Freedom, Relationship, and the Ground of Spiritual Life

Guruji and Amma at the time of their marriage

 (from "The Goddess and the Guru"):

Guruji himself was, of course, fully aware that people were curious—and sometimes impatient—about Amma and her role in his life. But he made his position on the matter very clear.

“Sometimes people tell me, ‘You shouldn’t let Amma control you! You should stand up for your independence!’” he said. “What nonsense. I have lived with her for over 50 years. We know each other inside out. We have three children and six grandchildren together. I’m there for my wife and she is there for me. Why would I turn away? For the sake of what? Because she controls me a little?”—he shook his head and laughed—“Who doesn’t control me? Everybody tries to control me! So just because she tries to control me too now and then, I should run away? No.”

He paused and then allowed, “Okay, so maybe I sacrifice a little freedom. So what? That’s the trade-off. I value our relationship as an important part of Tantric spirituality. You live in the spirit and yet you live in the world, you see? If you try to live strictly on an existential level, you’re essentially operating in a vacuum—no affections, nothing to bond to; nowhere to ground yourself. In my opinion, cultivating a place of belonging is equally important. And the partial loss or restriction of freedom that comes with it is just part of the game. In fact, I think it can be valuable.”

“So that is one of the messages I have tried to convey in this life,” Guruji concluded. “You don’t have to leave your family; you don’t have to run away from your worldly life in order to be spiritual. You can find it wherever you are, whatever the circumstances. You can be in prison, scheduled to be hanged within the next half an hour—and still practice detachment. I want people to realize that their spirit is always free, even if they consent to limit that much-needed freedom in their everyday lives. If you can learn to both exercise your freedom and cope with your limitations—accepting them lovingly and caringly—then you will always be okay.”

An Open and Accessible Vision of Guruji

 

(from "The Goddess and the Guru"):

Those who attended the Prathista also got an early taste of Guruji’s unique and personal approach to temple worship. Atypically, there were no priests or other “gatekeepers” standing between the worshipers and the worshiped: no altars, and no restrictions based on caste, gender, or religion. It was a hands-on temple, and everyone was welcome to participate in pujas and freely interact with the deities of their choice.

“In most other temples, the deity sculptures are far away,” Guruji explained. “You can’t touch them; often you can’t even see them. But at Devipuram you can walk up and touch them, get to know them, literally shake hands with them! That’s our specialty: the deities are not kept far away in guarded towers. They are all fully accessible to all, and that accessibility is an important part of the experience. I want people to come and enjoy spirituality in resonance with nature, so that their finer instincts come to the fore. That was the vision I had.”

The Prathista of Sahasrakshi and the Fulfillment of the Vision

Manually raising the 1,400-pound Sahasrakshi murti to the peak of the Sri Meru temple.

(from "The Goddess and the Guru"):

In fact, shortly before the Prathista, Guruji personally transported the massive sculpture to Devipuram on a marathon pickup-and-delivery adventure with his son-in-law Prabhakar, husband of youngest daughter Rama.

“We drove her all the way from Tirupati in a Maruti van,” Guruji recalled. The precarious drive back to Devipuram took an entire sweltering day that taxed the vehicle’s engine, suspension system, and human occupants to the limit. “The tires were getting hot, too,” he said. “We were worried whether one might burst, because we had no usable spare.”

Sahasrakshi finally did arrive safely in Devipuram with van and drivers intact, but a larger task still lay ahead—to raise the six-foot, 650-kilogram (1,433-pound) sculpture some 50 feet to the peak of the Sri Meru without the aid of a crane or other motorized assistance, luxuries that still remained beyond the reach and means of the remote temple complex. This arduous lift was carried out manually on Wednesday, May 9, 1990, a full-moon day just weeks before the formal Prathista ceremony.

“We built chain lifts to take her up the first two floors,” Guruji said—and that was the easy part. “The third and final floors were the most difficult,” he continued. “She had to be lifted by hand by six people. I was worried that somebody would be mortally hurt!”

The stairway, which had been designed—like the rest of the temple—by Guruji alone, was precisely wide enough to accommodate the statue’s base. However, the structure’s capacity to bear the weight of the statue was still strictly theoretical. “Keep in mind, I wasn’t a civil engineer,” Guruji said. “We simply didn’t know whether the stairs would take the load.”

They did, though the job was massive. It took three grueling hours for the six laborers to carry the sculpture up the final 10 feet. When they reached the narrow top floor, a dozen more workers joined them in lifting the sculpture onto the concrete plinth that had been prepared to receive it. “That was the final test,” Guruji said. “Would the slab I built take the load of the sculpture plus about 18 people?”

Again, it did. “When we had finally placed her in position, everyone heaved a sigh of relief!” he said.

