SAUNDARYA LAHARI
VERSE 47
THE TRAGIC CONTRADICTION BETWEEN THE BOWS OF EROS AND OF THE GODDESS
भ्रुवौ भुग्ने किञ्चिद्भुवन-भय-भङ्गव्यसनिनि
त्वदीये नेत्राभ्यां मधुकर-रुचिभ्यां धृतगुणम् ।
धनु र्मन्ये सव्येतरकर गृहीतं रतिपतेः
प्रकोष्टे मुष्टौ च स्थगयते निगूढान्तर-मुमे
bhruvau bhagne kincid bhuvana bhayabhanga vyasanini
tvadiye netrabhyam madhukara rucibhyam dhrtagunam
dhanur manye savyetarakara grhitam ratipateh
prakosthe mustau ca sthagayati nigudhantaram ume.
tvadiye netrabhyam madhukara rucibhyam dhrtagunam
dhanur manye savyetarakara grhitam ratipateh
prakosthe mustau ca sthagayati nigudhantaram ume.
Oh Uma, ever pained in concern for banishing the fear of all creatures,
And thus with eyebrows somewhat arched, with eyes of bee-like beauty below,
I surmise that they make up the bowstring for the bow
Of the Lord of Love, held by his other hand, his arm and fist hiding the middle part.
And thus with eyebrows somewhat arched, with eyes of bee-like beauty below,
I surmise that they make up the bowstring for the bow
Of the Lord of Love, held by his other hand, his arm and fist hiding the middle part.
We have explained that, in this second half of the work, Sankara depends more on constructing and superimposing new imagery on the beauty of the Goddess as given to the senses in a more primary sense.
Thus, we have seen that the twelve suns had to be fused into a ruby-coloured gem and that Indra´s bow was made to dominate such a gem in Verse 42.
"These sky-orbs (twelve), attained to rubyhood and pressed close together;
He who can praise thus your golden crown, o daughter of the snowy peak,
Would he not have then in his mind the impression of the bow of Indra,
When, by reflected glory, a slender crescent is produced by gems embedded therein"
In Verse 43, two sets of flowers had to occupy the same tresses of the Goddess.
"Let the blooming blue-lotus-forest of your thick, glossy and lustrous cluster of locks,
Oh consort of Siva, banish the darkness within us –
To gain whose natural fragrance the flowers of the garden of Indra
As I can guess, take their place within your tresses."
Oh consort of Siva, banish the darkness within us –
To gain whose natural fragrance the flowers of the garden of Indra
As I can guess, take their place within your tresses."
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The parted hairline became the prolongation of the vertical axis in Verse 44;
"May it bless us - the upsurging billow of the beauty of your face
Outflowing like unto a stream to resemble your parted hairline bedecked with vermilion dust,
Keeping apart the strong growth of tresses,
Held as if in bondage by an anti-darkness gang, to reveal the tender rays of dawn"
Outflowing like unto a stream to resemble your parted hairline bedecked with vermilion dust,
Keeping apart the strong growth of tresses,
Held as if in bondage by an anti-darkness gang, to reveal the tender rays of dawn"
while a row of honey-licking bees was suggested as a perimeter-like line of reference in Verse 45.
"Your face - exuding perfume as it gently smiles,
Having your bright teeth for filament, surrounded by your natural curls
Like so many reveling honey-licking bees, each the eye of the Burner of Eros
Puts to shame the beauty of the lotus."
Having your bright teeth for filament, surrounded by your natural curls
Like so many reveling honey-licking bees, each the eye of the Burner of Eros
Puts to shame the beauty of the lotus."
Two crescents were requisitioned again in Verse 46 so that, like brackets turned inversely, they could contain an Absolute Value, both real and imaginary at once.
"I fain would treat Your forehead, shining with radiant beauty,
A second crescent to that other frail one fixed to Your crown;
So that, reversed in position, both knit as one to one,
Results the form of a fully matured moon, emanating soft ambrosial essence."
A second crescent to that other frail one fixed to Your crown;
So that, reversed in position, both knit as one to one,
Results the form of a fully matured moon, emanating soft ambrosial essence."
