SAUNDARYA LAHARI
VERSE 41
THE MULADHARA CHAKRA: MEANS "ROOT"
तवाधारे मूले सह समयया लास्यपरया
नवात्मान मन्ये नवरस-महाताण्डव-नटम् ।
उभाभ्या मेताभ्या-मुदय-विधि मुद्दिश्य दयया
सनाथाभ्यां जज्ञे जनक जननीमत् जगदिदम्
tavadhare mule saha samayaya lasya paraya
navatmanam manye navarasa maha tandava natam
ubhabhyam etabhyam udayavidham uddisya dayaya
sanathabhyam jajne janakajananimaj jagad idam
navatmanam manye navarasa maha tandava natam
ubhabhyam etabhyam udayavidham uddisya dayaya
sanathabhyam jajne janakajananimaj jagad idam
I meditate on your new self, as placed at your Muladhara, together with Samaya
Given to her light-step dance as also that great bold-step dancer;
Giving expression thereby to all nine aesthetic interests; thus by their joint lordship,
By mercy intending the rebirth of the world, they confer on it the renewed status of having both father and mother.
Given to her light-step dance as also that great bold-step dancer;
Giving expression thereby to all nine aesthetic interests; thus by their joint lordship,
By mercy intending the rebirth of the world, they confer on it the renewed status of having both father and mother.
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Verse 41 expressly refers by name to the conventionally recognized Muladhara Chakra. Already in Verse 9 the same Muladhara has been referred to as “earth”. There the Chakras were mentioned in an ascending order, starting with the Muladhara as the lowest, about which there seems to be sufficient agreement between textbooks of Yoga. Muladhara evidently has a firm ontological reference in the terra firma itself, so there is no room for ambiguity in the matter of fixing its epistemological status among the Chakras.
There are particular uncertainties to be noted about the actual number of Chakras to be officially admitted into our discussion for the purposes of this work. In Verse 9, counting the Chakras that have been named and structurally located in an ontologically biased phenomenological scheme, we find that the Sahasrara Padma (thousand-petalled lotus) figures as the upper limiting point, making seven Chakras in all. In the structure of the Sri Chakra, as described in Verse 11, we find the nine centres of prakrti or mulaprakrti (prime nature). If we now ask ourselves if there would be any objection to including a tenth, it becomes a fairly ambiguous matter to decide one way or the other. For purposes of structural symmetry, it would be easier, mathematically at least, to think of “five plus five” as making up the totality of the Chakras.
This is not, however, favoured by Sankara, who cannot be said to be without a sense of neatness in his mathematical abstractions and generalisations. Ten can be arrived at by adding one to nine, or nine by subtracting one from ten. When ascending dialectics is involved, adding one to nine would be normal, but in descending dialectics it would be normal to subtract one from ten. The demands of mechanistic symmetry are not the same as those of a truly structural symmetry which respects such factors as reciprocity and complementarity. As in the case of extras accompanying a football team, where the bigger number could be favoured; here the tendency toward numbers greater than the minimum required could not be taken as objectionable. Two extras for a match could reasonably accompany a team , even though they will not necessarily be employed in the match itself. Only one of them may be required in the normal course of events, but in principle the other is also necessary, though he will not usually actually enter into the game. A similar status has to be given to the limiting Chakra at the plus or minus ends, depending upon the contingency that might call for their entry into the game. There is an “either/or” option presented here, whether it is an ascending or a descending series with which we happen to be concerned. The status of the Sahasrara Chakra in Verse 9, which would make seven very tangible Chakras, is thus to be treated as an extra when we accept six as the normal basis. The Muladhara Chakra could similarly have a tenth one added to its negative limit. It is not difficult to recognize a certain methodological alternative choice implied in the enumeration of different Chakras in different textbooks, for which we have to make some allowance. By making such allowances we could recognize six basic Chakras, referred to ordinarily as the sad adhara or sad chakra. When Verse 9 and the present reference to Muladhara and five others are considered together (Verses 36 - 41), keeping in our minds the either/or ambiguities involved, it will be possible for us to justify the nine of mulaprakrti (prime nature) represented in the Sri Chakra itself. The word prakrti would suggest an ontological perspective rather than a teleological one. This does not mean that a teleological perspective has to be ruled out altogether, for both ascending and descending methods are equally permissible.
