Course Content

Being intelligently put together, the creation warrants an intelligent creator. The Upanishads reveal that the creator is both the intelligent cause as well as the material
cause. The inseparability of the two causes prompts the idea of visualizing the creator as śiva and śakti, representing the intelligent and material causes, respectively. In extolling the virtues of the creator, a devotee can adopt a method of praising either śiva or śakti and at the same time not losing sight of the oneness of śiva and śakti. In Soundaryalaharī the glorification of śaktii as Goddess Tripurasundari is made on the canvas of the unity of śiva-śakti. Soundaryalaharī adopts the method of head-to-toe description of the beauty of Goddess Tripurasundari Soundaryalaharī wherein the poetic expressions shine through. While the unity of śiva-śakti is the undercurrent maintained throughout the text, it is embellished at several places as the bright luminaries in an otherwise star-studded sky. The 4-line stanzas in śikhariṇī meter, with each line containing 17 syllables, with the yati of 6-11, lend themselves for pleasing chanting. Thus, the text is endowed with both kāvya-rūpa (poetic form) and kāvya-rasa (poetic sentiment). The course will examine all these dimensions of Soundaryalaharī.