[Excerpts from `Tantric Yoga and the
Wisdom Goddesses' by Sri Vamadeva Shastri]
As in many spiritual traditions, the feminine
aspect of Divine reality represents knowledge and wisdom (Sanskrit 'Vidya').
The three branches of Veda, the most ancient scriptures of the Hindu tradition,
represent the three faculties of speech, mind and breath - and are called
Trayi Vidya or the three wisdoms (feminine). The Greek idea of three graces
is similar.
The true worship of the Goddess involves
knowledge which is her real form (chit and jnyan shakti). It is not merely an outer worship, but an
inner worship which is meditation. it is a method of self-enquiry. it brings Atmajnyan. It is not merely an adulation
of the feminine form or qualities. It may start with an image of the Goddess, but reaches far beyond the limits of name, form, and function as a personality to the 'impersonal absolute', parabrahma svarupini.
The Goddess represents what is hidden, secret,
subtle, and sensitive. She represents what has to be searched and discovered, the self.
As the word 'Shree vidya' she represents both the teaching and its comprehension. She is
thus the inner guiding force, Shakti or power. She represents what is to be known. What we are
drawn by an inner fascination to discover. She is the mystery and allure of
higher knowledge which causes us to lose interest in what the mind can know,
the familiar realms of senses. The Goddess takes us beyond the realm of the
known and the domain of time-space into the secrets of eternity-infinity.
In the process of spiritual learning the Goddess
becomes the muse who guides us and inspires us. She is the Chief priestess who
unfolds the inner truth. Yet true knowledge as part of an integral
comprehension of reality is always related to energy and beauty. The Goddess
is not only knowledge but power and delight.
Knowledge of the Devi reveals her powers which are
awesome and transformative. Understanding Her virtues reveals bliss, which is the
joy of going beyond all the limitations of the body-mind.
Yet the Goddess Sharadamba does not merely give us
knowledge. She is knowledge per se, the very embodiment of Truth, sat and chit. The inner knowledge is the body of the Goddess,
which she unfolds as her various adornments and eventually as her own being.
Wisdom is the ultimate form of beauty and delight, the most sought after
object in creation, and hence the ultimate embodiment of the Divine feminine.
Ultimately the Goddess is not merely knowledge but pure consciousness itself
(Samvit). She is knowledge that puts the mind to rest and returns us to the
source. Through her we discover the serenity of the self.
Hindu deities represent the Divine consciousness
functioning on all levels of the universe. Both outwardly and inwardly. They
represent the various principles, energies and faculties which make up this
great universe, manifest and unmanifest. The Goddess, who represents creation
on all levels, possess this same diversity, which is expressed through her
Ten Wisdom Forms (Dasha Mahavidya) and their different functions.
'Dasha Mahavidya' means the 'Ten Great Truths (Knowledge)'.
They reveal the inner workings of both the universe and the psyche, once the
veil of appearances is pulled down.They represent the deeper truths of life
hidden behind our attachment to the outer form of things. Their messages are
sometimes inspiring and sometimes frightening because they represent life
itself, but they are always instructive to those who are looking for
something beyond the ordinary realm.
The ten forms of the Goddess function not merely
to teach us superficially or intellectually but to challenge us to look
deeper. As great cosmic forces their energies can be difficult to bear and
their extreme appearances may jolt us. Their forms are often disturbing they
are not meant to be merely pleasant. They are meant like mysteries to enter
or shock the mind into awakening. They are not meant merely to console or
inspire but to promote within us the deepest search. Their forms are
ambiguous, contradictory and paradoxical. They are provocative energies
designed to take hold of our minds and through their enigmatic nature
neutralize the thought process which keeps us in bondage.
Life itself is something awesome and mysterious.
We do not know why we are born or when we will die. We do not even know how
we move, breathe or drink. Most of what we are seeking is merely transient
and does not answer the ultimate question of our destiny: what, if anything
in us, transcends death.
Our knowledge only grasps the surface of the
world, and we do not have any sense of tour ultimate identity. To approach
the higher knowledge we must set aside our lower knowledge aside, which is
not to reject it altogether but to recognize its limited place. The wisdom
forms of the Goddess are part of a spiritual science, which we can examine
only when we have set aside our outer knowing and it's grasping for
information and ideas.
Yet this spiritual science is also an art. It
cannot be approached mechanically but requires creative participation. We
must become that reality and experience within ourselves all of its manifold
dimensions. We must become the Goddess as her power comes to work through us.
This way of Yogic knowledge is a theatre or play in the mind. It contains all
of life and all of the universe as flowing through our nervous system. It is
perhaps the ultimate of all experiences, as through it experience itself is
dissolved into the transcendent.
Each of the Ten Forms of the Goddess represents a
particular approach to self-realization, to knowledge of that within us which
transcends time and transient identity. Yet each of the ten has within itself
many layers. Unless we are willing to look deeply, we may become caught in a
secondary aspect of the form and function of the Goddess.
