Soundarya Lahari Sloka - 41 - 1

[aananda taandava in moolaadhaara]
[devi saakshaatkaara – removal of dangerous diseases]

Tavadhaare moole saha samayayaa laasya parayaa
Navatmaanam manye navarasa-mahaa taandava-natam
Ubhaabhyaa metaabhyaa-mudaya-vidhi muddhisya dayayaa
Sanaathaabhyaam jajne janakajananeemat jagadidam

Tava - your
moole aadhaare - in the moolaadhara cakra
saha - with
samayayaa - with you who is called Samaya
laasya-parayaa - interested in dancing
Navatmaanam - aananda bhairava
manye - I meditate on
navarasa-mahaa taandava-natam - dancing navarasa taandava nritya
Ubhaabhyaa metaabhyaam - by you two
udaya-vidhim - the creation of the world destroyed in pralaya
uddhisya - taking into consideration
dayayaa - with kindness
Sanaathaabhyaam - with the wife and husband
jajne - become
janakajananeemat - having father and mother
jagadidam - this world

In your moolaadhara cakra, I meditate on aananda bhairava, dancing the great navarasa taandava with you who is also interested in dancing and who is called by the name "samayaa". This world becomes great by having father and mother as aanandabhirava and samayaa respectively, both of you, by your kindness have taken steps to bring back the world which was destroyed in pralaya.

Adbhyah prithwee:-
From ‘appu’ i.e., water, has evolved the mother earth. The adhisthaana for the earth is moolaadhara. This is the position in the sushumnaa naadi with four petal lotus. Here, we have to meditate siva and sakti as aananda bhairava and aananda bhairavi surrounded by 56 prithwee mayookhaas. When the goddess "prakriti" dances the style "laasya nritya" and sadasiva dance the style of taandava nritya, and each have the vision of the other mutually, then, the shrishti takes place.

Ambaastavam says :-
"Aalokanena tava komalitaani maatah
Laasyaatmanaa parinamanti jagat vibhootyai"

Samayaah:-
Ambal is similar to siva and hence called by the name "samayaa". This equality is of five types – adhishthaana saamya, anushthaana saamya, avasthaana saamya, roopa saamya, naama saamya.

In aadhaara cakra, adhishthaana saamya
As jagat janani, anushthaana saamya
By laasya taandava, avasthaana saamya
By reddish colour, roopa saamya
By name bhaira and bhairavi, naama saamya

The people or devotees who do upaasanaa of the god and goddess as father and mother
are called as samayi. In the samayaacaara, there is no external pooja. What they do,
involve four aikya anusandhaana pooja.:-

the six aadhaara cakraas are one with the six angle of the sree cakra.
sahasraara is one with the caturasra in the bindu.
bindu is one with siva.
the mantra of devi is one with the sreecakra.

The goddess, devi is beyond the naada [of para, pasyanti, madhyama, vaikhari] and
beyond the shadcakra shape bindu and beyond the 360 kiranaas or rays.

The Lalitaa Sahasra Naama refers like this :-
"Akulaa samayaantasthaa samayaacaara tatparaa."

The slokaas referred from 1 to 41 so far are called aananda lahari and the rest from 42 onwards are called by the name soundarya lahari. The first set was available for Sri Sankara when he went on pilgrimage to kailaasa. But the rest were framed by Sankara.

We are very lucky to have this division, because if the complete set would have been
available to Sankara from kailaasa, then we would have been disappointed since now we got the divine slokaas by Sankara and we understand and appreciate and enjoy the
greatness of Sankara – so says Kaanci Kamakoti Sri Sankara.

Pooja method – aikya anusandhaana :-
Do the anusandhaana that the shadaadhaaraas and sahasraara and the kula cakra are of
Sree-Cakra shape.

(1) Va sa [sasi] sha sa [samsara] - 4 dalaas and the trikona roopa karnika moolaadhaara as sreecakra trikona.
Ba, bha, ma, ya, ra, la - 6 dalaas ashta kona roopa karinika swaadhishthaana as ashta kona of the sreecakra

Da, dha, na [guna] ta, tha, da [daanam], dha [dhanam], na [naama], pa, pha – 10 dalaas – dasa kona roopa karnika – manipooraka – dasaara of sree cakra

Ka, kha, ga, gha, nga, ca, cha, ja, jha, nja, ta, tha – 12 dalaas – dwiteeya dasaara karnika roopa anaahata cakra – dwiteeya dasaara of sri cakra

16 swaraas - A, aa, e, ee, u, oo, ye, yey, ru, lu, ai, o, oh, ou, am, ah – 16 dalaas - catur dasaara roopa karnika visuddhi cakra – catur dasara of sri cakra

Ha, ksha – 2 dalaas – on one side ashta dala roopa and on other side shodasa dala roopa- like this in two types of karnika – caturasra prakritika – moolaadhara swaadishthaana aatmaka aajnaa cakra – ashta dala, shodasa dala, vrittatraya, bhoopura trayaatmaka, siva cakra catushtaya.

