2023-02-16 06:27:22 by ambuda-bot
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LALITA-SAHASRANAMA
commencement of the poem the author describes at
great length the person of the Goddess and refers
throughout the litany to her marvellous beauty Her
jewels her flowers, her smiles and glances and her
likes and dislikes are all revealed to us with such
exquisite skill that we feel the gracious presence of
the Devi and believe that she is really as the poet says,
a maha lavanya sevadhih-a treasure house of beauty
From the point of view of pure poetry, this part of
the Sahasranama is the most artistic one But we do
not read the Lalita for its poetry We read it for its
religious content And from the port of view of
religious thought, if we compare it with the odes in
the Chandi mahatmya we are struck at once with its far
wider range and its greater depth and variety In
the earlier work, as we have seen it is the immanence
of the deity that is stressed In the Lalita it is
both the transcendence and the immanence that are
stressed In such names as sat-nsat rupa dharını, saty?
Jnanananda upa sachidananda rupini, nitya suddha
nity buddha niravadya, nirantara-and there are
about forty five names beginning with such negatives-
we see how deeply the litany is pervaded with Vedantic
thought And we observe its strong Advaitic tiend
in such names as nirdvaita, dvuta varjita biahmat-
maikya svarupini, tattvamartha svarupini, jñatr-jñeya
svarupını and mithya-jagad adhusthana But what
mal es the Lalitasahasranama entirely different from
the Devi mahatmya and the earlier hymns to the
Goddess is the predominant influence of Tantrik
42
commencement of the poem the author describes at
great length the person of the Goddess and refers
throughout the litany to her marvellous beauty Her
jewels her flowers, her smiles and glances and her
likes and dislikes are all revealed to us with such
exquisite skill that we feel the gracious presence of
the Devi and believe that she is really as the poet says,
a maha lavanya sevadhih-a treasure house of beauty
From the point of view of pure poetry, this part of
the Sahasranama is the most artistic one But we do
not read the Lalita for its poetry We read it for its
religious content And from the port of view of
religious thought, if we compare it with the odes in
the Chandi mahatmya we are struck at once with its far
wider range and its greater depth and variety In
the earlier work, as we have seen it is the immanence
of the deity that is stressed In the Lalita it is
both the transcendence and the immanence that are
stressed In such names as sat-nsat rupa dharını, saty?
Jnanananda upa sachidananda rupini, nitya suddha
nity buddha niravadya, nirantara-and there are
about forty five names beginning with such negatives-
we see how deeply the litany is pervaded with Vedantic
thought And we observe its strong Advaitic tiend
in such names as nirdvaita, dvuta varjita biahmat-
maikya svarupini, tattvamartha svarupini, jñatr-jñeya
svarupını and mithya-jagad adhusthana But what
mal es the Lalitasahasranama entirely different from
the Devi mahatmya and the earlier hymns to the
Goddess is the predominant influence of Tantrik
42