"O
Goddess, who removes the suffering of Your supplicants, be gracious!
Be
gracious, O Mother of the whole world!
Be
gracious, O Queen of the universe; Safeguard the universe!
You, O Goddess,
are Queen of all that is movable and unmovable!
You
alone has become the support of the world,
Because You do subsist in the
form of
Earth!
By
You, who exists in the form of water, all this universe is filled,
O
You inviolable in Your valor; You are the Gem of the universe,
You are
Illusion sublime! All
this world has been bewitched, O Goddess;
You
indeed when attained,
Are the cause of the final emancipation from
existence on Earth! . . .
O Goddess, be gracious!
Protect
us wholly from fear of our foes perpetually,
As You have at this very time
saved us promptly by the slaughter of the demons!
And
You bring quickly to rest the sins of all the worlds,
And the great
calamities which have sprung, from the maturing of portents!
To
us who are prostrate be You gracious,
O Goddess, who takes away affliction
from the universe!
O
You worthy of praise from the dwellers of the three worlds,
Bestow Your
boons on this world!
Markendeya
Purana, Candi Mahatmya 10
|
|
|
They ask thee
concerning the Spirit.
Say: "The Spirit (cometh) by command of my
Lord:
Of knowledge it is only a little that is
communicated to you."
If it were Our Will, We could take away that which
We have sent thee by inspiration:
Then wouldst thou find none to plead thy affair in
that matter against Us.
|
surah
17: 85-86 Al Isra’ (Night Journey)
Abdullah
Yusuf Ali, The Holy Qur'an
|
"The
West is exiled of the Goddess — her features are unknown to us, guessed
at, hoped for, rejected as aberration, feared as monstrous or deformed. We
in the West are haunted by the loss of our Mother. Our mother country is a
place many have never visited, though it is endlessly projected as a
golden matriarchy, or paradise, but though the house of the Goddess is in
disrepair after so many centuries of neglect, some have begun the work of
restoration while others have already moved back in and are renovating
from within. . .
Sophia
is the great lost Goddess who has remained intransigently within orthodox
spiritualities. She is veiled, blackened, denigrated and ignored most of
the time: or else she is exalted, hymned and pedestalled as an allegorical
abstraction of female divinity. She is allowed to be a messenger, a
mediator, a helper, a handmaid; she is rarely allowed the privilege of
being seen to be in charge, fully self-possessed and creatively operative.
“The
mother is the most lovable person for a living being. A child
always calls upon his mother first when he is in difficulty. But
a biological mother, though a symbol of divinity, can only
remove physical difficulties and that too only partly. The Holy
Mother is the causative and creative force of the entire
universe. She is infinite and limitless. She is omnipresent both
in forms and as formless. She is all powerful to remove all
kinds of sorrows and sufferings.
Sri means Laksmi (goddess
of wealth), Sarasvati (goddess of learning), prosperity, beauty,
success, decorated with jewels, supreme intellect and one who
can impart knowledge of vedas. Here Sri refers to the power of
speech and Sabda-brahman.
Sri-mata is the progenitor
of all - whole universe, Nature, Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesa. She is
all supreme - Parabrahman. The three names of the Divine Mother
- mata, rajni and isvari refer to the three phenomena of
creation, preservation and destruction of the universe due to
three aspect of the supreme.
Om Sri-Matre namah”
|
R.
Prasad, Lalita-Sahasranama
|
Sophia
is the Goddess for our time. By discovering her, we will discover
ourselves and our real response to the idea of a Divine Feminine
principle. When that idea is triggered in common consciousness, we will
begin to see an upsurge of creative spirituality which will sweep aside
the outworn dogmas and unlivable spiritual scenarios which many currently
inhabit. When Sophia walks among us again, the temple of each heart will
be inspirited for she will be able to make her home among us properly; up
to now, she has been sleeping rough in just about every spirituality you
can name. . . .
