image credit: Huseyn Naghiyev
In the fourth verse of his Cidvilāsastava (‘Hymn to the Play of Consciousness’), Amṛtānanda teaches about the esoteric meaning of sandhyā, the twilight space betwixt and between two segments of the day:
सा निशा सकललोकमोहनी वासरः स खलु सर्वबोधकः ।
सामरस्यमिह सन्धिरेतयोः श्रीपरैव ननु सान्ध्यदेवता ॥ ४ ॥
sā niśā sakalalokamohanī vāsaraḥ sa khalu sarvabodhakaḥ |
sāmarasyam iha sandhir etayoḥ śrīparaiva nanu sāndhyadevatā
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“Night bewilders all beings and day awakens everything. The twilight in which they meet, in this [nondual teaching], is the fusion [of Śiva and Śakti]. The Supreme Goddess herself is indeed the presiding deity of that twilight.” (translation by Ben Williams)
