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.
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)
O Uma! Your eyes shining like need like a bow held in the forearm of Kamadeva in a flinched fist and in the middle portion. Your slightly raised eyebrows is nothing but the bow of Kamadeva. Shankara describes the bow held by Kamadeva. That glance makes it captive. The eyes and brows have the capability. If we can enjoy the beauty of Shakti. With that eyebrows and eyes, she has captivated the whole universe. An example can be given as follows, a young boy is captivated when a beautiful girl is looking at him. Devi’s captivating glance gives us freedom from fear by instilling confidence, faith, trust, and belief when we belong to her. Her glanceis reassuring, she soothes us from our inherent world. The soothing helps us from the inherent fear of the world. There is always fear set in us without our consciousness. The origin of fear is unknown. Unless the fear is not dispelled we cannot experience the bliss. We all are born with unseen and unknown fear. That fear surfaces on its own for no reason. As we all know the future is uncertain that might be the reason we have fear. It is the fear of uncertainty. Then comes the fear or apprehension of death, loved one’, loss of health, and so on and so forth. When we question things, it indicated we have fear. One should become fearless and that can only happen with Sadhana. Suffering is different from fear. Suffering comes from Prarabdha karma but fear of that is made by me. Unless the fear is taken out Jivanmukti is not possible. When Devi is glancing at us with her smile and raising her eyebrows, she is freeing us from that fear. Sometimes these fears can arise in meditation and Swapna wastha. Due to subtle fears, we feel uneasy without knowing the reason. The yoga sutras of Patanjali have clearly stated about the fear. Klesha dominates the mind or influences the very quality or structure of life. If the structure and quality of life are disturbed due to Klesha. Once that is removed, one will be freed. The fear is present in Chitha. It is the fear that is driving us every day. The powerful klesha is riding us. Patanjali has identified the klesha ( fear) without our knowledge. One is Avidya (ignorance of Bramhan) that is causing klesha, Asmitha (ego) it is not the fourth ahankara, attributing everything with me. Identifying everything with I is ego, the third one is raga( Moha) we are attached, this is what is binding us to the world. Fourth is Dwesha, Fifth one is Abhinivesha ( fear of death) If we can come out of kleshas, our life will be on a beautiful path. The root cause of all these is Avidya. Ignorance of WHAT AM I, then none of the about Kleshas will be experienced. From ignorance, ego is formed. When one is displaying ego, the cause is Avidya. When there is Raga there is Dwesha ( they are two faces of a coin). Where there is Raga there is Dwesha. From dwesha, abhinivesha is the fear of death. Devi’s glance and take away the abhinivesha as a result our life and structure can be altered. Each one of us has a limit. As long as we are limited we cannot experience universal consciousness. Once we remove the klesha with Devi’s grace we can rise very high in Prapanchika and Adatyatmika. If we have faith in her, belief in her, She can protect us just with her glace and raised eyebrows every hurdle, every negative energy, disharmony come and go, Devi will protect her sadhaka. The fear should not stay at Chitha level. These kleshas emerge from Avidya (ignorance). One should come out of the fear which is possible only by the grace of Devi. We raise high in life. High in life is bliss. The bliss of being one with Consciousness, one with Bramhan. We are only a tool in caring for my family, friends, and others. Everything goes smoothly. There is always some fear that will haunt us. Once the fear is shed out that is the height of being in bliss. The purpose of Shankara writing us is that he had it by the experience of glance of Devi. It is to experience the Gyana. From that comes self-confidence. There will be tapatrayas and they cannot overpower us. Once we have faith and confidence that the embodiment of consciousness energy is protecting us all the time then no harm can fall on us. It is an experience and gyana. It is an experience to believe in her, trust in her, and have confidence in her.In this mantra, Sahakara’s imagination is that she captures his imagination by diverting the inherent fear that could ruin us, and once it is done inherent fear is gone. We address our fear by logic and intellect. Do not expect what will happen in the future being in the present awareness is enough and as long as Ambal is with her children all the fears are gone. One has to become a small child to experience her motherly care. Like a small child clings to her mother in the same way we need to hold Devi’s hand, imagine that we are following her like a child and miss her like a toddler who does not see his mother for a sec or so. The feeling of being in the care of the mother is all we need. Sometimes we heed to our intuition that is guiding us through her. That is what Shankara did. Three eyes of Devi are imagined by Shankara who wrote the hymn. The three eyes are three states of mind. The state of mind in Jagrutha, Swapna, and Sushupthi. When we refer to the time the day represents Jagrutha Awasthi, Night is sushupti, and in-between is the Swapna and that is why it is kept in daylight. All dreams occur then the consciousness is poised in the threshold of day and night. The state in which. The