Yet
the Goddess of Wisdom is not a newcomer to our phenomenal world, so how is
it we have failed to notice her? The Western world has been so busy about
its affairs that only a few unusual people have had time to comment on her
existence. When they have talked or written about her, it has been in such
overblown esoteric language that few had taken notice. Wisdom trades under
impossible titles: Mother of the Philosophers, the Eternal Feminine, Queen
of Good Counsel and other such nominations do not inspire confidence. . .
. Frequently reduced to God’s secretary, who nevertheless still supplies
all the efficiency of the divine office, she is from all time, the
treasury of creation, the mistress of compassion.
When
we speak of God, no one asks, ‘which God do you mean?’ as they
do when we speak of the Goddess. The West no longer speaks the language of
the Goddess, because the concept has been almost totally erased from
consciousness, although many are trying to remember it. Our ancestors were
very young when they were taken from the cradle and it is now difficult
for us, their descendants, to speak or think of a feminine deity without
the unease of someone in a foreign country. We have been raised to think
of Deity as masculine and therefore a goddess is a shocking idea. But we
do not speak here of a goddess, rather of the Goddess, and
we speak it boldly and with growing confidence, because we find we like
the taste of the idea.
|
“Shakti is the hidden power
that turns matter into life. She is the divine spark, the flow of
God’s love.
Anyone who is connected with spirit has Shakti, which manifests in five
ways that the God Herself manifests. (For the sake of simplicity I will
use the word God and apply feminine pronouns whenever I have the goddess
Shakti in mind.) As described in the ancient Shiva Sutras —
"teaching about Shiva" — these are five powers:
Chitta Shakti: the awareness of God
Ananda Shakti: the bliss of God
Icha Shakti: the desire or intention to unite with God
Gyana Shakti: knowledge of God
Kriya Shakti: action directed toward God
If the voice of God spoke to you, Her powers would be conveyed in
simple, universal phrases:
Chitta Shakti: "I am."
Ananda Shakti: "I am blissful."
Icha Shakti: "I will" or "I intend."
Gyana Shakti: "I know."
Kriya Shakti: "I act."
If a child came to me and asked, "How did God make me?" these
five things would be my answer, because this is how God made Herself, or
at least made Herself known to us, and at each stage of giving birth a
new exclamation of discovery emerged. First She experienced Herself as
existence ("I am!"), then creative joy ("I am
blissful!"), pulsing desire ("I will!"), cosmic mind
("I know!"), and finally the shaping force that molds all
things ("I act!). Because none of these except "I am" had
ever existed before, each came as a revelation.
All of these qualities have universal application . . . These five
powers form a cascade, spilling like water from unmanifest spirit to the
material world. Tagore employed almost the same analogy when he
poetically asked, "Where is this fountain that throws out these
flowers in such a ceaseless outbreak of ecstasy?" In one beautiful
line he states the mystery precisely. What is the origin of the infinite
display of nature’s abundance? The flowers are outside, but the
fountain is inside, in divine essence. To realize this you must become
that fountain; you must have the assurance that the flow of life can
gush through your being at full force. This state of connection is
supreme existence. When you join the cosmic dance, the powers of God as
creator-mother fully infuse you.”
|
|
|
When
did we make up this idea? some ask. We didn’t invent this Goddess. She
was always there, from the beginning, we tell them. Somehow, humanity left
home and forgot its mother. Perhaps our ancestors took her for granted so
much that they lost touch? Well, our generation wants to come back home
now and be part of the family in a more loving way, because the West has
still got a lot of growing up to do and the Goddess has a lot to teach us.
What
or who is the Goddess then? Deity is like colourless light, which can be
endlessly refractured through different prisms to create different colours.
As the poet William Blake said: ‘All deities reside in the human breast.’
The images and metaphors which we use to describe deity often reflect the
kind of society and culture within which we have grown up. After two
thousand years of masculine images, the time of Goddess reclamation has
arrived. The Goddess is just as much Deity as Jesus, or Allah, or Jehovah.
She does not choose to appear under one monolithic shape, however. Each
person has a physical mother; similarly, the freedom of the Divine
Feminine to manifest in ways appropriate to each individual has meant that
she has many appearances.
