of Paramacharya’s Discourses on Soundaryalahari - 
33
(Digest of pp.925-929 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume, 4th
imprn.)

kirantIm-angebhyaH kiraNa-nikurumbA-mRta-rasaM
hRdi tvAm-Adhatte hima-kara-shilA-mUrtim-iva yaH /
sa sarpANAM darpaM shamayati shakuntAdhipa iva
jvara-plushhTAn dRshhTyA sukhayati sudhA-dhAra-sirayA // 20
//

saH yaH : He who
Adhatte : establishes
tvAM : You
hRdi : in (his) heart
hima-kara-shilA-mUrtim-iva: as the form made of moonstem
gem
kirantIM :  which shoots forth 
angebhyaH : from all its parts
kiraNa-nikurumbA-mRta-rasaM : the  nectar essence through
clusters of its rays, 
shamayati : cools down
sarpANAM darpaM : the energy of snakes
shakuntAdhipa iva : like Garuda 
sukhayati : (and) relieves
dRshhTyA : by just an eye-glance
sudhA-dhAra-sirayA : (that is) full (as it were) of the
flow of nectar
jvara-plushhTAN : those who are suffering the deadly heat
of fever.

The importance of this shloka is in its impact on the
eradication of disease. All kinds of diseases afflict
people. People who come to those of us like me, mostly come
to pray to us for removal of this sickness or that. In fact
that tells me how many different kinds of illnesses and
afflictions are there in the world. Our Acharya certainly
would know all that  and for sure he would have known the
remedies for all of them.  But he must have thought of
posterity on these lines: “They cannot think of me as God.
Even those who grant the avatarhood, would think of me only
as a jnana-avatar and so would think of praying to me only
for jnAna and vairagya (dispassion)”. 

When people of modern times physically see a spiritually
great person, they get to know many of his characteristics
and activities. So, in addition to thinking of him as a
jnAni or saint, they also think of him as father, as
mother, child, doctor, a go-getter for a job or a marriage
alliance, and what not; they pray for all these and get the
anugraha.  But when one is no more,  he is only thought of
as a jnAni and only as a benefactor of enlightenment and
nothing more. Of course, if he is considered a siddha, he
is prayed to  for material welfare even after his physical
frame is no more. And we think of our Acharya only as a
jnAni.  So he must have naturally thought “Let me leave
some stotras for posterity so that they get their
sicknesses removed by recitations of these”. He left behind
him a ‘Subrahmanya bhujangam’ for this very purpose.  And
in this Soundarya lahari too, there are several shlokas
mainly for eradication of disease. 

The whole of Soundaryalahari, as I already said, is a
mantra-shAstra.  Each of its shlokas can give certain
specific results when it is used for a mantra-japam. For
instance, there are shlokas for 
Learning and Education (Sarasvati’s Grace of VidyA) :
Shloka nos. 3, 12, 15, 16, 17, 60, 64, 75, 96, 98, 99;
Wealth and Prosperity (lakshmi’s Grace) : Shloka nos.23,
45, 71, 91,99;
Grace of both Sarasvati and Lakshmi: 96, 99;
Proficiency in music: 66, 69
Being blessed with a son : 6, 11, 46, 98
A long-gone relative to return from his journeys: 9
parakAya-pravesham (to jump into another body) : 30, 84
Warding off evil spirits: 24, 37, 85, 90
To counter the bad influence of planets: 48
jnAna, mukti and sac-chid-Ananda: 27, 63, 73, 84, 97, 99.

[Please let it be noted that the Paramacharya
 only listed the various results that accrue from the
shlokas.
 Specific numbers of shlokas associated with the specific
results 
are reproduced here from  a note 
appended by Ra. Ganapathi.—VK]

	If one does a recitation (pArAyaNam) of the shlokas
without desiring any particular favour, one gets the
realisation of either the saguNa-brahman or the
nirguna-brahman, depending on the attitude of the devotee.
Even if one has a desire to be fulfilled, each shloka will
give its own reward. The first shloka and the last shloka
are known to be ‘sarva-siddhi-pradam’ and  they will
fulfill all one’s desires. 

	Some shlokas, by their very meanings, allow us to infer
what results will accrue from reciting them. I say ‘infer’
because, they may not bluntly say what results will accrue.
Shlokas which bluntly say so are few, like the ones we saw
earlier (shloka 17) and the present shloka (#20). Even
here, the statement is only that if such and such an
upAsanA is done such and such a result will accrue.  Only
later commentators, who came in the sishya-paramparA
(lineage of disciples) of our Acharya have listed the
specifications of the upAsanA, how they should be done,
what yantra to be used, how many days the pUjA or japam
should be done and similar requirements.

	I was saying that we could infer from the meanings of
certain shlokas the results that will accrue. Ashamed at 
the excellence of speech of ambaal Herself  Sarasvati winds
up Her  play on the VINA (# 66). The three lines on the
neck of ambaal are the boundary lines between the three
kinds of rAga-categories, so that they may not mix with
each other, says Shloka 69.  It is clear that a japam of
either of these two shlokas will result in proficiency of
music.

	Shloka #28 has the thought that even after drinking the
nectar the divines do not live beyond the deluge (pralaya),
whereas Lord Shiva, even after drinking the deadly poison,
continues to live. It is easy to infer that by doing a
mantra japam of this shloka, one gets  a long life, poison
or no poison. 
	
	But there are many more shlokas where we cannot in any way
infer what results will accrue from a mantra-japam of the
shloka. 

To be Continued

Thus spake the Paramacharya
praNAms to all advaitins and devotees of Mother Goddess
profvk


=====
Prof. V. Krishnamurthy
My website on Science and Spirituality is http://www.geocities.com/profvk/
You can  access my book on Gems from the Ocean of Hindu Thought Vision and Practice,  and my father R. Visvanatha Sastri's manuscripts from the site.