अहः सूते सव्यं तव नयनमर्कात्मकतया
त्रियामां वामं ते सृजति रजनीनायकतया।
तृतीया ते दृष्टिर्दरदलितहेमाम्बुजरुचिः
समाधत्ते संध्यां दिवसनिशयोरन्तरचरीम्॥

ahaḥ sūte savyaṁ tava nayanamarkātmakatayā
triyāmāṁ vāmaṁ te sṛjati rajanīnāyakatayā |
tṛtīyā te dṛṣṭirdaradalitahemāmbujaruciḥ
samādhatte saṁdhyāṁ divasaniśayorantaracarīm ||

ahaḥ - day time; sūte – brought forth; savyaṁ tava nayanam – Your right eye; arkātmakatayā – the greatness of the sun; triyāmāṁ - night; vāmaṁ te – Your left eye; sṛjati – create; rajanī nāyakataya – presiding over nights; tṛtīyā te dṛṣṭir – Your third eye; dara dalita hema ambuja ruciḥ - lustrous like a gold lotus flower blossoming; samādhatte – to cause; saṁdhyāṁ - twilight; divasa niśayoḥ arantara carīm – between day and night.

“Your right eye having the greatness of the sun brings daytime and Your left eye (having the greatness of the moon) presides over nights. Your third eye is the cause for twilight, which appears like a lusturous gold lotus flower, blossoming.”

The verse speaks about three time periods, daylight, twilight and night and these time periods work in a cyclic fashion, causing day, dusk, night, dawn, day, etc. Both dawn and dusk last only for a shorter period of time than day or night, indicating shorter duration of dream state in one’s consciousness. These three time periods refer to active state, dream state and deep sleep state, which occur in cycles. Thus the three stages of one’s consciousness are explained in this verse. By referring to the three stages of consciousness, Śaṃkarācārya says that Parāśakti presides not only over three time periods, but also the three stages of normal human consciousness, thereby proving Her omnipresence.

Śiva’s eyes are also compared to sun and moon and His third eye represents Agni (fire). By referring to Her third eye to the blossoming gold lotus flower, Śaṃkarācārya emphasises Her compassionate nature. Śiva’s third eye is dreadful and if He opens His third eye, it causes annihilation by fire. Śiva burnt Manmatha by opening His third eye. The fire that comes out of His third eye is known as kālāgni, the conflagration fire.  If Parāśakti opens Her third eye, it signifies Her Grace and compassion, hence blossoming of a lotus flower is taken as an example. Both Śiva and Śakti have third eye and this verse conveys this. This also goes to prove their similarity not only in the weaponries they hold, but also in their form.

She is worshipped as Saṁdhyā Devi during dawn and dusk. Certain rituals are performed during these times along with Gāyatrī japa and meditation. During these times, cosmic energy is at the highest level and any spiritual practice done during these times (dawn and dusk) will cause increase in spiritual energy of an aspirant.

Sun, moon and agni also refers to three important nāḍi-s of the body known as iḍā, piṅgala and suṣumna. She ascends through suṣumna in Her subtlest form kuṇḍalinī to unite with Śiva at sahasrāra. It can also be said that this verse talks about Her subtlest form, Kuṇḍalinī. Both iḍā and piṅgala nāḍi-s meet suṣumna at ājñā cakra (third eye), where Guru’s commands are received, which makes the aspirant to move to the higher stages of his spiritual life. In this stage, an aspirant is able to transcend normal stages of human consciousness, where all his thought processes are annihilated (by the fire at ājñā cakra) to realize Supreme Consciousness (Śiva) at sahasrāra. In the fourth and fifth stages of consciousness known as turyā and turyātīta, merger with Śiva takes place and where one is liberated and not reborn again. This subtle message is conveyed in this verse.