Soundarya Lahari Series (Article 25) : Verse 23 – “Getting all Riches”

WORD FOR WORD

Tvaya hrtva vamam vapah – by You absorbing the left (half) of the body

Aparitrptena manasa – unsatisfied in mind

Sharir ardham shamboh – the half of the body of Shiva

Aparam api – the other also

Hrtam abhut –

Yad etat tvad rupam – this which is Your form (resulting thus)

Sakalam aruna bham – wholly of magenta glory

Trinayanam – three eyed

Kuchabhyam anamram – slightly bent, recumbent, by virtue of twin breasts

Kutila shashi chudala makutam – wearing crescent-bedecked curved crown

This mantra describing the Ardhanarishwara tatva.Meditation on the ardhanarishwara. Shankara tells us Oh! Mother having acquired the left side of Shiva, still, you are not satisfied by being one half of Shambu. Your form shines in the heart of a person who meditates on her. You want to occupy the other half of Shiva. Your form is shining in my heart which is crimson red in color, slightly bent due to the weight of your breasts. The mother’s milk is amrutha. If it is amrutha pana is nothing but mother’s milk. So to nourish the whole universe she had to fill that with a lot of amrutha hence it is very heavy. With that Bhara, Devi is slightly bent. If a person knows the real essence of the breasts of the Devi, they will never be attracted to any other women. If that image is done this way, the women will see the other women or men as the form of Devi. Having three eyes, a crescent moon adorning your crown is the meaning of verse 23. The worldly plane from gross objects to Satya Loka is the highest plane of truth and bliss. Gayatri is also bramha vidya. She is shakti and she inhibits all the loka’s or from Muladhara to Sahasrara. She is in each spec of existence. The physical existence and mental experience are Devi who pervades. The left side’s entire physical body is the flow of Ida and the right side is a flow of indriya is Pingala. Both ida and Pingala are expressions of Devi. Ida and Pingala are opposite to each other as day and night, it has negative and positive. Ida governs all our mental tendencies. The Pingala governs dynamic tendencies. We have two nervous systems. It is known as the Peripheral nervous system and central nervous system. In the pranic field of energy that which feeds is the Sushumna, The secret of spiritual awakening lies in bringing the balance between positive and negative energies. When this is bought the third the autonomous energy takes over and Sushumna experience the energy and overrides all the experience in the body. Though we thinking we breathe from both nostrils, it is not like that we breathe more in one nostril than the other. With Ida Nadi is flowing more, one will have a lot of creativity. If Pingala is more you will become more energetic and dynamic. If both balance then the Sushumna will be active. When you block both airways, they expect the energy flow from Sushumna. It is a very dangerous way to start hence it is a good practice to go to a Guru. Dynamism and creativity are balanced and the bliss if experienced The Ardhanareshwara is a concept very peculiar to Tom Prick philosophy which depicts Shiva as male and female.

We have been passing through Soundarya Lahari Mantra 23 which is about meditation on ardhanaarishwara. We never breathe with both nostrils. It keeps changing. Our mental activities are also influenced by Ida and Pingala. All our emotions and thoughts depend on our breathing. If you want to be calm under any circumstances is practice your breathing. When we are disturbed, people say count ten, the other way is to close our eyes and take a deep breath. Ardhanarishwara is a concept very peculiar to tantric philosophy. Ardhanarishwara depicts Shiva’s body as half male and female. Tatva of cosmic energy is only present and very powerful and it has become very difficult to recognize Shiva tatva. When omnipresent and other things become dominant then the other things are not experienced. When shakti assumes different manifestations and becomes very powerful it would be hard to recognize Shiva tatva. The state where Shiva tatva is subdued and Shakti tatva predominates. According to Shakta Darshana, it is a state where the shakti ranges supreme as a unified whole. That is the experience of shakti as Shodashi which is 16 Kalas. When somebody is meditating on Shodasi means they are meditating on that form of shakti which just dominates over the counterpart. At this stage, Shiva is overpowered and dominant over shakti. Shiva has rules. In shodashi Kala she becomes very dominant. The role of Shiva is not even felt. Her full intensity is measured up to Shodashi Kalas. Once shakti attains that frequency she simply overrides Shiva which means the energy part becomes dominant consciousness is there. Hence she has taken over half the body of Shiva. It has been carved and expressed in Ardhanarishwara. From there she reigned as supreme Tripura Sundari. This mantra depicts the total union of Shiva and Shakti. Also describes a splendid meditation on Shadagya tatva. Shadagya tatva is Ardhanarishwara tatva. The total union of Shiva and Shakti and Shakti is dominant. A crescent moon, three eyes are the characteristics of Shiva that will be as well present in Shakti. They have wonderfully amalgamated into one another. Her full breasts indicate nourishing when she is in this state. The crimson red color indicates the richness of the experience. When the entire origin of inner awareness one has to experience it. Antahpragne is the right word to describe it. Inner awareness is bathed with warm red light emanating from the supreme shakti. The darkness is one that is binding us in fear and ignorance. Fear and ignorance both are dark. When we practice bathing our Antahpragna with flowing warm crimson red light emanating from her everything goes away. Verse 23 also has varna Beeja mantra and is used in Runa vimochana. All kinds of debt are removed. Here debt does not mean financial debt. Ot can be a debt we have when someone helps us. our debt to our mother, teacher, or anyone who gave us shelter.

Chanting procedure and Nivedyam: ( offerings to the Lord) : If one chants these verse 1000 times each day for 45 days, offering Payasam and vada (made out of urad dhal) as prasadam, it is said that one would be able to get all riches.

Note: The articles written are the extracts from daily online Jnana Yajna conducted by ‘Atmanandanatha’ on Soundarya Lahari

Link to Article 1: Introduction to Soundarya Lahari

Link to Article 2: Synopsis of first 41 verse of Soundarya Lahari

Link to Article 3: Verse1 of Soundarya Lahari explanation

Link to Article 4: Verse 2 Soundarya Lahari explanation

Link to Article 5: Verse 3 Soundarya Lahari explanation

Link to Article 6: Verse 4 Soundarya Lahari explanation

Link to Article 7: Verse 5 Soundarya Lahari explanation

Link to Article 8: Verse 6 Soundarya Lahari explanation

Link to Article 9: Verse 7 Soundarya Lahari explanation

Link to Article 10: Verse 8 Soundarya Lahari explanation

Link to Article 11: Verse 9 Soundarya Lahari explanation