The
re-emergence of the Divine feminine — the Goddess — in the twentieth
century has begun to break down the conceptual barriers erected by
orthodox religion and social conservatism. For the first time in two
millennia, the idea of a Goddess as the central pivot of creation is
finding a welcome response. The reasons are not difficult to seek: our
technological world with its pollution and imbalanced ecology has brought
our planet face to face with its own mortality; our insistence on the
transcendence of Deity and the desacralization of the body and the
evidence of the senses threatens to exile us from our planet.
|
“Goddess
Revival
UCLA archaeologist Marija Gimbutas turned historical scholarship on its
head in the ‘70s and ‘80s with the research that depicted
peace-loving, cooperation-based, Goddess-worshipping societies in
ancient Europe — which were overrun in the Neolithic era by
Indo-Europeans who imposed patriarchal order. Gimbutas’ vision of an
earth-friendly, feminine-centered spirituality has sparked a religious
awakening; an estimated 400,000 Americans now declare themselves
neopagans, and many more with feminist or environmentalist leanings are
helping revive the Goddess worship.”
|
Unte
Reade, May/June 1999
|
|
|
The
Goddess appears as a corrective to this world problems on many levels. In
past ages she has been venerated as the World-Soul or spirit of the planet
as well as Mother of the Earth. Her wisdom offers a better quality of
life, based on balanced nurturing of both body and spirit, as well as
satisfaction of the psyche. But we live in a world in which the Goddess
does not exist, for a vast majority of people. They have no concept of a
Deity as feminine. As Bede Griffiths has recently written: ‘The feminine
aspect of God as immanent in creation, pervading and penetrating all
things, though found in the Book of Wisdom, has almost been forgotten . .
. The Asian religions with their clear recognition of the feminine aspect
of God and of the power of God, the divine shakti permeating the universe,
may help us to get a more balanced view of the created process. Today we
are beginning to discover that the earth is a living being, a Mother who
nourishes us and of whose body we are members.’ . . .
Significantly,
the major mystics of all faiths have perceived Sophia as the bridge
between everyday life and the world of the eternal, often entering into
deep accord with her purpose. But though such mystics as the medieval
Abbeses Hildegard of Bingen or the Sufi, Ibn Arabi, are hardly considered
to be ‘Goddess-worshippers’ in the feminist sense, they nevertheless
show that the channels of the Divine Feminine have been kept open and
mediated upon by many so-called patriarchal faiths."
Caitlín
Matthews, Sophia: Goddess of Wisdom
(C.
Matthews, Sophia: Goddess of Wisdom, The Aquarian Press, 1992, p.
5-9.)
2)
Sri Maharajni
—
Great
Empress
—
"By
Whom all creatures live." Taittiriya Upanishad 3. 1
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Ass. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
|
“The
holy Mother (Srimata.)
The mother is usually called upon in times of sorrow; but our natural
mothers are not able to remove the three kinds of pain (tapatraya.)
Great men have said: "Since I have had many thousands of births, I
have had many mothers; many also have been my fathers; I know not how
many I am yet to have in the future; and their number is beyond my
calculation. O Treasure-house of compassion! Save me, who am overpowered
with fear and have no other refuge, from the vast and disastrous ocean
of samsara." The greatest World-Mother is the only one who
is capable of removing the endless misery (of existence.) We praise Her
as the Mother so that She may be induced to show mercy to us.”
|
R. Ananthakrishna
Sastry
Sri Lalita-sahasranama
|
After
all their reading, the Pandits, the religious scholars, and the
astrologers argue and debate.
Their
intellect and understanding are perverted; They just don't understand.
They are filled with greed and corruption.
Through
8.4 million incarnations they wander, lost and confused;
Through all their
wandering and roaming, they are ruined.
They
act according to their pre-ordained destiny, which no one can erase.
It
is very difficult to serve the True Inner Guru.
Surrender your head; give
up your selfishness.
Realizing
the Shabad, one meets with the Lord, and all one's service is accepted.
By
personally experiencing the Personality of the Inner Guru,
One's own
personality is uplifted, and one's light merges into the Light.
