SAUNDARYA LAHARI
VERSE 40
MANIPURA CHAKRA (MEANS "JEWELED CITY")
A REALISTIC CANCELLATION, TRAGEDY
तटित्वन्तं शक्त्या तिमिर-परिपन्थि-स्फुरणया
स्फुर-न्ना नरत्नाभरण-परिणद्धेन्द्र-धनुषम् ।
तव श्यामं मेघं कमपि मणिपूरैक-शरणं
निषेवे वर्षन्तं-हरमिहिर-तप्तं त्रिभुवनम्
tatitvantam saktya timiraparipanthi sphuranaya
sphurannana ratnabharana prinaddhendra dhanusam
tava syamam megham kam apin manipuraika saranam
niseve varsantam haramihira taptam tribhuvanam
sphurannana ratnabharana prinaddhendra dhanusam
tava syamam megham kam apin manipuraika saranam
niseve varsantam haramihira taptam tribhuvanam
As found in certain contemplatives who take full refuge in your Manipura,
I adore that dark cloud of yours as traversed by forceful lightning,
Banishing darkness and shining, bursting into sparks with the varied gem-decked maturity of Indra's bow;
While over the three worlds agonized by the heat of Shiva-sun, it sheds its showering waters..
I adore that dark cloud of yours as traversed by forceful lightning,
Banishing darkness and shining, bursting into sparks with the varied gem-decked maturity of Indra's bow;
While over the three worlds agonized by the heat of Shiva-sun, it sheds its showering waters..
In Verse 40 we find a description of a cloudburst in a thunderstorm, familiar to anybody in any part of the world. The name Manipura adds to the real event pictured with a slight embellishment, to the minimum required as a literary flourish. Mani means “precious gem”, and pura means “fullness”. Thus Manipura suggests a plenitude of gems.
The sky and the stars have been compared to a box of gems by other philosophers, including Kant. The jewel box is the counterpart of the sky, especially when beautiful shining gems are displayed against a dark background which could stand for the box, sometimes described as made of ebony, as in Verse 94. A rainbow that could dominate a dark cloud is one of the most beautiful of natural sights which could make the heart of the beholder, young or old, leap up in joy. If we put a circle around such a picture and insert streaks of lightning, accompanied by thunder, we have all the parts that make up a Chakra or Adhara, even in the world of natural phenomena. Nothing need be left to the imagination. Lightning traverses a cloud at right angles as a rule, and if we treat ramifications in it as incidental, we get as between the lightning and thunder a vertical link or parameter, of which the dark cloud itself could be considered the body, while thunder and lightning together constitute its soul.
Thunder descends while lightning ascends to meet it or vice-versa. The principle of action and retroaction is somewhere implied in this situation. Rain is a double blessing that descends onto terra firma, and all living beings welcome it with gratitude. It blesses him that gives and him that takes, as Shakespeare puts it more dialectically. Let us now examine the implications of the expressions in this verse.
1. “Certain contemplatives” (kam api)
This reference is to suggest that not all contemplatives will arrive at the full understanding of this vision of Absolute Beauty. Most contemplatives are likely to make a personal fetish of their own approach to the high value of the Absolute, thus having a tendency to remove such a value by abstraction and generalization from everyday reality. Sankara, being true to the spirit of the Brahma Sutras on which he has profusely commented, is conscious of this tendency to fetishism. He therefore underlines that an actual cloudburst or thunderstorm could contain elements of wonder and overwhelming beauty adequate to give significant content to the notion of the highest of absolutes.
This reference is to suggest that not all contemplatives will arrive at the full understanding of this vision of Absolute Beauty. Most contemplatives are likely to make a personal fetish of their own approach to the high value of the Absolute, thus having a tendency to remove such a value by abstraction and generalization from everyday reality. Sankara, being true to the spirit of the Brahma Sutras on which he has profusely commented, is conscious of this tendency to fetishism. He therefore underlines that an actual cloudburst or thunderstorm could contain elements of wonder and overwhelming beauty adequate to give significant content to the notion of the highest of absolutes.
