Saubhagyahrdayastotra by Sivananda
by Brian Campbell and Ben Williams | 2024 | 11,962 words
This is the English translation of the Saubhagyahrdayastotra (“praise to the heart of auspiciousness”) by Sivananda (fl. 13th century South India), who was one of the earliest interpreters of the Tantric tradition of goddess worship known as Shri-Vidya. The Saubhagyahrdaya Stotra embodies Shivananda’s synthesis of foundational Shaiva doctrine, Kund...
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Verse 7 (text and translation)
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 7:
प्रसृतामृतरश्म्यौघसन्तर्पितचराचराम् ।
भवानि भवशान्त्यै त्वां भावयाम्य् अमृतेश्वरीम् ॥ ७ ॥prasṛtāmṛtaraśmyaughasantarpitacarācarām |
bhavāni bhavaśāntyai tvāṃ bhāvayāmy amṛteśvarīm || 7 ||To calm worldly existence, O Bhavānī, I visualize you as Amṛteśvarī, Goddess of Nectar, who satiates the universe of sentient beings and objects with an outpouring mass of rays of nectar.
Notes:
Amṛteśvarī (the goddess of nectar) is a specialized tantric goddess found in several Indic religious traditions including Vajrayāna Buddhism and Śrīvidyā. Also known as Am[1] ṛteśī, Vāruṇī, Sudhāmālinī, Ānandabhairavī, and Sudhādevī, Amṛteśvarī emerges from the amṛta (nectar) produced in the famous purāṇic 'churning of the cosmic ocean' story—in which a number of substances and deities are born in the devatā's quest for the nectar of immortality. Understandably, Amṛteśvarī is often connected with nectar, purification, rituals that nourish life, and intoxicating bliss. Her intimate association with alcohol is hardly a secret and is discussed openly in the Lalitopākhyāna and other texts within the Śrīvidyā tradition. Goddesses who are described as being fond of alcohol are not at all uncommon in Kaula tantra, and within Śrīvidyā they are exemplified in deities such as Laghuśyāmalā, Am[2] ṛteśvarī, and even Tripurasundarī.[3]
Within Śrīvidyā, Amṛteśvarī plays an important role in the Lalitopākhyāna (35.29), where she is named as Vāruṇī and Sudhāmālinī and is the commander of a fleet of boats within the buddhiprākāra (fortress of the intellect)—one of the many compounds within Śrīpuram (the abode of the goddess).
Professor Gudrun Bühnemann recounts her imagery as follows:
“Vāruṇī's body complexion is red, her cheeks are reddish from intoxication and her hair is adorned with pārijāta flowers. She holds a (jeweled) goblet filled with wine (madirā) on which water-lilies float and in the other hand a jeweled vessel containing a piece of meat. The goddess's two hand-held attributes are a domesticated version of a pair of attributes often displayed by Tantric deities: the bindu(mudrā) (explained in note 4) and the skull-cup (kapāla). The bindumudrā corresponds with the essence (tattva)mudrā in Śaiva texts, which, according to texts such as the Nityotsava, is formed by joining the ring finger and thumb of the left hand.”[4]
Aside from her appearance in the Lalitopākhyāna, Amṛteśvarī is perhaps more well-known to practitioners who perform Śrīcakra pūjā where she is invoked and worshiped as Sudhādevī within the consecration of the viśeṣārghya (specialized offering).[5] In this context, Sudhādevī is simultaneously a goddess, as well as the amṛta (nectar) invoked during the ritual worship. In Cidānandanāthar's (Nedimindi Subramania Aiyar) foundational 1938 Śrīvidyā ritual manual, entitled “Śrīvidyā Saparyā Paddhatiḥ,” Sudhādevī is envisioned using the exact meditational form as taught in the Parākrama of the Paraśurāmakalpasūtra (8.16) and is worshiped with sixteenitems. The[6] Paraśurāmakalpasūtra envisions Sudhādevī as two-armed goddess who holds a pot of nectar (amṛtakalaśa) and a piece of meat (piśita), which is likely fish.[7]
During the final consecration of the viśeṣārghya, a number of mantras are chanted including, “AMṚTE AMṚTODBHAVE AMṚTEŚVARI AMṚTAVARṢIṆI AMṚTAṂ SRĀVAYA SRĀVAYA” which clearly invokes Am[8] ṛteśvarī's emergence from the nectar of immortality (amṛtodbhave) and her association with the showering (varṣiṇī) and outpouring (srāvaya) of nectar. Amṛteśvarī is an important goddess within the Śrīvidyā tradition who purifies and transforms offerings, liquids, and consciousness into nectar and bliss.
In this verse, Śivānanda envisions Amṛteśvarī as drenching all the beings and objects in the universe with intoxicating nectar, thereby ending the cycles of birth and death. Amṛtānanda cites this verse of the Saubhāgyahṛdayastotra in his Dīpikā commentary on the Yoginīhṛdayatantra (3.102) when describing how one is to visualize the goddess Amṛteśī within the consecration of viśeṣārghya.
It is often described in tantric literature that after kuṇḍalinī's ascent, there is an inundation of the world with nectar. When read in conjunction with the previous two verses that describe the ascent of kuṇḍalinī through the dakṣiṇa course, this verse may very well be hinting at the second downward (uttara) course of kuṇḍalinī, associated with grace (anugraha), nectar (amṛta), and creation (sṛṣṭi).
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Būhnemann 2017.
[2]:
Umānandanātha's Nityotsava commentary on the Paraśurāmakalpasūtra describes Laghuśyāmalā as holding a cup of wine (madhupātrikāṃ) in the following visualization: gṛhītamadhupātrikāṃ madavighūrṇanetrāñcalām. See Sastri 2000, 104.
[3]:
Although perhaps controversial in certain orthodox circles, it should be noted that the Lalitāsahasranāma proclaims Tripurasundarī is kādambarīpriyā (fond of kādambarī [an alcoholic liquor made from the Kadamba tree that is mentioned by Abhinavagupta in his Tantrāloka (15.169) in the context of his defense of offering wine in worship] name 330); vāruṇīmadavihvalā (she who is intoxicated with vāruṇī, name 333); madaśālinī (she who shines with a divinely intoxicated splendor, name 431); madaghūrṇitaraktākṣī (she whose eyes are reddened from intoxication, name 432)—Bhāskararāya's Saubhāgyabhāskara commentary on this name explicitly states her eyes are red and intoxicated from the consumption (pāna) of alcohol: madena ghūrṇitāni raktāni cākṣīṇi yasyāḥ...mado madyaṃ lakṣaṇayā tatpānam, see Paṇśikar 1935, 112; mādhvīpānālasā (she who is intoxicated from drinking, name 575); and mattā (she who is intoxicated, name 576). The sixth verse of the Tripursundaryaṣṭaka further describes the goddess as holding a cup of wine and whose eyes are reddened with intoxication: gṛhītamadhupātrikāṃ madavighūrṇanetrāñcalām.
[4]:
Bühnemann 2017, 249.
[5]:
Aiyar, 1938, 34 and Yoginīhṛdayatantra 3.102.
[6]:
[7]:
[8]:
Aiyar 1938, 39.