Verse 11: Devi is Bliss

ஆனந்தமாய், என் அறிவாய், நிறைந்த அமுதமுமாய்,
வான் அந்தமான வடிவு உடையாள், மறை நான்கினுக்கும்
தான் அந்தமான, சரணாரவிந்தம்-தவள நிறக்
கானம் தம் ஆடரங்கு ஆம் எம்பிரான் முடிக் கண்ணியதே.

Āṉantamāy, ĕṉ aṟivāy, niṟainta amutamumāy,
Vāṉ antamāṉa vaṭivu uṭaiyāl̤, maṟai nāṉkiṉukkum
Tāṉ antamāṉa, caraṇāravintam-taval̤a niṟak
Kāṉam tam āṭaraṅku ām ĕmpirāṉ muṭik kaṇṇiyate.

Translation: As Bliss, as my intellect and filled nectar, Her form knows no bounds, just like the infinite ether and Her feet mark the end of the four Vedas. The holy feet of Devi are on the head of the lord, who has the white ash-laden land as His dancing ground.

In this verse Bhattar touches upon the prime qualities of Śakti and the experience when one realises Her. He also talks about the abodes of Śiva and Śakti, along with some fragments of Tantra, and Samayācārā practices. There are two angles to the interpretation of this verse, the first one is based on the purāṇic incidents and the latter is a subtle philosophical angle.

Bhattar talks about Lord Śiva dancing in white ash-laden grounds. This ground could be the cremation ground where He dances smearing the ash of bodies or in the Tiruvenkadu which is also translated as “A white forest where the lord resides”. In this stanza, Bhattar also subtly talks about the realisation of Śakti in terms of experiencing Her in the limited human frame. The Tiruvenkadu purāṇic reference further digs out the rise of Bhairava consciousness, which we will see when we go further into the meaning analysis.

Āṉantamāy – As Bliss, when a sādhaka intensely meditates, the first measurable progress that one can experience is an intense and causeless bliss. This bliss does not have a reason or a season to it. Any external event may seem to trigger this outpouring of bliss from inside, however the bliss occurring to the sādhaka is not stimulated by external occurrences rather it’s only an internal emergence of Supreme Śakti, which we tend to associate towards the presence of an external factor. On a careful inspection, the sādhaka will gradually learn that the bliss does not occur in the same setup or environment even if  they place oneself in the same environment. The onset of this bliss is marked by causeless tears and outpouring from the heart of the sādhaka. This outpouring can be caused by any event. It could be a word, a line in a poem, someone’s experience of a saint, a picture or anything. However, the sādhaka will gradually understand that the bliss is caused by the presence of Śakti inside him and She is gradually revealing Herself to the sādhaka.

            As revelation gets intensified, the sādhaka will start experiencing the intensity of the bliss in exponential factors. Śakti as a mother, starts giving the bliss in small doses, trains the sādhaka’s mind and body for the ultimate experience gradually. When the ultimate or perpetual bliss is recognized by the sādhaka he realizes Śakti in him. This realization of Śakti is what Bhattar calls out as “Āṉantamāy”, this realization is the prelude to the realization of Śiva, who is the cause of this bliss-Śakti.

The following Tirumantiram verse# 1054, establishes various aspects of realization of Śakti

1054. அறிவார் பராசத்தி ஆனந்தம் என்பர்
அறிவா ரருவுரு வாம்அவள் என்பர்
அறிவார் கருமம் அவள்இச்சை என்பர்
அறிவார் பரனும் அவளிடத் தானே

1054. Aṟivār parācatti āṉantam ĕṉpar
Aṟivā raruvuru vāmaval̤ ĕṉpar
Aṟivār karumam aval̤iccai ĕṉpar
Aṟivār paraṉum aval̤iṭat tāṉe.

Translation: People who know Her, call Her as Bliss. She is known to be formless, realization dawns that all the actions are due to Her will and people will also realize the supreme consciousness through Her or from Her.

ĕṉ aṟivāy – As my Intellect. Intellect is an important tool to discriminate one’s experience in any path. However, the intellect has to be pure or refined without any impressions on it, so that the truth can be established in the mind. Intellect is nothing but a refined state of mind. Realisation of Śakti, provides such a refined intellect to the sādhaka, so that he can discriminate between the pseudo experiences he had in the past and the Truth. All the impressions gathered thus far in his existence or repeated existences in the Creation, are once and for all dusted out. Śakti provides this intellectual ability just by Her presence. Hence all intellectual processes are nothing but a play of mind, until Śakti is established in oneself. Whatever such a sādhaka possesses or states, alone is the only truth and all others are just modifications of the mind, which will not help much in progressing. This is one of the prime reasons that the great masters have always advocated to stick to one deity, one mantra and one guru so that the intellect does not gather dust, which makes the journey difficult in the further stages. Once a sādhaka has reached this stage, the Lord resides in him, without ever separating from him.

