Soundarya Lahari Series (Article 9) : Verse 7 – “Protection from Internal and external enemies, Darshan of Devi in person and winning over enemies.” – Written by Hema

kvaNatkAnchIdAmA karikalabhakumbhastananatA

parikShINA madhye pariNatasharachchandravadanA |

dhanurbANAn pAshaM sRRiNimapi dadhAnA karatalaiH

purastAdAstAM naH puramathiturAhopuruShikA || 7||

Salutations to Sri Guru, Parama Guru and Parameshti guru.

Today we will be talking about brahma Gyana and Brahma Sakshatkara. What is the benefit of it?. As humans we all know we are in samsara which is the materialistic world. For a Brahma vidya or Srividyopasaka there is no influence of planets on him. There is a fort around the sadhaka where evil karma is reduced. As we go on learning to know our original self, our prarabdha karma, one has to undergo not much difficulty. How do we explain this?

      This can be explained by using an example of a hospital. IN a hospital, when a patient goes to get a vaccine, his reaction to the injection is different.  IT is the experience that every person undergoes. The attention is drawn to something else than to the pain. So the same analogy applies when we undergo prarabdha karma. Our reaction to prarabdha karma is reduced. This is only possible through atma jnana.

     Atma Jana is not different from Brahma jana.It will not stop or prohibit you from enjoying all the comforts. On the other hand it helps you to get them so easily i.e, the materialistic comforts easily come to you.

     The seventh mantra cannot be complete unless we mention the five names from Lalitha Sahasranama. Om Chaturbhanu samanvitai namah, Om raga swaroopa pashadyai namah, Om krodhakaran kushojwalai namah, Om Manoroopekshu kodandai namah, Om Panchatanmatra sayakai namah. All the ayudhas have been mentioned in this mantra. She pulls our desires using Pashankusha. There are three shakti’s Icha, Jana, Kriya shakti. The pashankusha talks about desire. She never allows her devotees to sink with desires. Getting the desire is different than sinking with desire. Nothing wrong in having a desire and having a feeling to attain it. Goddess pulls her devotees out from sinking into the desire. The pasha is in her left lower arm. 

               Krodhankara kushojwala, this is the ankusha or hook of an elephant which is in her right upper arm. This also talks about sukma deha. Akara knowledge is always sukshma. Devi uses this ankusha to destroy hatred in her devotees and blesses them with knowledge. 

           Manorupekshu Kodanda where the mind involves sankalpa and vikalpa. Sankalpa is the process of thought.Vikalpa is difference in perception. Both are opposite to each other. Here mind is sukshma, we cannot see it or feel it. It is not gross as knowledge. The mind is reflected through the five sense organs. Dhanushjikshu- Sugarcane or kodanda which is a bow. Devi is holding it in her left upper arm. Why sugarcane? There are many explanations for sugar cane. Each of us has a different perspective on sugar cane. One understanding is if sugar cane is crushed, we get very tasty juice from which we can make jaggery. Manorupekshu kondanda – here kodanda is mind. It means that when we crush our mind. We obtain a sweet nectar which is nothing but realization of Brahma.

              Panchatanmatra Sayaka, here refers to five tanmatras we know (Shabda, Sparsha, roopa, rasa and gandha). It is the sukshma modification of the five basic elements( Akasha, Prithvi, Apu, Tejo, Vayu). These five arrows are made up of flowers. The five flower tanmatras, the subtle melents. The five arrows are described in different manners.  The flowers that are represented in tantra Shastra represent excitement, madness, confusion, stimulation, destruction. So devi targets her devotees with these arrows to destroy the illusion of Maya as the five subtle elements. This is her right upper hand. These ayudhas have a lot of significance in upasana. Durvasa also wrote a similar stotra called Shakti-Mahimna Stotra or Tripura mahimna stotra which has about 61 mantras. This can be found in different languages in the below link: 

For devnagari: https://sanskritdocuments.org/doc_devii/shaktitripurAmahimnastotra.pdf

In other Languages you can find it in the link below.

Shakti Mahimna ( Tripura Mahimna ) Stotram

Whereas Soundarya Lahari has got 103. There is a lot of similarity between shakti Mahimna stotra and Soundarya Lahari. Both are explaining about the Shakti of Devi. It explains about the mahima of Shakti. Shakti Mahimna stotra does not have many bhashyas as it is the oldest stotra. Older than Soundarya Lahari.  It is not even recited as often as Soundarya Lahari.It is not as popular as Soundarya Lahari. Soundarya Lahari became popular as we can create many tunes. It is quite likely thatShakti Mahimna stotra might have inspired Shakara to compose Soundarya Lahari.

           A sadhaka who is meditating on a sugar cane bow, one crosses the famous ever extending illusion of the mind. Illusion of the mind is the cause of the whirlpool of birth and death.Kanchi Kamakshi has been consecrated by Sage Durvasa.It is his pratishtapana and puja vidhanam and Sri chakra at Ambal is also from Durvasa. 

All of a sudden Srichakra puja had stopped for unknown reasons. Parameshti guru, Chidanandanatha in 1924 restored it. During restoration he performed Durvasa krutha puja padathi. After 14 years in 1938, he has compiled Srividya saparya padathi which is with us in Kannada as Srichakra Archana Chandrika. 

The question arises as to how Durvasa is connected to Srividya?

There is durvasopaschitha Srividya. Among the 15 vidypopasakas Duravasa is also one and prime. Whoever meditates on the sugarcane bow which represents mind, he crosses the illusion of mind. That illusion is the cycle of birth. The corresponding five arrows refer to pancha banas, which refers to the sense organs.

By meditating on the pasha, he crosses the fear of death and then the bow-Ankusha. If one meditates on Ankusha he/she is capable of controlling great dangers, Ankusha controls the most powerful energetic elephant. Similarly one who meditates on Ankusha is capable of crossing immeasurable effects of illusion, this maya is limitless.

We know about the four ayudhas which are very important. This verse also has gupta bhava. It is three fold:

1. Sthula bhava
2. Sukshma Bhava or Mantra maya
3. Vaasanna Bhava

1. Stula bhava or gross bhava is the Triguna bhavas of Sattva-Rajas and Tamas.
2. Sukshma bhava indicates all the four weapons: Dhanush – ttah ttah svaha pancha bana draam draam kleem bloom sah. Ankusha or goad with mantra krom, paasha with hreem
3. Vasanan Bhava: Dhanush– moksha, pancha banas, Kama or five fold desires. Pasha or artha, Anksha — Dharma.

In mantra bhava she pulls us from maya. Here it is Artha in vasana bhava. Artha is many things. Wherever we get detached it is Artha only. Moha and finally what is left over if Ankusha. If one can stand in front of the devi and have this bhavana of pashankusha. When the above four are taken care of. Abhaya, varada automatically comes.

Sri Gurubhyo NamaH

Sri Matre Namah

Hema

Note: Am Nidruva penning the blog posts as an extract from attending daily online ” Soundarya Lahari Jnana Yagna” conducted by ‘ Atmanandanatha’

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