In full-fledged Vedanta nothing real is to be explained away in favour of mathematical or schematic abstractions. There is nothing to be added or subtracted from the Real, as it is in itself, when it is properly understood in the light of Sankara's Advaita Vedanta.
2. “Traversed by forceful lightning” (tatitvantam saktya)
Lightning traversing a dark cloud suggests at once that it cuts through the cloud at right angles. Thus, as we have already said, the vertical parameter and its positive and negative aspects have been inserted into the Chakra as an important linking relational feature.
Lightning traversing a dark cloud suggests at once that it cuts through the cloud at right angles. Thus, as we have already said, the vertical parameter and its positive and negative aspects have been inserted into the Chakra as an important linking relational feature.
3. “Varied gem-decked maturity” (nana ratnabharana parinatam)
A rainbow seen in the sky is sometimes faint and sometimes clear. Sometimes, above a rainbow a second, fainter rainbow can be distinguished. The fainter colours of the second rainbow, which are inverted in spectral order by double refraction, would justify the aptness of the term “maturity” as employed here. A rainbow could suggest fireworks, especially when we think of the chemical elements, which represent colours of the spectrum according to the periodic law. Such stars as white dwarfs and red giants could be thought of as having their elemental peculiarities, as could different coloured gems.
A rainbow seen in the sky is sometimes faint and sometimes clear. Sometimes, above a rainbow a second, fainter rainbow can be distinguished. The fainter colours of the second rainbow, which are inverted in spectral order by double refraction, would justify the aptness of the term “maturity” as employed here. A rainbow could suggest fireworks, especially when we think of the chemical elements, which represent colours of the spectrum according to the periodic law. Such stars as white dwarfs and red giants could be thought of as having their elemental peculiarities, as could different coloured gems.
The implications of the term “maturity” (parinata) have been explained previously under Verse 38. The rainbow has been named in the various vernaculars of India by popular agreement as the bow either of the God of Love, Kama, or the King of the Gods, Indra. When attributed to Indra it has a more absolutist status, because Indra is the chief of all the gods.
4. “The three worlds” (tribhuvanam)
Physiographically, we cannot think of rain moistening three worlds, but contemplative cosmology permits of three levels of value called “bhur, bhuvah, svah” (earth, mind-region and heaven). Bhuvar loka represents the intermediate world of air between bhur loka and svar loka, which represent terrestrial and celestial regions, respectively. Modern cosmology admits of millions of miles of empty space between our own planetary system and that of the truly celestial bodies in the Milky Way or in other galaxies. The principle of heat and the principle of cold prevail, not only physiographically, but also in the large extended cosmology known to modern physics, which talks of black and white holes, matter and anti-matter etc.
Physiographically, we cannot think of rain moistening three worlds, but contemplative cosmology permits of three levels of value called “bhur, bhuvah, svah” (earth, mind-region and heaven). Bhuvar loka represents the intermediate world of air between bhur loka and svar loka, which represent terrestrial and celestial regions, respectively. Modern cosmology admits of millions of miles of empty space between our own planetary system and that of the truly celestial bodies in the Milky Way or in other galaxies. The principle of heat and the principle of cold prevail, not only physiographically, but also in the large extended cosmology known to modern physics, which talks of black and white holes, matter and anti-matter etc.
5. “Shiva-sun” (hara mihira)
The sun is the source of energy in our solar system. As a logical consequence it must necessarily have a negative counterpart at an opposite limiting pole, by virtue of which the energy gained is balanced by an equal loss, in order to maintain the equilibrium of the cosmos. “Shiva-sun” marks the Omega Point limit of the total situation as a source of positive energy. Modern theoretical terms like entropy and negentropy justify such notions.
The sun is the source of energy in our solar system. As a logical consequence it must necessarily have a negative counterpart at an opposite limiting pole, by virtue of which the energy gained is balanced by an equal loss, in order to maintain the equilibrium of the cosmos. “Shiva-sun” marks the Omega Point limit of the total situation as a source of positive energy. Modern theoretical terms like entropy and negentropy justify such notions.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS WITH STRUCTURAL DIAGRAMS RELATED TO THIS VERSE FROM SAUNDARYA LAHARI/NOTES.
