Devi as the Supreme-most

Devi as the Supreme-most 

जगत् सूते धाता हरिर् अवति रुद्रः क्षपयते 

तिरस्कुर्वन् एतत् स्वम् अपि वपुर् ईशस् तिरयति। 

सदापूर्वः सर्वं तद् इदम् अनुगृह्णाति च शिवः 

तवाज्ञाम् आलम्ब्य क्षण चलितयोर् भ्रूलतिकयोः।। 

 Soundarya lahari Shloka 24 

“Brahmā creates the world; Hari preserves it; Rudra dissolves it. Īśa, wearied, withdraws the universe into his own body and disappears. Sadāśiva, as ever, at the dawn of creation, raises it forth again. All this they do, obeying your command — issued with a mere flick of your brows.” 

This śloka imagines the Goddess in layered ways: 

1) As the supreme cosmic queen who commands even the highest deities in matters of greatest consequence — creation, sustenance, and dissolution of the universe. 

2) As a playful mother watching her five god-children — engaged in games like clay-making and hide-and-seek — who look up to her for fairness, permission, praise, or to showcase their “projects”. 

3) “सदापूर्व” can be read as “सद् + आपूर्वः” (full of Existence) or “सदा + पूर्व” (always first). The latter echoes Īśa Upaniṣad — “नैनद् देवा आप्नुवन् पूर्वम् अर्षत्,” the gods could not catch him, for he reached first. Īśa personifies निवृत्ति मार्ग (introversion, dispassion), while Sadāśiva, replete with Being, blesses the universe with emergence (प्रवृत्ति), causing the concealed cosmos to spring back as a seed implanted in Brahmā to gestate. Through every stage, they seek the Goddess’s assent — granted with a mere brow-gesture. 

4) In a microcosmic key, Devi’s “brow-command” mirrors the ājñā-cakra with its two petals (symbolising the two principal nāḍīs). The yogin, as Devi, issues forth the impulses of creation, sustenance, dissolution, and renewal from ajñā: the nodal centre of desire and thought. A tiny perturbation in the iḍā–piṅgalā balance — a “flick of the brows” — cascades through life itself  

 

All unto thee 

जपो जल्पः शिल्पं सकलम् अपि मुद्रा विरचना 

गतिः प्रादक्षिण्य क्रमणम् अशनाद्याहुति विधिः 

प्रणामः संवेशः सुखम् अखिलम् आत्मार्पण दृशा 

सपर्या पर्यायस् तव भवतु यन् मे विलसितम् ।। 

Soundarya laharI, 27 

May everything become Your worship 

May my idle chatter be transformed into sacred japa. 
May my careless gestures become mudrās that invoke Your presence. 
May every movement of mine be a pradakṣiṇā around You. 
May my eating and drinking be offerings at Your altar. 
May my sleep be a full prostration before You. 
May my pleasures be but acts of loving You. 

With the longing to surrender myself completely, 
may every breath, every act, 
be nothing but Your worship alone.