SAUNDARYA LAHARI
VERSE 90
VERTICAL ABSORPTION IN ABSOLUTE VALUES
ददाने दीनेभ्यः श्रियमनिश-माशानुसदृशीं
अमन्दं सौन्दर्यं प्रकर-मकरन्दं विकिरति ।
तवास्मिन् मन्दार-स्तबक-सुभगे यातु चरणे
निमज्जन् मज्जीवः करणचरणः ष्ट्चरणताम्
dadane dinebhyah sriyam anisam asanu sadrsim
amandam saundarya prakara makarandam vikirati
tavasmin mandara stabaka subhage yatu carane
nimajjan majjivah karana caranah sat caranatum
amandam saundarya prakara makarandam vikirati
tavasmin mandara stabaka subhage yatu carane
nimajjan majjivah karana caranah sat caranatum
Giving riches incessantly to the needy as required, and of its store of honey
Distributing plentifully sweetness around; into such a beauty
Of the celestial blossom of Your feet, immersed altogether,
Let my life go merged with legs and inner organs into six-footed bee-hood.
Distributing plentifully sweetness around; into such a beauty
Of the celestial blossom of Your feet, immersed altogether,
Let my life go merged with legs and inner organs into six-footed bee-hood.
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The 90th verse brings the two counterparts into closer integration so as to put the seal on them and close the subject, which still refers to the feet of the Goddess. We can see that a certain concession is made in this revised picture in favour of the teleological, rather than the ontological, but the unitive character of the values involved is intended to be maintained as a constant common to the series referring to the twin feet which began with Verse 84. The centre of interest can move lower or higher, but the Absolute Value-content is still maintained as a constant. The needy people are seen to be satisfied first, but the celestial values are also distributed all around without considerations of high or low. The cluster of celestial blooms is inserted, permitting different levels, high or low, within the scope or amplitude of values in the third line, and the ontological aspect has passed from the beauty that is worshipped into the self of the worshipper, who now compares himself to a six-footed insect, which is the bee that seeks the honey at the core of flower blossoms. The final term of spirituality is when the non-self aspect, which is to be objectively enjoyed; and the self aspect which is the enjoyer - distinguished as the bhogya and the bhokta by Vedantic tradition - are finally cancelled out to accomplish what is called sayujya (union or immersion of the relative into the Absolute). The devotee is so wholehearted in his bipolar affiliation that he goes to the extent of saying that his very life should be abolished so as to become merged in the absolute Value. The comparison to a bee is a favourite one. The individual personality of an aspirant could have three levels, each with two sides, representing the three karanas (inner instruments or organs) which are, psychologically: buddhi (intelligence), citta (relational mind) and ahankara (ego sense). Karana and carana are used together here. Karana represents the three instruments which we have just enumerated. Carana refers to the feet, such as those of an insect. Satcaranata means “insect-hood”.
The feet of an insect are outward organs of action; the three instruments are inner organs of understanding. Action and understanding are guided by the five senses and the mind, which are not mentioned here. This omission must be intentional, because it is the denominator status of the bee that can properly cancel out against the numerator factor of sense alteration, such as colour, smell, etc., applicable to the five senses and the mind. By the identity of interest in the content of the flower, the senses and the mind are, in effect, already cancelled, especially when the bee is sitting inside the flower after establishing a wholehearted bipolarity of relationship between enjoyer and enjoyed. What remains still to be absorbed or lost into the context of absolute Value, represented here by the beauty of the feet of the Goddess, are the inner organs and the three pairs of feet, making six (which is a specific characteristic of the zoological group called insecta).
Insect-hood is thus still to be cancelled out against the positive qualities of the flower, which it seeks wholeheartedly to enjoy. The suggested idea is that the aspirant is praying for a wholehearted cancellation between subjective and objective aspects of beauty, so that even life itself could be abolished in favour of what the absolute Value of the feet could represent. The limit of a wholehearted affiliation is thus marked by the favourite picture of a bee sucking honey within a flower, having values ranging from celestial to earthy without any duality between them. It is permitted here to think of a hierarchy of beautiful feet arranged tier on tier, touching both earthly and heavenly values in an ascending as well as a descending order, neutralized at every point of the scale.