With these general remarks in our minds, if we should now scrutinize the chart attached (see Introductory Notes to Verse 36) and take into consideration the Chakras marked in each of the two Upanishads to which we have decided to give authoritative recognition for our purposes, it should be possible for us to recognize a certain interphysical and trans-subjective relationship between the two sets of Chakras, revealing a normalized pattern, which is always the same Sri Chakra.
Some have suggested that we could invert the Sri Chakra to obtain the Shiva (male) Chakra, but such an inversion is not called for, because Vedanta, at least with Sankara, gives primacy to ontological cause over teleological effect in its recognized methodology. A rope is more real than the idea of a snake superimposed on it. Existence must have primacy over essence, as even modern existentialists claim. Sense data cannot be explained away, and any philosophy that tends to such a form of idealism only discredits itself by having to contradict common sense at every stage of its speculation. Appearance might over-cover reality, but reality is not abolished thereby. Thus it is that the Sri Chakra calls the nine centres by the name mulaprakrti. Mula means “root” or “source”, and prakrti means “nature”. The ontological bias here is inevitable and necessary for a fully scientific approach. If a value called absolute beauty is to come within human experience at all, the eighth Chakra or Adhara could be added to or subtracted from the basic seven recognized in Verse 9 and could be named either Brahma Chakra or Brahma Randhra as seen in the two alternative Upanishads that we have used for reference (See the list of chakras under Verse 36). Thus the term astabandha (eight stable positions) sometimes used in connection with the installation of temple images could be justified in terms meaning “eight bonds”. One more detail remains to be clarified. In Verse 11 we have referred to four srikanthas, evidently referring to masculine deities used as a monomark. Any monomark having a numerator reference could be considered as masculine. In the present verse we find a reference to Shiva, as a masculine divinity, dancing with parity of status with a feminine divinity, although the Muladhara refers to a lower limit in the total situation. The masculine divinity here still has a numerator reference, just as in Verse 9 the female divinity is promoted to the seventh Chakra, beyond the Chakras known to the Kula path, which still has a denominator reference. “New” means that his reference is on the numerator side; while Samaya's reference is normal.
1. “Your new self” (navatmanam)
This must have an Omega Point reference and thus must imply a masculine Shiva, because the feminine is already represented by the other goddess called Samaya, who has a normal status with an ontological reference. Newness only implies that its reference is positive.
This must have an Omega Point reference and thus must imply a masculine Shiva, because the feminine is already represented by the other goddess called Samaya, who has a normal status with an ontological reference. Newness only implies that its reference is positive.
2. “Your Muladhara”
Each Chakra represents the totality of the Absolute in a normalized form in the context of beauty as a tangible reality. This reference in the second person singular is therefore justified. The word "Muladhara" still refers to the ontological or “source” side of the situation.
Each Chakra represents the totality of the Absolute in a normalized form in the context of beauty as a tangible reality. This reference in the second person singular is therefore justified. The word "Muladhara" still refers to the ontological or “source” side of the situation.
3. “Samaya”
The status of the goddess Samaya remains the same. Because the school of Samayins were not aware of the rival cancellable aspects, their approach was unilateral, immanent and within the scope of the three Gunas. A similar goddess is under reference in Verses 34, 37 and 39. According to the context, we have to give a legitimate status to each of these Samaya goddesses or divinities.
The status of the goddess Samaya remains the same. Because the school of Samayins were not aware of the rival cancellable aspects, their approach was unilateral, immanent and within the scope of the three Gunas. A similar goddess is under reference in Verses 34, 37 and 39. According to the context, we have to give a legitimate status to each of these Samaya goddesses or divinities.
4. “Her lasya Dance”
Lasya and Tandava are the two styles of dancing proper to feminine and masculine dancers, respectively. Tandava is characterized by a sinus curve that is vertical, like a frequency, while Lasya has a horizontal reference as in a wavelength. This distinction is well known in the Bharata Natyam school of classical Indian dance.
Lasya and Tandava are the two styles of dancing proper to feminine and masculine dancers, respectively. Tandava is characterized by a sinus curve that is vertical, like a frequency, while Lasya has a horizontal reference as in a wavelength. This distinction is well known in the Bharata Natyam school of classical Indian dance.
5. “All nine aesthetic interests” (navarasa)
The nine aesthetic interests could be multiplied by two, as applying to visual or auditory expressions in art. Basically, there are nine which apply to both.
The nine aesthetic interests could be multiplied by two, as applying to visual or auditory expressions in art. Basically, there are nine which apply to both.