As representatives of powerful cosmic forces, the
Goddesses can be approached to gain wealth, health, fame or other ordinary
goals of life. However, if we approach them with a selfish intention, their
inner powers cannot come forth. We cannot manipulate these deep cosmic forces.
We can only benefit from them if we honor the wisdom at their origin.
Hence these knowledge Forms should not be
approached superficially or casually. For them to really work, we must first
surrender to the Divine mother herself and gain her grace. It is her power,
her Yoga Shakti that does the work. We can be receptive to its current and
learn its rhythms, but we cannot direct its flow. We must not try to use
these teachings out of personal wilful feeling(ness), or they will not be
liberating for us. The Ten Forms of Goddess make up a complete and integral
teaching but several of them have their special worship as representing the
supreme Mother Herself.
Sundari, also called Lalitha or Rajarajeshwari,
is the most popular form of the Divine Mother in South India. In the North
and west of India, in Tibet and Kashmir and in Buddhist lands, Tara has this
importance. In the North and East of India, Bengal and Assam, which is the
region of India where the worship of the Goddess has always been the most
popular, Kali represents the Great World Mother. Kali is the first and
foremost of the Ten Wisdom Goddesses. All ten can be portrayed as the various
aspects of Kali. They are often placed around Her as their central deity.
Hence the Dashamahavidya is one of the most important forms of Kali worship.
The first clear reference to the Ten Wisdom
Goddesses occours in the Shiva Purana (V.50). According to this story a demon
called Durgama took control of the four Vedas, by a boon of the Creator, Lord
Bramha, and through them gained power over the entire universe. This caused a
tremendous drought on earth for many years in which all creatures suffered
greatly. Hence, the Gods called upon the Goddess to save the world. The
Goddess, who always responds to the wished of Her devotees, first eliminated
the drought and filled all the waters of the earth. Then the Gods asked an
additional boon to destroy the great demon and reclaim the Vedas. In Her
battle with the demon, the Goddess brought ten great forms out of her
body-the Dashamahavidya, and then took the forms of innumerable Goddesses.
She defeated the demon and returned the Vedas to the Gods. As a conqueror of
Durgama, the Goddess was named Durga.
The Ten Wisdom Goddesses, are originally
associated with the myth of restoring the Vedic teaching, which through the
process of time had fallen under the forces of decay and corruption. From the
Vedas to the Tantras, is an unbroken line of Mantric and Meditation teachings
centered in the Goddess, who Herself is a Divine Word and the Vedas, and who
periodically renovates the teaching in order to sustain in this world born by
time and death.
Kali -
The Goddess of Yogic Transformation
As the chosen Deity worshipped by Paramahansa
Ramakrishna, one of the most well known modern teachers within the Hindu
tradition, Kali is one of the most commonly known of Hindu Goddesses, but
still not well understood. Yet much of what we admire in Ramakrishna – his
love, bliss, and universal spirit – is Kali's gift to us through him. Through
him Kali has already delivered us her message for the modern age.
Time is life. Life is our movement in time.
Through our own life-force or Prana we experience time. Kali as time is Prana
or the life-force. Kali or the Divine Mother is our life. She is the secret
power behind the working of our bodily systems and vital energy. Only through
her do we live, and it is her intelligence that gives such a marvellous order
to the body.
Kali is the love that exists at the heart of
life, which is the immortal life that endures through both life and death.
Maintaining the awareness of the eternal nature of life through the cycles of
birth and death is another one of her meditational approaches. The truth is
that our soul, our aspiration towards the Divine, which is our eternal love,
never has died and never will die. To be conscious of that enduring
aspiration is to die to the things of the mind and the senses, and come to
know the cosmic life and Divine grace.
Kali grants us this eternal life. Yet the eternal
life has a price. Only that which is immortal can be immortal, as nothing can
change its own nature. The mortal and the transient must pass away. To gain
the eternity that is Kali, our mortal nature must be sacrificed. Hence Kali
appears frightening and destructive to the ordinary vision.
Kali as the power of death and negation is
Nirvana, the state of the dissolution of desire. She functions to extinguish
all of our wants and cravings and merge us into the Nirvanic field, the realm
of the unborn, uncreate, and unmanifest. Kali develops forms only to take us
beyond form. When her force awakens within us she works to break down all
limitations and attachments, so that we might transcend the entire field of
the known.
Kali is the power of action or transformation
(Kriya-shakti). Through time and breath all things are accomplished. Yet what
she accomplishes is not a mere outer action. She accomplishes the spiritual
labour of our rebirth into pure consciousness. For this she creates the
energy and does the work if we surrender to her force.
Kali means beauty. The root kal, from which the
name comes, means "to count," "to measure," or "to
set in motion," hence "time." It also refers to what is
well-formed or measured out, hence beauty. Time itself has a movement, a
rhythm, a dance which is the basis of all beauty. This is also the rhythm of
the life force which allows for movement.