This complex metaphor, developed stage by stage, is carried over here into Verse 47 and the same structural pattern is to be respected in the remaining verses, the evidence of which will be found explicitly in Verses 58 and 59.
Verse 58:
"The two sets of curved limiting lines of Yours, O Daughter of the King of Mountains,
Who is it that will not fancy them as the bow of the Flower-Arrowed One;
Where, placed obliquely, and reaching beyond the path of hearing,
As it shines, adhering to Your side-glances, it gives the impression of the fixing of the arrow."
Who is it that will not fancy them as the bow of the Flower-Arrowed One;
Where, placed obliquely, and reaching beyond the path of hearing,
As it shines, adhering to Your side-glances, it gives the impression of the fixing of the arrow."
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Verse 59:"This, Your face, I consider Kama's chariot with four wheels,
As seen when Your ear ornaments are reflected on Your shining cheeks;
Surmounting which that great hero, Kama, assails the Lord of Hosts,
Who, with sun and moon for foothold, mounting the globe for chariot, is fully ready to give him battle."
The darts of the God of Love that can pierce the hearts of persons involved in an erotic world of love are an image not peculiar only to Sanskrit literature. The celebrations of Saint Valentine´s Day, as known to the West, use the same imagery. Eroticism is the natural setting for the appreciation of beauty. Masculine beauty and feminine beauty belong to the same context of Absolute Beauty. Shiva represents the eternal masculine aspect while Parvati represents the eternal feminine. The function or operation of love has to have its instruments. Statically viewed, we get only non-living perspectives, as in the case of physiology studied by the dissection of dead bodies. The functioning of the living nerves comes to light only when we examine living bodies. This distinction could be said to be the same as that which can be assumed to exist between psychostatics and psychodynamics. Here the static picture has first to be understood in dim outline on the basis of this given empirically-based picture and it is for us to superimpose another picture, more mathematically understood. There are subtle parameters and perimeters to be kept in mind if we are to visualize Absolute Beauty with all its living or dynamic implications. This is a difficult task and any poet or author who can take up this challenge will have to respect the rules or norms of both mathematics and mysticism at the same time.
One could look at the locomotive of any express train and recognize the cylinder, piston rod and big weighted engine wheels, as the train starts or slows down. Instead of watching the engine from the platform, from inside the compartment one could feel the jolting alternating movements in terms of one´s own life movement. One could sympathize with eyes shut, establishing a bipolar sympathy between the engine and its troubles on the one hand and keeping steady in one´s seat on the other. We have to superimpose on the mechanical picture another dynamic structural image in which movement is understood by empathic intuition. Thus we can have two pictures which we treat with a certain degree of subjectivity, without which they would refuse to belong together or make any meaning. These are some of the requirements for understanding this verse and the many that follow. The laws of nature could be treated in the form of propositions or predications, or we could use the language of graph paper. Every formula has its corresponding graph; the graph verifies the formula and vice-versa.
Sankara is faced with the task of revealing the dynamism of Absolute Beauty. In the first half of the verse, we notice that it is not just erotic love that is the basis of the emotional life reflected in the face of the Goddess. Her eyebrows are said to be slightly arched. Because Shiva represents the positive side of the process of universal becoming, the Goddess has to represent the negative counterpart of the same function. If Shiva is the God of the universe, it follows that Parvati is the Goddess who ensures that all living creatures have the chance of a more abundant life. She does not love one creature more than another. This absolute Love at the basis of her eroticism is not a mere preference for her husband. God is good and generous, while being the principle of light or intelligence. The Quran insists in bringing these two aspects of generosity and logical truth together in every one of its chapters by the epithets rahman and rahim, which are to be repeated together before each chapter is read. The kindness of God or his goodness could be understood as an adjective or as a noun, as when we say “God is good” or “God is Goodness itself”. The predicative and nominative aspect belong to the same Absolute Value represented by Shiva and Parvati, thought of as one non-dual life-value, which was the starting postulate from the very first verse of this work. The duality between the functions of Shiva and Parvati, if it comes into evidence here and there in these verses, is meant to be for purposes of discussion only and the intelligent reader must cancel out these dialectical functions in terms of Absolute Beauty, of which the Goddess is a more fitting custodian than the God. However, the same Beauty could be discussed from a perspective more pronouncedly in favour of Shiva, as has been done by Sankara in the conjugate of this composition, the “Shivananda Lahari”. The arched eyebrows constitute the perimeter indicating the concern and anxiety of the Goddess. Her beauty is enhanced by such a concern for living beings.