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ADDITIONAL COMMENTS WITH STRUCTURAL DIAGRAMS RELATED TO THIS VERSE FROM SAUNDARYA LAHARI/NOTES.
This is Vedantic salvation, a vertical affiliation within a circle of horizontal interests.
WORD FOR WORD
Dadane - what confers
Dinebhyah - for poor people
Sriyam anisam - wealth incessantly
Asanu sa drsim - what is compatible with its corresponding desire
Amandam - with spontaneous generosity
Saundarya prakara makarandam - the collected honey of beauty
Vikirati tava - what radiant shines around
Asmin mandara stabaka subhage - amidst these clustering blossoms of the tree of heaven
Yati (yatu in Sanskrit) - let it attain
Carane nimajjan - having immersed within the (value represented by the) feet
Majjivah - my life
Karana caranah - having the senses (with mind) as feet
Sat caranatam - the likeness of the six-footed, bee-like insect
Dinebhyah - for poor people
Sriyam anisam - wealth incessantly
Asanu sa drsim - what is compatible with its corresponding desire
Amandam - with spontaneous generosity
Saundarya prakara makarandam - the collected honey of beauty
Vikirati tava - what radiant shines around
Asmin mandara stabaka subhage - amidst these clustering blossoms of the tree of heaven
Yati (yatu in Sanskrit) - let it attain
Carane nimajjan - having immersed within the (value represented by the) feet
Majjivah - my life
Karana caranah - having the senses (with mind) as feet
Sat caranatam - the likeness of the six-footed, bee-like insect
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Another version:
WORD FOR WORD
Dadane dine bhyah - giving to the needy
Shriyam anisham - wealth incessantly
Ashanu sadrshim - according to desire
Amandam - according to desire (plentifully and quickly)
Saundarya prakara makarandam - the honey of the celestial blossoms of beauty
Vikirati tava - what distributes all around Your
Asmin mandara stabaka subhage - into such a beauty of the cluster of celestial blooms
Yatu - let it attain
Charane nimajja - immersed into the feet
Maj jivah - my life
Karana charanah - the six organs (with mind) for feet
Shat charanatam - into six-footed bee-hood.
Dadane dine bhyah - giving to the needy
Shriyam anisham - wealth incessantly
Ashanu sadrshim - according to desire
Amandam - according to desire (plentifully and quickly)
Saundarya prakara makarandam - the honey of the celestial blossoms of beauty
Vikirati tava - what distributes all around Your
Asmin mandara stabaka subhage - into such a beauty of the cluster of celestial blooms
Yatu - let it attain
Charane nimajja - immersed into the feet
Maj jivah - my life
Karana charanah - the six organs (with mind) for feet
Shat charanatam - into six-footed bee-hood.
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Here, the author is making a bee enter a lotus with six limbs, corresponding to the breasts of a young girl, compared to the bulges on the forehead of an elephant in Verse 7 and the callosities on the Devi's knees from her kneeling in worship of Shiva, in Verse 82.
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There is bilateral symmetry, which is horizontal
There is transverse symmetry, which is vertical
There is transverse symmetry, which is vertical
The knob on the elephant's forehead is made of ectodermal hair. (see Verse 7)
A horn is made up of hair.
Sunlight is the origin of breast-milk.
A horn is made up of hair.
Sunlight is the origin of breast-milk.
(The milk-producing cells in the breasts are related to those which produce hair)
Either tautology or contradiction will result if you posit two realities.
Parity exists between left-handed and right-handed spin.
In the eddies from a boat, some are left- and some are right-handed.
In the eddies from a boat, some are left- and some are right-handed.
"Let us die like a bee immersed in the celestial bloom that is You".
The feet are below, at the lowest level of brightness; above are celestial blooms with blinding light.
At the central core of the value called the Absolute all that remains is the empty body of the insect with its 6 feet.
The feet are below, at the lowest level of brightness; above are celestial blooms with blinding light.
At the central core of the value called the Absolute all that remains is the empty body of the insect with its 6 feet.
The attraction between the bee and the honey is a vertical diving into the total situation, in which there is a cancellation between the personal and the universal soul.
This is the image chosen by the Rishis (sages).
Final salvation, sayujya, is only this: the tiny negative body of the bee is cancelled against a single positive drop of honey.
