Soundarya Lahari - Part 182

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In the Shri Chakra, the central portion is circular. There are nine triangles there. They criss cross one another, thus producing forty-three triangles. The central dot is also considered to be one triangle. Together the triangles number forty-four. These forty-four triangles are classified into six AvaraNas. The straightforward meaning of this word ‘AvaraNa’ is ‘what hides’. 

Here it should be taken to mean track, corridor, row, or prAkAra in Sanskrit. If several people crowd around one individual, the latter is naturally ‘hidden’. So they form an AvaraNam around him. The central dot is also taken as one AvaraNam just as it is taken also as a triangle. In fact around it the other forty-three triangles constitute five AvaraNas.

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