As the sun sank toward the western horizon, Guruji performed a brief laghu prathista—a simplified, “light” consecration prayer in advance of the elaborate formal ritual to come—and as the full moon rose at dusk, the gathered devotees were rewarded with a view that seemed to clearly express divine pleasure with their efforts.

“It was the perfect time—6 p.m. exactly,” Guruji said. “The sun was setting in the west; the full moon was rising in the east: sun, moon, and Devi were all exactly aligned.”

~

The formal Prathista ceremony began a couple of weeks later on the new moon day of Thursday, May 24, and continued for 11 days until Monday, June 4, 1990. The spring weather was typically hot and dry and the sun was relentless, with temperatures hovering around 100°F (38°C).

Sundhara Arasaratnam, who traveled from Toronto with Haran Aiya to take part in the festivities, remembers his impression upon seeing Devipuram for the first time.

“I knew that it was still under development, but I was taken aback,” he said. “It was very desolate, dry, and bushy. There were no proper roads, just dirt footpaths strewn with thorns, shrubs, and sharp stones. But there were also birds singing, cows lowing, cashew and palm leaves rustling in the hot breeze.”

And of course there were humans.

“Everywhere around me people were working, readying the temple for the Prathista—I could hear work instructions being called out, carpenters thudding hammers, women walking elegantly by with building materials balanced on their heads. Everywhere I was met with welcoming smiles—all Guruji’s golden influence, I think. Everyone seemed happy and harmonious. And as I settled in, a sense of absolute contentment sank into me as well.”

Soon after his arrival, Sundhara climbed alone to the peak of the Meru temple.

“I could see the mountains to the west and the Sivalaya temple and Kamakhya Peetam to the north,” he said. “Beyond Sivalaya were more cashew plantations and coconut groves. To the south there were teak plantations and, just past them, some small village dwellings. And yet this remote area was gradually being transformed into a spiritual teaching establishment!”

By this time, the all-purpose thatched hut once known as Devipuram Circus had been replaced by the ground floor of the Ashram where Guruji and Amma resided.

“There was a concrete roof in place with plans to build more flats on top,” Sundhara said. “Guruji occupied the first flat on the north side of the building and the other three rooms were for people permanently residing there and helping him.”

~

The Prana Prathista of Sahasrakshi.

As the sun rose on the first day of the Prathista, loudspeakers broadcast the Gayatri mantra and hymns of praise as Gurugaru patrolled the edges of the property, reciting mantras to ward away poisonous snakes and insects. A new homa kunda had been constructed in an open, thatched-roofed structure directly under the eastward-facing visage of Sahasrakshi at the top of the Meru.

The master of ceremonies was once again Krishnayaji—the same priest who had, more than a decade earlier, presided over the grand Devi Yagna in Visakhapatnam. He was accompanied by five trained Vedic priests, or ritwiks.

“They took their place in the ceremonial hut and commenced the preliminaries,” Sundhara recalled. “Sahasrakshi’s eyes were covered with a soft cloth, the idea being that, over the course of the Prathista ceremony, the energy from her eyes would become too intense. Then Guruji and Amma arrived and took their seats as well, both of them emanating a strong golden aura—it was as if Shiva and Shakti themselves had come to preside in person.”

The kalasa pots were installed and the initial rituals began—Maha Nyasa, followed by the Pancha Sukta and other pujas. And as the Vedic ceremonies proceeded in the homa kunda shed, Tantric pujas were conducted at Sivalaya and Kamakhya Peetam. Activities paused at 2 p.m., allowing for lunch and a nap in the heat of the day. At six in the evening, participants reconvened around the homa kunda to chant the Lalita Sahasranama, followed by devotional singing and then a philosophical talk by Guruji. The ritwiks assembled a Maha-lingam from 1,008 smaller lingams and performed additional rounds of pujas. Each day’s events were capped by classical dance and music performances. Variations of this routine were repeated over all 11 days of the event, as more and more people poured in from surrounding villages and towns.

The event’s grand finale took place on Monday, June 4, 1990.

“By then the strength of the crowd was a good 5,000,” Sundhara said. “People came in waves despite the limited transportation facilities and the intense sun and heat.”

The Prathista culminated with the abhishekam, or ritual bathing of Sahasrakshi in the waters of the kalasa, fully energized after 11 days of prayer and chanting.

“The prana was invoked into her by Guruji,” Sundhara recounted. “She was dressed like a bride and all the upacharas were offered to her. The cloth covering her eyes was removed, and the full aarti was offered to her with naivedhya. The bali was cooked rice and pumpkin, broken in front of her, then red kumkum spattered over on top of it.”

It is said that if all the rituals of a Prathista are performed correctly, then at their conclusion some envoy of the five elements—earth, water, fire, air, or ether—will appear and forcefully make their presence known.