awakening of the third eye which is the Agna indicates the blossoming of transcendental experience. The third eye is the seat of supreme knowledge. It is an experience that we get from the third eye and is termed the inner eye. That experience is a contemplated state. The one who does upasana of Bramhan who considers Bramhan as feminie is called Shakta. Just like energy, Shiva also has a third eye. The cosmic energy also has a third eye as they are inseparable. Awakening the third eye is what we experience by these two eyes should also be experienced by the third eye. It is nothing but to experience what we get through the third eye. Without this significant milestone in the spiritual journey, the sadhaka cannot cross the twilight zone. It is the practice to experience the third eye. In the spiritual journey experiencing the third eye is the first milestone and it is easily possible. The eyes are the mirror of the Atman (soul) and they are directly connected to the mind hence mind can be influenced by the quest for transcendence. These eyes and eyebrows of Ambal. Universal Mother, has great concern for all the living things in the universe. Humans alone are endorsed with fully functional minds. Death is not painful but the fear of death is fearful. Mother can tell how much pain she went through when giving birth but an infant cannot tell us the pain. Birth and death are always painful and at the same time more painful is between birth and death. All of us have the ability to let go of the unknown fear we have. The sensory abilities have the capacity to confuse us and delude us. This delusion of mind is due to sensory organs influence and that is causing ego. There is duality in sensory organs. Where ever there is pleasure, there is pain. Where there is happiness there is sadness also. When life turns against our own thinking human being cannot tolerate. Devi cannot tolerate her children suffering. Material knowledge is just mere enjoyment while Spiritual knowledge is a minuscule drop of the water. Searching for liberation or trying to understand the universe by material knowledge is achieved one day. But searching it internally is very easy for humans. It has to be seen and be able to understand the essence in the form of minuscule. The minuscule is GURU. The universal mother is very much concerned. She helps us from transmigration and as a result, she pesters Shiva to give her children the tantras and he patiently explains to her about the means of obtaining liberation. Here she is addressed as UMA. Uma ( Splendor, Tranquility) can be explained in many ways. Uma is the consort of Shiva hence they are called Umamaheshwara. She is ICHCHA SHAKTI UMA KUMARI — here Uma means splendor of SHIVA. Once willpower is in commune with Shiva is known as Uma. Uma is the other form of AUM. Here U refers to creation, M refers to Destruction and A refers to Sustenance ( It is Shrishti,sthithi, laya, Bramha) the act of Bramhan. Ambal is the mother of all worlds, and Devi born of Rudra’s body rebuked Daksha and was born as Uma. She is bowed by all and let her captivate the mind. The Anahata sound of the heart is UMA. Shankara is talking to UMA. On UMA there are many explanations, even in Upanishads also we can find about UMA. One such Upanishad is Keno Upanishad. Uma is also mentioned in Kalikopanishad. We can refer to different tantras. In Kalika Purana tantra is given in the name of purana. All 1000 namas of Lalitha Sahasranama refer to tantra shastra. Shanmukha Sarma Garu has made enormous efforts in making bhashya on Lalitha Sahasranama. UMA means negation, probation and it conveys that one should not waste time in observing penances and we should contemplate in attaining Shiva. Grosser side of UMA, she is beautiful, has splendrous eyes which appear as a stream of bees, eyebrows are compared to Manmatha’s bow. Savya means not only left but also right. She is referred to as that she can be worshiped as Savya and Apasavya margas, this also means that liberation cannot be attained with her grace. When devotion turns into love for her, it should be the deepest love then she begins to show herself to us. The highest form of devotion is love. “Bhakti parakashta” highest form is devotion. Without those, the external practices of love cannot be experienced. One of the bhashyakara refers to her eyes as meenalochana. In Lalitha Sahasranama we can find many verses where Devi’s eyes are explained. The eyes radiate love and compassion and also it indicates material wealth and auspiciousness. She is not blessing us like other gods and goddesses. Her blessing is coming through her eyes. Love is multifold and it is both sides. Love is mutual and when we show the love for her she returns the love 100 fold. Avyaja KarunamurthiH cannot be explained as love in plain english. Deep devotion is close to Prema. Shankara has put the love and compassion in verse 47 very well by explaining about Devi’s eyes and eyebrows. Only eyes can express devi’s grace,love and her compassion which flows like a flood. We need not ask her for her love and compassion, let’s pray to her to gives us the Knowledge, shakti to experience her. Give the mind the energy to experience her love and compassion. She is the mother, we need not ask mother, do you love me. Devi’s showers unconditional love towards her children.
Chanting procedure and Nivedyam (offerings to the Lord) : If one chants this verse 1000 times a day for 25 days, offering honey,fruits and coconut as prasadam, it is believed that they will achieve success in all efforts.
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