Just as the truth is perceived in many ways matter is present in every object and every being inanimate and animate. Adi Sankara’s Bindu is a conceptual relation of the meaningfulness of existence in the oneness of Sakthi and Purusha.

This realization is the common factor in all the religious scriptures in the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Gita and the Bhagavatha.

The last Sloka in the fifteenth canto of Sundara Kanda in Sage Valmiki’s Ramayana shows how Hanuman has gone to the heart of the matter in the realization that Devi Sita is present in Lord Rama’s body and Lord Rama in Devi’s body. That is the only way the divine could brook separation. The respective souls lay in the other’s body.

In the Mahabharata, which is a huge and meticulously worked out symbol, the oneness of Purusha and Sakti is once again brought out. Draupadi’s husbands are five in one. The five are the Pancha Kosas.

Pandu’s aspiring soul on it’s way heaven - ward is stopped since he had no son of his loins to redeem him. Kunthi solves the problem by invoking Yama at the suggestion of her husband. Dharma Raja is born and then the others in a like way. Enmeshed in worldly pleasures first dharma and then Artha and finally Kama Pandu is destroyed. The Moksha yearning is fulfilled in Dharmaraja in the Swargarohana Parva.

Great minds and evolved souls enshrine truth in symbols. To understand truth hard work (Saadhana) in terms of getting in to the mind, merit (Punya) in terms of intuition and a probing mind (Jijnasa) in terms of understanding are necessary.

II

Expatiating on a Sloka the speaker brought out the mighty conception of the seer of the pervasive magnitude of the Supreme mother. The Adi Parashakthi wears ear studs, which symbolize the Sun on one side and the stars and the Moon on the other. If her ear lobes alone have such magnificence, how glorious should be her total being! The flowers she wears in her hair are four each standing for a side or Disa. She wears Disas as an embellishment to her hair. The earth and the ocean below and the hardened water the clouds above with the sun-the moon and the stars in the firmament in her being. Shakti rises in her glory, which is above all mortal conception or imagination. Human intellect fails to grasp the universe-enfolding form of the Supreme mother.

It is only a great Kumbhaka yogi like Hanuman who could get at the heart of the mystery of the mother. In the first Sarga of Sundara Kanda sage Valmiki describes the glory of the Supreme Being striking Hanuman’s realization full with its effulgence. The ring, which he takes to Devi Sita, and the Chudamani, which he brings from the Devi to the Lord, has been fabulous symbols. The ring encircles the entire creation and the Chudamani is a Mani, which is a mantra. It is the key to understand the ultimate, the divine and the everlasting. It is the highest wisdom.

Hanuman is the truly blessed one for he bears both the noblest of creations the Anguliya and the Chudamani, He it is for whom the Lord has the greatest love for he has been a fully realized yogi and full blossomed soul who saw the indivisibility of Shiva and Shakti. Kala and Kali. Hanuman’s leap from the peak of Mahendra to the peak of Trikuta is a symbol again from the senses to the mystic three Kootas.

The divine and enchanting letters, Bijaksharas take Hanuman from flight to flight to newer heights. He elevates himself from one chakra to another ultimately ascending the Sahasrara Chakra where from oozes the divine nectar enabling the Sadhaka to be one with the divine.

The Supreme mother according to Adi Sankara is the Bindu attained through flights to Ojas and delving the depths of Prasada and ultimately joining the two base points with a line of Samadhi. The product is a triangle many such triangles are embedded in Sri Chakra, a symbolic representation of the Supreme mother. The Chakaras and Kosas are there in every human being. The flight and the descent from the one to the other are possible only to very few Sadhakas.

III

Continuing his weekly discourse in Adhyayana Mandali in Praturi House, Vizianagaram Sri Bharatha Sarma described the significance of the Supreme mother being described as Meenakshi.

She blessed by her mere glance. ‘Kleem’ is the sound, which describes her with Bijaksharas in it. She is the unseen and the unseeable. She can, however be perceived through ascending the chakras and chanting the Bijaksharas. In her are unified Bindu nada and Kala. Shadchakras, Naada and the Kalas are at the root of manifestations. The body is the base of Agni, Surya and Chandra Chakras, which stand for 108, 116 and 136 Kalas. The highest attribute of the Sadhaka is to see in himself the universe as also in the 360 Kalas symbolizing the unity of time space and body.

The glory of the Supreme Being is also sung during the prayer to Gayatri. Vikasita Vadanam the open articulating organ of the Devi is a symbol just as her whole being is symbolized by the lotus. It is only Shakti who is worthy to wear gold by virtue of her attainments. She is the yellow coloured tatvardha varnatmika. She is bhakta namra humble to the devout. She is Bhavani she being bhava and the supreme lord’s indivisible consort. She is Sri Vidya embodying in her the four Shiva chakras and five Shakti Chakras.

The highest of poets have been the highest of seers. The sutradhari’s introductory verse in Kalidasa’s Abhijnana Sakunthala is the poetic enunciation of Shakti the Supreme Being. The dramatist was giving a poetic interpretation of the pratyabhijna shiva the recognition of the supreme through a symbol.

Dushyanta forgetting Shakuntala is the result of an imprecation but the recognition of the realization is only through a symbol. Kalidas is the blessed one tossed on the waves of beauty, a beneficiary of Saundaryalahari, blessed with immortality by the Supreme Being through his vak-articulate expression.

Seers have asserted time again that the beauty of Shakti is inconceivable unless one attains the status of Shiva. The Sadhaka has to strive to see the divine by looking inward by what is called Swaroopa anu Sandhana. The vision is in enchanting - pumsam Mohana Roopa.