No beauty can be said to exist without somebody to enjoy it. The rows of bees as a bowstring represent a parameter with is related to the perimeter of the bow. The analogy becomes more apt when we know that the bow of Kama (Eros) is not merely one of wood or metal but consists of all the best flowers of the season. The desire of the bees to drink the honey of such a beautiful rainbow-like festival of flowers develops a vertical tension between the two counterparts, viewed in abstracted and generalized terms. If there is no summer, there is no lovemaking, and the cuckoos cannot mark the arrows flying between the two sides that represent the highly emotional state of mystical eroticism. We have to imagine in this verse the arrow which the right hand of the God of Love is supposed to be secretly fixing onto the bowstring. This part is hidden by the left fist and the forearm with the elbow, which together mark the nose-ridge and centre of the eyebrows. One can pull the string downward along this line with more or less force, depending upon the tension belonging to the situation. Psychodynamic aspects become revealed in this manner. To try to describe them through definitions or predications would only give us various static clichés, instead of the real process with all its vitalistic implications. The bow could be fixed vertically when aimed toward Shiva at the Omega Point, or it could be aimed horizontally through the side glances of the Goddess, when and if she condescends to grant her grace to some supplicant like Vishnu or Kama, or even Sankara, all of whom are mentioned as votaries of Absolute Beauty in the different verses of this work. In Verse 75 and again in Verse 98, Sankara himself prays for this kind of horizontal side-glance recognition from the Devi. Vishnu does the same more directly in Verse 5, and Kama triumphs over the world because of the same light falling on his body from the Devi´s side-glance in Verse 6. We have to notice also that the eyes of the Goddess are sometimes compared to bees in a row and sometimes to highly active bees that are agitated because of the absolute compassion or love which constitutes their motivating function in the context of the Absolute. In Verse 45 the Devi´s eyes were seen to be interchangeable with those of Shiva, because he, as her husband, is the final enjoyer of the Beauty of the lotus face of his beloved.
One could ask here how two eyes could form a string for a bow. The two eyebrows have to be joined together in the imagination and the horizontal movements of the two eyes are to be seen intuitively as the string, completing the picture which poetic convention, respected by a long line of Sanskrit poets, permits. The line could be hyperbolic or parabolic, an incomplete conic section - like a comet´s orbit round the sun - when the bowstring is pulled downward, but it is not necessary to suppose any such intention in the image presented here. A normalized concern, uniformly maintained, is all that we have to associate with this picture.
The eyebrows are somewhat, but not fully, arched. If they were fully arched, it would imply some conflict or dissension. As they are only somewhat arched, it is not personal passion with its preference that is to be supposed, but rather a general state of pity or mercy, called miséricorde in French.
To understand the phrase “bee-like beauty” we must understand that a bee has to look at something, because its function is intimately connected with beauty.
The use of the name “Uma” as the Goddess here, means that she has no equal or rival. Uma is very superior, the nearest to the Brahman of Vedanta. She is the one in charge of all life functions, and is not limited to the Tantric context of falling in love with her beauty, as corrected here by Sankara.
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ADDITIONAL COMMENTS WITH STRUCTURAL DIAGRAMS RELATED TO THIS VERSE FROM SAUNDARYA LAHARI/NOTES.
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If you understand a woman, if you really understand a woman, you understand God.
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The bent eyebrows of the Devi are like the curves of a bow; when held by the left hand of Eros ("His other hand...") they represent Her compassion for the whole world.
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Her eyes show some libidinous emotion.
The left hand of Eros holds the bow at the bridge of Her nose.
Her eyebrows begin to quiver with compassion..
The left hand of Eros holds the bow at the bridge of Her nose.
Her eyebrows begin to quiver with compassion..
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The eyes are black, negative and tragic, they are like bees.