Those
who have such pre-ordained destiny, come to meet the True Inner Guru.
O
mind, don't cry out that you are hungry, always hungry; stop complaining.
The
One who created the 8.4 million species of beings, gives sustenance to
all.
The
Fearless Lord is forever Merciful; She takes care of all.
O
Nanak, the Gurmukh understands, and finds the Door of Liberation.
Those
who hear and believe, find the home of the self deep within.
Through
the Inner Guru's Teachings, they praise the True Lord;
They find the Lord,
the Treasure of Excellence.
Sri
Guru Granth Sahib,
Siree Raag, Third
Mehl, p. 27.
4)
Sri Cidagni-Kunda-sambhuta
—
Born
from the Pit of the Fire of Consciousness.
—
Burns
out ignorance and confers Immortality.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Ass. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
"The
yogi realizes that the knower, the instrument of knowing and the known are
one, himself, the seer. Like a pure transparent jewel, he reflects an
unsullied purity.
With
refinement, the consciousness becomes highly sensitive,
choiceless,
stainless and pure. The perceiver, the instrument of perception and the
perceived object, clearly reflected, are nothing but the seer. Like an
object reflected flawlessly in a clean mirror, the perceiver, the
perceived and the instrument are reflected in one. This transparent
reflecting quality of consciousness is termed samapatti, which
means assumption of the original form of the seer.
Patanjali’s
description of samapatti underlines the subtle distinction between
yoga, samadhi and samapatti. Yoga is the employment of the
means to reach samadhi. Samadhi is profound meditation,
total absorption. Samapatti is the balanced state of mind of the
seer who, having attained samadhi, radiates his own pure state.
Yoga and samadhi, in other words, can be regarded as practices; samapatti
the state towards which they lead.
When
all the fluctuations of mind’s sattvic, rajasic and tamasic nature
reach an end, mind ceases to gather and transmit information, and citta
is like the still, clear water of a calm lake. It transforms itself to
the level of the seer, and reflects its purity without refraction. Like a
transparent jewel, it becomes at once the knower, the instrument of
knowing and the object known. Thus the sadhaka experiences the true
state of the soul."
BKS
Iyengar, Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
(BKS Iyengar, Light on the Yoga Sutras of
Patanjali, 1996, p. 87-8)
"Through repeated practice,
Knowledge purifies the embodied soul stained by
ignorance, and then itself disappears, as the powder of the kataka-nut
disappears after it has cleansed muddy water.
Repeated
practice — Long and
uninterrupted meditation on Brahman, which firmly stamps a man’s
consciousness with the knowledge of his true divine nature.
Knowledge
— That is to say,
Self-Knowledge, which makes man realize that he is not a doer or an
experiencer but the all-pervading Brahman, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss
Absolute.
Purifies
— Of such illusory ideas as
birth and death, happiness and unhappiness, which are falsely superimposed
upon Self.
Embodied
soul — The Self, through
ignorance, seems to be embodied.
Stained
— As a result of ignorance such
finite ideas as "I," "me," and "mine"
superimposed upon Self.
Ignorance
— Maya, avidya, and ajnana are
terms of Vedanta philosophy usually translated by such words as ignorance,
nescience, and illusion. They generally denote the same thing. Through
ignorance, the Vedantic philosopher contends, the non-dual Brahman appears
to have become the manifold universe; the Absolute, the relative.
Ignorance has no absolute existence, for it disappears when one attains
the Knowledge of Brahman. But it is not non-existent, like the son of a
barren woman, for it is the cause of the names and forms of the
sense-perceived universe. It cannot be described as either real or unreal,
or both real and unreal; as one with Brahman or other than Brahman; as
either corporeal or incorporeal, or as both corporeal and incorporeal. The
real nature of ignorance is inscrutable, since the mind through which one
understand it is itself a product of ignorance. It is without beginning,
for time itself is an effect of ignorance; but it has an end, for it
disappears when one attains Knowledge. It cannot be either proved or
disproved by reason, since human reasoning is tainted by ignorance.
