[Advaita-l] Digest of Paramacharya's Discourses on Soundaryalahari(DPDS-15)

[Manikantan S]

Dear Sir,

It was very intersting to read the importance of guru
you have said here and the analogy was also very good.


You also started explaining the Meaning of "SounDarya
Lahari" , but abruptly ended with meaning of just one
ShloKa. 

It was like Showing a plate Full of Sweets to a hungry
fellow and just giving one sweet to him.

Sir , would you please explain the significance of
SoundaryaLahari in your next mail.

Hoping to read an intersting and enlightning article
from you

Thank you and forgive me if i have said something
wrong.


Manikantan S


--- "V. Krishnamurthy" <profvk at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Namaste
> Recall that  the entire contents of the Digest are
> from the
> Paramacharya’s ideas and words, except for my
> English rendering.
> Wherever he uses specific English words himself, I
> have drawn
> the attention of the reader to that fact. FOR NEW
> READERS of
> this series, it may be worthwhile to go back to  the
> Introduction  about the objective of this Digest and
> the Note on
> the Organization (both at advaitin Message No.18425;
> ambaa-L
> message no.5273; advaita-L message No.14046;
> Sadhana_shakti
> message no.334).Note also that when the Paramacharya
> uses the
> word 'Our Acharya' or 'The Acharya' he refers to Adi
> Sankaracharya.
> V. Krishnamurthy
> 
> A Digest of Paramacharya’s Discourses on
> Soundaryalahari -  15
> (Digest of pp.774-793 of Deivathin Kural Vol.6, 4th
> imprn)
> 
> 
> The printing press came as a revolution. And it
> became the order
> of the day for anybody to write on anything, publish
> it and put
> it in the hands of anybody. One of the earliest
> effects was that
> profound ideas got mundane interpretations in the
> hands of the
> uninitiated. As independent human beings each one
> felt that
> whatever strikes his mind is right and each one made
> his own
> interpretations. Neither the authors of books had
> the strength
> of practice behind them; nor the readers had any
> intention to
> try and experience  what they read. Several readers
> were just
> curious and nothing more.  Or they were interested
> in a
> so-called ‘academic research’ mostly for purposes of
> self-glorification and recognition in the material
> world. How
> can any spiritual benefit arise from these? 
> 
> Thus arose two major setbacks in the culture. The
> first one is
> that those who were traditionally equipped to do the
> upAsanAs
> and were also fit to do them, preferred the glamour
> of modern
> days to break off from their traditions. And the
> second one is
> that all and sundry took to these difficult upAsanAs
> without
> proper guru or training. It is not clear, I must
> confess, which
> is the major disaster.
> 
> I know that I may be criticised and commented that I
> have a
> ‘vested interest’ in saying all this. But having
> started to talk
> on Soundaryalahari publicly, I cannot but give you
> this warning.
> Let me conclude by saying that there is nothing
> wrong in
> approaching shAstras like Soundaryalahari as an aid
> to get
> Mother Goddess’s Grace and thereby to go upward in
> the spiritual
> ladder. It is enough you know that it is great. Just
> with that
> approach if you recite it, ambaal will give you the
> necessary
> mental strength and maturity to reach higher levels
> of
> spirituality. Automatically the ultimate object of
> realisation
> would also be obtained by Her anugraha.
> 
> The mantras and their esoteric meanings have to be
> safeguarded 
> like  nuclear secrets. If you really want to get
> them, approach
> the proper guru and if he thinks you have the
> requisite
> qualifications he will tell you. In this connection
> I will tell
> you an important matter. I am touching it, so that
> you may not
> ‘touch’ it ! The name Kundalini and all the
> associated cakras
> are being talked about by every one now, especially
> ever since
> Sir John Woodroffe wrote about ‘The Serpent Power’.
> I am not
> finding fault with him. I only thank him for
> bringing to light
> the fact that our ancients had great things to tell
> the world in
> spite of modern advances in science.  My only
> warning to you is
> that without a proper initiation no mantra or japam
> will help
> anybody. It is like having costly electrical and
> electronic
> equipment in your house without a  power connection.
> The same
> thing with these mantras and kundalinI yoga. Without
> the guru
> power they will not work.
> 
>  That is not the only thing. There is more in it.
> The power that
> comes through these electrical words of the mantras,
> can also
> give you a shock because you may not be properly
> insulated. Only
> when it comes from the guru, it gets properly
> secreted within
> bounds; if it exceeds the bounds, that is if the
> insulation is
> not there, it will only burn you ! My own suggestion
> to
> book-writers is that when they publish such things,
> let there be
> a popular edition which avoids the profound matters
> of mantra
> secret. And let there be a limited circulation book
> which does
> get into those secrets, but such ‘classified’ books
> must be made
> available only with the authorization of the proper
> guru. I
> think, from my platform,  it is my duty to say this.
>  
> Finally what is wanted is a rapport with the author.
> A devotee,
> a poet and a vidhushaka (the Royal Fool or Clown in
> the King’s
> Court) – these three have a great licence to do or
> write what
> they want. Of these our Acharya was both a devotee
> and a poet.
> So there is a bhakti-bhAva in everything he writes
> and there is
> also a poetic licence exhibited in pieces like the
> Soundaryalahari. In classical literature, there is
> always a
> respectable status for this freedom which a poetic
> or devotional
> piece enjoys. Of the many such licences we can refer
> here to
> nindA stuti (where you actually criticise the deity
> you are
> supposed to praise), praise one of the divine couple
> to the
> extent of bringing down the other of the pair and so
> on. If we
> look at these with a humility and an open mind for
> poetic
> exaggeration, we may also enjoy them. Now come to
> the first
> sloka.
> 
> Shiva is the husband and ambaal is the wife. It is
> only by Her
> power that even He moves – this is the content of
> the first
> sloka. One might ask: Just to boost up the glory of
> Mother
> Goddess does one have to descend to such a level as
> to bring God
> Himself to the level of saying that He is simply a
> nonentity? 
> The esoteric principle here is that the immutable
> Brahman
> expresses itself only by the unfolding of the
> cit-shakti. The
> poetic principle involved here is that the beloved,
> being the
> fair sex, is always to be given the credit and so
> ‘He moves only
> when She moves Him’ is also acceptable. Thus on both
> counts, the
> presentation is enjoyable.
> (To be continued).
> PraNAms to all advaitins and devotees of Mother
> Goddess.
> profvk
> 
> 
> 
=== message truncated ===


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