दृशा द्राघीयस्या दरदलितनीलोत्पलरुचा
दवीयांसं दीनं स्नपय कृपया मामपि शिवे।
अनेनायं धन्यो भवति न च ते हानिरियता
वने वा हर्म्ये वा समकरनिपातो हिमकरः॥

dṛśā drāghīyasyā daradalitanīlotpalarucā
davīyāṁsaṁ dīnaṁ snapaya kṛpayā māmapi śive |
anenāyaṁ dhanyo bhavati na ca te hāniriyatā
vane vā harmye vā samakaranipāto himakaraḥ ||

dṛśa – look; drāghīyasya – lengthy; daradalita nīlotpala rucā – having the beauty of fully blossomed blue water lilies; davīyāṁsaṁ - farther away; dīnaṁ - miserable; snapaya kṛpaya – bathing with compassion; māmapi śive – me too; O! Parāśakti! anena - because of this; ayaṁ dhanya bhavati – I am fortunate; na ca te hāni iyatā – it is no loss for You; vane vā – on the forest; harmye vā – on the palace; sama kara nipāta – fall of his rays equally; himakaraḥ - moon.

“O! Auspicious Parāśakti! Please look at me, who am far away from You and in a miserable condition. Shower Your compassion on me through Your beautiful and lengthy eyes appearing like fully blossomed water lilies. By doing so, it is no loss for you like moon shedding his rays both in a forest and in a mansion.”

It is a prayer from Śaṁkarācārya. He says that he is not able to go anywhere near Her, as She is always surrounded by gods like Brahmā, Indra and others. Earlier verses said that they also vie with each other to reach as close to Her as possible. He seeks Her Grace from a faraway place by drawing comparison to moon’s rays which falls on all the places equally. Śaṁkarācārya seeks Her Grace from a distance, as he knows that She is omnipresent. This is the meaning of this verse.

But, the message conveyed through this verse is subtle and different. When She is omnipresent, what is the need for going anywhere near Her? When She is able to look at the entire universe from the place where She sits, what is the need for going near Her and being one amongst the crowd? Suppose one visit a temple and waits in a queue for hours to have darśan of the presiding deity of the temple, he would have both mentally and physically exhausted by the time he nears the sanctum sanctorum.  Power of divine thought and feeling also would have faded away with impatient waiting time. Śaṁkarācārya, who is fully aware of this, seeks Her Grace from the place he stands. He knows that Her eyes can shower Grace in any nook and corner of the universe.  

Secondly, worshipping in a particular form falls under duality in spiritual path, which always begins with duality.  Her Grace and subsequent liberation is possible only in non-dualistic practice. By continuing to worship Her as someone different from us, one merely expresses lack of spiritual knowledge, which is considered as the supreme knowledge. Only spiritual knowledge leads to realisation of mahāvākya-s such as “I am That” or “Ahaṁ Brahmāsmi”. These mahāvākya-s are revealed through Upaniṣad-s, Bhagavad Gītā, Brahmasūtra, etc, which are the essence of highest spiritual knowledge. Without trying to realize Her within, if one wastes his or her precious human birth only in dualistic worship, there is no salvation for him or her. What is present within us is present everywhere. Only because of this uniqueness, She is adored as omnipresent. It is unique because, Brahman alone is omnipresent.

Another interesting aspect of this verse is that Śaṁkarācārya had taken moon for comparison and not sun. Parāśakti is always compared to moon as She represents all the sixteen kalā-s (rays) of the moon and each of these kalā-s form one lunar day. She is present in the form of Pañcadaśī mantra on full moon days and in the form of Ṣoḍaśī mantra on new moon days. Secondly, sun is hot and She is always compassionate and hence, moon is taken as comparison and not the sun. Compassion and heat cannot go together. When moon shines, its rays fall on all objects without discrimination of being good or bad, big or small. In the same way, for Her everyone is equal. However, Her Grace depends upon how powerful we are able to think about Her. It is not the worship that gives Her Grace, but true love for Her instantaneously gives Her Grace. She knows the difference between worship and contemplation or meditation, as She is the cause for this duality in the form of māyā. Though proper worship leads to proper contemplation, they are almost like North Pole and South Pole.

Śaṁkarācārya could have thought this way while composing this verse. “I am still noticing people going around and wasting their precious time. They are not making any efforts to realize the Omnipresent Brahman. I have revealed this through several of my verses and hymns. Either they don’t understand what I preach or they are not simply concerned to follow what I preach. This time, let me make myself as an example. I wish everyone understands at least this time, Her omnipresent nature and seek Her within to attain liberation.  My only wish is that everyone should get liberated from the pains of transmigration.” (Śaṁkarācārya has expressed this thought through Brahma Sūtra, Vivekacūḍāmaṇi and his commentaries on Upaniṣad-s. The same message is conveyed by Kṛṣṇa in Bhagavad Gītā.)

The message conveyed through this verse is that Her Grace is possible to attain, provided it is sought in an appropriate manner. Appropriate manner can be explained as sādhana or practice. It is important to visualize Her in mind. Unless the mind is cleansed of mundane thoughts, contemplating Her effectively is not possible. When contemplation is too intent, it is possible that Her eyes become visible during meditation. Particularly, in the initial stages of good meditation, this happens more frequently, which is a clear sign of perfect meditation. No special efforts are necessary to see Her eyes in the mind and this vision purely depends upon one’s level of contemplation.

With this verse, adoring Her compassionate and Gracious eyes is concluded.