Ignorance manifests itself in the relative world through the three gunas,
or attributes, known as sattva (harmony), rajas (passion or activity), and
tamas (inertia.)
Itself
disappears — Thus there is no
possibility of the existence of a second entity besides the Self.
Kataka-nut
— A nut used in India to
purify water.
Muddy
— Mud is a foreign element; it
is not a natural ingredient of water. Likewise, all finite ideas
associated with the Self are foreign to It.
The
knowledge which is the instrument disappears into Knowledge, the Goal, the
Self."
Swami
Nikhilananda, Self-Knowledge
(S. Nikhilananda, Self-Knowledge, R.-Vivekananda
Center, 1989, p. 122-23.)
5)
Sri Deva-Karya-Samudyata.
—
Emerges
for a Divine Purpose.
—
Appears
to answer the
prayer
of Gods (Divine Beings) for help.
—
Battles
for the spiritual emancipation of Her devotee.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Ass. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
"In
the New Age we break free of centuries of false doctrines, destructive
indoctrinations, absurd ideas, and children’s stories about God,
education, medicine, and love. The corrupt foundations of false society
crumble. This time of crises is not the signal of the end of the world.
What comes is not the end, but the beginning. The dream humanity has lived
for centuries ends and we awaken to a bright new day, a bright new way .
Now
in the Age of Aquarius, everything becomes unified. All our differences,
all our dualities mix together like the fragrances of a flower shop, with
all of the different flowers adding their bouquet to the overall mix until
they are inseparable. Each individual flower remains distinct and
individual, each one’s fragrance is unique and discernible when you come
up close to it, yet joined together in unity with the others in the
wonderful mixture that is the smell of the shop.
Our
individual worth comes from inside, from what we have inside, through our
development, our evolution, and what we can give to society. Now our
drastic differences dissolve and we integrate into the whole. We integrate
and unify with the energy of the universe, with the great cosmic spirit.
Mystically,
Aquarius signifies friendship. Friendship bursts upon us in its most
elevated sense, in its most noble aspect — with understanding,
collaboration, and fraternity. Love and friendship will have nothing to do
with possessing or ego. The idea of love meaning "you belong to
me" ends in the New Age. The thought of friends of convenience,
friendship based on an ulterior motive such as business ends. Love and
friendship based on anything other than pure love, the divine and pure
love of God, changes the sentiment into a coin of exchange — you no
longer have love or friendship because of who you are, but because of what
you do or can do for me.
This
is the era of peace, of unity, of love. The polarity of Aquarius, Leo,
floods us with its complementary characteristics. The celestial throne of
the Sun, Leo, encourages, ennobles, enriches, and enlightens us for the
growth of our hearts, the growth of our inner beings. Together with
Aquarius, Leo promotes the integration of our individuality with our unity
with all humanity. We realize that we must first be something in and of
ourselves to be something for others.
Under
their combined influence, friendship with an agenda disappears into true
fraternity, into pure unity. Then we can prepare ourselves for unity with
the universal spirit. . . .
In
the Age of Aquarius, we break from the past to invent the future we desire
in our society and in our person. The answers we find will be wholly new
ones, totally original ones, but they require a thorough examination of
what has been and what we wish to come. All our institutions as we know
them must adapt to this new reality."In the Age of Aquarius, we
break from the past to invent the future we desire in our society and in
our person. The answers we find will be wholly new ones, totally original
ones, but they require a thorough examination of what has been and what we
wish to come. All our institutions as we know them must adapt to this new
reality."
Walter
Mercado, Beyond The Horizon:
Visions of a New Millennium
(Walter
Mercado, Beyond The Horizon: Vision of a New Millennium,
A Time Warner Company, 1997, p.
106-8.)
12)
Sri Nijaruna-prabha-pura-majjad-brahmanda-mandala
—
Her
red brilliance engulfs all Universes.
