saundarya laharI - 2

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ambA: Beauty that is Full, Love that is Total

 

 

How do we picture ambA to ourselves, imagine her form?

Is her complexion green, red or dark? All these

different colours are ascribed to her in her different

forms. BrahmA has four heads, shiva five, subrahmaNya

six. How many heads does ambA have? According to the

Vedas, the vishvarUpa or virATarUpa (the cosmic form

of the Lord) has a thousand heads ("sahasrashirSam").

But we cannot comprehend such a form, or perceive it

with our physical eye. ambA has many forms, from

mInAkSI with two hands to mahiSAsuramardinI with

eighteen. It is all how the sages, each of them, have

had their vision of her. So how do we visualise her,

with how many hands? In one of her aspects she is with

matted and dishevelled hair; in another she wears a

crown; and in a third she is bejewelled all over. She

is also represented wearing no clothes at all, blood

smeared on her body and wearing a garland of skulls.

Considering all such different images how do we

picture to ourselves ambA's form?

 

What is the answer to this question? "Whatever her

form or aspect, love is her most important

characteristic. So think of her as the embodiment of

love."

 

"If there is somewhere a good soul who feeds people

with all his heart, without expecting any reward, go

and see him, see his face. Note how the donor is

happier than the donee. When you see such a scene,

does not your own heart melt a little? Are you not

moved by the sight? Think of the love and joy revealed

on the face of the man who feeds people once a day or

twice, feeds a hundred people or one thousand. This

love and joy must be multiplied many, many times in

the case of ambA who has been feeding billions and

billions of living beings for eons and eons, feeding

even people guilty of terrible sins. Some may not have

actually committed sins but must have, all the same,

harboured sinful thoughts. ambA is supreme love and

compassion. Compassion indeed is loveliness. Without

it bodily beauty is no beauty at all. We do not like

to see our face in a mirror when we are angry or

sorrowful. If we suffer from a slight fever, our body

loses its charm. True bodily beauty is that of ambA

who is not affected by either anger or sorrow or

illness: She is always the picture of love. So in your

imagination try to visualise love in the highest form

possible. And take that love to be the form of ambA."

 

"After having said that ambA is the power belonging to

the quiescent Brahman in its entirety, why should she

be specially spoken of as love alone? If there exist

in this world suffering, hatred and fear, are not

these also derived from the power of the ParamAtman?

Then why should It - and She (ambA) — be spoken of as

love alone?"

 

Does not love exist in many forms in the world? The

affection of a mother, the attachment of a brother,

the intimacy of a friend, the love between husband and

wife, the devotion of aDiyArs [a devotee, one who

carries on his head (or supports with his head) the

feet of the deity he worships], the compassion of the

great, all these come under love. And do not all these

originate from ParAshakti, from her love? So meditate

on her as love. She is indeed all, even anger and

fear, but if you think of her in these aspects you

will not obtain happiness or peace of mind. You must

think of her as the personification of love, a form

that will be dear to you, and will bring you peace of

mind. In keeping with your own limitations and nature,

see the limitless in a limited form. ParAshakti knows

no limits, but for your own sake place a limit on her

and see her in the form of love. But meditate on that

form of love, on the love that she is, as being

limitless, boundless.

 

The Ga~ngA is Ga~ngA all the way from GomukhI to the

ocean. But will you be able to bathe where she tumbles

down, roaring, from the high HimAlayan hills? Even

during her course through the plains you will have to

choose a spot to bathe where the river is not too

deep, where there are no whirlpools and where it is

not infested with crocodiles. Although the river is

all Ga~ngA throughout, you descend into it only at the

spot where you can bathe happily and comfortably. In

the same way, though ParAshakti has different

qualities, "good" and "bad", if you wish to worship

her in the way you feel comfortable and happy,

meditate on her as the Good One, as the Loving One.

This is the reason why the great have held her as the

ParamAtman's power of compassion.

 

 

(Excerpted from 'saundaryalaharI: An exposition by

pUjyashrI candrashekharendra sarasvatI svAmI, 68th

sha~NkarAcArya of kA~nci kAmakoTi pITha', compiled and

edited by rA. GaNapati and translated into English by

R.G.K., Revised by BrahmashrI A. KuppusvAmI; Published

by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 2001)