WORD FOR WORD
Tati tvantam shaktya - as traversed forcefully by lightning flash
Timira pari panthi sphuranaya - darkness banishing and bursting into sparks
Sphuran nana ratna bharana - with bright-lit varied gem-set jewels
Parinad dhendra dhanusham - matured into the form of Indra's bow
Tava shyamam megham - Your dark cloud
Kam api manipura ika sharanam - as found in certain contemplatives who take full refuge in Your Manipura
Nisheve - I supplicate before
Varshanatam - as it pours down in rain
Hara mihira tapatam tribhuvanam - while over the three worlds agonised by the heat of Shiva-sun
Manipura is the Chakra where the terrible thunder and lightning comes..
The three worlds are burning, but a cloudburst occurs.
Waters fall on the parched countryside.
Waters fall on the parched countryside.
In the Manipura Chakra: "With great force, having the power of lightning - those rays which are the enemy of darkness...."
The rainbow is a manifestation of the power of the Devi.
The rainbow is a manifestation of the power of the Devi.
Your Manipura is called "dark" because it is more ontological.
Thus, the burning earth is cooled and allowed to exist - the three worlds are preserved.
Thus, the burning earth is cooled and allowed to exist - the three worlds are preserved.
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They burn by the joint glance of the Devi and Shiva's anger.
There is a paradox here between fire and water.
There is a paradox here between fire and water.
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Manipura Chakra - the Numerator factor is less strong here - although the black cloud is pregnant with the enemy of darkness - lightning.
Lightning has a rainbow which is Indra's bow.
Lightning has a rainbow which is Indra's bow.
(In Hindu mythology, the rainbow is called Indra's Bow (Sanskrit: indradhanus) ED)
"I worship the man who meditates on the Manipura..."
The Numerator heat of burning is balanced by cooling rain.
Manipura Chakra appears here, it is the second from the bottom.
The function here has to be reversed.
There are two poles in a magnet, although the magnet is the same.
At the lower level, there is the fire of destruction.
There are different levels on which you can live or die.
Here we see black clouds which shower rain on the earth when the Devi looked at them with Her dark cloud-like eyes.
This verse takes place in the Manipura Chakra, and the Devi, by Her dark, cloud-like eyes, cools the hot earth.
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There is a rainbow here, beset with gems, and there is lightning and there is a dark cloud.
All of these functions are put into the Manipura Chakra.
All of these functions are put into the Manipura Chakra.
There is a dark cloud on the one hand and a light principle of lightning with a glorious rainbow on the other.
Everything in this Chakra is one degree removed from earth, which is represented by the lowest Chakra, Muladhara.
But the Chakra must reflect the Absolute - all Chakras must reflect the same Absolute.
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With great force, there is a flash of lightning which abolishes the darkness.
Picture a dark cloud, with a vertical streak of lightning which counters darkness.
Then Indra is brought in with the rainbow, this is to supply the Numerator to the Denominator of rain.
The dark cloud is horizontal,
The lightning is vertical.
Indra is the numerator aspect of the rain.
When the vertical lightning is most vertical, it counters the darkness and the resultant is a rainbow.
Now, given these three factors, Sankara will have to put them together.
A man who is engaged in meditation of a certain kind will see the following two things here, a dark cloud and a principle of light.
Why do you want the jeweled bow of Indra?
Certain persons, not everyone, can meditate with this structure in mind.
Sankara is worshipping this man.
The pundits simply do not know the meaning of the words, they are just writing from reference books.
- Up to the point where lightning strongly counters darkness
- By its brightness
- Expressing itself through varied gems
- By its brightness
- Expressing itself through varied gems
This text was jealously guarded by the pundits, as containing secrets which they did not wish to reveal.
Kumaran Asan translated it into Malayalam - which was a bold thing to do, but he did not put in the final touches.
Three worlds are being burnt by Hara Mihira - Shiva's Sun
NOTE: SHIVA IS NOT LINKED WITH THE SUN IN ANY OF THE PURANAS.