“And that’s exactly what happened,” Sundhara said. “The scorching noontime sun was suddenly obscured by dark clouds, and a huge thunderstorm rolled in with gale-force winds and torrential rains soaking the parched earth to mud.

“A group of us were standing on the second floor of the Meru temple, listening to the loud croaking of frogs and chirping of birds and letting the drenching rain cool us off from the heat of the previous few days. And that’s when I noticed Guruji standing outside the Ashram, smiling up at us all. He looked so happy! It was a memory for a lifetime.”

Detachment, Vision, and the Labor of Building Devipuram

Unfinished goddess statues slowly fill the unfinished frame of the temple.

(from "The Goddess and the Guru"):

One day while touring the construction site with Alok, Guruji motioned toward a handmade ladder rising precariously from the ground and spanning the temple’s skeletal frame toward the partially constructed dome. He told Alok to climb up and have a look around.

“So I climbed,” Alok said, despite a lifelong fear of heights. “The ladder was shaking all the way and so was I. Guruji shouted up, ‘Don’t worry! It will hold you; I’ve climbed it many times!’ And as I got higher up and looked around, I began to understand why he wanted me to go up there. He wanted me to see—to realize—for myself just how difficult it had been to put everything together. When you’re in the middle of a jungle, when your labor is unskilled, when you don’t have the money—when all you have is your vision.”

Remarkably, Alok added, Guruji projected absolutely no sense of attachment to the project. He seemed to be watching Devipuram rise and expand with the same curiosity and fascination as any other onlooker.

“Guruji always made it clear that the ownership of Devipuram did not reside with him,” he said. “In fact, I would always joke with him, saying, ‘Devipuram was constructed not because of but despite your poor management skills!’

“For me, the fact that this place is here at all is sufficient proof that the Goddess exists!’”

The Sankalpa of the Sri Chakra Temple

An aerial photo of the Sri Meru Nilayam temple at Devipuram during the Third Mahā Kumbhābhiṣēkam, on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019.

 (from "The Goddess and the Guru"):

Even while Sivalaya and Kamakhya Peetam were still being constructed, Guruji’s attention had already shifted to his third and most ambitious project yet—the unprecedented Sri Chakra–shaped temple known as the Sri Meru Nilayam or the Sahasrakshi Meru Temple, which would, 11 years later, become the iconic centerpiece of Devipuram.

The structure’s genesis lay in one of Guruji’s earliest encounters with Kamakhya, during a monsoon downpour.

“She took me by the hand and we walked through the rain to the place where the Sri Chakra temple stands today,” he said. “She told me to build it like a pyramid, and fill it with all the attendant Khadgamala deities installed in their places and receiving puja every day. At its center would be the main deity Lalita Maha Tripurasundari sitting atop Shiva, creating new worlds of higher harmonies. She said, ‘Sarve Jana Sukhino Bhavantu! May they bring happiness to one and all!’ She told me, ‘I am the Mother and this temple will be my child.’”

Since that stunning encounter, Guruji had periodically pondered the logistics such a project would entail—but the proliferation of complications at every level quickly became overwhelming, and he would set it aside to deal with more pressing concerns. He would surely take up the matter of the Sri Chakra temple one of these days, he thought, just not today. Not right now.

That state of affairs continued for only a few months, however, before Bala began bringing up the topic again and again. Guruji recalled, “She would come to me in the form of a little girl and ask, ‘Daddy, when are you going to build a house for me?’

“I’d say, ‘A house! What house?’

“She would say, ‘You know what house.’

“So finally I thought, ‘You know, maybe I’ll try to build this thing after all.’”

He went to see Gurugaru in Anakapalle, describing both Bala’s demands and his inclination to take up the project. Gurugaru, however, balked.

“No, no, no!” he said. “Don’t go near this, Sastry; it’s dangerous! You’re asking for trouble. It’s a huge project and you may very well find yourself unable to manage it. She’ll drive you crazy!”

Guruji nodded thoughtfully and set the idea aside again. But a week or so later, Bala appeared once more, asking, “So when are you going to build me my house?”

Once more, Guruji took the matter to Gurugaru.

“And once again he said, ‘Don’t touch it; it’s a bad business. You’re setting yourself up for failure.’ I asked him why and he said, ‘Look Sastry, this isn’t any ordinary structure. She wants you to build a Sri Chakra—many have tried before you, but none have ever succeeded.’”

After listing off a few such failed attempts—including one by no less a figure than Vidyaranya, renowned high priest to Harihara Raya I and Bukka Raya I, founders of the Vijayanagar Empire in the 14th century—Gurugaru added, “Consider this too: such an endeavor would be a big distraction from your sadhana. Take my word for it. Don’t go near this.”

