[Advaita-l] Sivaanandalahari - 100

[Anbu sivam2]

Sivaanandalahari - 100 स्तोत्रेणाल-महं प्रवच्मि न मृषा देवा विरिंचादय:
स्तुत्यानां गणनाप्रसंग-समये त्वामग्रगण्यं विदु: ।
माहात्म्याग्र-विचारण-प्रकरणे धानातुषस्तोमव-
द्धूतास्वां विदुरुत्तमोत्तम-फलं शंभो भवत्सेवका: ॥ १०० ॥

इति श्रीमत्परमहंस-परिव्राजकाचार्य श्रीमच्छंकराचार्य-
विरजित-शिवानन्दलहरी समाप्ता ॥



stotreNAla-mahaM pravachmi na mRuShA devA viriMchAdaya:
stutyAnAM gaNanAprasaMga-samaye tvAmagragaNyaM vidu: |
mAhAtmyAgra-vichAraNa-prakaraNe dhAnAtuShastomava-
ddhUtAsvAM viduruttamottama-phalaM SaMBo BavatsevakA: || 100 ||

iti SrImatparamahaMsa-parivrAjakAchArya SrImachCaMkarAchArya-
virajita-SivAnandalaharI samAptA ||



Oh Sambhu,Since there is no end to speak about your qualities which are
beyond the reach of the mind and speech, it is enough to worship you. I am
not saying any untruth. Devas, Brahma and others consider you to be first in
the list of those who should be praised and worshipped. When your bhaktas
are deciding the greatest God, devas are being discarded like the chaff from
the the grain and all other Gods are eliminated. Only you are known as the
best of all.

*Commentary*

*hE sambhO* = Hey! ParamporuLE!
*bhavathsEvaka* = Your bhakthasEvakas;
*virinchaadhaya:* = Brahma and Vishnu and others;
*dhEvaa:* = dhEvaas;
*sthuthyaanaam* = who are qualified to do the sthuthi;
*GhananaaprasanghamayE* = taking account of them and speak of in the sabha;
*thvaam *= you alone;
*agrakaNyam* = to be selected as the first one;
*vidhu:* = they know;
*mahaathmayaagravichaaraNa prakaraNE* = when talking of different devathaas
and enquiring of them;
*dhaanaathushthOmavaddhoothaa* = being driven out like when we separate the
chaff from the grain by pounding using the pestle and mortar;
*thvaam* = of you;
*uthamOthamaphalam* = as the superior uthamOthama phalaswaroopan;
*vidhu:* = they know;
*atha: *= therefore;
*sthOthrENa* = by sthOthras;
*alam* = enough;
*aham* = really me (sarvagnaaL Sri BhagavathpaadhaaL who is ParamEswara's
avathaaram);
*mrushaa *= lie, untruth;
*na pravachmi* = did not say;
*idham* = all the sthuthi that I have done all along (please do not think
that it is my imagination);
*sathyamEva* = is the Truth, is the Truth.

Sri SarvagnaaL BhagavathpaadhaaL thus with great ecstacy having sung
Sivaanandhalahari in Bhramaraambhikaa samEdha Mallikaarjuna Swamy sannidhi
ends this great Grantha with this slOka.

Hey! ParamEswara! No one can describe your mahimaa as 'this much' only.
Likewise no one can do smaraNam either.  Even those mahaans who for sadhaa
kaalam in the araNyam called vEdhaantham remaining there without chinthana
also have not known your nija swaroopam.  Hey! Sambho! Sukha kaaraNanE!
ParamporuLE! Your sEvakaas who are Hari Brahmaadhi dhEvathaas together with
sakala bhakthaas gathered in the rishi jana alankritha sabhaa, after taking
an account of who alone is qualified to be worshiped with due search, they
elect you alone.  The process is akin to pounding  with pestle and mortar to
separate the grain from the chaff when the chaffs fly away. In the same way
the anya dhEvathas vanish without a trace.  They thus elect you as the
uthamOthama phalaswaroopan.  Being such mahaa mahiman how can anyone be able
to sing sthuthi of you with mere slOkas, verses and sthOthraas?  Let us now
understand the thaathparyam of BhagavathpaadhaaL's use of the word
"sthOthrENaalam".