Visuddhi cakra paryanta – from moolaadhaara to visuddhi – sakti cakra aikya

At aajnaa cakra – siva cakra aikya

In vritta traya – first - moolaadhaara and swaadhishthaana – rudra-granthyaatmaka
Second - manipooraka and anaahata - Vishnu-granthyatmaka
Third - visuddhi and aajnaa - brahma-granthyaatmaka

Above this, with sopaana, four dwaaraa and bhoopura tritaya. This is called sahasra dala kamala karnika. This has 1000 petals.

In the middle of this is the caturdwaaropeta baindava sthaana or bindu. This sreecakra shadaadhaara aikya anusandhaana is the first one of the four aikya anusandhaanaa. This is also called as naada bindu aikya.

(2). Sahasra dala kamala as sri cakra baindava sthaana or bindu –Sahasra dala kamala Madhya candra mandala as caturasra

(3) Candra mandala Madhya gata bindu as caturasya Madhya gata bindhu as panca vimsati tatwaateeta siva saktiaikya saadaa aikya kalaa roopena and as aatmaroopena.
aikya anusandhaana between sri cakra and sri vidya.

The above method is called caturvidha aikya anusandhaana.

Shadvidha aikya anusandhaanam:-
There are three things – naada, kalaa and bindu. These combine to form 5 sets
Bindu to Naada aikya , kalaa to bindu aikya, kalaa to naada aikya, Bindu to kalaa aikya, Naada to kalaa aikya

These five together has aikya with sree vidya and hence totally six aikya anusandhaana.

[aananda taandava in moolaadhaara]
[devi saakshaatkaara – removal of dangerous diseases]

The jagadamba is referred by :-
"Jagadamba shad vidha aikya anusandhaana para-cit vyomni samthitah"

Naada is of four types – paraa, pasyanti, madhyamaa, vaikharee
Paraa is trikonaatmika – trikona in sreecakra
Pasyanti ashtakona cakra roopini - ashta kona in sreecakra
Madhyamaa dwidasaara roopini - 2 nos of 10 konaas in sreecakra
Vaikharee caturdasaara roopini - 14 kona in sreecakra

The five Siva cakra has become embedded internally in these four sakti cakra.
Hence, Sree cakra is catuscakraatmaka and naada sabda vaacya.
Bindu is shadaadhaara cakra
Kala is pancaasad [15] varna or mantras.

Kala can also be considered as 360 divine rays as referred in
"kshitau shad pancaasat"
sloka no-14.

In these shad aadhaaraas moolaadhara, swaadhishthana, manipooraka, anaahata, visuddhi and aajnaa cakra, pancaasat kalaa is embedded inside as hidden treasure.

In Candra khanda, there are 16 swara letters starting from a to ah .
In Soorya khanda, there are 25 letters from ka to ma.
In agni khanda, there are 7 akshara from ya to sa.
In bindu sthaana, there are ha and la.
Sarvatra or all pervading the all aadhaaraa, there is ksha [kaara].

Thus in moolaadhaari dala contain the total letters or akshara.
Kalaa has nityaatmakatwa.
Kalaa has also, moolamantra, gata panca-dasa-akshara aatmakatwa.
Nitya has kalaatmakatwa.

Panca dasa akshara has tri khandatwa. [divided into 3 sets ]
Trikhanda has soma soorya anala aatmakatwa.
Also trikhanda has granthi traya aatmakatwa.
Granthi traya has mantra gata hreemkaara trayaatmakatwa.
Hreemkaara has bhuvaneswari mantratwa.
Bhuvaneswari mantra has moola mantra antargatatwa.
Moola mantra has aikya with Sree-cakra

This cakra navaka [5 + 4], has aikya with shadaadhaara, with granthi traya, with sahasra kamala karnika.

This is called kalaa naada aikyam.