Guruji nodded, bowed in namaskaram, and returned to Devipuram.

Upon Bala’s next appearance, he told her of his guru’s response. She replied, “Okay, write down these stanzas and bring them to him.” So Guruji noted down the Sanskrit verses. He then took the message to Gurugaru, who read it and went into meditation for a long time. Upon opening his eyes, he delivered his verdict:

“Well it seems you are destined to do this, Sastry. I think you will complete it.”

And with that he poured a little water into Guruji’s hands and said, “Go ahead and start building.”

“Balaji was so relentless,” Amma recalled of that period. “But once Anakapalle Gurugaru also realized that it was her sankalpa, he gave his blessings to the project and said, ‘I will give all my tapas shakti to you to complete it successfully.’”

Early Days at Devipuram: Silence, Access, and Grace

Guruji and Amma around the time of Devipuram’s opening.

(from "The Goddess and the Guru"):

Devipuram’s new status as a functioning place of worship, however, did not immediately translate to worshipers. Though word was gradually spreading through surrounding towns and villages about the erstwhile scientist and his unusual temples, both Guruji and Devipuram remained largely unknown beyond a close, still relatively small circle of friends, disciples, and well-wishers. As a result, the hard-to-access temples were usually quite empty of visitors.

“At that point nobody even knew there was a place called Devipuram,” recalled Alok Baveja, the Rutgers professor. “Today, there’s a Devipuram bus stop. You go to the airport in Vizag and any taxi will take you directly there. But to find it back then you had to take a bus way out into this rural area, sit next to the driver and literally say, ‘Stop here!’ Then you got off in the middle of nowhere and took a walk through the jungle.”

Once there, however, the experience could be magical. One might find Guruji working on a construction project, conversing with a visiting disciple, or conducting a puja in one of the temples. The setting was completely idyllic, and many who took the trouble to make the journey in those early days found themselves rewarded with large doses of Guruji’s undivided time and attention.

“At night, Guruji and I would pull our cots into the open air and sleep out there, looking up at the stars and talking about everything,” Alok said. On one such evening he musingly asked Guruji, “If the same souls are always being reborn, and yet the population of Earth is continually increasing, then where do the souls come from to fill all of those new bodies?”

Guruji lay silently for a while in the darkness and then answered, “But you are assuming that souls operate in quanta—as units.”

“It was an answer that required me to think more,” Alok said. “And that, it seems to me, is the role of a guru. He’ll throw something at you that makes you think a little deeper, expand yourself.”

One day Alok watched Guruji perform a two-hour Navavarana Puja for a poor, elderly woman who had come to pray at the Kamakhya Peetam. “As the puja finished, I could see the beaming smile of gratitude on this woman’s face,” he recalled. “She prostrated at Guruji’s feet and then opened a knot at the end of her sari, carefully took out a five-paise coin and gave it to him. Guruji accepted that money with a reverence that seemed to me extraordinary.”

Upon her departure, Guruji carefully laid the coin in front of the shrine’s deity, explaining to Alok, “This woman walked a long distance on foot to come here. What she has given to us are Devi’s very precious blessings.” As he left the temple, he added, “It is only with the blessings of such people that Devipuram will come up.”

A Spontaneous Homa at Kamakhya

 

(from "The Goddess and the Guru"):

On another occasion, Alok had the rare privilege of watching Swami Swaprakasananda—Guruji’s beloved Anakapalle Gurugaru—perform a puja at Kamakhya. He happened to be visiting the Ashram one evening when a young woman arrived and narrated a marital difficulty.

“I remember Gurugaru was sitting on a chair with Guruji on the floor near his feet,” Alok said. When the woman finished, Guruji rose and suggested that they all walk to Kamakhya and perform a homa for her.

Upon their arrival, it became clear that Gurugaru rather than Guruji was going to lead the ritual.

“It was one of the most extraordinary homas I have ever attended,” Alok said. The peetam was pitch black, with no light except for that of the sacrificial fire itself. Gurugaru began chanting the opening mantras, and soon entered a trance-like state.

Alok tried to figure out the ritual being performed, but it quickly became clear that Gurugaru was following no established sequence at all.

“It was all completely spontaneous, almost wild,” Alok said. “His chants and actions seemed totally random. He was throwing kumkum into the fire, rocking like a madman, his eyes closed, seemingly chanting whatever came into his head, without any apparent rhyme or reason. To me, at least, it seemed totally chaotic.”

Yet the darkened temple was soon abuzz with a powerful, pervasive energy; the young woman at the homa’s focus seemed transformed in the dim firelight.