The following Kandar Anubuthi verse explains this as -

Aṟivŏṉṟu aṟaniṉṟu aṟivār aṟivil
Piṟivŏṉṟu aṟaniṉṟa pirāṉ alaiyo
Cĕṟivŏṉṟu aṟavantu irul̤e citaiya
Vĕṟivĕṉṟavaroṭu uṟum velavaṉe.

Translation: The lord stands inseparable in the intellect of those, who have moved away from all sensory knowledge and experiences. He destroys all the external bindings of such a person and the darkness that was inherent within. Finally, He abides eternally with such souls.

niṟainta amutamumāy – As full nectar. In the Kundalini journey, when Parā Śakti in Her subtle form as Kuṇḍalinī reaches Soma chakra, She causes the oozing of nectar in the throat of the sādhaka. This oozing starts in small quantities and most of the time aspirants may not know that. Once they start realising it, they can also see that the nectarine flow increases to a greater extent as they progress further. This is a physical measurable progress of one’s spiritual journey. However, the flow of nectar alone does not guarantee any solid results. Also, this flow might differ in each individual and never should be compared. Bhattar, when he says full nectar, he means that She has crossed the Soma chakra and the realisation of Śakti has occurred in the crown Sahasrāra. That is the reason for having the prefix “full” for nectar in this stanza.

Shri Ravi Guruji in his series of Kundalini meditation speaks about the flow of nectar as -

“When kuṇḍalinī reaches the soma chakra, also known as the moon chakra, ambrosia is generated Here which drips down the throat”.

Vāṉ antamāṉa vaṭivu uṭaiyāl̤ - Her form knows no bounds just like ether. Śakti does not have a form, we saw that in the Tirumantiram verse above as well. Śakti can only be realised as bliss and the cause for bliss is Śiva or Brahman. Even though Śakti comes into the intellect and mind, She causes Herself to be limited so that the sādhaka can realise Her. But to realise Her in Her supreme form or to know Her completely, is similar to measuring the boundaries of the skies. It’s enough, if we realise that She does not have any boundaries. This could also mean that She is the inherent and implicit cause of all the five cosmic elements starting with earth and ending with ether, She is known as the formless aspect existing in the ether always. Lalitā Sahasranama Pañca-bhuteśī पञ्च-भुतेशी (949) explains that from Her everything originated and tHerefore She is the queen of all Creation, the subtle meaning Here is that, from Brahman or Śiva consciousness, She springs forth as the Parāśakti or Primary will of Brahman, She then carries out the tasks of creation starting from ether to ant. Since She is the origin, She can be traced back and found only after the end of ether.

In another interpretation, when She as Kundalini exits the Brahmarandra and establishes Herself in the dvādaśānta space, which is approximately 12 inches above the head, She can be called as one who can be realised in space beyond the body and in a space that does not have an end to it.

maṟai nāṉkiṉukkum Tāṉ antamāṉa – She is the end of the hidden four vedas / the hidden antaḥkaraṇa. As She is beyond any knowledge, even the knowledge provided by the vedas cannot be full to experience or realize Śakti. The end of Vedas also means that the Vedanta or Upaṇishads, which talks about Brahman or Śiva consciousness in a formless aspect and does not associate any attributes. Vedanta mainly deals only with the existence of ultimate truth and does not focus on rituals or any other dictums. The Upaṇiṣads also cannot completely describe Brahman as it is beyond words and understanding. All scriptures elucidate a way to the destination, but do not describe the destination. Lalitā Sahasranāma Śruti-sīmanta-sindūrī-kṛta-pādābja-dhūlikā श्रुति-सीमन्त-सिन्दूरी-कृत-पादाब्ज-धूलिका (289) says that the Vedas, apply the dust of Śakti’s feet on their head, which could also mean that, Her feet is realised by the followers of Vedānta.

Shri Ravi Guruji’s commentaries on the above nama attest this interpretation. Following is an excerpt -

Upaniṣads are considered as the head of all Vedas, as they teach ways and means to realize the Brahman. Even these Upaniṣads are not able to describe the Brahman in His original form. Such descriptions are made only by negations and affirmations. It is the case with Vedas as well. Vedas never make a perfect description of the Brahman. This is because the real form of Brahman is beyond comprehension for the normal human mind.

maṟai nāṉkiṉukkum Tāṉ antamāṉa, caraṇāravintam – Her feet mark the end of the hidden four – in this case the hidden four can be considered as Citta, Ego, Intellect and Mind. As She is beyond human comprehension through these internal faculties, Her feet or even presence, can be realised only after traversing this limitation.

taval̤a niṟak – White laden forest – When the limitation of internal faculties is traversed through, the aspirant experiences a white light, which is the prakāśa form of Śiva, that happens only after realising Śakti.
Kāṉam tam āṭaraṅku ām ĕmpirāṉ muṭik kaṇṇiyate – Such a forest is the dancing stage of my lord. This white light experienced by the aspirant establishes him in the Śiva consciousness and Śakti further leads him to the Parā Śiva state which is attribute-less and cannot be described in words, that is the reason Bhattar Here says that beyond the white light when Śakti takes you, one can realise that Her feet is above the state of white light and merges with the Parā Śiva state, marking Her existence as inseparable from attribute less Brahman. Thus, the attributed or white light of Śiva state, adores the feet of Śakti on its head, as She is the supreme energy or will of Brahman and is inseparable from it.

