The Eighteen LIberating Arts -
The 18 Steps ofShabda Brahman, the Celestial Ladder to Heaven
Logic, Rheotric & Grammar,
Comprise the Trivium,
The Three Liberal Arts,
Rhetoric being the Art of Eloquence !
About Rhetoric, Dante wrote,
We came to the foot of a Noble Castle,
Encircled by Seven Lofty Walls,
And defended by a fair Rivulet !
The Noble Castle stands for Philosophy,
Seven walls are the Seven Liberal Arts,
Rivulet is emblem of Rhetoric,
Theory and practice of Eloquence !
Logic is the science of the regulative,
Principles of Thought !
And Grammar ? Vasti vyakaranam tasya,
Samhita pada lakshanam !
Now we move on to the Quadrivium,
Four more Arts which are liberating,
Dialectics, the Art of Reasoning,
Arithmetic, Science of magnitude.
Music, 17th Science ,
Of Philosophia Indica !
Ayurvedam Dhanurvedam,
Gandharvo Veda eva cha !
The Science of the Heavens, Astronomy,
Has been defined as Eye of Vedas,
Vakshyami Veda Nayanam,
Yada Brahma Mukhasrutham.
Is there any Science greater,
Than the Science of Time ?
Fifteen degrees maketh One Hour,
Ardha Rasi Bhaveth Hora !
Thou Art Timeless and Time,
Spaceless and all that is in Space,
Causality, the Cause and the Effect !
Thou art all, by Thy own Yoga Maya !
For, we find that Being turns into Becoming,
But is Itself and other than its Becomings,
Indeterminate determines itself,
As the Infinite and the Finite.
One becomes an innumerable multitude,
The non relative Absolute,
Has Relativity in its embrace !
Immutable teems with mutations and differentiae.
One turns into Many,
And Many turn into One!
Individual universalises itself,
And Universal individualises itself !
Didnt Thou declare,
That hard it is,
To pierce the Veil Divine,
That hideth Thee !
Daivee Hesha Gunamayee,
Mama Maya Durathyaya !
By the Power of Yoga,
Humans disidentify from Me !
The Great Melpathur,
Equated the world to a Kathakali drama,
Ya Krithva Visva rangam
Mukunda Swayamapi Ramate.
With Night as the Curtain,
And Sun resplendent as Lamp,
Projwalal Bhanu Deepam,
With constellations as witnesses !
Swaswal santhushta sat prekshaka makhila Jagat,
Bhranti Natyam Vithanya !
With Karma as Mridangas,
And Vasanas as Song !
Thou playest this supreme Drama,
With Thy august Self,
Thyself the Play, Thyself the Player,
Thyself, the Playground !
That Thou Art Playing,
is Known to ALL !
With Thy Maya difficult to break,
And Thou, Ineffable !
Eternal, Thou assent
To Fate and chance !
Immortal, Thou dallieth with mortality !
Divine, Thou become plant and animal !
O Thou Whose Transcendence rules the pregnant vasts,
Prescient lie in our depths subliminal,
Covered by Koshas Five and Bodies Three !
A luminous individual Power, alone !