(Puranas - ancient texts dealing with legends and mythology)
This does not occur anywhere in the Hindu Pantheon.
The temple at Mukambika is the centre of Devi worship, in Kollur, Karnataka, South India.
Tati tvantam shaktya - "as traversed forcefully by lightning flash" or "as traversed by forceful lightning".
Tatitvantum means "possessing lightning": who is this God?
Tatitvantum means "possessing lightning": who is this God?
(Not clear to us. ED)
Someone is adoring the cloud in this verse, because, at the Manipura, near the lowest Chakra, Muladhara (earth), we are descending and have passed fire already.
Epistemology - there is no hierarchy of truth within the matrix of the Absolute.
(See the Monadology of Leibniz)
(i.e. all the Chakras are equal in truth or value - they are all cancellations on the vertical axis, but at different levels between the positive and negative poles. Each Chakra is a monad and is complete in itself.
According to Leibniz, the universe is entirely filled with tiny Monads, which cannot fail, have no constituent parts and have no windows through which anything could come in or go out. Every Monad is different and is continuously changing. All simple substances or Monads might be called Entelechies, for they have in them a certain perfection and a certain self-sufficiency.
Entelechy:
1. In the philosophy of Aristotle, the condition of a thing whose essence is fully realized; actuality.
2. In some philosophical systems, a vital force that directs an organism toward self-fulfillment. ED)
Here, we approach the earth, but we cannot give Her a second-rate, earthly beauty.
If the Denominator is earthly, like a black cloud (ontology), we insert into that cloud the Shiva principle in the form of a streak of terrible numerator lightning which is "...strong by dispersing darkness" or "Banishing darkness and shining".
Somebody is meditating on the Devi at a certain level, or Chakra.
Chakras are like directions, North, South, East or West; they are for the guidance of the man who is meditating.
The lightning, the "enemy of darkness" cuts across the cloud.
Hypostatic and hierophantic come together in the form of the lightning and the cloud. Paradox is transcended.
The jeweled rainbow of Indra is there because we need a strong Numerator to cancel out the heavy black clouds.
There are three worlds, three phenomenal levels, in the total structure of the Absolute.
The worlds are burning and the rain comes and cools them off.
Here is a wonderful example of structuralism.
Another version:
TRANSLATION
- Having lightning
- Forcefully
- By the brilliance of the enemy of darkness
- Manifesting its light (as brilliance)
- With varied jewels set with gems
- Making up the bow of Indra (God of rain on the plus side)
- Your dull-grey coloured cloud
- Of whosoever
- One who treats your Manipura Chakra as one's sole refuge
- I worship as showering (shedding rain)
- What is heated up by the Shiva-sun (Hara Mihira)
- The triple world (one world is not enough for the contemplative)
(? illegible, ED.)
- Having lightning
- Forcefully
- By the brilliance of the enemy of darkness
- Manifesting its light (as brilliance)
- With varied jewels set with gems
- Making up the bow of Indra (God of rain on the plus side)
- Your dull-grey coloured cloud
- Of whosoever
- One who treats your Manipura Chakra as one's sole refuge
- I worship as showering (shedding rain)
- What is heated up by the Shiva-sun (Hara Mihira)
- The triple world (one world is not enough for the contemplative)
(? illegible, ED.)
Somebody is meditating on that Chakra - whatsoever it may be, in the following manner. If anyone can tell me the meaning of this, let him come.
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The Devi is cooling the whole of the negative side, which was burning.
Both the cloud and the lightning are being worshipped.
The sun alone cannot burn the three worlds - it needs a sun still higher, a Shiva-Sun, or Omega Point Sun.
Both the cloud and the lightning are being worshipped.
The sun alone cannot burn the three worlds - it needs a sun still higher, a Shiva-Sun, or Omega Point Sun.
Shakti, another name for the Devi, means a specific function or force, as opposed to that which is mathematical and noumenal.
If anyone has any objection to this, they should tell me.
I adore "that one" - this can be masculine or feminine, the meditator or the Devi.
If anyone has any objection to this, they should tell me.
I adore "that one" - this can be masculine or feminine, the meditator or the Devi.
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