—
All
created Universes are only Her Radiance.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Ass. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
58)
Sri Panca-Brahmasana-sthita
—
Seated
above the Five: Sri Brahma, Vishnu, Rudra, Isna and Sadasiva.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Ass. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
59)
Sri Maha-padmatavi-samstha
—
Dwells
in the
Great
Lotus Forest.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Ass. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
"Point
of contact between individual and Cosmic Consciousness.
The
Rudrayamala speaking of the real form of the Lotus Forest, beyond
)the world system), says, "Surrounded by a forest of lotus, three
lakh of yojanas in extent." Another one is (on the Meru.) The Lalitastavaratna
says (vv. 106-108), "Let us worship the forest of lotuses . .
." Again the Thousand Petalled Lotus, that is in the Brahmarandhra,
facing downward. . . . This is known as the Great Lotus Garden, above that
is samana." For there is one form both for the body and for
the universe, (pindanda and brahmanda.)"
R.
A. Sastry, Lalita-Sahasranama
(R.
A. Sastry, Lalita-Sahasranama, The Adyar Library and Research Centre, Madras, 1988, p. 62.)
61)
Sri Sudha-sagara-madhyastha
—
Ocean
of Nectar.
—
Abode
of Bliss.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Ass. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
"Residing
in the centre of the Ocean of Nectar (sudhasagaramadhyastha.) That
Ocean is the one above (in heaven.) The Sruti (Tai. Bra. I. 6. 2)
declares, "The city is surrounded by nectar." Another one is in
the place of bindu in the centre of the moon in the pericarp of the
thousand-petalled lotus. The third one is, "In the city called
Aparajita (unconquerable) to be attained with devotion on the
Saguna-brahman; there are two ocean-like lakes of nectar named
respectively Ara and Nya" (vide Chan. Up., VIII. 5. 4.)"
R.
A. Sastry, Lalita-Sahasranama
(R.
A. Sastry, Lalita-Sahasranama, The Adyar Library and Research Centre, Madras, 1988, p. 63.)
64)
Sri Devarsi-gana-sanghata-stuyamanatma-vaibhava
—
Gods
and Seers perceived Her Cosmic Form.
—
Seers
realised unity of individual and Cosmic Selves.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Ass. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
"The Agni Pr. Says,
The first sutra (Siva-sutra, I. 1) says, "Atman is his consciousness
(caitanya)"; the second sutra says "the [worldly] knowledge is
bondage." Hence what is praised or experienced by the Devas and
others is the Atman; for the Tantraraja says, "The universal form
Lalita is declared to be the very Self"; as she is inseparable from
the self, her vaibhava is all-pervading, possessed with infinite powers,
etc."
R.
A. Sastry, Lalita-Sahasranama
(R.
A. Sastry, Lalita-Sahasranama, The Adyar Library and Research Centre, Madras, 1988, p. 65.)
65)
Sri Bhandasura-vadhodyukta-sakti-sena-samanvita
—
Confers
powers to devotees to conquer their egos.
—
Grants
true realisation of Ultimate Reality.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Ass. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
"The
Siva-sutras (1, 5, 6 and 21) say, "The effort (udyama)
is called Bhairava; when united with Sakti-cakra, the involution of the
universe comes. When Sakti is united, the creation of the body comes to
exist. When the bhuta (body) is united, the separation of the bhutas, the
composition, etc. of the universe come." . . . All these and other
things comes to a Yogin when he realizes Sakti.
Just
as virility is latent in boyhood and manifest itself in youth, the various
powers (saktis) that are in the jiva, remain latent by reason of
ignorance. When an effort is made all these shine forth. This is the
purport of the above quotation."
R.
A. Sastry, Lalita-Sahasranama
(R. A. Sastry, Lalita-Sahasranama, The Adyar Library and Research
Centre, Madras, 1988, p. 67.)
68)
Sri Chakra-raja-ratha-rudha-sarvayudha-pariskrta
—
Mounted
on Sri Chakra inside body with all weapons i.e. Powers.
— Enlightens
mind to realise Ultimate Reality as an All Pervading-
Consciousness.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Ass. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
"Devi
possesses all the means of attaining the knowledge of Self. . . . when the
siddhi is attained (when Srichakra is reached) there is nothing more left
for you to gain by Yoga practice. Srichakra is the highest point to which
Yoga practices can lead. . . .
