Story behind Soundarya Lahari

Soundarya Lahari means waves of beauty.  This is the wisdom of Mother Lalita. Each verse of the soundarya lahari is giving knowledge
and strength or accomplishment.It consists of two parts that is Ananda Lahari meaning waves of happiness (first 41 stanzas) and
Soundarya Lahari (the next 59 stanzas).
It is believed that Lord Ganesha himself had written the Ananda Lahari on Mount Meru. Sage Goudapada learnt it from there and taught it
to Adi Sankara.
Adi Sankara himself added the rest of the 59 stanzas and completed it.
Story behind Soundarya Lahari :
One legend says that, once  Adi Shankara  visited  Kailash  to worship Shiva and  Parvati . There, the Lord gave him a manuscript containing
100 verses which described the many facets of the Goddess, as a gift to him. While Shankara was returning after visiting
Kailash, Nandi stopped him on the way. He snatched the manuscript from him, tore it into two, took one part and gave the other to
Shankara. Shankara, desolate, ran to Shiva and narrated the incident to him. Shiva, smilingly, commanded him to retain the 41 verses
with him as the initial part of the 100 verses and then, write an extra 59 verses in praise of the Goddess himself. Thus, verses 1–41 are
the original work of Lord Shiva, shedding great light on the ancient rituals of  Tantra ,  Yantra  and various powerful Mantra. The remaining
verses, that is, 42–100 are composed by Adi Shankara himself, which mainly focuses on the appearance of the Goddess. Yet another
legend says that once when Adi Shankara was visiting Kailash, Lord Shiva was writing about the beauty of Goddess Parvati on the walls
of their home. Shiva rubbed what he wrote as he didn't want Adi Shankara who was an outsider reading about the beauty of his wife. But
Adi Shankara had seen some part of the writings and with his superior mind recollected the rest. Thus, he composed the Soundarya
Lahari (waves of beauty of the Devi).
Benefits of chanting Soundarya Lahari :

If done properly as per tradition, chanting of Soundarya Lahari bestows both material prosperity and liberation to the devotees.
According to Scriptures, each shloka can be used to achieve a particular material/spiritual benefit as described in the Shrividya tradition,
which includes rituals, mantras and offerings.

By – TANISHAA G