The Secret Doctrine of Goddess Lalita
(Sri LalitaAṣṭottara Rahasyārthamu)
35. sudhāsāgara madhyasthā 36. kadamba vanavāsinī
She who resides in the center of the ocean of nectar.
She who resides in the kadamba forest.
This nāma describes how Devī appears to the individual. She appears as sudhāsāgara, an ocean of nectar. This ocean is saṃsāra, the phenomenal world that we experience with our mind and sense organs. Since we desire to enjoy the world and everything it offers, saṃsāra appears like nectar. In reality, however, saṃsāra is poison.
Even though the world appears like nectar sometimes, sooner or later, it reveals its true nature as poison. Nectar and poison represent the pleasures and pains of the world. Devī is the bindu, the point between pleasure and pain. Untouched by either pleasure or pain, She remains in Her intrinsic nature as Universal Consciousness. Although She is not affected by pleasure and pain, She can appear to inflict them on us. In ignorance, instead of recognizing Her as the Universal Consciousness, we imagine there is a saṃsāra and drown in it, tossed around by our likes and dislikes, pains and pleasures.
saṃsāra is not the end of Devī ’s journey. She created the kadamba forest in the midst of it. Strong impressions called vāsanā-s, accumulated over life-times, are like the trees in the dense forest. Desires and intentions are like the forest that gives shelter to the trees (vāsanā-s). The kadamba tree is known for its sweet scent. Like the haunting scent of the kadamba tree, these vāsanā-s persist life after life.