They are filled with tears.
They are filled with tears.
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Compassion stems from the libidinous essence of the Devi
- it sublimates into compassion for the whole of humankind.
Compassion stems from the libidinous essence of the Devi
- it sublimates into compassion for the whole of humankind.
TO MAKE A FILM:
There are two processes to depict this verse in a film:
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When a woman looks into a mirror, she sees God.
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Have the Devi go into the boudoir and look at herself in the mirror with her eyebrow pencil - then reduce and fade
- suddenly reduce it into a cubist picture, or Chinese impressionism.
- suddenly reduce it into a cubist picture, or Chinese impressionism.
You can go from realism to surrealism.
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From there the arrow appears and Eros enters.
The face, instead of glowing, becomes Mandalas and lotus petals, as in the previous 40 verses.
The face, instead of glowing, becomes Mandalas and lotus petals, as in the previous 40 verses.
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Then between the eyes comes a burst of light.
Eros must be introduced in the beginning of the film, so that onlookers may be... (manuscript text ends here).
Eros must be introduced in the beginning of the film, so that onlookers may be... (manuscript text ends here).
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The Devi has a guide in Eros who is available to fight for the Devi against Shiva or anyone else.
As long as Eros is on the vertical axis, he is safe from being burnt by Shiva (as by an electric current).
But if he crosses the vertical at right angles to the current, then he is in trouble - just as in electricity, where magnetism is also at right angles.
As long as Eros is on the vertical axis, he is safe from being burnt by Shiva (as by an electric current).
But if he crosses the vertical at right angles to the current, then he is in trouble - just as in electricity, where magnetism is also at right angles.
A popular print of Shiva burning Kamadeva.
.The bow of Eros is at the eyes: the eyes are generally pure windows, but the Devi is not pure and conceptual;
She says: "You fool! Don't you know my function? I am a baby-protector and feeder, thus I must have this bow and arrow!"
She says: "You fool! Don't you know my function? I am a baby-protector and feeder, thus I must have this bow and arrow!"
(See the bottom of this page for a descripion of the burning of Eros. ED)
(The Devi is not an abstract concept like Shiva; She needs the horizontalizing factor of Eros' arrow to fulfill Her role as kind mother of the Universe and as Absolute Beauty - Karuna (kindness) and Aruna (magenta). ED)
The eyebrows bend slightly, like bows, when a beautiful woman is crying.
The bowstring passes through the eyes.
She is concerned about the fear of created things, wishing to preserve their lives.
The eyebrows vibrate with emotion as the bowstring of Eros vibrates on firing the arrow.
The bowstring passes through the eyes.
She is concerned about the fear of created things, wishing to preserve their lives.
The eyebrows vibrate with emotion as the bowstring of Eros vibrates on firing the arrow.
Eros is responsible for this - that is, the primary motivation can be due to an erotic tendency playing on the emotion of the Goddess.
She is only capable of emotion when it touches the whole of humanity.
The verse just suggests bent eyebrows - She is about to cry - but she is not crying; however, the eyebrows are vibrating.
An arrow is about to be shot at someone.
There is bilateral symmetry here: you can put the right hand of Kama Deva (Eros) there, in the middle.
(Bilateral symmetry:a basic body plan in which the left and right sides of the organism can be divided into approximate mirror images of each other along the midline. ED)
The Sanskrit reads: "with the other hand".
Anyway, when you pull the bowstring, the bow vibrates slightly, like the eyebrows of the Devi, in infinite compassion.
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Another version:
TRANSLATION
- The pair of eyebrows, slightly bent.
- Of thine, sorrowfully concerned with the banishment of fear from all living beings.
- By Her eyes (here it is not dual: "a pair", implying 2 eyes - but plural).
- Like the brilliant beauty of bumblebees (a row of bumblebees is the string).
- Gaining a bowstring.
- I assume to be the bow.
- Of that counterpart of love, which is the other of the pair. (Parity, but not primacy).
- Forearm and fist alone.
- When it hides - hidden inside.
- O Goddess - Umé. (O Uma)
- The pair of eyebrows, slightly bent.
- Of thine, sorrowfully concerned with the banishment of fear from all living beings.