6. “Joint lordship” (sanathabhyam ubabhyam)
A husband and wife could be considered as master and mistress. Thus, there is a kind of lordship, whether masculine or feminine, applied within the parity of status of the two divinities here. Vertically viewed, they are not husband and wife but father and mother. It is the grace or the sanction of the total Goddess that gives room for all these possibilities or probabilities.
A husband and wife could be considered as master and mistress. Thus, there is a kind of lordship, whether masculine or feminine, applied within the parity of status of the two divinities here. Vertically viewed, they are not husband and wife but father and mother. It is the grace or the sanction of the total Goddess that gives room for all these possibilities or probabilities.
7. “Intending the rebirth of the world” (udaya vidhim uddisya)
The rebirth is intended to be considered as taking place every split second. In Verse 55, the opening and shutting of the eyes represents creation and dissolution. Between the contradiction of opening and shutting the eyes, there is a purer process of becoming which knows no contraries; this has a third- or fourth-dimensional status which should not be mixed up with alternate creation and dissolution.
The rebirth is intended to be considered as taking place every split second. In Verse 55, the opening and shutting of the eyes represents creation and dissolution. Between the contradiction of opening and shutting the eyes, there is a purer process of becoming which knows no contraries; this has a third- or fourth-dimensional status which should not be mixed up with alternate creation and dissolution.
8. “Renewed status”
Renewed status implies that dissolution took place once, as understood in the idea of the great deluge (pralaya). Alternation of creation and dissolution can be viewed in the eternal present or as in an eternal moment. Plato's writings justify both these possibilities (Cf. “Parmenides” or “Timaeus”).
Renewed status implies that dissolution took place once, as understood in the idea of the great deluge (pralaya). Alternation of creation and dissolution can be viewed in the eternal present or as in an eternal moment. Plato's writings justify both these possibilities (Cf. “Parmenides” or “Timaeus”).
9. “Father and mother” (janaka jananimat)
Conferring parenthood implies the idea of having both father and mother, as opposed to being an orphan in respect of one or the other. The correct opposite; double orphanhood, which is anterior to this moment, is what is to be kept in mind here.
Conferring parenthood implies the idea of having both father and mother, as opposed to being an orphan in respect of one or the other. The correct opposite; double orphanhood, which is anterior to this moment, is what is to be kept in mind here.
(The above reference to a snake and a rope refers to the well-known Vedantic example of svarupa-adhyasa, which consists in superimposing an illusory (mithya) object on something real.
Example: Seeing a coiled rope as a snake, which is compared to the superimposing, through ignorance (avidya), of the empirical world upon Brahman, the Absolute. This is an example of a foundational error. ED)
Example: Seeing a coiled rope as a snake, which is compared to the superimposing, through ignorance (avidya), of the empirical world upon Brahman, the Absolute. This is an example of a foundational error. ED)
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ADDITIONAL COMMENTS WITH STRUCTURAL DIAGRAMS RELATED TO THIS VERSE FROM SAUNDARYA LAHARI/NOTES.
Now, we come to the Muladhara Chakra.
Shiva and the Devi dance here - it is the foundation, the beginning.
Samaya is the female Absolute of the Samayins.
Lasya is the dance of Samaya: it is horizontal, like a wavelength.
Shiva's Tandava dance is vertical, like amplitude.
By these two partners together the whole world is re-created by kindness.
Each becomes the mistress or master of the other.
The world began to have a new status of having parents - no more is the world an orphan.
The vertical axis becomes the parenthood.
They are "parents" by mutually possessive lordship.
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All the world is an orphanage, until Shiva and the Devi come and dance in the Muladhara.
This universe is orphaned in nature, until they come to dance.
"You are in your Muladhara, together with your consort, doing a liquid, wave-like dance."
These are "new" souls. (A touch of the ever-new)
By putting these two together, by kindness the world is created.
The Absolute is kind, close to the Alpha Point.
One of them is dancing one way, one the other.
Each has its own consort.
At the time that they were united in their dance, the earth acquired parents.
The two dances cancel each other out.
All the eighteen Puranas derive from the Upanishads.
No Indian writer violates the Upanishads.
If you say "Vyasa says so", that is the last court of appeal.
(Traditionally, Vyasa is considered to be the author of all the Vedas and Puranas. ED)
So there is a popular growth of tradition, for Sudras (low-caste people) and women, starting at the bottom and working up.
