Sri Sankara Bhagavatpadacarya's Saundaryalahari

by Pujyasri Candrasekharendra Sarasvati Svami

Pujyasri Candrasekharedra Sarasvati Svami (1894-1994) must be regarded as the greatest seer of out time. This gentle saint and mystic, whose life spanned almost the whole of the 20th century, created a spiritual and moral awakening in the land and made an immense contribution to its cultural resurgence. But he stood for all human civilization and he had a message for all mankind. He richly deserved the title of Jagadguru, as one who taught in terms of the entire universe. His devotees believe that, like Adi Sankara before him, he too was an incarnation of Siva together with Amba. In these decades of struggle and turmoil, of conflict and hatred, he stood out as a luminous figure upholding the values of tolerance and charity and friendship and showed himself to be godly in his overflowing grace and compassion, while yet remaining intensely human. Here we have a meeting of two great minds, a meeting of two great spirits. The Saundaryalahari is by Sri Sankara Bhagavatpada (Adi Sankara) and its exposition is by Pujyasri Candrasekharendra Sarasvati Svami (the Sage of Kanci, widely known as the mahasvami). Adi Sankara is celebrated all over the world as a great bhasyakara, as a commentator of the Upanisads, the Brahmasutra, the Bhagavadgita and other texts. Here we have a bhasya of a great hymn composed by the bhasyakara and what we call an exposition of the Saundaryalaari is indeed an inspired and inspiring work, a classic in its own right. The Mahasvami speaks with the heart of a poet, with the penetrating insight of a philosopher and metaphysician and with the vision of a mystic. There are passages that move you with their unobtrusive eloquence, passages in which abstruse ideas are explained in a masterly fashion. There is poetry in this exposition; there is the fervour of devotion as well as produndity of thought that is oceanic in its vastness and depth. Here we have a synthesis of bhakti and jnana, of a Advaita and the Sakta doctrine. When the Sage of Kanci speaks of beauty he takes you to the sublime realm of aesthetic delight. How lofty must be his mystic vision as revealed in his identification of beauty with love and compassion. He speaks of many laharis, many waves, and his own bhasya of the Saundaryalahari is a flood of beauty that traverses various systems of thought: he harmonizes them as only he can, proving against that he is an acarya with rare insights and with and original and creative mind.