- By Her eyes (here it is not dual: "a pair", implying 2 eyes - but plural).
- Like the brilliant beauty of bumblebees (a row of bumblebees is the string).
- Gaining a bowstring.
- I assume to be the bow.
- Of that counterpart of love, which is the other of the pair. (Parity, but not primacy).
- Forearm and fist alone.
- When it hides - hidden inside.
- O Goddess - Umé. (O Uma)
There is a certain parity between right and left hand
- why does he not indicate which hand?
And why does he say "the husband of the Goddess of Love"?
Because this is important to the total structure in the mind of Sankara.
He is saying: "the counterpart hand" - no left or right is indicated, rather, simply, "the other".
Thus an extraneous horizontal factor is hiding the Absolute to a certain extent.
- why does he not indicate which hand?
And why does he say "the husband of the Goddess of Love"?
Because this is important to the total structure in the mind of Sankara.
He is saying: "the counterpart hand" - no left or right is indicated, rather, simply, "the other".
Thus an extraneous horizontal factor is hiding the Absolute to a certain extent.
(This seems to mean that, just as there is an implied reference to two hands as horizontal counterparts, there is a reference to Kamadeva as the horizontal counterpart of his wife. There is a structural diagram that could illustrate this better, but we are not certain at this point of how it should look. We may be bold enough to produce one later, after more thought. ED)
Why does She have bent eyebrows? Because She is concerned for Her children.
Two bows are seen in the face of the Goddess, one vertical and one horizontal, with arrows at right angles.
Two bows are seen in the face of the Goddess, one vertical and one horizontal, with arrows at right angles.
This is the same as the Michelson - Morley experiment with the Fitzgerald contraction and Lorentz transformation.
(A diagram of the Michelson-Morley experiment, showing the two mirrors which the Guru here compares to the two bows of Eros - one horizontal, one vertical. ED)
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"Bent eyebrows": show the two bows with laser technique.
"Your cheap eroticism is not good for my children, go away with your cheap jokes."
"Your cheap eroticism is not good for my children, go away with your cheap jokes."
She approves of eroticism only up to a point - here she is "somewhat" angry, she is more on the side of Shiva at this level.
Eros wants to shoot an arrow in the opposite direction.
1 arrow of sympathy is horizontal,
1 arrow flies upwards to shoot Shiva,
There are 2 bows at right angles.
1 arrow of sympathy is horizontal,
1 arrow flies upwards to shoot Shiva,
There are 2 bows at right angles.
(With reference to special relativity, a subject suggested by the mention of Fitzgerald and Lorentz above, the diagram below may serve to illustrate the universal applicability of the schematism or structural methodology adopted in this work, inter alia. ED)
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(Below is an account of the incineration of Kama to familiarize the reader with the context of this verse:
(This is from a traditional myth, it is NOT Advaita Vedanta. ED)
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Shiva burns Kama.
Indra and the gods are suffering at the hands of the demon Tarakasura, who cannot be defeated except by Shiva's son. Brahma advises that Parvati must woo Shiva; their offspring will be able to defeat the Demon. Indra assigns Kamadeva to break Shiva's meditation. To create a congenial atmosphere, Kamadeva creates an untimely spring. He evades Shiva's guard, Nandin, by taking the form of the fragrant southern breeze, and enters Shiva's abode.
After he awakens Shiva with a flower arrow, Shiva, furious, opens his third eye, which incinerates Kamadeva instantaneously and turns him into ash. However, Shiva observes Parvati and asks her how he can help her. She enjoins him to resuscitate Kamadeva, and Shiva agrees to let Kamadeva live, but in a disembodied form, hence Kamadeva is also called 'Ananga' (an- = without; anga = body, "bodiless"). The spirit of love embodied by Kama is now disseminated across the cosmos: it affects Shiva whose union with Parvati is consummated. Their son Subrahmanya goes on to defeat the demon.
The attributes of demigod Kamadeva are as such: his companions are a cuckoo, a parrot, humming bees, the season of spring, and the gentle breeze. All of these are symbols of spring season, when his festival is celebrated as Holi, Holika or Vasanta.