Saundarya LaharI 2

Gathering a minute particle of dust from your lotus feet,virinci, the skilled architect creates this perfect universe of many worlds.Sauri sustains this complex and vast creation with the thousand hoods ascribed to him.Hara destroys them into dust which he smears all over his body to worship you in the prescribed method (vidhi). ViriNci - the same as ViriNca of the first stanze; both the words denote Brahman, the creator. Speck of dust - used in a collective sense, as otherwise the worlds could not ostensibly be created out of a single speck, nor would it require the thousand heads of Sauri to carry it with effort, nor would it be enough to smear the prodigious body of Hara with. The lotus-like feet - Thy of Thee, the prime cause of all the worlds; hence the dust on her feet acquires all her virtues. According to KanAda, the founder of the
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Vaisesika school and AksapAda, the founder of NyAya schook, the world is made up of the primary atoms of Earth, Water, Fire and Air, which, at the desire of Isvara, arrange themselves, in the first instance, into Dvyanuka-s consisting of two atoms each, which, in their turn, arrange themselves into Tryanuka-s, consisting of three Dvyanuka-s each. It is on groups of these Tryanuka-s, that the cosmogony of these two schools is based. Such a conception of the order of creation should not be considered as a mere surmise of the poet, as it is the fact that the ParamAnu [ of the Devi's feet] is the prime cause of the creation of the world, that forms the basis of their theory. The worlds - both animate and inanimate. The seven upper worlds : BhUr, Bhuvar, Suvar, Mahar, Jana, Tapas and Satya, as also the seven nether worlds : Atala, Vitala, RasAtala, TalAtala, MahAtala and PAtAla may also be meant. Sauri - Visnu, the sustainer, who is said to be lifting the fourteen worlds, the nether seven in the form of SimsumAra, a porpoise, and the upper seven as Sesa. LaksmIdhara construs the word as Balabhadra, [the descendant of SUra, the YAdava chief] lifting the worlds in the form of Sesa. It may however be noted, that according toAmarasimha, Sauri is one of the recognised names of Visnu an dnot Balabhadra. Hara - SamhAra-rudra the destroyer. The greatness of Devi is borne testimony to by the object dependence of the creator, the sustainer and the destroyer of the worlds on the dust of her feet, for carrying out their respective avocations. It is further enhanced by the fact, that the single peck of her feet provides material for the creator to create all the worlds, with their various contents. The same speck calls forth great effort from Visnu, the thousand-headed, to lift its weight with his myraids of heads, and the mighty SamhAra-rudra, with his prodigious form, has to reduce this tiny speck to ashes, by way of destroying the worlds, for his Bhasma-snAna. Again, as observed by KaivalyAsrama, the ashes are but the residium left by all the elements and their various transformations, after the application of his SamhAra-sakti by Rudra, with a view to smear his body with ashes, in conformity with the Mantra presecribed therefore. Further, the same commentator, fortified by DattAtreya's view, explains the estoteric significance of the speck of dust as follows : The Devi has four feet, named Sukla,
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Rakta, Misra and NirvAna, the first two resting on the two-pettaled lotus of the AjnAcakra, the third on the twelve-petalled lotus of the heart, and the fourth on the thousand-petalled lotus of the DvAdhasAnta, with Visnu, Brahman, Rudra and SadAsiva as their respective deities, who, assuming their characteristic Guna-s Sattva, Rajas, Tamas and GunAtItatva, through the speck of dust resting on the four feet, occupy themselves in their respective avocations of creations, sustenance, destruction and bathing in the nectar of the region of the Moon in the thousandpetalled lotus. Kamesvara-sUri, however, rebuts this view and points out that it runs counter to what Samkara-bhagavatpAda would uphold, as, everywhere in the entire work, he refers to only one pair of feet of the Devi, and that as such it is far fetched, and adds that if it was meant merely to derive the three Guna-s of Hari, ViriNci and Hara, that could as well be attained by explaining that the speck of dust, being of variegated colours, partakes of the three Gunas-s. KaivalyAsrama's view may, however, be reconciled by pointing out that his exposition is only esoteric and should not be taken to hold good to the very letter.

venkat bhasksr Gathering a minute particle of dust from your lotus feet,virinci, the skilled architect creates this perfect universe of many worlds.Sauri sustains this complex and vast creation with the thousand hoods ascribed to him.Hara destroys them into dust which he smears all over his body to worship you in the prescribed method(vidhi). I initiate discussion on verse 2 with a quotation by Einstein given in a bookdevelopment of life on earth(by Mir Publishers,Moscow,1990) .He says"I cannot but wonder how this incredibly complex mechanism is still functioning at all...." The universe is a work of perfection.It is the wonderful symmetry and order that permit a systematic investigation to try to understand it.At the same time is stupendous in magnitude and complexity.This complex world works.The forces are beautifully balanced and move in generally predictable paths.There is continuity and uniformity.But again, there are many evidences of catastrophic destruction and discontinuity.Life forms evolve,almost rule the earth and suddenly disappear(ex Dinosaurus).Thick forests of vegetation have been wiped out in geological time.The
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mighty Himalayas have risen out of a sea named Tethys by geologists.The creation of Himalayas needed erosion and disappearance of vast amounts of material at other places.There were periods the universe of extreme climatic changes. What is the purpose of this unending cycles of creation,a period of continuity followed by destruction?This is an invocation to the Mother in whose worship,Brahma,Vishnu and Maheswar are engaged.Brahma starts the process by touching her feet and and creates th universe we observe from just one particle.How many universes he may be creating in time and space which are unknown to us?

The Bijaksharam is HREEM and not SHREEM..The Bijaksharam for this verse 2 has a special significance. Saktyaksharani seshani Hreemkara mubhayatkah----- ref Brahmanda Puranam It means that while other Bijaksharams are mainly Shakti related, HREEM is related to both Shiva and Shakti which is required for the stupendous tasks described in this verse Expected result of Upasana is success/victory (vijayam) in all matters and not gradual development as I had given earlier.

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