Cidvilāsastava: Verse Twenty-five

image credit: Hari Prasad Nadig

In the twenty-fifth verse of his Cidvilāsastava (‘Hymn to the Play of Consciousness’), Amṛtānanda teaches about the ultimate form of ārati (ritual offering of the lamp) according to his tradition as follows:

पञ्चधा प्रसरतश्चिदात्मनो ह्यान्तरस्य बहिरिन्द्रियाध्वना ।
सामरस्यमिह संविदात्मनारात्रिकं परमिदं समीरितम् ॥ २५ ॥

pañcadhā prasarataś cidātmano hy āntarasya bahirindriyādhvanā |
sāmarasyam iha saṃvidātmanārātrikaṃ param idaṃ samīritam || 25 ||

“The ultimate [form of ritually] waving the flame [before the deity] is taught here as the union of the individual self, flowing outwardly through the fivefold channels of the sense faculties, with the nature of pure Consciousness.” (translation by Ben Williams)

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