The
Bhagavad-gita says (IV. 33):
"All
rites, O Pratha, are included in knowledge"; knowledge means
Suddhavidya.
The
Siva-sutra (I.22) says: "The dawn of Suddhavidya implies
success in the mastery of the cakras." The commentary on this passage
runs thus: "When not desiring limited powers he is prompted by a
broad view to embrace all things in himself, his knowledge develops and
Suddhavidya dawns. It is then he attains mastery over all the cakras. When
the Yogin develops the power or capacity for embracing all things in
himself and has touched the feet of Sadasiva, he realizes by the pure
knowledge of Suddhavidya which knows not the difference of aham and idam, ‘I’ and ‘this,’ that the Lord is both within and
without him. Thus the eternal idea that ‘I am the whole universe’ is
pure and stainless (suddha) knowledge (vidya.) When this
idea is developed and he is merged in it he, for ever, recovers his own
cit-sakti.
When by complete absorption in Devi the Yogin does so, he attains
supreme lordship over the cakras."
R.
A. Sastry, Lalita-Sahasranama
(R.
A. Sastry, Lalita-Sahasranama, The Adyar Library and Research
Centre, Madras, 1988, p. 70-1.)
70)
Sri Chakra-ratharudha-dandanatha-puraskrta
—
Mounted
on Kiri Chakra, led by Sri Varahi, commander of Her
armies.
—
Controls
forces inside body and marshals them towards God realization.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Ass. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
"Kiricakara:
Kiri, beams of the light (kiranas) of creation; cakra, the cycle of
creation, preservation and destruction. Even though the Yogin has mounted
the chariot Kiricahara, i.e. even though he is entangled in the cycle of
creation, preservation and destruction, he is (apuraskrta) beyond the
scope, reach or touch of Dandana (Yama or Death); he is not subject to
death or destruction. The Siva-sutra (III.33) says: "Though subject
to the cyclic law, he is not excluded from the state of
self-experience." The holy Krsnadasa comments upon this passage thus:
"Although the Yogin is involved in the incessantly revolving cycle of
creation, preservation and destruction, if, in virtue of his spiritual
attainments, he steadfastly clings to the higher path (of Yoga), he does
not forfeit the state of self-experience which leads to the highest or
turiya condition." "
R.
A. Sastry, Lalita-Sahasranama
(R.
A. Sastry, Lalita-Sahasranama, The Adyar Library and Research Centre, Madras, 1988, p 73.)
77)
Sri Kamesvara-mukhalokakalpita Sri-ganesvara
—
By
Her mere looking into the face of Sri Kamesvara (Siva), Sri-Ganesvara
was created.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Ass. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
Then
Devi Lalita looking again at the face of Her Lord, smiled,
And from the
rays of that smile a certain god arose,
Having
the head of an elephant with ichor flowing from the temples.
Brahmanda
Purana
(R.
A. Sastry, Lalita-Sahasranama, The Adyar Library and Research
Centre, Madras, 1988.)
Omniscient,
She fulfils all desires through Her aspect as the Witness.
Brahma
the Grandsire of the world, seeing these doings of Devi,
Gave Her the name
Kamaksi and Kamesvari.
Brahmanda
Purana
(R.
A. Sastry, Lalita-Sahasranama, The Adyar Library and Research
Centre, Madras, 1988.)
78)
Sri Mahaganesa-nirbhinnavighna-yantra-praharsita
—
Delighted
at
Sri Ganesha destroying obstacles of Her devotees.
—
Enables
devotee overcome impediments by Her presence in body
and Cosmos.
"Chitta
is God’s awareness in its simplest form. When your mind is not occupied
with thoughts and emotions, it rests in itself alone. Simple awareness is
a divine quality, because in chitta the distractions that disguise spirit
are stripped away. In place of complex issues and conflicts, you perceive
love as the only reality. You see that you have always been nourished and
supported; you no longer need to justify your existence. God’s most
primal quality is this silence and self-sufficiency, needing nothing else.
