Sunday, April 29, 2018

INCOMPARABLE MOTHER (Soundarya Lahari 12)

The first twenty sections of Sri Lalita Sahasra Nama Stotra describes the exceptional Divine Beauty of the Mother, Maha Tripurasundari! Coming out of the sacrificial fire she is bent on accomplishing the task for the Devas. Her radiance is equal to the rising of a thousand suns! She has ‘pasa, ‘ankusa’ the sugarcane bow and the five arrows! She has drenched the entire universe with her brilliant radiance. ‘Champaka, Asoka and Punnaga’ flowers heighten her beauty.j

Her eyes are like the fish moving about the lake like face of Lakshmi! Her nosegay defeats the twinkling brilliance of the stars in the sky! The sun and the moon are her ear studs or  ‘thatankas’ Her forehead is similar to the mirror made of Padmaraga precious stones! She has filled the heart of her spouse with her smiles! Her neck has the radiance of the ‘ mangala sutra’ tied by Kamesa! With heavy breasts and a narrow waist she is dressed in red clothes. Her soft, tender feet defeat the radiance of the lotus! Her feet are adorned with ringing anklets! Above all Her gait resembles the slow dignified walk of the female Swan!

Sri Sankara, in the twelfth sloka of Soundarya Lahari, questions Sri Mata: “O the daughter  of Himavan, Parvati! Is it possible for the creator Brahma and others poets to compare your Divine beauty to some other person or object? No, it is absolutely impossible! The Apsarasas or the Divine damsels, anxious to witness you glamorous Beauty, perform tapas or penance and attain the unattainable unity and position with Siva through their Manas!”

Sri Mata is not merely beautiful in the ordinary mortal sense! She is the personification of Beauty! “Beauty is Truth, Truth beauty” says John Keats, the illustrious Romantic poet! Devi is ”Adi madhyanta rahita!” She is eternal, indescribable, and an indestructible phenomenon which is Truth or Satya! She is the beauty of the beauty! All beauty springs from her! She is the very origin of Beauty herself! Her exceptional beauty is not that of evanescent transitory good looks of mortal man or woman. “ ayur nasyati pasyatam prati dinam yati kshayam yauvanam” describes a poet! Normal beauty in the world decays as one grows old “ sans teeth sans taste and sans everything!”

“ A thing of beauty is a joy for ever” but what is real beauty? Real beauty is not physical beauty! “ Beauty is not in the face. Beauty is light in the heart” Beauty can also be defined as the illumination of your soul. “The best and the most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt within heart.” Above all, inner beauty is great!


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