“There is no question in my mind that whatever he was doing was highly effective,” Alok said. He glanced over to see Guruji’s reaction; he was calmly observing Gurugaru and easily following along with no apparent confusion or surprise.

“But for me the whole thing was beyond belief,” Alok said. “I was literally shaking. I had never seen anything like it in my life.”

Building Sivalaya and Kamakhya Peetam

Guruji overseeing preparation of the Sivalaya temple building site, 1983.

(from "The Goddess and the Guru"):

When he wasn’t at work on a building site, Guruji could often be found reviewing plans and preparing for the multitude of jobs that lay ahead. One early disciple recalled making a long spiritual pilgrimage to Devipuram, only to find Guruji deeply absorbed in the niceties of concrete construction—and in no particular mood to discuss more transcendent matters.

Devipuram’s first two temples arose from the jungle almost simultaneously—the one on the hilltop called Sivalaya (Shiva-alaya, or “Abode of Shiva”), and the one at the yoni called Kamakhya Peetam (“Seat of Kamakhya”). Both structures were necessarily uncomplicated in design. Kamakhya consists of a single, large rectangular room built over the yoni ledge; Sivalaya is slightly larger with several rooms and an open floor plan.

Construction conditions were difficult and the work arduous. The stairway that now ascends the hill from Kamakhya to Sivalaya did not yet exist, so workers had to scale the steep, rugged terrain multiple times per day, lugging needed tools and materials along with them.

And before construction of Sivalaya could even begin, the craggy stone peak of the hill required leveling. Dynamite would have been the choice of most professional excavators, but Guruji lacked not only the funds and expertise for that, but also the will: he did not wish to inflict such extreme violence upon nature in the name of constructing a temple. In his view, the entire parcel was the Goddess’s body, to be treated with due reverence and respect. So after conducting a Praja Yagna ritual for the minerals, plants, animals, and spirits who might be disturbed or displaced by the temple project, Guruji enlisted residents from two nearby villages to carry out the task by hand.

Guruji atop the Sivalaya temple, 1984

“I still remember the rocks being manually broken atop the hill,” Suryalakshmi said. “So many villagers were involved—initially the people from Ammulapalem were organized; later people from Balijapalem came in as well. In all, it took about two months.”

Once a sufficiently level surface was achieved, work on the temple itself began in earnest. The structure, sheltering a massive yoni-lingam in strikingly anthropomorphic form, would eventually be enhanced by a shaded patio and a rooftop terrace featuring a large Sri Meru, all overlooking the spectacular green hills and valleys that spread to the horizon in every direction—while also, Guruji added on a practical note, “affording the temple complex some degree of visibility from the road.”

~

Meanwhile, halfway down the hill, the small, freshwater spring and rustic yoni shrine where Guruji had seen his transformative vision of Kamakhya were also being expanded and developed. Walls began to rise around the ledge, and a roof was installed.

Yet Haran Aiya’s daughter Saru recalled being much more awestruck by the original yoni formation when she saw it as a young teenager.

“It was nothing like what’s there now; you wouldn’t even recognize it,” she said. “No concrete work had been done yet, so you could still see the actual boulders that Guruji found, the exact place where he meditated and saw Kamakhya—and the yoni they formed was so unbelievable, so graphic! If you knew what you were looking at you would say, ‘Holy cow, am I really seeing this?’”

As part of the temple construction, the yoni crevice that Guruji discovered had been largely covered, shaped, defined, and somewhat abstracted by stone and concrete work.

“I believe he stylized it to the point where it is now, precisely because the way he found it—the way it had been for the people who did the homa there centuries ago—was just too graphic,” Saru said. “I remember thinking it was a shame to cover it up. I asked Guruji why that was necessary, and he told me that it just hit too close to home, that people nowadays just couldn’t handle that kind of thing, they couldn’t accept it.”

Amma at Kamakhya Peetam, mid-1980s.

But while Saru understood Guruji’s decision, she still felt something was lost in the translation.

“In a sense, I think it undermined the validity of it, the historic continuity,” she said. “Because if you’re seeing it right in front of your eyes, how can you question it? It’s there—she’s there. But when you cover it and show just that small portion that can be seen today, the original ‘wow!’ impact is lost. From the structure that’s there today, you can’t even envision how it used to look. But even though I was only 13 at the time, I was fortunate enough to have seen it, and I’d like to document that—I want people to know what it was like before.”

Woman Power and the Birth of Devipuram

(from "The Goddess and the Guru"):

 “My biggest problem at Devipuram has always been manpower,” Guruji explained. “Since this place was a jungle, far from the city, I could not convince anybody to come here—and really, it’s not fair to expect city people to leave everything and come here. But that is how I came to realize the potential of the local people. From the beginning, it was mainly ‘woman power’ that built and sustained this place.”

