Verse 10: Perpetual Contemplation of Devi

நின்றும் இருந்தும் கிடந்தும் நடந்தும் நினைப்பது உன்னை,
என்றும் வணங்குவது உன் மலர்த் தாள்.-எழுதாமறையின்
ஒன்றும் அரும்பொருளே. அருளே. உமையே. இமயத்து
அன்றும் பிறந்தவளே. அழியா முத்தி ஆனந்தமே.

Niṉṟum iruntum kiṭantum naṭantum niṉaippatu uṉṉai,
Ĕṉṟum vaṇaṅkuvatu uṉ malart tāl̤.-ĕḻutāmaṟaiyiṉ
Ŏṉṟum arumpŏrul̤e. Arul̤e. Umaiye. Imayattu
Aṉṟum piṟantaval̤e. Aḻiyā mutti āṉantame.

Translation: I contemplate on you when I stand, sit, sleep and walk. I always worship your flowery feet; you are the inner meaning of the unwritten Vedas. You are Grace personified, Uma. Who was born in the Himalayas. You are the one who is immortal bliss.

Niṉṟum – Standing iruntum – Sitting kiṭantum – Reclining or Lying down naṭantum – walking niṉaippatu - Thinking of uṉṉai – You

Ĕṉṟum – Always / Every day vaṇaṅkuvatu – Worship your uṉ malart tāl̤ - Lotus feet

I am thinking of you while I walk, stand, sit and lie down, and always worship your lotus feet.

Abirāmi Bhattar, in this stanza, goes on to explain how the Japa of the mantra or the meditation of the supreme Śakti is to be done. Once an aspirant gets initiated into the mantra, he starts with mantra Japa initially with all the prescribed rules. However, when the aspirant moves further into the mantra yoga, the mantra becomes the breath of the aspirant, even when the aspirant is performing his other activities in life, the mantra automatically keeps going on in the mind, such an aspirant continuously does the Japa and is progressing in an accelerated path towards Para Śakti. Perpetual chanting of mantra can be possible only if an aspirant establishes himself in only one mantra, one deity and one Guru. Association with multiple mantras and deities will be difficult for the mind to process and hence reaching this stage of perpetual chanting of mantra will be difficult, this is the singular reason why a Guru always advises his disciples to follow one mantra and one form of deity.

I can personally recall Shri Ravi Guruji advising a disciple how to do mantra Japa i.e. perpetual chanting of the mantra. However, to reach this stage of perpetual stage of Japa, the disciple should have followed all established rules until he established himself on the mantra initiated.

Shankaracharya in his Soundarya Lahari verse #27 as below, goes on to say that let whatever he speaks become Japa, his walking be the circumambulation, movement of his hands be the mudras and his lying down be the namaskar, eating as the oblations in fire and all enjoyments be my surrender to you. Let all these activities become an important part of your worship.

जपो जल्पः शिल्पं सकलमपि मुद्राविरचना
गतिः प्रादक्षिण्यक्रमणमशनाद्याहुतिवीधिः।
प्रणामस्संवेशस्सुखमखिलमात्मार्पणदृशा
सपर्यापर्यायस्तव भवतु यन्मे विलसितम्॥

japo jalpaḥ śilpaṁ sakalamapi mudrāviracanā
gatiḥ prādakṣiṇyakramaṇamaśanādyāhutivīdhiḥ |
praṇāmassaṁveśassukhamakhilamātmārpaṇadṛśā
saparyāparyāyastava bhavatu yanme vilasitam ||

The above verse of Soundarya Lahari, compliments Abirāmi Anthathi, by elaborating on how the worship of Devi should progress. This way of internalized worship or mental worship of Devi is called as Samayachara method. Lalitha Sahasranama Samayācāra-tatparā समयाचार-तत्परा (98) and Antarmukha-samārādhyā अन्तर्मुख-समाराध्या (870) explains that Devi is internally worshipped in the six centres of the body in the psychic chakras and also in the heart centre that houses the seat of Atman in the human body.

Shri Ravi Guruji in his commentaries on Śiva Sutra II.8, explains what would happen when perpetual contemplation is achieved. Also just like Soundarya lahari says that one should offer all senses and limbs as oblations to destroy the ego and attain Śivahood, this Sutra also says that an aspirant should offer his/her body as oblation, which is a continuous thought process of contemplating on Devi. When this is done, the effulgence of mantra is realized and thereby Śakti is realized.

An excerpt from Shri Ravi Guruji’s commentary is reproduced below:

Śarīraṁ haviḥ शरीरं हविः॥ (sūtra II.8)

Śarīraṁ - body; haviḥ - oblation.

As far as the human body is concerned, the other two bodies form as coverings for the inner and invisible soul. This aphorism says that consciousness is to be removed from all three bodies. This becomes possible only through the thought process and continuous affirmation saying that I am That or ahaṁ brahmāsmi. One cannot become Brahman just by verbal affirmation. In the same way, no mantra will be effective, unless the effulgence of the mantra is realised through the thought process.