Having referred about naada and kalaa, Now we will clarify the bindu swaroopa.

Bindu is shad aadhaara in sushumnaa naadi.
Bindu is a sakti visesha of Paramasiva, which is jagad utpatti hetuka.
This is yekam only.

This is referred as :-

"Sahasra kamala antargata, catur dwaraatmaka karnikaa Madhya gata,
catushkonaatmaka, sakti tatwa."

Tan Madhya gata Siva tatwa is the Naada.
We have referred earlier that naada is of four types.
Sakti and siva have ubhayatwa kalaatmakatwa because of sabda artha roopa.
Siva Sakti Sammelana is naada bindu kalaateeta.
This is the secret of samya mata.

Samay mata may be referred as beyond time, space, objects and hence any devotee can do at any time, any place, irrespective of any object with ease by pure mind, and does not require the help of any external poojaa draya or anything else.

This bindu referred above is divided into 10 types:-
In moolaadhara the four petal lotus – mind budhhi, citta and ahamkaara, and they become prakritiaatmaka jagannirmaana hetu and become 4 bindu aatmaka.
In swaadhishthaana, there is six petal lotus – kaama, krodha, lobha, moha, madha and maatsarya aatmaka form six bindu aatmaka. These are samhaara bindu says – yoga saastra – [you can refer Patanjali Yoga Sootra]
Bhagavaan Patanjali says –

"swaadishthaane samhaarah shad bindu kritah"

Thus the ten bindus are moolaadhaara swaadhisthaanaatmaka.
Dasa dala manipooraka [10 petal lotus] is moolaadhaara swaadhishthaana dalaatmaka.
Dwaadasa dala anaahata [12 petal lotus] is manipoora dasa dalaatmaka, and
moolaadhaara swaadhishthaana kamala-dwaya-atmaka.
Shodasa dala visuddhi cakra [16 petal lotus] is anaahata padma dwaadasa dalaatmaka, moolaadhaaraadi catuscakraatmaka.

Dwidala visuddhi cakra is moolaadhaara swaadhisthaanaatmaka.
Thus from manipooraka to aajnaa cakra, the four cakraas are of moolaadhaara
swaadhishthaana prakriti only.

Thus, since in moolaadhaara swaadhishthaana, all other four are hidden or embedded and hence, yeka bindu is said to have become 10.
For the samayi, the four kaarya bhoota cakraas are required for anusandhaana and hence the moolaadhara and swaadhishthaana are not required.

Moolaadhara and swaadhishthaana are kaarana bhoota
The other four are kaarya bhoota.
This shad vidha aikya anusandhaanam is the reason for mukti and the rest are all
Optional, not compulsory.

For a upaasaka, who has deeksha {or he is called ‘deekshitar’}, because of guru’s grace and by this aikya anusandhaana, sree devi the goddess supreme appears as kundalini in the manipooraka crossing over the moolaadhara and swaadhishthaana, and gives dharsan as the devotee wants either in form, name, or type of karma, or happiness, or strength as he meditates. There in the manipooraka, the upaasaka does the paadyaadi bhooshanaanta upacaara and propitiates the goddess and goddess comes to anaahata. [this need not be in form alone, may be your mind is fully covered by goddess and becomes full of unbounded happiness. Or your intellect may get it and you invent
something strange attracting many and get happiness.] in anaahata, you do the dhoopadi taamboolaa samarpana and goddess goes up to visuddhi
cakra, and goddess takes the position of simhaasana, and talks with her colleagues, devotee has to do the upaasana of devi with different shodasa dalagata shodasa candra kalaa ratnaa [divine ornaments and stones], and devi goes to aajnaa cakra. There the devotee has to do the neeraajana and please her. Then suddenly devi enters sahasraara, like a lightning strike, wherein devi starts sitting comfortably with Sadaa siva in the saraghaamadhya or manidweepa, in the panca kalpa taruccyaaya in the sudhaabdhi in the sahasra kamala. Then the devotee has to surrender with complete body doing the prostration to the goddess and Sadaa Siva. Till Bhagavathi, the goddess, returns back to moolaadhara, the devotee has to remain with complete surrender. This is called "samaya mata rahasya ". Th sloka number 7, starting with "kwanat kaanceedaamaa" is the description of the devi appearing in the Manipooraka.
From sloka 36 onwards, the avarohana pooja method from aajnaa cakra to moolaadhaarais referred. From aatman - aakaasa has evolved, from aakaasa has evolved vaayu; from vaayu has evolved agni; from agni has evolved water; from water has evolved earth. This is sruti words.