In many ways, in fact, woman power was Guruji’s greatest advantage. On the mundane level, the girls’ impoverished rural upbringings had, in real and quantifiable ways, made them smarter, more intuitive workers—trained by lifetimes of shortage and “making do,” they were highly skilled at finding novel, creative solutions to difficult problems in the absence of sufficient materials and resources.

On the spiritual level, growing up immersed in the Goddess-drenched folk practices of Andhra Pradesh led the women to accept the Tantric features of Devipuram’s temples as natural and unremarkable. Neither yonis nor lingams perturbed them in the least; they displayed a frank and organic bhakti, or devotion, free from the inhibitions and prudery sometimes displayed by more sophisticated, educated urban visitors.

“What takes us intellectuals a long time to get, these village girls got quite simply and easily,” Guruji said. “They knew how to go with the flow. They had no inhibitions or fear. What I was able to pay them was nothing compared to the service they offered; it was Devi herself who brought those gems here.” He treated them accordingly, with a level of respect and deference that they had almost certainly never experienced before in their lives.

“In the evening, after the day’s work was through, he would invite the girls to sit down, and he would wash their feet and do puja to their feet,” remembered Sundhara Arasaratnam, the Toronto management consultant, who spent time with Guruji at Devipuram during those formative days. “Guruji would say, ‘They are, each of them, embodiments of the Mother. It is the Devi herself who is helping me build these temples.’ When it came time to distribute wages, if he had 10 girls working there, he would bring pay for 11; they would each get a little extra. The bonus, according to Guruji, was for the invisible 11th worker, who was the Devi herself.”

Indeed, it was these young builders who gave the place its name by referring to the once-forlorn “Thicket of Thieves” as Devi Talligudi (“Goddess Shrine”), the local name for the ancient Kamakhya yoni. Devi Talligudi was subsequently Sanskritized to Devipuram (“The Goddess’s Abode”), the title it retains to this day.

Some of the women who contributed so much to building Devipuram can still be found worshiping there today, often with grown children and grandchildren in tow.

Vision at the Yoni and the Discovery of the Meru Yantra

A rare photograph of the Meru unearthed by Guruji at the yoni shrine; the gold devotional figures were placed on it by a visitor seeking blessings.

(from "The Goddess and the Guru"):

During another meditation at the yoni, Guruji felt himself swept backward through time. He saw a magnificent yagna being performed on the very spot where he sat, but judging by the participants’ dress, speech, and manners, he understood that the event was taking place at least two centuries earlier. Kamakhya seemed to be showing him an episode from the history of her shrine—were these the people who originally sculpted the yoni? Or simply the last ones who worshiped here? They seemed to be performing a rare and unusual sort of yagna as well, Guruji noted, employing chants from the Sama Veda rather than the more commonly used Rig Veda.

As he contemplated the scene, his point of view suddenly shifted. Instead of merely observing the yagna, he was now at its center—inside the kunda or fire pit itself.

“I had the experience of lying on this peetam with flames emanating from my body while four priests performed a homa,” he said. “During purnahuti, I felt a heavy object about the size of a fist being placed on my heart.”

As the rishis continued their chant, the Goddess materialized above Guruji “in the form of Nadabindu Kaladhari” and a deafening voice filled the heavens.

“I am the Power! I am the Source! I am the Womb of the Universe! I am the Universal Mother!”

Kamakhya then transformed back into her more familiar form and told Guruji that a precious relic of the yagna he had just witnessed remained buried at the peetam: a Meru yantra—the very same object, in fact, that he had felt placed upon his chest in the fire. She instructed him to retrieve the Meru and install it in the sanctum of the Shiva temple he would build atop the hill. Guruji then awoke from his meditation, sitting alone again on the yoni in the present day.

“I was shaken,” he said. Even experienced centuries later through a meditative state, the revelation’s intensity packed an emotional impact that seemed “beyond all limits.” He immediately rushed to narrate the experience to Anakapalle Gurugaru, who advised, “Well, do as she said! Dig at that very spot.”

Guruji returned with a couple of laborers, who dug to a depth of about two and a half feet before unearthing a small, scorched metal pyramid.

“It was a panchaloha yantra of a unique design like none I had ever seen before,” Guruji said. A mere two and a half inches square and an inch and a quarter high, the object was nonetheless fascinating in its details.

“It resembled a typical Maha Meru, but with some significant differences. A Sri Chakra is always considered to encompass the Shakti Pancha Ayatanam—the Five Seats of Shakti. But this Meru differed from most Sri Chakra Merus to such an extent that I don’t really know whether it can be called a conventional Meru at all. It was based on a Kailasha Prastara with an almost hemispherical shape and a radius height equal to half of its base width.

