In this excerpt from the devotional Hymns to Shiva, Utpaladeva’s Shivastotravali, Chapter 13 verse 8, Swami Lakshmanjoo explains why Utpaladeva (the author of the Shivastotravali) wants to get drunk, what is the wine, and what are those wine glasses…
Chapter 13 (19:28)
तत्तदिन्द्रियमुखेन सन्ततं
युष्मदर्चनरसायनासवम् ।
सर्वभावचसकेषु पूरिते-
ष्वापिबन्नपि भवेयमुन्मदः ॥८॥
tattadindriyamukhena santataṁ
yuṣmadarcanarasāyanāsavam /
sarvabhāvacasakeṣu pūrite-
ṣvāpibannapi bhaveyamunmadaḥ //8//
There is one desire in me, O Lord. That desire is, I want to get drunk, I want to get drunk always. Always drunk!
SCHOLAR: Unmada.
SWAMIJI: Unmada. By what?
By drinking some alcohol and that alcohol is yuṣmad arcane rasāyanāsavam, the alcohol of the nectar of Your worship, Thy worship. I would like to worship You and that worshiping is nectar, and that nectar is alcohol, wine, and that is Scotch-wine from Scotland. It is not Canadian wine.
DEVOTEES: [laughter]
SCHOLAR: So, this rasāyana, that rasāyana is that drink, which, when you take it, destroys old age and death; gives you eternal life.
SWAMIJI: Yes.
SCHOLAR: In the outward sense, rasāyana.
SWAMIJI: Yes.
SCHOLAR: It’s like some alchemical preparation.
SWAMIJI: Yes.
And santataṁ yuṣmadarcana rasāyanam. Santatam, [it is] always [served] by organic perceptions; organic perceptions have [served] this rasāyana (tat tat indriya mukhena).
Mukhena means those boys in a bar. They place these glasses of wine on the tables. [The] boys are śabda (sound), sparśa (touch), rūpa (form), rasa (taste), and gandha (smell), and these organs. These organs are the boys, i.e., those who keep this rasāyana in front of devotees, tat tat indriya mukhena santatam, by perceiving rūpa, śabda, sparśa, rūpa, rasa, and gandha.
SCHOLAR: Bring me one more drink!
SWAMIJI: Yes, one more gandha (smell), one more rūpa (form).
Tat tat indriya mukhena santatam yuṣmat arcana rasāyanā-savam. And it is filled in glasses, in wine glasses, and those wine glasses are sarva bhāva caṣakeṣu; sarva bhāva, all of this objective world. All of this collection of objectivity is this.
What?
Pots, wine pots, wine glasses.
SCHOLAR: So, every object that you perceive or sense is a glass to drink from.
SWAMIJI: And, in it, āpiban, I would like–there is one desire in me–I would āpiban (āpiban means just drink), go on drinking and unmadaḥ bhavet, I would get drunk (ākaṇṭhataḥ pibet madya).
Source: Hymns to Shiva, Utpaladeva’s Shivastotravali, revealed by Swami Lakshmanjoo
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