The other Śiva sutra which calls in for perpetual effort is Prayatnaḥ sādhakaḥ प्रयत्नः साधकः (sūtra II.2), just as Bhattar here recommends perpetual contemplation, any aspirant towards liberation or self-realization has to put in continuous effort to achieve unity. The following excerpt from Shri Ravi Guruji’s commentary attests to that explanation.

Persistent effort and dedicated practice are necessary to align his thought process with the mantra and its deity. When one desires to advance spiritually, he has to align his thought process with the mantra of the deity. If this union is not established, there cannot be an effective spiritual progression of the practitioner.

ĕḻutāmaṟaiyiṉ - Unwritten Vedas Ŏṉṟum – Singular arumpŏrul̤e – Rare meaning

Devi is the only meaning of Vedas which is rarely understood

Bhattar extols Devi as the rare and inner meaning of Vedas. Devi herself is the origin of Vedas as she is Veda Janani. However, she is the inner meaning of Vedas, which is beautifully explained in the form of Upanishads, which forms the end of Vedas. Upanishads generally speak about the formless aspect of God, terming it as Brahman and speaking more on the realization of Brahman and the importance of experiencing God, and little importance given to rituals or form-based worships. Hence Upanishads are generally considered to be the refined form of worship in the path of wisdom or Gnana marga. Even to understand the Upanishads one’s intellect needs to be considerably refined and should be devoid of any external conditionings prejudices, or impressions in mind. This kind of purity of intellect and consciousness alone can take an aspirant to the ultimate reality which is Brahman, who is Śiva consciousness. Devi alone can do that in the final step of revelation for the aspirant. Worship of Devi will lead to the realization of Śiva is the subtle meaning conveyed here. Tirumantiram Verse #1088 describes Devi as the end of Vedas as below:

1088. காரணி மந்திரம் ஓதுங் கமலத்துப்
பூரண கும்ப விரேசம் பொருந்திய
நாரணி நந்தி நடுஅங்கு உரைசெய்த
ஆரண வேதநூல் அந்தமும் ஆமே.

Translation: She is the cause supreme, She is the cause of mantra Japa. She is the cause of inhalation, Retention and Exhalation of breath. She is Narayani. She is the end of Vedas, that is Upanishads, as revealed by Nandi i.e. Shiva in this context.

Arul̤e.- Oh Grace  Umaiye.- Uma  Imayattu – Himalayas / in the centre of eye brows Aṉṟum – Yester era piṟantaval̤e – Taken birth. Aḻiyā mutti āṉantame.

In the next two lines of this stanza, Abirāmi Bhattar elaborates on what will happen when someone does the perpetual Japa or meditation of Devi. The first thing that the aspirant experiences is Grace, Grace here can be anything starting from material abundance to spiritual fulfilment. The arrival of Grace is always marked by inexplicable happiness and peace in the aspirant. The onset of inexplicable happiness and peace is nothing but presence of Devi in the aspirant, which is the result of perpetual contemplation of Her. When Śakti is realized out of this perpetual contemplation she reveals Śiva the ultimatum of reality and makes the aspirant move towards complete liberation from transmigratory cycle.

Imayattu – Himalayas / In between eyebrows. This word though refers Himalayas in outset as Devi was born to Himavan and Mena as their daughter, Bhattar refers her as being born in the puranic yore as Uma. However, if we take as the mid of eyebrows, Devi in her subtle kundalini form reaches Agna chakra, and before ascending further traverses through Soma chakra, causing nectar to ooze in the aspirant’s throat. Secretion of nectar is the concrete proof of one’s spiritual ascension and after that, the aspirant might be able to reach to the state of immortality. However there is no guarantee that the aspirant would reach Her just because of nectar secretion, that is the singular reason that all great Gurus including Bhattar or Shri Ravi Guruji always emphasised persistent practices and affirmations. The same meaning is conveyed in the following Tirumantiram verse # 2519.

2519. விண்ணவ ராலும் அறிவுஅறி யான்தன்னைக்

கண்ணற வுள்ளே கருதிடின் காலையில்

எண்உற வாசமுப் போதும் இயற்றிநீ

பண்ணிடில் தன்மை பராபர னாமே. 8

Translation: The one who is not known even by the celestials, think of him always

Morning, noon and evening. If such a contemplation is done, one will become verily Para Brahman.

Perpetual contemplation of Devi will result in immortal bliss, which is the onset of liberation and Brahma Gnana, to which she will personally guide. Hence Bhattar calls out to her as Immortal Bliss that gives liberation in the final words.

This article is wirtten by Shri Arun who can be contacted at arun.radhakrishnan25@gmail.com