Kali is dark blue in colour and wears a garland
of skulls. She has her long tongue sticking out and is laughing. Sometimes
instead of a tongue she has two fangs. Kali has four arms and four hands and
holds a head chopper with one hand and a severed head dripping blood with the
other. With her other two hands she makes the mudras of bestowing boons and
dispelling fear. She wears a skirt made of human arms. Kali is portrayed as
dancing in a cremation ground and striding on a corpse (who is the form of
Lord Shiva himself).
Tara -
The Saving Word
Tara is not only an important Hindu Goddess, she
is also the most important of the Buddhist Goddesses. The Bodhisattva Tara is
the consort of the great Buddha Avalokiteshvara, the Lord who looks down with
compassion on all living beings. The term Tara means the deliverer or savior,
from the Sanskrit root tri, meaning "to take across," as to take
across a river, the ocean, a mountain, or any difficult situation. The
Goddess Tara is called upon in emergencies or at crossroads where we require
guidance as to which way to turn. Tara is the saving knowledge. She is the
Saviouress. The idea of the Goddess as saving wisdom is as old as the Vedas,
and is a common idea in many spiritual traditions.
Tara is the feminine form of Om or Om personified
as a goddess. Tara is the unmanifest sound that exists in the ether of
consciousness, through which we can go beyond the entire anifestation. Tara
is Om that has the appearance of the ether and which pervades the ether as
its underlying vibratory support, but also transcends it. Om is the
unmanifest field behind creation, which is the destroyer as well as the
creator of the universe.
Tara is the purifying force of the vital breaths.
Sound that manifests in the ether is the same as the Prana (life-force) that
manifests in the ether. Breath is the primal sound of life, and the sound of
the breath is the original, spontaneous and unuttered mantra (So' ham). Both
mind and Prana, as word and vibration, have their root in sound. Hence the
use of sound or mantra both purifies and energizes the mind.
Tara is the radiance of knowledge that arises
from the differentiation of meanings through sound. Different sounds serve as
vehicles whereby different ideas or meanings flash forth. Om is the
underlying light that illumines these different sounds and allows meaning to
flow through them. All meanings exist to reintegrate us into the ocean of
meaning that is pure consciousness itself.
Tara, like Kali, is deep blue in color. She has
matted hair, wears a garland of human heads, and has eight serpents for her
ornaments. She is dancing on a corpse, has four arms and carries in her four
hands a sword or head chopper, a scissors, a severed head and a lotus.
Tripura
Sundari - The Beauty of the Three Worlds
Sundari is not the ordinary beauty of form (which
is more properly an aspect of Kamala).The highest beauty does not lie in any
object, though it is not apart from objects. The highest beauty is of perception
– to "hold Infinity in the palm of your hand, and Eternity in an
hour," as the poet Blake so eloquently wrote. Beauty derives from the
light of consciousness that is irradiated through objects. It is never really
contained in any object. Hence beauty can never pass away but merely has
manifold forms for its revelation. The light of beauty we see in things is
thus the light of our own awareness. Discovering this we contact the well
springs of infinite delight within us. This is part of the revelation of
Sundari.
The beauty of perception occurs only when the
mind is cleansed from the known, when consciousness is cleared of its
conditioning and rests in pure awareness without any residue of memory. Then
whatever we see is irradiated with the light of eternity and is effulgent
with the glory of our own Self as the Universal Being. Otherwise the residue
of our thoughts and emotions, like a dark film, obstructs the subtle and
transparent beauty and presence in things, though we may be able to perceive
clearly their physical characteristics.
Sundari represents the ultimate beauty of pure
perception which arises when we see all the universe in ourselves, when we
see all nature as a reflection of the reality of consciousness. Sundari is
thus the beauty of nature but as seen through the spiritual eye of unity –
the vision that all the universe is Brahman – that there is nothing but God
above, below, within, without, to the north, south, east or west, past,
present or future. Sundari thus is the Goddess of Vedantic knowledge, which
is the knowledge of the Supreme Self or Divine. She teaches us that all is
the self and that the world is Brahman or the Absolute. From her perspective
Samsara is Nirvana; the world of illusion is merged into the Absolute. Hence
she is the form of the Goddess most beloved among Vedantic Swamis and
teachers. She represents the knowledge of the Supreme Self.
Sundari is called Lalita or "She who
plays." The entire universe exists for the delight of awareness, which
is the play of the Divine Mother. Creation arises in joy, and returns to joy.
We are but transient figures in her eternal play, who have yet to understand
the source of the energy that moves us. Our sorrow and suffering is a
delusion, a misconception born of ignorance and the ego. Because we attempt
to control or possess joy from the standpoint of the separate self, we divide
ourselves from true joy which is universal. The Goddess, as the image of joy,
shows us the way out of our error, which is not to deny ourselves happiness
but to discover the true happiness that we seek, which is in being one with
all. Lalita awakens the receptive soul to the bliss that underlies all
things.
Lalita is the deity of the Shri Chakra, the great
yantra or energy pattern which underlines the entire universe, which arises
from the mantra Om. She is the most blissful and beautiful of all the
Goddesses, as she represents the ultimate bliss at the source of all
delights. She is the deity who dwells at the summit of Mount Meru, the cosmic
mountain or the mountain of the spine, and gives the orders whereby the
entire universe moves. She is the Divine love which is the central motivating
force behind the universe, and which is the original impulse within our own
hearts.
Sundari is also called Rajarajeshvari or "the
supreme ruler of the universe." From her arise all the commands which
govern the universe, including he command which allows us to unfold
spiritually or to give spiritual teachings in the world. We must seek her
command in order to do anything significant in life. Yet her command is not
based on authority but love. To gain her approval we merely need be open to
her love. What she allows us to do is to love her and to love everything. To
discover her commands, however, we must be willing to surrender our own
egoistic desires and attempt to control things.
Tripura Sundari is often represented as a young
girl of sixteen years age. As such she is called "sixteen"
(shodasi) or "the young girl" (bala). At this stage of a woman's
life the delight aspect of her existence is most pronounced. Her nature is to
play, to seek new experiences, and to charm others to her. Her innocence
attracts to her all that is true and good.
Sundari is the power of consciousness,
Cit-shakti. She is the awareness of the Supreme Self, Paramatman, as one with
the supreme Reality or Absolute, Parabrahman. As true knowledge she is called
Samvit, which is the power to comprehend all things as consciousness itself.
Sundari is thus the power of spiritual knowledge
(jnana-shakti), which is more a matter of feeling and perception than of
thought and analysis. Hence she is the form of the Goddess most to be
worshipped by those following the yoga of Knowledge. She is the form of the
Goddess who represents pure consciousness and the bliss that flows from it.
She combines the being of Kali, with the knowledge of Tara and adds the bliss
dimension of spiritual realization.
Bhuvaneshvari
- The Queen of the Universe
Bhuvaneshvari means the Queen or ruler (feminine,
Ishvari) of the universe or realm of being (Bhuvana). She is the Divine
Mother as the Queen of all the worlds. All the universe is her body and all
beings are ornaments on her infinite being. She carries all the worlds as a
flowering of her own Self-nature. She is thus related to Sundari and to
Rajarajeshvari, the supreme Lady of the universe. The Goddess represents
space. Space is the Mother or Matrix in which all creatures come into being.
She is the field in which all things grow. She is the receptive spirit who
gives space to allow all things their place and function. She is the cosmic
womb that gives birth to all the worlds. As space, Bhuvaneshvari is
complementary to Kali who is time; they are the two main faces of the Goddess
as both the infinite and the eternal. Bhuvaneshvari creates the stage on
which Kali performs her dance of life and death. As the stage Bhuvaneshvari
is also the witness, the observer and the enjoyer of the dance.
As Kali creates events in time, so Bhuvaneshvari
creates objects in space. All events are merely episodes in the Devine Mother
Kali who is time. All places are merely phases of the dance of the Divine
Mother Bhuvaneshvari who is space. The Goddess is the place, the field, the
matrix in which we act to manifest the Gods. Knowing her as the ground on
which we stand and the reality which pervades us, we gain the capacity
(Shakti) to accomplish the highest actions, which are the practice of Yoga.
Returning to her passive presence, we ourselves become the field in which the
Gods, the cosmic powers, can be born and assume their roles in the cosmic
creative unfoldment.
Bhuvaneshvari is the cosmos (Bhuvana) personified
as a Goddess. To worship her promotes a cosmic vision and frees us from the
narrowness of opinion and belief. She helps us go beyond all identifications
with creed, class, race, sex, nation and religion, to a universal
understanding. She gives us world vision, a global understanding, and a sense
of the infinite. As the power that measures out the universe, Bhuvaneshvari
is called Maya, which also means illusion. When things are measured we can
become caught in their limited forms and forget the underlying unitary space
in which they appear. This is how illusion arises. All manifest forms are
merely waves in the infinite space of the Divine Mother. We must learn to see
the space of the Mother, which is the embrace of consciousness, in all he
apparent objects of the world, and no longer take their diverse forms as
reality.
As Kali is the power of action (kriya-shakti) and
Sundari is the power of knowledge (jnana-shakti), Bhuvaneshvari is the power
of love (iccha-shakti). Love creates space and gives freedom. It does not
limit or try to posses, which is the action of selfish desire. Yet the space
of love is not an empty or unfriendly space, it is a space that nurtures and
gives room to grow and flower. If love does not give space, it is not a
Divine Love. Bhuvaneshvari has a form like Sundari, whom she resembles in
many ways, which reveals her beneficent nature. She has the colour of the
rising sun, with the crescent moon on her head, with four hands and three
eyes. She holds in two hands the noose and the goad. With her other two hands
she gives the gestures that grant boons and dispel fears.
The mantra for Bhuvaneshwari is the single
syllable Hrim. Hrim is one of the most important of all mantras. It is called
the Devi Pranava, or the equivalent of Om for the Goddess. Hirem refers to
the heart (Hridaya). It also relates to Hri, which is modesty.
Bhuvaneshvari as the Mother can be worshipped
through the mantra Mata, which is the natural sound for mother. This mantra,
like Hirim, can be used for the Divine Mother in all her forms. The Divine
Mother is called Shri Mata (respected, beautiful or resplendent Mother),
which can also be used as a mantra for her.
Bhairavi
- The Warrior Goddess
Bhairavi represents Divine anger and wrath. Yet
her wrath is directed toward the impurities within us, as well as to the
negative forces that may try to interfere with our spiritual growth. Though a
difficult force to bear, her activity is necessary both to guide and to
protect us. Bhairavi is the proverbial wrath of a woman and more specifically
the wrath of a mother toward whatever may threaten her children.
Bhairavi represents the supreme power of speech,
which has the nature of fire (Tejas). She is the Word in its unarticulated
and primal form as raw energy, the flaming word which appears like a pillar
or a sword to remove all opposition. She is the supreme light and heat power,
the flame of consciousness itself (Cidagni) which is the ultimate knowledge
of truth. Bhairavi as Tejas radiance) rules over the Tanmatras, the subtle
sensory potentials behind the five elements and five sense organs which allow
for their inter-connection. Through the Tanmatras Bhairavi gives power over
the senses and the elements. She is the basic will power of life, mastering
which we come to control all of its manifestations.
Bhairavi is known as Durga, the Goddess who saves
us from difficulties. Durga rides a lion, a symbol of fire or solar energy,
from which she wields her weapons of light to destroy all demons or negative
forces. She helps take us beyond disease, sorrow, darkness and death.
The fierce form of Divine energy exists within us
as the power of transforming heat (Tapas). Tapas is sometimes translated as
asceticism. More properly it is a heightened aspiration that consumes all
secondary interests and attachments. When we are really interested in
something we naturally lose our attraction to other things. Tapas is this
real interest and profound absorption in the spiritual life that causes us to
no longer want anything else. Tapas is the heat of spiritual inquiry and
aspiration which causes us to discard all that is non-essential in life.
Bhairavi as Tapas is especially worshipped by
those seeking knowledge or by those seeking control of their sexual energy
(Brahmacharya). She gives control of the senses, the emotions and wandering
thoughts. She helps us during fasting, vows of silence, meditation retreats,
Pilgrimages, during the practice of celibacy, or any other concentrated
spiritual discipline (Tapas) that we may be attempting. Whatever obstructions
arise to our practice of Tapas we can call on Bhairavi to help eliminate
them.
Bhairavi is the fierce form of the Goddess and
related to Chandi, the fiercest form of the Goddess, who is the main deity of
the famous Devi Mahatmya, a great poem of seven hundred verses (also called
Durga Saptasati or Chandi) which celebrates the destruction of the demons by
her. Bhairavi is the woman as warrior, who with her power of Divine speech
and spiritual fire eliminates all obstacles to the unfoldment of true
awareness. As Chandi or the destroyer of opposition, she can be invoked for
removing obstacles to allow us to attain any of the four goals of life –
enjoyment, wealth, recognition or liberation (kama, artha, dharma and
moksha).
Another important form of Durga is the ten-armed
Mahishasura Mardini, the destroyer of Mahishasura, the demon who represents
the vital passions (particularly sexual desires), which tie us to the outer
world. She is also a form of Bhairavi.
Bhairavi possesses the effulgence of a thousand
rising suns. She has three eyes and wears a jeweled crown with the crest of
the moon. Her lotus face is happy and smiling. She wears a red garment
(generally made of silk), her breasts are smeared with blood, and she is
adorned with a garland of severed human heads. She has four hands and carries
a rosary and a book. She makes the gestures of knowledge and that for giving
boons with the other two hands.
Chhinnamasta
- The Consciousness beyond the Mind
Chhinnamasta, whose image is a severed head, is
the Goddess who causes us to cut off our own heads or to dissolve our minds
into pure awareness. She brings transcendence of the mind and represents the
non-mind (unmana) state. Freed from the limitations of the mind,
consciousness realizes its true nature beyond death and sorrow.
Chhinnamasta – which literally means "a
severed head" – is perhaps the most frightening or disturbing form of
the Goddess. She has cut off her own head and, holding it in her right hand,
with it drinks the blood flowing from her own severed neck. Yet her face is
not frightening but happy, even blissful. What she presents is the joy of
transcending the body, not the pain of losing it. She is also the most
energetic form of the Goddess and shows the power of transformation in
action.
As the power of India, Chhinnamasta is vidyut or
lightening, the electrical energy of transformation (Vidyut Shakti) working
in the cosmos on all levels. The electricity in the material world is only
one form of this. In the mind it functions as the power of instantaneous
enlightenment. While Kali rules over this force generally, Chhinnamasta
represents the same force directed as the weapon of the Supreme for immediate
transformation. She is the lightening bolt of insight which destroys the
powers of the ignorance and lifts us beyond the skies.
As lightening, Chhinnamasta represents direct
perception, pure seeing which cuts through everything and reveals the
infinite beyond all forms. She is the power of self-vision which sacrifices
all objects, including our own bodies, to the reality of pure awareness. She
represents the Atmayajna or Self-sacrifice, wherein we offer ourselves to the
Divine through the sacrifice of the mind.
Chhinnamasta represents the pralaya or end of the
world wherein the Absolute reabsorbs or swallows up all creation. She is the
head that swallows up the entire body. Hence she is the power of destruction
which is the negation of the manifest sphere into the unborn and uncreate
beyond.
According to yogic science there are knots
(granthis) which prevent the movement of energy from flowing up the Sushumna
of the subtle body. These are the Brahma-granthi in the Root Chakra which
represents our bondage to speech, the Vishnu-granthi in the Heart Chakra
showing our bondage to emotion, and the Rudra-granthi in the third eye
showing our bondage to thought. Chhinnamasta represents the piercing of the
Rudra-granthi or the knot in the head, allowing us to transcend thought, the
mind and body consciousness altogether.
Chhinnamasta thus represents the free flow of
energy through the Sushumna. She is the Kundalini Shakti flowing upward from
the base of the spine to burst open the Crown Chakra and stream out into the
infinite. She shows the energy of Kundalini awake and moving upwards toward
transformation. She is Kundalini in her active and assertive role. As such,
she represents the Vedic Path of the Gods (Devayana), which is the movement
of the Prana up the Sushumna to the formless realms of pure consciousness,
symbolized by the sun.
Chhinnamasta has a naked headless body, and in
her two hands holds her own severed head and a sword. With her severed head,
via a long and stretched out tongue, she ecstatically drinks the central
stream of blood which flows from her headless trunk. The severed head is
located in her right hand, often portrayed as placed inside a skull cup. The
sword or head-chopper is located in the left.
Her body is that of a girl of sixteen years of
age and is adorned with a garland of severed heads and necklaces of bones.
She wears a serpent as the sacred thread on her upper torso, and she has
large breasts which are covered by lotus flowers. Her hair is spread out in
strands like lightning and adorned with various flowers, with a single gem
tied by a serpent as a cord at the top. Here three eyes are wide open and
emanating light. She has two companions called Dakini and Varnini to her left
and right. She dances on the bodies of Kama, the God of love, and his consort
Rati, who are in a sexual embrace. In some portrayals it is Radha and Krishna
upon whom she dances.
Dhumavati
- The Grandmother Spirit
Dhumavati is the eldest among the Goddesses, the
Grandmother Spirit. She stands behind the other Goddesses as their ancestral
guide. As the Grandmother Spirit she is the great teacher who bestows the
ultimate lessons of birth and death. She is the knowledge that comes through
hard experience, in which our immature and youthful desires and fantasies are
put to rest.
Dhuma means "smoke." Dhumavati is
"one who is composed of smoke." Her nature is not illumination but
obscuration. However, to obscure one thing is to reveal another. By obscuring
or covering all that is known, Dhumavati reveals the depth of the unknown and
the unmanifest. Dhumavati obscures what is evident in order to reveal the
hidden and the profound.
Dhumavati is portrayed as a widow. She is the
feminine principle devoid of the masculine principle. She is Shakti without
Shiva as a pure potential energy without any will to motivate it. Thus she
contains within herself all potentials and shows the latent energies that
dwell within us. To develop these latent energies we must first recognize
them. This requires honoring Dhumavati.
Dhumavati shows the feminine principle of
negation in all of its aspects. On an outer level she represents poverty,
destitution, and suffering, the great misfortunes that we all fear in life.
Hence she is said to be crooked, troublesome, and quarrelsome – a witch or a
hag. Yet on an inner level this same negativity causes us to seek a greater
fulfillment than can be achieved in the limited realms of the manifest
creation. After all, only frustration in our outer life causes us to seek the
inner reality. Dhumavati is whatever obstructs us in life, but what obstructs
us in one area can release a new potential to grow in a different direction.
Thus she is the good fortune that comes to us in the form of misfortune.
Dhumavati represents the darkness on the face of
the deep, the original chaos and obscurity which underlies creation. She is
the darkness of primordial ignorance, Mulavidya, from which this world of
illusion has arisen, and which it is seeking to transcend.
Dhumavati represents the power of ignorance or
that aspect of the creative force which causes the obscuration of the
underlying light of consciousness. While Maya is the magic or illusion power
of the Lord that makes the one reality appear as many, ignorance is a form of
darkness which prevents us from seeing the underlying reality.
Dhumavati is the void, wherein all forms have
been dissolved and nothing can any longer be differentiated. Yet this void is
not mere darkness. It is a self-illumining reality free of the ordinary
duality of subject and object. Dhumavati represents the negative powers of
life: disappointment, frustration, humiliation, defeat, loss, sorrow and
loneliness. Such experiences overpower the ordinary mind, but to the yogi
they are special doors of opportunity to contact the reality which transcends
desire.
Dhumavati is the elder form of Kali, Kali as an
old woman. She represents time or the life-force dissociated from the process
of manifestation. She is the timeless which never really enters into the
process of time.
Dhumavati is portrayed as a tall and thin old
woman with disheveled and matted hair. She is fearful, unattractive and dark
in complexion, with a wrinkled face, and her limbs are red. She has a harsh
look in her eyes and she is missing a number of her teeth, which are
otherwise large in size. Sometimes she is portrayed with fangs and her nose
is long and snout-like. She is dressed in old or dirty clothes and her
breasts hang down. She rides a chariot whose insignia is a crow. In her left
hand she carries a winnowing basket and with her right makes the gesture of
knowledge (Cinmudra). In other accounts she carries a skull-cup and sword in
her two hands. She wears a garland of severed heads and is ever hungry and
thirsty, always provoking quarrels and misunderstandings.
Bagalamukhi
- The Hypnotic Power of the Goddess
Bagala is a Goddess of speech, and as such is
related to Tara and regarded as a form of her. When sound becomes manifest as
light, Tara becomes Bagala. When the brilliant light of speech comes forth,
then Tara gains the effulgence of Bagala and cause all things to become
still. Bagala is thus the stunning radiance that comes forth from the Divine
Word and puts the human or egoistic word to rest.
Bagala gives a power of speech that leaves others
silent and grasping for words. She gives the decisive statement, the
irrefutable conclusions, the pronouncement of ultimate truth. Hence she is
propitiated for success in discussions and debates. No one can defeat her
because she has the truth power of the Self-nature.
The weapon that puts an end to all conflict and
confusion is the weapon of spiritual knowledge, the weapon of Brahman
(Brahmastra). The highest form of the Brahmastra is the question "Who am
I?" or "What is the Self?"
Bagala turns each thing into its opposite. She
turns speech into silence, knowledge into ignorance, power into impotence,
defeat into victory. She represents the knowledge whereby each thing must in
time becomes its opposite. As the still point between dualities she allows us
to master them. We contact her grace when we see the opposite hidden in each
situation and are no longer deceived by appearances. To see the failure
hidden in success, the death hidden in life, or the joy hidden in sorrow are
ways of contacting her reality. Bagala is the secret presence of the opposite
wherein each thing is dissolved back into the Unborn and the Uncreate.
Bagala is another of the frightening forms of the
Goddess. Her color is yellow. She is clad in yellow clothing and is adorned
with yellow ornaments and yellow flowers (particularly the champak flower).
With her left hand she catches hold of her opponent's tongue and with her
right hand she strikes him on the head with her mace.She sits upon a golden
throne surrounded by red lotuses. By some accounts she wears the crescent
moon as a jewel on her head.
Matangi
- The Utterance of the Divine Word
Mata literally means "a thought" or
"an opinion." Matangi is thus the Goddess power which has entered
into thought or the mind. She is the word as the embodiment of thought. She
also relates to the ear and our ability to listen, which is the origin of
true understanding that forms powerful thoughts. Matangi bestows knowledge,
talent and expertise. She is the Goddess of the spoken word and of any
outward articulation of inner knowledge, including all forms of art, music
and dance. Matangi relates to Sarasvati, the Goddess of wisdom and the
consort of Lord Brahma, the creator of the universe. Matangi, like Sarasvati,
plays a Veena and rules over music or audible sound in general, not just the
spoken word. She is the manifest form of song. Like Sarasvati she is
symbolized by the rain cloud and by the thunder, as well as by the rivers
pouring into the sea. She is the vibratory sound, Nada, that flows in the
subtle channels, Nadis, down through our entire body and mind.
However, Matangi and Sarasvati are a little
different. Matangi is the form of Sarasvati directed towards inner knowledge.
She is her dark, mystic, ecstatic or wild form. Sarasvati is often a Goddess
of only ordinary learning, art and culture. Matangi rules over the
extraordinary, which takes us beyond the bounds of the conventional. Matangi
is an outcast or artist who goes against the norms of society, while
Sarasvati represents the knowledge and virtue of the Brahmin or learned class
which never departs from propriety. Matangi is that portion of Sarasvati
which is allied with the transforming energy of Kali.
The guru (spiritual teacher) instructs us through
the spoken word. Hence his vehicle among the Goddess is Matangi. Matangi
represents the teachings of the guru and the tradition. She represents the
continuity of spiritual instruction in the world. By honoring her we also
honor the guru. Those seeking to teach others, particularly to communicate to
the masses of people, should seek the grace of Matangi.
According to the Upanishads the essence of the
human being is speech. What we express through speech is the final product of
all that we take into ourselves in life. This ultimate residue and
representation of who we are through speech is Matangi. This, however, is not
ordinary or casual speech, but the deepest expression of our hearts. The
Divine Word has power, feeling, and passion, which is not mere human emotion
but Divine bliss. The Divine Word is not merely a theoretical or practical
statement but an effusion of energy and delight. This joy is another aspect
of Matangi. Matangi is thus a wild, playful and ecstatic Goddess.
Matangi represents the ministerial power of the
Goddess. She is the counselor to Rajarajeshvari or Tripura Sundari, the
Supreme Queen of the universe. As such she is called Mantrini and has power
over all mantras, particularly in their vocalization and articulation. She
gives us the ability to communicate with all the other Gods and Goddesses
through the power of the mantra. In fact she rules over all forms of
knowledge, counseling and teaching. Those seeking proficiency in these areas
should honor Matangi.
Matangi is dark emerald green in color, the color
of deep knowledge and profound life-energy, which is also the color of the
planet Mercury that governs intelligence. She plays the Veena, a stringed
instrument like a sitar, which shows her musical and vibratory power. She is
beautiful and carries various weapons with which to fascinate and subdue us.
In this regard she has the same ornaments and weapons as Sundari. She is
often said to have a parrot in her hands, which represents the powers of
speech as inherent in nature. She its on a throne made of gems.
Kamalatmika - The Lotus Goddess
of Delight
Kamalatmika is one whose nature is of the lotus. She is
sometimes just called Kamala, which is one of the many Sanskrit names for
lotus. The lotus Goddess is Lakshmi, the consort of Lord Vishnu, the
preserver of the universe. Lakshmi arises out of a lotus from the cosmic
ocean. Kamala is Lakshmi among the Ten Wisdom Goddesses. Lakshmi is the
Goddess of wealth, beauty, fertility, love, and devotion, like Roman Venus
and Greek Aphrodite, who, like Lakshmi, is born from the ocean, but on a sea
shell rather than a lotus. Lakshmi is the great Mother in her role of
fulfilling all desires. She represents the water of fulfillment, the
flowering of Divine grace and love.
Kamala is similar to Sundari in that both rule
over love, beauty and bliss. Sundari, however, rules over the subtle form of
bliss born of perception of the Self. Kamala governs the outer form of
beauty, not merely as pleasure but as the unfolding of the Divine nature into
the realms of action and creation. Kamala causes us to create forms in the
outer world, while Sundari allows us to withdraw the outer world into our own
consciousness. Kamala thus relates to the Earth, which contains the maximum
manifestation of the Divine in the material word. The Earth Goddess, Bhu
Devi, is considered to be the second consort of Lord Vishnu.
Kamala nourishes and supports whatever we truly
aspire to do. She aids in all projects and ever seeks to promote their
fulfillment, allowing layer upon layer of Divine grace to come forth in
various degrees of wonder. She can be propitiated both for ordinary worldly
goals and for spiritual realization. But the ordinary goals we seek through
her – wealth, progeny, or success – should be part of seeking Divine
fulfillment in life, an unfoldment of our souls desires through an organic
process of evolution, not a mere satisfying of neurotic wants.
Kamala is the form of the Goddess most worshipped
by people in this world, as we are mainly cognizant of outer beauty and
abundance. Most of us are engaged in the pursuit of pleasure, fortune,
talent, fame and so on, which are nothing but superficial or limited aspects
of the power of Lakshmi. Since we naturally pursue Lakshmi, we might as well
pursue her highest form. The most beautiful thing in life is devotion to the
Divine. Lakshmi also gives this. When we have that spirit of devotion for the
Divine presence everywhere we find incomparable beauty and wealth in
everything.
Kamala is a little different from Lakshmi. Kamala
is the aspect of Lakshmi that is part of the Wisdom Goddesses. She is the
form of Lakshmi which relates specifically to the practice of Yoga. Hence she
is also a form of Kali. Kali or the beauty of the void is also the basis of
Kamala or the beauty of life. The spiritual lotus, which is the basis of the
universal energy, blooms in the void. It comes forth in the space of pure
consciousness. Hence to allow it to come forth we must first make ourselves
empty and clear. Only the non-attachment of Kali enables us to enjoy life and
find our fulfillment through Kamala.
Kamala as the tenth and last of the Wisdom
Goddesses shows the full unfoldment of the power of the Goddess into the
material sphere. Kamala is the beginning and the end of our worship of the
Goddess. We first approach the Divine seeking help in achieving ordinary
human wishes, like health, prosperity, and a happy family. We complete our
understanding of the Divine by seeing its presence even in the ordinary
things of human life, in the forms of nature and the Earth, discerning a
Divine urge toward union hidden even in worldly desires.
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