“But since I found it at the same place where I had darshan of Goddess Kamakhya, I attach great significance to it,” he continued. “The Meru I found had several extra diamond-shaped plates inserted above each of the star shapes, having 14, 10, 10, and 8 corners respectively. The diamond-shaped plates have no puja relevance; they serve simply to show the separation between one star and the next, demarcating the triangles from the undefined areas, which seemed so much more logical. But it was unusual. On the other hand, the accuracy—three lines joined without forming triangles—was very good. This characteristic does qualify it to be a good Sri Chakra.”

The Maha Devi Yagna: Where Devipuram Began

The Maha Devi Yagna, Visakhapatnam, May 1983. The “cinema goddess” at center; Vemakoti Krishnayaji stands second from the left

in white; Amma is at the far right.

(from "The Goddess and the Guru"):

Barely six months after the Sagara Giri procession, Bala appeared to Guruji again and revealed the reason why the temple model had been returned to him: because it was precisely that—a model. Now, she said, it was time to commence construction of a real-life temple based on its design.

Guruji protested that, aside from having completed the Durga temple procession, none of his material circumstances had really changed: he still lacked the land, labor, and funds to carry out any such building project. “If you wish it to happen,” he told her, “I’m afraid you will have to make it happen yourself.”

“Come on now, is this why you left your job? So you could sit around talking like that?” she replied. “This is my sankalpa, not yours. You are just the doer. You should consider it a blessing that I chose you for this work.”

“Of course I do!” Guruji said. “You know very well that I have always honored you and followed your wishes. But you also know that I have a family to take care of.”

“Your children are my responsibility,” Bala said once again. “Your future is my responsibility. Those who place their trust in me are always in safe hands.”

“Then how do you want me to proceed?” he asked.

Bala instructed him to arrange a Maha Devi Yagna, an elaborate, 16-day Vedic fire ritual dedicated to the Goddess. She specifically cited the 610th name of the Lalita Sahasranama: “Pratipan mukhya rakanta thithi mandala pujita”—expressing her preference to be worshiped during the cycle of 15 tithis or lunar days beginning with Pratipada, roughly from the full moon to the new moon.

“Very well,” said Guruji. “It will be done.”

He realized, however, that before he could inspire others to be enthusiastic about the temple, he needed to convey more precisely how it would look in real life. A fragment from Guruji’s writings of this period lays out his ambitious early conception, similar to yet strikingly different from the structure that finally emerged a decade later:

The temple will be 108 feet square and 72 feet high, like a rising pyramid. There will be 108 Sri Merus installed in the temple, one each under the foot of every Avarana Devatha. At the ground level the temple will have four entrances, representing the four Vedas and the four main modes of learning about God. These also represent the four petals of the Muladhara Chakra. In this level will be four enclosures—the ten siddhis, eight divine furies and ten mudra shaktis will be installed here. In the next enclosure, the 16 lunar kalas and in the third enclosure the eight powers of erotic love, Goddess Rati Devi, will be installed.

The first floor of the temple represents the 14 worlds and the second floor represents 16 deities including the five senses and five motor organs. At the third-floor level, we find ten more deities; namely, the five subtle senses and five elemental states of the world. At the fourth floor level, the eight forms of Saraswati will be installed. At the fifth floor level, the Shaktis Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati are to be installed, along with Lalita Rajarajeswari at the sixth level.

Thus the entire construction of the temple is a massive task of constructing six floors, which will require enormous funds. In this structure, the installation of 108 deities and 108 Meru Prastharas is by itself a magnificent task requiring very high standards of sculpture, architecture and spiritual strength. A very rough estimate of the structural cost works out to around ₹50 lakhs.

Yet as Guruji began working out plans for this unprecedented Devi temple, many of his closest supporters worried that even his proposed Devi Yagna was a case of too much, too soon. “When he announced his intention to perform the yagna, Guruji’s friends and relatives expressed deep concern,” said Prasad Rao. “Frankly, we doubted the feasibility of a ritual of this nature and magnitude. We were well aware that Guruji had very meager funds to draw upon and virtually no organizational backup.”

Confronting his brother, Prasad Rao asked, “Are we really in a position to bear all the expenses associated with a Sri Devi Yagna? Why do we have to do it right now? You’ve already made a magnificent attempt with the Sagara Giri ceremony. That’s enough for now. Let’s wait a bit and hold this Devi Yagna some other time.”

Cynical though such sentiments appear in retrospect, they seemed more than reasonable at the time. As complex as the Sagara Giri event had been to organize and execute, a full yagna would require vastly more in terms of time, financial resources, planning, ritual knowledge, and sheer manpower.

And even Guruji himself had no idea of how to begin.