The pundits are strongly influenced by the Puranas, but not by the philosophy.
The Puranas are traditional lore.
There are two temperaments: those willing to believe and those not willing to believe.
The Puranas are willing to believe; the Upanishads are slightly sceptical.
The Pundits will say : Ramanuja is comprehensible, Sankara is too theoretical and vague".
(Ramanuja represents a dualistic sub-school of Vedanta, Vishishta Advaita, which emphasizes bhakti, or religious devotion, usually to the God Vishnu. ED)
Get the whole question straight: it does not matter when we arrive.
What difference does it make if I wait ten more years for my salvation?
This is the normal way, and it is a better way - cool yourself.
What difference does it make if I wait ten more years for my salvation?
This is the normal way, and it is a better way - cool yourself.
Keep the structure in your mind, without losing any of the reality.
Here, the kindness of the Absolute is found at the Alpha point.
Kindness is just the other side of intelligence.
Their two dances represent amplitude and wavelength.
The two of them represent vertical and horizontal functions - Fourier Functions.
(In mathematics, a Fourier series decomposes periodic functions or periodic signals into the sum of a (possibly infinite) set of simple oscillating functions, namely sines and cosines (or complex exponentials) ED)
This is like a hologram - putting together two functions.
These two functions - the dances of Shiva and the Devi -are like sinus functions - they interact and interlace, and the whole world leaps into being.
This is like a hologram - in its separate aspects it is just dots and whorls; but put them together and they present a three-dimensional reality.
In the same way the world leaps into parentage - otherwise it is just two meaningless holographic plates.
Kalidasa, in his introduction to Shakuntala, talks about eight gods - these are eight possible verticalized views of the same god.
He also says that he worships the parents of the universe. (See bottom of page).
He also says that he worships the parents of the universe. (See bottom of page).
When the vertical and the horizontal dance together in joy in the Muladhara, the world has parents.
This occurs in the Muladhara because it is the most "earthy" of the chakras.
This dance is dynamic in character.
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Another version:
TRANSLATION
- In your Muladhara (source, basis, horizontal firmness)
- Accompanied by Samaya (female counterpart)
- Absorbed always in Lasya (the horizontal dance, wavelength)
- I think of the new-born Self
- The great dancer of the nine artistic factors (love, mercy, heroism, humour, agony (tragic), terrifying, macabre, wonder, "shantam"- peaceful - the whole gamut - art must be represented at the lowest-level chakra)
- Of these two
- Considering the law of resurrection
- Each one (thus) having a consort
- Become
- By way of father and mother
- This phenomenal universe (something in flux)
- In your Muladhara (source, basis, horizontal firmness)
- Accompanied by Samaya (female counterpart)
- Absorbed always in Lasya (the horizontal dance, wavelength)
- I think of the new-born Self
- The great dancer of the nine artistic factors (love, mercy, heroism, humour, agony (tragic), terrifying, macabre, wonder, "shantam"- peaceful - the whole gamut - art must be represented at the lowest-level chakra)
- Of these two
- Considering the law of resurrection
- Each one (thus) having a consort
- Become
- By way of father and mother
- This phenomenal universe (something in flux)
Parenthood is achieved when men enjoy women and women, men.
So, this verse recommends marriage, so the world will have parents.
The father of the universe is Shiva, the mother is the Devi.
(The boy with typhoid wanted to die because his parents always quarreled)
Invent a way of life where you hurt no-one.
So, this verse recommends marriage, so the world will have parents.
The father of the universe is Shiva, the mother is the Devi.
(The boy with typhoid wanted to die because his parents always quarreled)
Invent a way of life where you hurt no-one.
There are two highlights: each gets a consort or companion, and they leap into vertical status by their horizontal parity - the vertical relationship is complementarity.
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"Your Muladhara" is at the base of the vertebral column.
Samaya is the denominator Goddess of the same context as the Devi, while the Devi has both Numerator and Denominator.
Shiva comes down to dance with Samaya,
All is taking place within the Devi Herself.
Samaya is the denominator Goddess of the same context as the Devi, while the Devi has both Numerator and Denominator.
Shiva comes down to dance with Samaya,
All is taking place within the Devi Herself.
Samaya is the negative part of the vertical axis.
Female mercy is operating here; kindness below, conferring the renewed status of having both father and mother.
The dance consists of all the nine aesthetic attitudes (nava rasas).
