Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Soundarya Lahari - Part 30


(Continued...)

Prostration is by the body (kAyaM). Praising through a hymn is by speech (vAk). By implication the mind (manas) is also mentioned. Thus in the very first shloka the dedication to Her by manas, vAk and kAyaM
has been done.

And naturally, the completeion of this dedication in the form of  ‘Atma-samarpaNaMí‘-dedication of one’s self in fullness - comes in the very last shloka (#100).

There is a parallel observation in the very first  shloka of Viveka-chUDAmaNi. “muktir-no-shata-koTi-janma-sukRtaiH puNyair-vinA labhyate”, meaning, “Unless one has earned spiritual merit in 100 crores
of births, one cannot go the  jnAna  mArga and obtain mokshha”.

But note: our Acharya does not say explicitly, in this major work of bhakti, that only by spiritual merit you can go along the path of Bhakti or jnAna or for that matter any noble path. Whereas, in the Viveka-chUDAmaNi, which is a work on the path of  jnAna,  -- mistakenly appropriated by people who think that that is the way to avoid the traditional worship of deities !-- right in the 3rd shloka, he says that “Seeking a proper guru and starting on the path of  jnAna occurs only by the Grace of God” -  “deivAnugraha-hetukam”!

(Continued... )