
image credit:RN Mitra
In the twenty-ninth verse of his Cidvilāsastava (‘Hymn to the Play of Consciousness’), Amṛtānanda contemplates the nondual meaning of offering the cāmara (fly-whisk) in pūjā as follows:
पञ्चधा स्फुरणमेव संविदश्चामरं विविधचारुचङ्क्रमम् ।
विश्वदृग्लयविचित्रनिर्मितः स्वेक्षणक्षणभवो भवस्तवः ॥ २९ ॥
pañcadhā sphuraṇam eva saṃvidaś cāmaraṃ vividhacārucaṅkramam |
viśvadṛglayavicitranirmitaḥ svekṣaṇakṣaṇabhavo bhavastavaḥ || 29 ||
“The royal whisk, which has diverse and lovely waving motions, is the shimmering of innate awareness through the five [senses]. The song of praise offered to Śiva is when momentary acts of [devotional] seeing, beautifully fashioned, [all] dissolve into an all-encompassing vision [of reality].” (translation by Ben Williams)