Saturday, October 6, 2018

COLORS OF DEVI'S EYES (Soundarya Lahari 53)

Sri Mata's face and eyes are extremely and indescribably beautiful! The “ mriganabhi” mark on her face is similar to the spot on the moon! “Mukhachndra kalankabha mriganabhi viseshika” Her eyes are like the fish crisscrossing the lake of Her face! “ Vaktra Lakshmi Parivaha chalan minabha lochana.” She is Parabrahma Swarupini and has employed the Trimurtis for creation, protection and destruction! During Her fight with Bhandasura She creates Lord Vinayaka by a mere look at Kameswara! ”Kameswara mukhaloka kalpita Sri Gneswara!” It is He that destroys the mines planted by the asuras! Not only this, She creates the ten avatars of Vishnu from the nails of Her ten fingers! “ Karanguli nakhotpanna Narayana dasakrutihi.” She is the concentration of entire energy, Lord of everything, all pervading as well as the embodiment of all mantras! “ Sarva Sakthi mayi Sarvamangala sadgatiprada Sarveswari, Sarvamayi Sarvamantra  swarupini.” She is also the Creator Brahma, protector Vishnu and the destroyer Rudra! “Srushtikarthri Brahmarupa gopthri Govinda rupini samharini Rudra rupa Tirodhana kariswari Sadasivanugrahada panchakritya parayana” She is Herself the mother and spouse of Brahma, of many forms and worshipped by the wise! She grants peace and rest to those caught in the eternal cycle of birth,death, and old age! “ Janma mrityu jaratapta Jana visranti dayini.”

The more Sri Sankara visualizes Her face and eyes the greater is his imagination! Different thoughts flit across his mind and he describes the eyes of Sri Mata in an entirely different angle! It is impossible for any other individual to look at and experience Sri Mata in that light! Sri Sankara exclaims, “ O Mother! the chief spouse of Siva! Your three eyes are layered with collyrium and look  attractive and beautiful! The eyes exhibit a mixture of the three colors, namely, White, Black and Red! They are like that, probably, because You want to create the creator Brahma, protector Vishnu, and the destroyer Rudra who have merged in to Paramatma during the great deluge or Mahapralaya! The three colors of the eyes represent the three Gunas Satwa, Rajas and Tamas!

No action can take place without these three Gunas! Satwa is pure, ideal, protective and preferred by everyone but found rarely in all! Saints, sages and seers, not all of them, possess this quality! Rajas makes one proud, arrogant, angry and egoistic! Without this quality no fight or battle can take place! Tamas leads to lethargy, ignorance and inability to understand things! Human beings are an admixture of these three qualities! Some have a very small percentage of Satwa and are called good. Others have a good percentage of Rajas and are termed aggressive  arrogant and proud! The rest are called lazy, lethargic and indolent and have a large percentage of Tamas!

When the Mahapralaya takes place everything is swallowed up in the swirling waters of the ocean! All creatures, animate and inanimate, without any exception are totally destroyed and there is only the Parabrahma or Virat Purusha that exists! It is at this sight of the “Viswarupa” that Arjuna shuddered with fear and shock when the Lord gave him the special grace! The pandavas, Kauravas, including Bhishma, Drona and everything in the Universe went into the gargantuan mouth of the Virat Purusha with thousand heads and innumerable hands! After the demolition of the entire universe and its inhabitants, fresh creation takes place and a new generation starts! Even the Trimurtis change!

Sankara says that the white color of the eye stands for Satwa Guna and Vishnu the protector! In the same way the red color of the Trinetra is Rajas, capable of total annihilation in the form of Rudra! The black color indicates Tamas and lethargy that represents Brahma!  The three eyes of Devi have these colors indicating that with them she would create a fresh batch of Trimurtis after the great Deluge! It is Sankara alone who could experience the beauty of Devi with such spiritual and devotional fervour!






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