Advaita Vedanta

 

SAUNDARYA LAHARI

 

 

VERSE 80

FULL HORIZONTALITY WITH A THIN MIDDLE GROUND
RECIPROCITY BETWEEN HORIZONTAL DEVELOPMENT AND VERTICAL THINNESS
SPEED GLOWS - TIME SHRINKS
RECIPROCITY BETWEEN THE HORIZONTAL AND THE VERTICAL
THE LIMIT OF HORIZONTALITY IMPLIES THE LIMIT OF VERTICALITY

 

कुचौ सद्यः स्विद्य-त्तटघटित-कूर्पासभिदुरौ
कषन्तौ-दौर्मूले कनककलशाभौ कलयता ।
तव त्रातुं भङ्गादलमिति वलग्नं तनुभुवा
त्रिधा नद्ध्म् देवी त्रिवलि लवलीवल्लिभिरिव

 

O Goddess, having made Your twin breasts gain the beauty of gold pots,
Rubbing at the upper arms, bursting the bodice and presently perspiring,
The God of Love, now wanting to save your threefold waist from breaking, saying : "enough"
With three strands of a wild creeper, he presently binds.

 

kucau sadyah svidyat tata ghatitakurpasabhidurau
kasantau dormule kanaka kalasabhau kalayata
tava tratum bhangad alam iti valagnam tanu bhuva
triddha naddham devi trivali lavalivallibhir iva

 

The predicament found in Verse 79 is here presented in a slightly more accentuated form. Here, what makes the danger worse is not womanhood in itself, but the factor of eroticism personified, the god of love. Womanly nature in itself is not responsible for the exaggeration of certain tendencies that become accentuated at certain times within the scope of the total personality of the Goddess. When a mature mango drops to the ground, it is not considered an advantage from the standpoint of the tree itself. Horizontalization involves an accentuation of certain tendencies at the expense of others. If one should lop off the side branches of a tree, the main branch will gain in strength from the extra sap available for its growth upward. The pruning of trees implies the recognition of such a complementary principle of growth. In cultivating a frail plant, like a tomato, the intelligent gardener often clips away the side branches and retains the main one. When the plant becomes fully laden with fruit, the careful gardener supports the frail stem by binding it to a stick to keep it upright. The heavy weight of the fruit  might tend to snap the vertical stem, which is the disaster implied here.

 

The function of maternity is directly proportionate to the function of natural eroticism operating within the harmonized system of normal womanhood. Maternity is not a sin because of its libidinous implications. Sex is only a sin in the eyes of an angry God in the Garden of Eden, where it is referred to as a “forbidden fruit”. This does not mean that there is no place for an eroticism that is fully human and natural. The Bhagavad Gita allows for this by saying that when sex does not violate the norms of right conduct and is fully compatible with human nature in its basic tendencies, which it must share with all living beings, it is a kind of kama, or passion which is to be identified with the principle of the Absolute itself. This principle is repre­sented by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, who says, “I am myself pure passion of this kind” (VII: 11), thus taking away the sense of guilt from eroti­cism. Although Semitic and prophetic religions have denounced sex; in the “Song of Solomon”, erotic mysticism is seen to be allow­ed as it is in the “Gita Govindam”and other works openly based on erotic mysticism in India.

 

Krishna stealing the clothes of gopis (female cowherds) and hiding in the trees is a favourite Rajput theme emblazoned on tapestries which are still admired in modern drawing rooms in the West. Here, beauty is the subject, not sin. Thus, Eros is admitted as a sufficiently dignified functionary in this work, as we have already seen as early as Verses 5 and 6. In fact, there are two rival functions to be recognized here: one in charge of horizontalizing tendencies, and the other which is normal to womanhood. Eroticism can assert itself strongly or lightly in different types of women, in the same way that both Ganesa and Subrahmanya could escape the carnal aspect of life. In womanhood especially, the accentuation of vitalistic tendencies can never be considered as a drawback. No cow could be bad because it gives milk as a result of its vitalism. Jesus would not curse a fig tree except for its sterility. What is a virtue with Shiva need not necessarily be a virtue with Parvati.

 

We notice that the God of Love is the maker of the horizon­talized maturation of the two breasts, which are said to rub against the upper arms because of their fullness.

 

The bursting of the bodice is reminiscent of the nurse Peggotty in Dickens' "David Copperfield", whose buttons are said to be bursting each time she embraces the boy; so this is an old joke not unknown to English literature. Perspiration is also an indication of an extreme erotic state of mind, as referred to in Kalidasa's "Shakuntala". While, on one hand Kama accentuates horizontal “sin”; on the other,  he is much concerned about the danger of the waist snapping when overladen with heavy fruit. The beauty here consists of the delicate interplay between tragic and comic elements, neither of which is allowed to predominate and spoil the balance or harmony. Before the last straw enters into the situation which he himself induced horizontally, Kama steps in saying, “enough!”. In order to keep the stem from breaking he props it up and binds it with three strands of a wild creeper, so that it could still stand erect. The three strands represent the three levels through which verticality has to pass to transcend  the over-accentuation of any one of them. The way of transcending the three nature modalities (gunas) has been examined already in Verses 53 and 54. What applies there at a high level should also apply, by extrapolation, at the lower level of  the middle region of the waist. The gold pots under reference here are found also in Kalidasa's poetry in the context of watering plants to help their growth. Compared with ruby pots, these might suggest a lower position in the hierarchical scale of values. Here it is not solidity that counts, but the golden coloration or brightness (abha).

 

Bhagavad Gita, Chapter VII:

Verse 11

balam balavatam cha'ham
kamaraga vivarjitam
dharmaviruddho bhuteshu
kamo 'smi bharatarshabha

 

I am the strength of the strong, devoid of desire
and passion. In beings I am desire which is not
contrary, to righteousness (dharma) 0 Leader of
the Bharatas (Arjuna).

 

 

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ADDITIONAL COMMENTS WITH STRUCTURAL DIAGRAMS RELATED TO THIS VERSE FROM SAUNDARYA LAHARI/NOTES.

The positive over-generosity of life requires protection from the god of vitality.

 

Another version is:

 

Another version:

 

 

 

(Note the correspondence with Verse 69. ED)

 

 

 

Her two chidren are drinking milk from Her breasts:

Subrahmanya is in Ajna Chakra,