image credit: Amritanandanatha Saraswati Blogspot
In the thirty-ninth verse of his Cidvilāsastava (‘Hymn to the Play of Consciousness’), Amṛtānanda teaches about the nondual meaning of visarjana (asking the deity to depart) by building on the famous rajju sarpa, or mistaking a “snake for a rope” idiom, so well known to Indic religions and philosophy. As the story goes, those who enter a dimly lit room and see a rope on the floor may, due to mistaken knowledge, perceive it to be a snake. However, the reality of the snake immediately disappears when a lamp illuminates the room and it is suddenly revealed that there was never a snake at all, just a rope in its place! In this same spirit, Amṛtānanda delivers a powerful teaching to Śrīvidyā practitioners on the ultimate reality of the Śrīcakra, form, representation, and truth.
यत्स्वरूपमहिमा विकल्पितं शक्तिचक्रमिह रज्जुसर्पवत् ।
तत्स्वरूपपरमार्थबोधतस्तत्र तस्य विलयो विसर्जनम् ॥ ३९ ॥
yatsvarūpamahimā vikalpitaṃ śakticakram iha rajjusarpavat |
tatsvarūpaparamārthabodhatas tatra tasya vilayo visarjanam || 39 ||
“The majesty of that innate nature is imagined to be a cakra of divine energies, like a snake [is mistaken for] a rope. The disappearance of that [cakra] as a result of awakening to the ultimate truth of that same innate essence [is the ultimate form] of ritually inviting the deity to depart.” (translation by Ben Williams)
