Saundaryalahari

Adi Shamkaracharya adored as Acharya hails from the Guru lineage of Shri Dakshinamurti who is an incarnation of Lord Shiva. Acharya who is considered as an incarnation of Shiva had all the qualities of Shiva as well as Shakti. He was in the state of Saccidananda and at the same time he has authored many works and one of them being Saundaryalahari. Majority of his works are related to imparting Advaita philosophy. We know that Shakti is the Power of Shiva who always remains silent and meditating. At the same time He is aware of everything that happens in the universe through His kinetic power known as Shakti who is full of knowledge and wisdom. Shiva and Shakti always remain inseparable. Saundaryalahari begins by emphasizing the union of Shiva and Shakti. Apart from the fact that Saundaryalahari was authored by Shankaracharya there are certain other versions about its origin. Once Shankaracharya had darshan of Parvati and Parameshvara. During the darshan Parvati handed over to him a bunch of palm leaves containing all the verses of Saundaryalahari. There is another version which says that it has been composed by Vac Devi-s authors of Lalita Sahasranama. Third version says that these verses were composed by Shiva Himself as an encomium of His Consort Parvati. There is another version about its origin. Shamkaracharya went to Kailasa the Abode of Parvati and Parameshvara. At that time Shiva gave him five Linga-s and Parvati gave him manuscripts in the form of palm leaves. Shiva’s vahana Nandikeshvara was witnessing this and thought that some treasures of Kailasa were going out of Kailasa. In the fit of anger he pulled the palm leaves. But Shankara managed to hold on to some portions of it though he had lost some due to Nandikeshvara’s anger. He returned only with first 41 verses and the rest 59 verses were taken away by Nandikeshvara.