While the supreme realisation is possible only after gradual ascent, the lesser mortals shatter themselves by terminating their sadhana after attaining to mooladhara chakra. Adi Sankara cautioned sadhakas to set their aims on the ultimate sahasraa chakra. The immature and the worldly bring destruction on themselves by achieving dushta shaktis.

A true sadhaka like the blessed Hanuman can with stand the rigours of the path of realisation. It is through realisation that Kapi becomes Kapeeswara at the beginning of the eleventh sarga of Sundara Kanda.

IV

Continuing his weekly discourse on “Saundaryalahari”, Mr.Bharata Sharma brought out the significance of the 15th Sloka of Adi Shankara’s divinely inspired rendering of the Supreme Mother’s splendour. The title of the composition is in itself a great conception. ‘Sa’ is Saraswathi, ‘Bija’ and ‘au’ is Parabrahma Vachaka ‘Da’ is the Bija relating to the destruction of the enemy and ‘Ra’ is the ‘Agni’ ‘Bija’. ‘Aa’ is the ‘prithvi tathwa’ the nature of the earth which is stable. Saundaryalahari is the manifestation of Maha Vidya, the ultimate of knowledge and wisdom.

The 15th Sloka enables us to understand how the entire creation is bathed in the moonshine of the saradruthu. The Sloka was interpreted as the homage of Sri Adi Sankara to the Supreme mother as the goddess of learning. The enlightened seer envisages her as a white lump of radiance. She has the moon in her hair and in her hand are a book and string of crystalline beads. The beads are the alphabet and the book is symbol of ekardhobhava.

She is the one who gives us boons and a promise to free us from fear. Freedom from fear is possible only through knowledge and wisdom. He who does not pray the mother even once would be incapable of sweet and winning words. The metre of the verse is ‘sikharini vritta’ considered to be the highest, wielded by eminent poets like Bhavabhuthi.

The ‘abhaya mudra’ is one, which dispels fear from ‘Samsara’ and the world. She blesses the devout with the secret of death by giving him knowledge through vidya. Vidya alone frees us from fear and without her grace vidya is impossible of attainment. The saintly poet Pothana brings out the efficacy of vidya. Vrittasura who imparts wisdom to Indra in Srimadbhagavatha has a Poorva vrittanta as ‘chitraketu’.

When sage Narada asks the dead child at the request of the bereaved father Chitraketu whether the child would like to come alive to be with his parents, the ‘jivi’ asks to which father and mother, for he had several in his several previous births. This makes the bereaved father acquire ‘Jnaana’. The earthy parents are parents in a limited sense. We are children of the divine mother in the ultimate analysis.

Pothana too described the goddess of learning in much the same way, She is white and everything about her is white, a symbol of goodness and purity. The book that she holds in her hand is the conglomeration of sounds, which are symbolized by the various aksharas. The aksharas the alphabet are the crystals in the string held by the mother in her hand. The alphabet is white and so are the words. These in the form of a book inspire wisdom by imparting knowledge. This knowledge and wisdom enjoin on us the simplest way to her as said in the Gita ‘Reform reconstruct yourself’.

Pothana, blessed by Her, assures Her that he has been granted enough wisdom not to barter away Her gift for worldly things. Mr. Bharata Sarma concluded his discourse for the week with the lines from the poet starting with ‘Kaatuka Kanti Neeru’, the oft quoted stanza from Srimadbhagavatham.

V

Giving his exegesis of the 16th Sloka in his weekly discourse, Mr. Bharatha Sharma brought out the grandeur of the Supreme Being as a blessing which devout poets yearn for.
Sabha Jyothi is manifestation of unity of Shiva and Shakti.

Inspired poets yearn for blessings of the Supreme mother before invoking blessings of Saraswathi, the goddess of learning.

Maha kavi Kalidas was literally a ‘Dasa’ of Kali. The secret of his poetic achievements lies in his total devotion to the Supreme Being.

Bhavabhuthi was the worshipper of Bhava, the Lord.

Both the poets could become seers and ‘drashtas’ with blessings from Eternal power.

The whole world is radiated by manifestation of ‘Sabda’ the quality of ‘Naada’. It is only this ‘Naada’ that has the capacity to illuminate the otherwise dark creation.

The literary aesthetic element in Kuntaka’s Vakrokthi Jeevitha’ gives evidence that poets have a multi hued vision which communicates ‘rasa’. Even the Upanishadic concept ‘Rasovaisaha’ equates ‘rasa’ with the Almighty.

The red radiance of rising Sun awakens and makes the lotus blossom. The effulgence of poet’s vision has necessary ‘rajoguna’.

Sattvika guna makes only categorical statements of absolute truth. But human beings want attraction and embellishment of the rainbow hues which poets impose upon the absolute reality to make it both appealing and enchanting.

There is a curtain between human heart and ‘rasa’. The poet lifts this curtain with inspired and imaginative persuasion.

Divine poets compose poems artistically attracting readers to perceive reality as distinct from the mundane and the transient.

Poetry aspires to the condition of ‘Ananda’.

Purity and ‘Dharma’ are means for the achievement of ‘Ananda’. Poets enshrine this eternal verity in their Kavyas and compositions. They are ‘Sadhakas’ and ‘Upasakas’ A Nannaya, a Thikkana or a Pothana is a case in point.

In fact, as ‘Gayathri Mantra’ shows us there is not much difference between Gayathri, Saraswathi and Savithri.

Mr. Bharatha Sharma related Adi Sankara’s conception to ‘Sandhya Vidya Saraswathi’, which again is Gayathri.