Also sruti says –
"oordhwamoola madhasaakha vriksham yo veda"
The reason or moola for the deva roopa vriksha is siras or head.
"Mayi yeva sakalam jaatam mayi sarvam pratishthitam mayiyeva vilayam yaati tat brahmaadwayamasmyaham"

this sarvaatmanaa sarva roopena avasthaa is called mukti.
"Tacchaalabhyamanaaraadhyatripuraamit hetutah"

[aananda taandava in moolaadhaara]
[devi saakshaatkaara – removal of dangerous diseases]


This mukti will not be available without doing the pooja of saakshaat para devata or pure consciousness. Simply by chanting "brahmaahamasmi" words one cannot become mukta. This is to be enjoyed as anubhooti. This is to be obtained by sadaacaaraas like jitendriyatwa, satyam, jeeva kaarunya etc., and by jnaana and teevra bhakti upaasana of the devi.

"Jnaadaad eva hi kaivalyam"

This whole universe starting from brahmaadi trina-paryanta is paraa-sakti swaroopa. Sree cakra is devi roopa or the devi aavaasa mandira or abode and upaasanaa sthaana of Sree devi the goddess supreme for the sake of upaasanaa of the upaasaka who is
bhaktaanujighrikshayaa bhakta.

Sree cakra is siva sakti aatmaka, siva sakti swaroopa and siva sakti aavaasa mandira. This world also is siva sakti aatmaka, siva sakti parinaama and siva sakti aavaasa mandira and sreecakraatmaka.

Smriti says :-

"Cakram Tripura sundaryaa brahmaandaakaarameeswaree"

Samaya pooja is the aikya anusandhaana with such a divine Sree cakra.

But this pooja is to be performed in Turiyaavasthaa. Crossing over, sushupti, forgetting prapanca and one’s lower self consisting of body, mind, intellect, ego, and knowing only Cit sakti is the Turiyaavasthaa. Forgetting sareera and prapanca in the shadaadhaara pooja by the inner eye of consciousness, or divya cakshus, seeing only devi directly the upaasaka has to remain in still state.

Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi says :-

"Be still and aware."
During sleep you are still but not aware.
In waking and dreaming state, you are aware, but not still.

Amma says :-

"Urangumbol, bodham undu but arivilla.
ippol, arivundu bodham illa".

The meaning is the same as referred by Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi.

The position of the manas in this state is above the aajnaa cakra. There the mind,
transforms into some other form which we normally do not experience. This is called as "unmanaavasthaa".But turiyaateeta avasthaa is different one. Aanandaika Ghana, anirvaacya and anubhavaikavedya and is beyond turiya, forgetting Cit also and having no knowledge at all. [don’t confuse with sleep or abodhavasthaa – here you have ignorance]. This is called "nirvikalpsamaadhi". This itself is called "videhamukti". In this condition, there is no question of any state, and hence no pooja or karma at all. Samaya pooja is nothing but nirvikalpam. The steps below this are ways to reach this step.

Para sambhu with the Paracit kalaa posited in Aajnaacakra or bhroomadhya Siva cakra
Catushtaya, is the reflection of the Saadaakhya kalaa which is the tawa roopa,
sivasaktiaikya roopa, which is the 26th tatwa roopa in the candra mandala baindava
sthaana in the sahasraara kamala. Sevya sevaka bhaava aaraadhana is only upto the
aajnaa cakra. In the swaprakaasa jyotsnaamaya sahasradala kamala, there is only yekatwa saayooja and nothing else. This is the result of shadaadhaara aaraadhana and is of nirvikalpaasamaadhi roopa.

Thus with the strong intellectual conviction that :-

Sri tripura sundari
Sree vidyaa mantra
Sree cakra
Maatrukaakshara
Prapanca
Sree Guru
Shadaadhaara
Saadaakhya kalaa
Kundalini sakti
And self are all one and one only.

Thinking of the goddess as sarvadaa avicchinna flow of oil, and do the sreevidyaa mantra Japa,is the main reason for a upaasaka to go to the place of aadhaara cakra
and this is sarva sreyaskaram and sarva sangalam.