The purāṇic interpretation is that, when an asura named Jalandhara did penance and obtained the trident of Śiva as his boon and began causing damage to the Creation, Lord Śiva sent His attendant Nandi, to defeat the asura and handle the damage control. However, Nandi was defeated by the asura and was badly injured at nine places on his body. Due to the prayers of Nandi, Śiva himself appears and defeats the asura. This happens in the forest called “Sveta Aranyam” or “Tiru Ven kadu” roughly translated as white forest. There is a temple for Śiva in this place and the place is supposed to be older than the Rāmayaṇa era, as Valmīki mentions that Śiva destroyed the lord of death in this place.  Here Nandi can be considered as an individual soul who is afflicted due to the five senses and four inherent faculties, when he surrendered to Śiva or (an individual surrenders) to Śiva, He comes to the rescue. Śiva appears as Aghora mūrti or Bhairava to rescue Nandi, Śiva Sūtra #5 says Udyamo bhairavaḥ. उद्यमो भैरव: (sūtrā 5), Shri Ravi Guruji’s commentaries explain how the dedicated perseverance leads to the ultimate reality, As Nandi who prayed to Bhairava to alleviate from the nine injuries. When a sādhaka goes beyond the senses and internal faculties, they will realise the Bhairava consciousness which is nothing but Śiva consciousness or Brahman.

Following is an excerpt from Shri Ravi Guruji’s commentary on this aphorism

This sūtrā says that Self-realization can happen only through the process of meditation, for which one has to look within. If one happens to look externally, he gets associated with the senses, that in turn make the mind deluded and making it impossible to focus within. When internalized focus does not materialize, the consciousness cannot attain the state of perfect clarity.

In the times of saint Tirugnana Sambandar, when he visited this place, all he could see were Śiva liṅgams in the entire spread of land and he was reluctant to step inside, as he had to step on the Śiva liṅgam. The Devi of the land named “Brahma Vidayambika – The giver of knowledge of Brahman”, stepped out of the sanctum, carried the child saint Sambandar inside the temple, by placing him on Her waist. Thus, She walked over all the Śiva liṅgams to carry Sambandar. Which subtly means, She is above all forms and She carries the child who is like Sambandar, to the ultimate knowledge.  This incident also conveys the same meaning for this verse, as the Śivaliṅga form is adorned with the feet of Śakti as an ornament. Since Her feet are red, when they touch the head of the Śiva liṅgam, the head of Śiva turned red, as She walked over all the Śivaliṅgams to carry the child inside the sanctum, which is another interpretation. The subtle meaning Here is that, the touch of Śakti makes Śiva more compassionate, as red is the colour of compassion.

Arunagirinathar in his works on Mayil virutham, does a similar exposition stating that the matted hair of Śiva, who is the lord of all yogis and has Ganges on his head, has the fragrance of the feet of Śakti on His crown.

This entire verse of Abirami Anthathi also delves into the existence of the macrocosm in the microcosm and establishes the Śivoham or Tatvamasi realisation. If the verse is contemplated with the existence of five Sheaths of the human body i.e.

Ānanda maya koṣa – Existence of bliss

Vignana maya koṣa – Intellect

Manomaya koṣa – Mind

Prāṇamaya koṣa – Breath

Annamaya koṣa – physical body

The existence of Śakti and finally Śiva in the human body can be understood. For instance, when a sādhaka realizes Śakti, he experiences immense bliss, which is existence in Ānanda maya koṣa where he realises that Śakti resides within, following that in the intellect when it’s refined, he understands the all-pervasiveness of the one ultimate truth. The oozing of ambrosia in the throat, makes the sādhaka’s mind thoughtless, making him established in the Śiva consciousness through Śakti as the medium. Finally, the Vedas mentioned here, denote the breath, which is nothing but the mantra becoming the breath of the sādhaka or going into the ājapa state. Finally, when the sādhaka realises that Śiva dances in his own heart, which is the physical body made up of bones that are white and blood that is red, we can equate it to Śiva’s head becoming red due to the presence of Śakti and the physical body is the white forest, or which will become a white forest when its cremated, on which Śiva dances forever. Thus, Śiva and Śakti are here and now, within us!

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