image credit: Ganesh Parasuraman
In the twenty-fourth verse of his Cidvilāsastava (‘Hymn to the Play of Consciousness’), Amṛtānanda teaches about how offering bali (sacrificial oblations) should be understood as dissolving the thirty-six tattvas as follows:
यच्चतुर्विधमिदं विभासते तत्त्वरूपममृतान्तराकृति ।
तस्य पञ्चमपदे लयक्रिया संमतं बलिचतुष्टयं तथा ॥ २४ ॥
yac caturvidham idaṃ vibhāsate tattvarūpam amṛtāntarākṛti |
tasya pañcamapade layakriyā saṃmataṃ balicatuṣṭayaṃ tathā || 24 ||
“This fourfold set of tattvas, whose inner aspect is nectar, shines forth. The set of four bali oblations should be understood as the practice of dissolving that [four-fold set of tattvas] into the reality of the fifth.” (translation by Ben Williams)