This is a favourite Vedantic example of cancellation, it is almost mathematical, excelling in the simplicity of its appeal.
At one level She gives benefits to the needy as needed or requested - not more.
At another level there is beauty radiating all around.
At the third level are clusters of celestial blooms at Her feet. (An ontological reference.)
At another level there is beauty radiating all around.
At the third level are clusters of celestial blooms at Her feet. (An ontological reference.)
Sankara wants salvation at the negative vertical Alpha Point, not in heaven, away from the common man.
I want to kill my individuality at a very ordinary level:
Buddhi, chitta and ahamkara (The intelligence, relational mind and ego-sense) can be absorbed in the interest of the subject called the Absolute; all that is left is the dry shell and the six legs of the bee.
In the past verses, Sankara has under-focused on the side of beauty, allowing the Devi to kick Shiva on the forehead.
Now he is going to start slowing down - turning off the gas.
Now he is going to start slowing down - turning off the gas.
Another version:
TRANSLATION
What confers
For poor people
Wealth incessantly
(the Devi will give that portion of the gold dollar that is asked for - if you do not ask, you will not get it)
According to what is desired
(what is compatible with its corresponding desire - this is known as Cartesian Ocasionalism)
With spontaneous generosity
(without hesitation - the Absolute happens with a bang - the Guru's love at first sight with a twelve year-old girl)
The collected honey of beauty
(like a flash of beauty or lightning)
Your radiantly bursting round (that which...)
(Illegible "....det these" ? ED)
For this celestial clustering blossom of the tree of heaven
("spray" - many flowers hanging together)
Let it attain (let the mind of the devotee attain the boon of entering the blooms)
Having immersed within the value represented by the feet
My life
Having the senses with mind as feet
(the five senses together with the mind as sixth)
Like the six-footed bee-like insect (having the likeness)
What confers
For poor people
Wealth incessantly
(the Devi will give that portion of the gold dollar that is asked for - if you do not ask, you will not get it)
According to what is desired
(what is compatible with its corresponding desire - this is known as Cartesian Ocasionalism)
With spontaneous generosity
(without hesitation - the Absolute happens with a bang - the Guru's love at first sight with a twelve year-old girl)
The collected honey of beauty
(like a flash of beauty or lightning)
Your radiantly bursting round (that which...)
(Illegible "....det these" ? ED)
For this celestial clustering blossom of the tree of heaven
("spray" - many flowers hanging together)
Let it attain (let the mind of the devotee attain the boon of entering the blooms)
Having immersed within the value represented by the feet
My life
Having the senses with mind as feet
(the five senses together with the mind as sixth)
Like the six-footed bee-like insect (having the likeness)
Let the man who is a true devotee enter into the feet of the Goddess like a bee enters into the lotus flower.
Brightness represents the essence of the beauty of the Devi.
There is a central lotus which includes all the other lotus flowers ("lotus" means an item of beauty; it could be beautiful women etc.)
Six senses are needed to perceive the flash of Absolute Beauty, like ambrosia.
The embodiment of the Devi - which is entered by the devotee in the same way that the six-footed bee enters into the heart or essence of the lotus.
"Let me become like the six-footed insect to enter into the normative essence of beauty represented by the essence of the centre of the lotus flower".
Sankara is summing up: "My life" is Sankara's signature.
The insect - the five senses represented in the sixth as a Denominator totality - enters into the lotus, five within the sixth. The stem represents the stem....(? ED).
(The manuscript breaks off after "stem". We might suggest that "stem" refers to the "mrinala tantu" - the finest central fibre of the lotus stalk, representing the most refined vertical axis, traditionally carried by swans in their beaks up to Manasarovar, the "mind lake" in the Himalayas. This image appears in many places in the Saundarya Lahari. The mrinala would represent, therefore, the pure vertical axis of value which signals the exalted status of the lotus into which the worshipper is engulfed and merged, This lotus is also the feet of the Devi - signalling that the highest value is also the denominator aspect of the Devi - Her feeet. ED)
Subject and object become one, beauty is the content and it is enough.
Enter within the philosophy - you can never have the totality by trying to deal with the parts of the whole by meditation.
This blessing is conferred only by Sanyasins.
One must not be in love with the Guru, but with the Goddess - "Let my life become merged into the Devi".
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