If we think of creation as a vibrating string anchored at a fixed point,
the fixed point is here. Chitta simply is."
Deepak
Chopra, The Path of Love
(D.
Chopra, The Path of Love, Random House,1977, p. 240.)
80)
Sri Karanguli-nakhotapanna-Narayana-dasakrtih
—
10 avataras of Sri Vishnu emerge from Her fingernails to
fight Her battles against Forces of Darkness.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Ass. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
From
the right thumb nail of the great Queen there sprang the divine,
all-pervading Narayana in the form of a great fish . . . The ten Avataras
having performed their respective onerous tasks stood with folded hands
before Mother Lalita saluting Her.
Lalitopakhyana
(R. A. Sastry, Lalita-Sahasranama, The Adyar Library and Research
Centre, Madras, 1988.)
83)
Sri Brahmopendra-Mahendradideva-samstuta-vaibhava
—
Her
splendour praised by Sri Brahma, Vishnu and Indra.
—
"You
are verily that which cannot be uttered." Sri Brahmadeva
(Devi Mahatmyam)
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Ass. Advertisers and Printers,
19889)
On
that occasion all the Devas headed by Brahma and Visnu, delighted at the
destruction of Bhanda, came to wait upon Her.
Brahmanda
Purana
(R.
A. Sastry, Lalita-Sahasranama, The Adyar Library and Research
Centre, Madras, 1988.)
85)
Sri Srimad-vagbhava-kutaika-svarupa-mukha-pankaja
—
Her
Lotus Face is the source of all Speech.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Ass. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
88)
Sri Mula-mantratmika
—
Source
of all the Mantras.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Ass. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
94)
Sri Kohlini
—
Dwells
in every house, village or forest i.e. everywhere.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Ass. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
Devi
is to be worshipped in every place, town, house, village, and forest by
men who are devoted to Shakti.
Bha.
Utt. Pr.
(R. A. Sastry, Lalita-Sahasranama, The Adyar Library and Research
Centre, Madras, 1988.)
99)
Sri Muladharaika-nilaya
—
Dwells
in
Muladhara
Chakra
inside body.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Ass. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
100)
Sri Brahmagranthi-vibhedini
—
Cuts
Knot of Sri Brahma; devotee consciously transcends
wakeful state.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Ass. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
"According
to the Sankhya (and the view of Yoga is the same) the life-monad (called
purusa, "man," "atman," "self," or pums,
"man") is the living entity concealed behind and within all the
metamorphoses of our life in bondage. Just as in Jainism, so also here,
the number of life-monads as in the universe is supposed to be infinite,
and their "proper nature" (svarupa) is regarded as totally
different from that of the lifeless "matter" (prakrti) in which
they are engulfed. They are termed "spiritual" (cit, citi,
cetana, caitanya), and are said to be "of the nature of sheer,
self-effulgent light" (prabhasa.) Within each individual, the self-illuminous
purusa, atman, or pums illuminates all the processes of gross and subtle
matter — the processes, that is to say, of both life and consciousness
— as these develop within the organism; yet this life-monad itself is
without form or content. It is devoid of qualities and peculiarities, such
specifications being but properties of the masking realm of matter. It is
without beginning, without end, eternal and everlasting, and without parts
and divisions; for what is compounded is subject to destruction. It was
regarded originally as of atomic size, but later as all-pervading and
infinite, without activity, changeless, and beyond the sphere of
movements, "at the top, the summit" (kutastha.) The monad is
unattached and without contact, absolutely indifferent, unconcerned, and
uninvolved, and therefore never actually in bondage, never really
released, but eternally free; for release would imply a previous state of
bondage, whereas no such bondage can be said to touch the inner man. Man's
problem is, simply, that his permanent, ever-present actual freedom is not
realized because of the turbulent, ignorant, distracted condition of his
mind."
Heinrich
Zimmer, Philosophies of India
(H. Zimmer, Philosophies
of India, Princeton U. Press, 1974, p. 285-86.)