All the VEdas joined together to find out the thathwaartham of ParamEswara
and were tired and breathless in their search.  Because ParamEswara was
unconnected with jaathi, guNa and kriya and remained shining as nirguNa
vasthu and thus was beyond the reach of the VEdhas to become their
vishayam.  VEdhas being of sabhdha roopas were unable to find ParamEswara.
Therefore they decided to find ParamEswara by using their mind instead.  But
to their vexation ParamEswara remained asanghan and niravyan and thus they
could not reach him even through the mind.  Therefore, all the VEdhaas in
unison declared that ParamEswara is beyond the reach of mind and word.  If
ParamEswara's real thathwam could not be the object of even the apourusha
vEdhaas how can ordinary mortals who are subject to jananam and maraNam know
him?

How then can this mahimaa of ParamEswara thathwam be imparted to another?
Whoever has known ParamEswara?  Who has the capacity to teach ParamEswara
Thathwam?  It is not at all easy.  The sruthi pramaanam for this is:

yathOvaachO nivarthanthE apraapya manasaa saha |
kOddhaavEdha ka iha praavOchath ||

Hey! SambhO! You are beyond the gOcharam of aupurushEya sabdharoopa vEdha,
so much so, could you become the vishyam for kEvalam my modest kaavya?  I
don't think so, yet your mahathwam would not be diminished by this kaavya at
all.  Hey! SambhO who is in laalanam with Bramaraambhikaa!  No sooner did I
reach your sannidhi than my hrudhaya pundareekam was overflowing with
aanandha!  With a view that the sarvalOkas should be enjoying this aanandha
that I did this kaavyam only and not to determine your mahathwam and neither
to show off my paaNdithyam.  Can anyone fully cover your mahimaa?  When the
vEdhas that remain as "ananthaa: vEdhaa:" themselves could not find the
thathwam of you, could my sthOthras declare your mahimaa? No, not at all.

Thus considering the mahath nature of ParamEswara's mahimaa
Bhagavathpaadhaal as sarvagnaaL put it as "sthOthrENaalam" meaning it is
enough praising you through sthOthrams.  This is the considered view of the
pandithaas.

Moreover, starting from manushyaanandham to saguNabrahmaanandham, by
gradation, there are eleven types that the sruthi has described.  These
graded aanandhaas are considered as lava lEsam compared to Brahmaanandham.
"Ethasyaivaanandhasya anyaani bhoothaani maathraamupajeevanthi" .  That
ultimate aanandhaa talked about in the sruthi itself is the swaroopam of
ParamEswara.  The siddhaantham of Hari Brahmaadhi dhEvaas is  the reaching
ParamEswara and it is the uthamOthama palan.  And look at the chorus of
ghOsham and simha garjanas of the sruthis, smrithis, upanishads, ithihaasas,
saasthraas, umaasamhithaa, gaayathri manthra  and so on.

*Esha sarvEswara:
**Easwara: sarvabhoothaanaam hruddhEsE arjunathishtathi
**Easaavaasyamidham sarvam
athrapoorvam mahaadhEva: prasaadhamakarOth prabhu:
sivaprasaadhEna vinaa na mukthi:
poorNam sivam dheemathi
bharghO dhEvasya dheemahi
phalamatha: upapatthE*

Therefore, Hey! SambhO! I am not praising you because you are my ishta
dhEvatha.   In reality sruthi, smrithi, ithihaasam, puraaNaas, nyaaya,
Brahmasoothram and so on, all in unison, declare that you alone are the
sarvOthkrishta dheivam.

The above is the swearing of the witness in AachaaryaaL.

Thus the inner meaning of the following sruthi vaakyas: "yathOvaachO
nivarthanthE apraapya manasaa saha |  kOddhaavEdha ka iha praavOchath |" was
brought out by our AachaaryaaL in the usage of the phrase "sthOthENa alam".
Also the inner meaning of the sruthi: "Ethasyaivaandhasya anyaani bhoothaani
maathraamupajeevanthi", namely the Brahmaanandham, was hi-lighted by his
usage of the word "uthamOthamaphalam".  He underlined the sruthi: "Esha
sarvEswara: easaana: sarvavidhyaanaam" by the use of the phrase " aham
pravachmi na mrushaa".  The interesting thing is the use of the word "aham"
which indicates that mahaakailaasaadhipathi ParamEswara by his exeeding
kaaruNyam for the uddhaaraNam of sakala praaNis took the roopam of
jagathguru Sankara BhagavathpaadhaaL!

Aum Namasivaaya sivaaya nama Aum
Hara Hara MahaadhEva SambhO kaasi viswanaatha gangE!

Sivaanandhalahari sampoorNam.

Aum Sri GurubyO nama: