Day Ten Navaratri Parana, April 2016: Kamala, Lotus Goddess of Delight

Om Shrim Shrim Kamalatmika Shrim Swaha!

Om Shrim Shrim Kamalatmika Shrim Swaha!

Om Shrim Shrim Kamalatmika Shrim Swaha!

kamla-yantraThe tenth day of Navaratri is called Navarati Parana which means the end of the Navaratri celebration and fast. It is the 10th dashami tithi, 10 days after the New Moon and a day of victory. What a great time to embrace this sweet power rising out of the Devi’s victory over darkness just as Mars, planet of war and conflict, is slowing down to his intense retrograde station on Sunday morning, He will retrograde until late June in sidereal Scorpio, where Saturn is already retrograde. Retrograde malefics like Mars and Saturn become more difficult than usual. That means it’s time to be focused and vigilant and hold fast to our highest principles and practices. Everything that challenges us is teaching us to open our hearts and be in a state of unconditional love no matter what! If we can remain truly heart centered kings and queens of love, we are home free.

231839-bigthumbnailAnd, speaking of love, the 10th Mahavidya Goddess to whom I am dedicating my last day’s Navaratri contemplation is Shri Kamala Devi, also known as “Kamalatmika, She of the Lotus.” Kamala is the ultimate manifestation of the Devi in the world. When you are in the immense and often mind-blowing, heart-bursting beauty of nature, that is Kamala in action. She is goddess of not only love and beauty but also comfort, safety, wealth, happiness, and the bliss that comes in knowing one’s own true being (ananda swaroopa). Kamala’s other name is Shree (Shri) which means “Auspicious.”

“With a smiling face, her beautiful lily-white hands hold two lotuses, and show the mudras of giving and dispelling fear. She is bathed in nectar by four white elephants and stands upon a beautiful lotus.” (Todala Tantra) The lotus represents purity and divinity; and the elephants symbolize the four directions, elements, and purusharthas (dharma, artha, kama, and moksha) which are all brought forth and supported by Shri Kamala Devi. 

the_ten_mahavidyas__kamala_wi84Kamala is the consort of Sada-Shiva, the protector of the world who is much like Lord Vishnu who upholds the Earth. She is associated with the lunar mansion called Rohini in Taurus constellation, which is the Moon’s favorite wife (nakshatra). Rohini symbolizes sensuality, grace, and beauty. She is the youngest sister of oldest sister Dhumavati who lives in Jyestha/Scorpio which is directly opposite Rohini/Taurus. Kamala is like the highest frequency of Lakshmi. She came out of the great churning of the ocean known as Samudra Manthan, and she is the source of Satva Guna or spiritual essence.I feel that Kamala is the Alpha and Omega of the Devi, for everything comes from love. We propitiate Her to enhance and strengthen Venus, symbol of vitality-love-comfort-wealth in the Vedic horoscope.

Jai Maa Kamala Devi! We bow before you on this tenth day of Navaratri Parana and give great thanks for all Your blessings and boons that have come through our Divine Mother devotions, and for those which are still yet to come. We open to receive ever more of your Supreme Comfort as it flows like nectar onto our Earth and all sentient beings. May we fully know and experience Your peace, wisdom, and divine love in this Earthly realm. Jai Maa!

kamala

 

Day Three Navaratri, April 2016: Lalita Devi, Mother of Eternal Bliss

Homage to the Absolute Reality, the source and the embodiment of bliss, the supreme consciousness, here termed as She, the Mother, who is both the magnificent image of the universe and the mirror in which this dazzling reflection appears. (from Tripura Rahasya II, I, 1)

Tripura-sundari_yantra_colorDay Three of Das Mahavidya Navaratri sadhana is devoted to Shri Lalita Devi, known also as Tripura Sundari, Shodashi (Vermillion Hued), and Sri Vidya, Goddess of Wisdom). Lalita means “She who Plays,” and She is thus called “Maha Maya,” as She plays with us and through us in Her lila or divine play.

Tripura means the “Three Cities” of Heaven, Earth and the Netherworld. “Sundari” means “Beautiful Woman,” so Her name means “Beautiful Goddess of the Three Cities.” She is the Supreme Goddess who embodies and transcends the holy trinity and five-fold aspect of the Divinity. According to Vedic astrology, Lalita Devi is related to Mercury (Budha) in the horoscope; we can propitiate Her to strengthen or balance Mercury in the horoscope.

Just as Lalita is the absolute universal power, Mercury’s essence is also to contain and unify. This idea is represented by Mercury’s symbol in the Caduceus (Staff of Hermes), an alchemical emblem of two serpents wrapped around a center rod, representing the union of opposites in the human energetic system when it transcends the illusory world of duality. Mercury is also tri-doshic in Ayurveda, and Mercury is the graha that relates to play which is Lalita’s essence as Maha Maya.

caduceusThe whole universe is always encompassed by light within and without. Such light is transcendental and is called the supreme Tripura, the supreme goddess. Knowers of the Vedas call her Brahman and Vaisnaivites call her Vishnu. According to Saivites, she is Siva; according to Shaktas, she is Shakti.

Lalita Tripura Sundari seated over Brahma Vishnu Shiva Maheswara and SadashivaAs the image is pervaded by the mirror, this world is pervaded by the power of consciousness. All the objects in this universe are illuminated by that light. As the image of a city is not part of the mirror, similarly the universe is not part of consciousness. As an image cannot be separated from the mirror, the universe cannot be separated from consciousness. This is the glory if the real self.

Tripura Sundari says, “Sages, listen to me…This whole universe, like an image in the mirror, is born, it is there, and it annihilates itself. That which is seen by the ignorant as the world is realized by the yogis as pure knowledge. I am called Tripura. Far beyond the world there is an ocean of eternal bliss. In the center of that ocean there is an island of gems, and the midst of that island there is a temple with brilliant illumination. In the inner chamber of that temple is a throne on which is seated Mahatripurasundari, the great Mother Divine, with her five aspects. O highest of seers, that is myself.

By my own primal Shakti, it seems that I am born and will die in the world. In this way my faces are multifarious. I am beyond and above all, Sri Vidya. That which is pure, beyond all the phenomenal world, is the knowledge of the absolute, and to contemplate on that is freedom from duality. When the mind and its modifications flow towards the eternal center, atman, O seers, pure atman is realized. Therefore those practitioners who identify pure consciousness, through which all objects are illumined, alone remove all impurities. Those purified ones remain absorbed in that realization.”

(The above is extracted from Tripura Rahasya: The Mystery Behind the Trinity, translated by Swami Sri Ramanananda Saraswathi (Munagala S. Venkataramaiah).

One of my favorite chants to the Devi is 108 Sacred Names of Mother Divine: Sacred Chants of Devi by Craig Pruess and Ananda which you can preview and download here (#2 “Devi Prayer”): Maa Amba Lalitha Devi~Parashakti Sundari~Namastasyai Namastasyai Namastasyai Namo Namah