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 8 (text and translation)
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 8:
वर्णः कला पदं तत्त्वं मन्त्रो भुवनम् एव च ।
इत्य् अध्वषट्कं देवेशि भाति त्वयि चिदात्मनि ॥ ८ ॥varṇaḥ kalā padaṃ tattvaṃ mantro bhuvanam eva ca |
ity adhvaṣaṭkaṃ deveśi bhāti tvayi cidātmani || 8 ||Phonemes, phases of energy, linguistic units, principles of reality, mantras, and worlds—this entire sixfold path of the universe, O Empress of the Gods, shines within you, the very nature of consciousness.
Notes:
The ṣaḍadhvan (six-fold path) is a foundational Śaiva doctrine consisting of six initiatory paths that lead one to the ultimate reality of Śiva.[1] Traditionally used in conjunction with different types of initiation, through time the six-paths became a central organizing principle in the development of Śaiva doctrine. It is described in several foundational texts that the initiating guru would lead an aspirant through one, if not several, of these paths—thereby purifying the novice by exhausting their immanent karma in future births (and worlds) by bringing them closer to the power of the cosmos, awareness, and Śiva.[2]
The ṣaḍadhvan is often understood in relation to the two foundational concepts of signification in Indic thought: vācaka (that which expresses) and vācya (that which is expressed)[3] —further showcasing the preeminence of language as the fundamental model for understanding reality.
Ṣaḍadhvan
vācaka | śabda: subjective reality—that which expresses |
supreme: | varṇa: the totality of phonemes |
subtle: | mantra: individual letters-words |
dense: | pada: words-sentences |
vācya | artha: objective reality—that which is expressed |
supreme: | kalā: the forces of reality |
subtle: | tattva: the principles of reality |
dense: | bhuvana: the various worlds |
It is generally taught that by transversing one path, all the paths are transversed. Within the tantric commentarial tradition, including in several key works from foundational teachers of Śrīvidyā, all six paths are described as existing within the deity, and pure consciousness, alone.
Abhinavagupta teaches in the eleventh chapter of his Tantrāloka that all six paths are essentially one:
एवं मामातृमानत्वमेयत्वैर् योऽवभासते ।
षड्विधः स्ववपुःशुद्धौ शुद्धिं सोऽध्वाधिगच्छति ॥ ८३ ॥
एकेन वपुषा शुद्धौ तत्रैवान्यप्रकारताम् ।
अन्तर्भाव्याचरेच् छुद्धिम् अनुसन्धानवान् गुरुः ॥ ८४ ॥evaṃ māmātṛmānatvameyatvair yo'vabhāsate |
ṣaḍvidhaḥ svavapuḥśuddhau śuddhiṃ so'dhvādhigacchati || 83 ||
ekena vapuṣā śuddhau tatraivānyaprakāratām |
antarbhāvyācarec chuddhim anusandhānavān guruḥ || 84 ||“This six-fold Path manifests in this way as noetic consciousness, subject, object and means of knowledge. It is (all) purified if (any one) of its own bodies is purified. The teacher (who) contemplates (and unites the Path) (anusaṃdhānavat) should purify (the entire Path of his disciple) by purifying (just) the body (of just) one (of them), in such a way that the others are also included within it.”[4]
From within the Śrīvidyā tradition, Amṛtānanda teaches in his Cidvilāsastava that the six paths are aspects of one's own Consciousness as follows:
आसनानि नवचक्रसंविदाम् उद्भवस्थितिलयास् त्रिशस्त्रिशः ।
अङ्गषट्करचना षडध्वनाम् अंशतावगतिर् आत्मसंविदः ॥ १३ ॥āsanāni navacakrasaṃvidām udbhavasthitilayās triśastriśaḥ |
aṅgaṣaṭkaracanā ṣaḍadhvanām aṃśatāvagatir ātmasaṃvidaḥ || 13 ||“The seats [of the Goddesses of the Śrīcakra] are the arising, sustaining, and dissolution of the cognitions of the nine circuits [of the Śrīcakra], three by three. The performance of [installing the Goddess’s body] in six parts of the [practitioner's] body is understanding the six courses [of the entire world] as aspects of one’s own Consciousness.”[5]
This verse of the Saubhāgyahṛdayastotra is cited by Maheśvarānanda in his Parimala commentary on the twenty-seventh verse of his Mahārthamañjarī that teaches how the six-paths are related to the union of Śiva and Śakti as follows:
यद् अध्वनाम् च षत्कं तत्र प्रकाशार्थलक्षनम् अर्धम् ।
विमर्शशब्दस्वभावम् अर्धम् इति शिवस्य यामलोल्लासः ॥yad adhvanām ca ṣatkaṃ tatra prakāśārthalakṣanam ardham |
vimarśaśabdasvabhāvam ardham iti śivasya yāmalollāsaḥ ||“There are six courses, half of which are characterized by objectivity and conscious light; the other half are in the nature of the Word and awareness. This is how Śiva shines forth and unfolds in the form of a couple.”[6]
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
For a brief overview of the six-paths, see Lakshmanjoo 2015, 11-13; for an extended scholarly account, see Padoux 1990, 330-371; and for an English translation of Abhinavagupta's comprehensive interpretation, see Dyczkowski 2023 VII.
[2]:
Goodall et al. 2015, 43.
[3]:
Translations of vācaka and vācya following Padoux 1990, 50.
[4]:
Translation by Dyczkowski 2023, VII, 74.
[5]:
Translation by Williams 2023, 38.
[6]:
Translation by Padoux 1990, 336, fn. 14.