[Advaita-l] SRI SUKTAM - Meaning

subramanya.uh subramanya.uh at in.yokogawa.com
Fri Feb 13 00:22:46 CST 2009


Dear respected members,
There are  lot of hot discussions going on,  on the subject. Dr. Kamesh had 
earlier given the meanings of Shiva ashtottara as well as Lakshmi Ashtottara 
also.

As pointed out by Dr. Yadu, discussions are on the pronunciation, swaras , 
gm, M , pluta, udatta, anudatta, swarita, dirgha swarita, etc.than on the 
meanings.

I am reminded of a stanza from the great advaita text "Viveka chudamani"
"shabdajalam maharaNyam chittabhramaNa kAraNam, ataha prayatnA jnatavyam 
tatvajnai tatvamAtmanah" -60.

Hence I request the members to examine whether the meanings given are 
correct, convey the thought meant to be conveyed etc instead of getting 
stuck in the web of shabdajalam.

 Here I quote a few names where I doubt the translation, ( only a few quoted 
, just for example, there may be many).

Lakshmi Ashtottara
Indu sheetalya namah - pure like moon (  translation) where as sheetal means 
cold like moon (Coolness like chandra- shila- read the last stanza of 
soundarya lahari- chandropajalai arghya is quoted)
Preeta pushkarinye namaha -  Pushkarini doesnot mean eyes which Dr. K Rao 
has given
Siddhiye namaha -  meaning given as 'protector' where as Siddhi means 
achievements

Shiva Ashtottara:
Pinakine namaha - meaning given as lord who gaurds the path of dharma where 
as it means one who is holding Pinaka in his hand.(Pinaka hasta)
Nila lohitaya namaha - you have given as lord - red as rising sun whereas 
nila means blue hue.
lalatakshaya namaha-  meaning given as 'sports of creation' - Actually it 
should be one who has eye on his forehead.

Sri Sukta
Ardra is given as wet; Though the verbatim meaning is correct, the same 
refers to Goddess who is compassionate who liquifies (drava) for the 
devotees's dukha.

May I request the learned members to discuss on the contents and meanings 
than on the grammar, gm, M etc

However I appreciate Dr K Rao's efforts in translation. We can expect few 
more translations from his stable like Purusha sukta, durga sukta, soura 
sukta, navagraha sukta and other shlokas whose meanings are not available 
easily.
With regards
Subramanya UH 



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