On the perceptual side, the Devi is called Samayaa, on the conceptual, Samaya.
On the perceptual side, the Devi is called Samayaa, on the conceptual, Samaya.
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"Your Muladhara" - put it in the lower part of the Devi.
I meditate on it as located within the Devi.
The denominator Samaya is called lasya parayaa, meaning that her dance is lasya.
I meditate on it as located within the Devi.
The denominator Samaya is called lasya parayaa, meaning that her dance is lasya.
In this verse, he is a new Self like the leaves; while she is the old body like the roots.
Of the Nava Rasas (nine aesthetic interests), there are 9 on the Denominator, while 18 on the Numerator in the previous verse.
"Nava" means "nine" or "new".
(The nine rasas are;
- Śṛngāram (शृङ्गारं) Love, Attractiveness.
- Hāsyam (हास्यं) Laughter, Mirth, Comedy.
- Raudram (रौद्रं) Fury.
- Kāruṇyam (कारुण्यं) Compassion, Tragedy.
- Bībhatsam (बीभत्सं) Disgust, Aversion.
- Bhayānakam (भयानकं) Horror, Terror.
- Vīram (वीरं) Heroic mood.
- Adbhutam (अद्भुतं) Wonder, Amazement. )
Shiva is acting out all the 9 Rasas as he descends through the vertical axis.
(Maha Tandava Natham -"that great bold-step dancer" means that Shiva is the dancer).
Through his dance, God is acting everything that all men anywhere have to act.
The Absolute Devi says: "Let those two who are dancing be born again."
The Devi is crying from pity and kindness at the destruction of the world.
By electromagnetic pulsations the world has parents; think of yourself: you were born; 9 months before, your parents were copulating; who arranged all this?
It is the Devi who is weeping, not Shiva, who is just dancing.
Shiva and Parvati dance in the Muladhara Chakra.
There are two kinds of dance:
Tandava corresponding to Shiva and Lasya corresponding to the Devi.
The nine rasas are all expressed by them.
The nine rasas are all expressed by them.
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The dance confers parenthood on an orphaned world.
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The word "Stop!" is a sign, the red light is a symbol.
There are two proofs of the Pythagoras theorem -
There are two proofs of the Pythagoras theorem -
AN ALGEBRAIC PROOF ON THE NUMERATOR SIDE
AND A GEOMETRIC PROOF ON THE DENOMINATOR SIDE
THE NANDI, OR BENEDICTION FROM SHAKUNTALA.
"That which is the first creation of the creator,
That which bears the offering made according to due rites,
That which is the offerer,
Those two which make time,
That which pervades all space,
having for its quality what is perceived by the ear,
That which is the womb of all seeds,
That by which all living beings breathe:
Endowed with these eight visible forms, may the supreme Lord protect you."
That which bears the offering made according to due rites,
That which is the offerer,
Those two which make time,
That which pervades all space,
having for its quality what is perceived by the ear,
That which is the womb of all seeds,
That by which all living beings breathe:
Endowed with these eight visible forms, may the supreme Lord protect you."
The benediction is a masterpiece of structuralism: a god with eight visible forms, both cosmology and psychology together.
1. The first creation is fire, the centre, as with Thales etc.
2. That which bears the fire (what is put in) according to a certain order in the universe: some grains.
3. The Hotri, or sacrificant, who makes the offering.
4 and 5. "Those two who make time" the sun and moon are to be verticalized
so as to rise and set in your consciousness as if presented to the five senses.
6. The visible world - i.e. attainable in a schematised form.
7. Whatever you call the horizontal world - the womb of all seeds.
8. That by which all things live - breath.
1. The first creation is fire, the centre, as with Thales etc.
2. That which bears the fire (what is put in) according to a certain order in the universe: some grains.
3. The Hotri, or sacrificant, who makes the offering.
4 and 5. "Those two who make time" the sun and moon are to be verticalized
so as to rise and set in your consciousness as if presented to the five senses.
6. The visible world - i.e. attainable in a schematised form.
7. Whatever you call the horizontal world - the womb of all seeds.
8. That by which all things live - breath.
ALL THESE FALL INTO A VERTICAL AXIS.
ABSTRACT AND GENERALIZE AND YOU GET STRUCTURE,
THAT IS, FORM.
ABSTRACT AND GENERALIZE AND YOU GET STRUCTURE,
THAT IS, FORM.