[aananda taandava in moolaadhaara]
[devi saakshaatkaara – removal of dangerous diseases]

The study of the Aananda Lahari gives us the self knowledge if approached with sincere interest. But one may ask what is the benefit of studying soundarya lahari, particularly aananda lahari [sloka 1 to 41].
The answer to them is given by several prakarana granthaas. All prakarana granthaas
elucidate on this point and directs us to the happiness or aananda which we are and need not be searched anywhere.

Here are some clues to this. The ultimate benefit is moksha. What is moksha ?
Let us analyse this point – moksha –

we may take moksha to be of 5 specific advantages to man kind or human beings.
They are :-
1. Jijnaasaa nivrittihi
This is our natural quest or curiosity to know who we are.

Where do we come from?
Where are we getting towards?
Fundamental question - very natural to any intelligent human being;

If answered, total intellectual satisfaction results; Basic quest to know ourselves
is natural to each one of us. Soundarya lahari, like prasthaana traya or prakarana granthaas, is also able to get answer to this, if approached with reverence and faith.

2 – Vidyaananda praaptihi
Happiness or joy born out of discovery of our real nature which is so wonderful and unique, which we would not have imagined;Knowledge is permanent; it is never lost; perennially this aananda continues; Other knowledge or materials get exhausted in time; body gets exhausted; mind gets exhausted; money gets exhausted; everything in the world including the brahmaanda get exhausted, but this aananda obtained from the study and implementation of the Soundarya lahari gives ultimate happiness which never gets exhausted but increases even if we share it with others- as the
Bhagavad Gita chapter 2 sloka – 46 which refers like this :-

“Yaavaanaartha udapaane sarvatah samplutodake
Taavaan sarveshu vedeshu braahmanasya vijaanatah”
“knowledge is never exhausted in time or when we share with others”

“na corahaaryam na ca raaja haaryam na bhraatrubhaajyaam yaye krite vardhana nityam
vidya dhanam sarva dhanaal pradhaanam”

knowledge cannot be stolen by thief, or government or by police, or by tax; not
taken away by relatives; knowledge is never a burden also.

ya ye krite vardhata eva nityam.
Vidyananda is a perennial source of ananda; This is second benefit we get by self
knowledge here by the study and implementation of the Soundarya lahari also.

3 - paara tantrya nivrittih or paaravasya nivrittihi;
I have always a source of happiness with me, which I need not search outside but is me; I don’t become a slave of worldly pleasures;
Some bank balance for emergency – example – for water storage, borewell as a standby; A perennial source- my dependence on dependent and unreliable worldly
pleasures comes down; Worldly pleasure do come, ok; if not, I can tap from
vidyaananda which is me itself;

3rd benefit is reduction of desperate dependence upon joy given by worldly people, government, relatives, thieves, etc; this is the 3rd benefit by the study of
Soundarya lahari too.

4 - Aaghaata Nivritthi –
serves as a wonderful shock absorber when facing adverse situation – challenging situation in life – but the study of Soundarya lahari as other scriptural studies too, acts as a cushion; when roads are not good – shock absorber helps; when roads are terrible, shock absorber helps to withstand shock; spondulisis or psychological spondulisis – depression, anxiety, fear, freedom - from that is the 4th benefit;
one who studies Soundarya lahari with devotion will also become wise; and he never gets shocked under any circumstance. and finally –

5. dakshataa praaptihi;
when my mind is well balanced – since I have a shock absorber- I do not go to turbulent condition- poised mind is a good mind- on the other hand emotionally
disturbed mind is very dangerous; if I don’t have emotional balance, mind becomes disturbed and hence, the output is affected and the environment also affected.
now psychologist say – emotional quotient [E Q] is more important than
intelligence quotient [I Q].

high knowledge with sharpness is intelligence quotient;
emotional quotient is - capacity to remain balanced when things go astray;

If you have low emotional quotient, the problem is depression, expectation, anger, fatigue, grief etc.; if one has high emotional quotient, what knowledge he has, he can tap fully and get full benefit; emotional disturbance is virus for brain computer;
virus - vital , information resources , under , siege ,
it means the knowledge is not available for our tapping; our intelligence then is hijacked by militant or terrorist called grief; the 4th benefit we get just as from the study of scriptures is available by the study of Soundarya Lahari also. When fully utilized, once handled, my intelligence quotient is fully available for my present performance; naturally a poised person is able to perform well; even from worldly angle, a person of self knowledge can accomplish better than others;
this is dakshataa praaptihi;

Aananda lahari gives aananda or vidyaananda – it is not ordinary happiness – but we get happiness devoid of any sorrow.