The face of Sri Mata is extremely and indescribably beautiful! It is adorned by the the crescent of the eighth day! The “mriganabhi” mark on Her full moon face is similar to the dark spot on the full moon itself! Her face similar to that of Goddess Lakshmi is like a ‘ Parivaha’ in which the eyes flit across like the fish! Her nose gay shines like the fresh blown Champaka flower! The other ornaments of Her nose defeat the effulgence of the stars in heaven! Kadamba flowers deck Her ears while the sun and the moon position themselves as Her ‘Thatankas' or ear rings or studs! “Ashtamichandra vibhraja dalikasthala sobhita mukha Chandra kalankabha mriganabhi viseshika vaktra Lakshmi Parivaha chalan minabha lochana navachampaka pushpabha nasadand virajita tarakanthi tiraskari nasabharana bhasura kadamba manjari klapta karnapura manohara thatankayuglibhuta tapanodupa mandala” what a tremendous description of the face of Sri Mata by the Vasinyadi Devtas in Sri Lalita Sahasra Nama Stotra!!
Sri Sankara, following the “ Kesadi padanta’ description has already extolled the grand and amazing Crown or Kirita of Sri Mata. He has also declared the extraordinary beauty of Her locks of hair that appear to imprison the Vermillion mark which resembles the soft red ray of the rising sun! Now Sankara sees in his vision, the beautiful face of his Mother and loses himself in describing it to us! Says Sankara, “ O Mother! The looks of Iswara, who has won over the guiles of Manmatha, are always fixed on Your smiling face and teeth!! Your lotus face, covered over by the natural curly locks similar to the bees, makes fun of the real lotus flower!”
It is not possible for Sankara to describe the beauty of his Divine Mother in a normal manner! He is so fascinated by more than the celestial beauty of Her face that he breaks into metaphorical language and uses similes to explain.The curly locks similar to the dark color of the bees mock at the beauty of the natural lotus according to Sankara. The looks of Iswara are compared to the bees that are attracted by the fragrance of Her smile slightly exhibiting Her teeth!
It is not easy for a person not to be attracted by the smile of a beautiful damsel! Sages and saints had bitter experience on account of the Wiles of beautiful women! Lord Siva himself had fallen in love with Mohini who was Lord Vishnu in a different guise! When Manmatha, God of Love, disturbed the Lord's tapas he was reduced to a heap of ashes by the third eye of the Lord! Even such victorious Iswara's eyes have no other way but to hover over the lotus faced Sri Mata in all Her Glory!
Sankara, besides being a very great philosopher, was a poet par excellence! With the poetic lisence at his disposal he beautifies his Divine Mother better than the Vasinyadi devatas in Sri Lalita Sahasra Nama Stotra! It is interesting to compare Sankara's description of Devi with the actual description in the Lalita Sahasra Nama Stotra.The sloka exhibits the rich imagination of the poet that Sri Sankara was!! I
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