~

So he made inquiries and soon learned of a priest named Sri Vemakoti Krishnayaji, who headed a small temple to the sun god Surya in the nearby village of Parvathipuram, and was said to be a specialist in complex Vedic yagnas. Guruji decided to pay him a visit.

Upon hearing Guruji’s story, Krishnayaji readily agreed to perform the ceremony and immediately began listing off the various requirements: the offerings would have to be performed by a team of qualified ritwiks—Krishnayaji could supply those; then there would have to be group chants—not only of the Lalita Sahasranama but also of the Vishnu Sahasranama. The actual pujas to the Goddess would involve kumkum offerings—by married women only, of course; no widows…

“Wait a minute,” Guruji interrupted. “No widows? Why not?”

“It simply isn’t done,” Krishnayaji replied. “Those are the rules.”

“Rules!” Guruji scoffed. “Who comes up with rules like that? And why do these rules always seem to involve the haves taking something else away from the have-nots? The have-nots are in far greater need of prayer, are they not?”

“Those are fine sentiments, Dr. Sastry,” Krishnayaji replied. “But it is not the way things are done. If you insist on having widows participate in the kumkum archana, then I am afraid I cannot help you.”

Guruji thanked him for his time and left. He felt overwhelmed by the endless procedural strictures piled atop the more mundane challenges of locating a place in which to hold the event and then somehow sourcing the money to pay for it all. He wanted to obey the Goddess’s request, but saw no way forward. Surrendering to her will, he decided to simply wait and see what happened.

A few days later, as if on cue, Krishnayaji appeared at his doorstep. Guruji, surprised, invited him in.

“Well, you win,” the priest said with a smile. “You have a powerful will, my friend. The Goddess appeared in my dreams and chided me for my inflexible stance on widows.” He laughed. “She actually called me a stick in the mud! So here I am. I’ll manage the priests and oversee the ritual components; you take care of the rest, all right?”

Guruji assented and the work began.

~

The first step was selecting a site. After numerous inquiries, he finally turned to Simhachalam, Visakhapatnam’s renowned temple to Lord Narasimha and always one of Guruji’s favorite places of worship. Though the temple dates back a thousand years, its administrators had only recently completed construction of a new mandapam—essentially a large function hall for special events—less than a mile from the Nishtala family home. When Guruji approached temple trustees about his Devi Yagna, they decided it would be the perfect event to inaugurate the new facility (which was auspiciously named—“by coincidence or providence,” Rama noted—the Prahlada Kalyana Mandapam or Prahlada Prayer Hall).

The starting date for the yagna would be Wednesday, April 27, 1983.

A venue secured, Guruji next set about finding a suitable image of the Goddess to install as the event’s centerpiece. Having collected price estimates from several area sculptors and merchants, however, Guruji realized that he lacked anything close to the money or time required for such a commission. As usual, he turned to the Goddess for advice.

“I recall it was a Friday and we were all gathered at Guruji’s place reciting Sri Lalita Sahasranama in the prayer room,” Prasad Rao said. “Guruji was deep in meditation when all of a sudden his eyes snapped open and he asked, ‘Where is the Parameswari Cinema Hall?’ One of his devotees immediately volunteered to bring him there.”

It turned out that the cinema was, at the time, showing a hit Telugu devotional film called Raja Rajeswari Mahatmyam, which had been playing to packed houses across Andhra Pradesh for several weeks. In order to enhance the “divine mood” during the film’s run, the theatre’s proprietor had installed a plaster statue of the goddess in the lobby, surrounding her with ersatz offerings of fruit, burning lamps, camphor, and incense.

Guruji, accompanied by Amma and the devotee, arrived in an auto-rickshaw and went inside to find the goddess statue standing before them. It was fairly large and quite graceful; with a few small touch-ups, Guruji reckoned, it would be perfect. He told the proprietor about the upcoming Devi Yagna and asked if he would be willing to donate the statue for the event. Honored by the request, the cinema owner readily agreed.

When the film’s run ended shortly thereafter, Guruji and Amma returned with a group of disciples to retrieve the goddess and transport her to the mandapam. Attracted by the joyful cheers as the party carefully loaded the goddess into her own auto-rickshaw, a passing group of professional musicians offered to provide a musical escort.

“I didn’t call any musicians, did you?” Guruji asked Amma.

“Why would we need to ask?” she replied. “The Divine Mother wanted them, so here they are! Let’s go!”

And with a blare of shehnais, the impromptu procession made its way to the prayer hall. As part of the ongoing publicity efforts for the yagna, Guruji hired another vehicle to ply the streets of Vizag for several days preceding the event, blaring an announcement pre-recorded in the sweet voice of his then eight-year-old niece Srividya—Prasad Rao and Sundari Amma’s daughter—as a fitting stand-in for Bala Tripurasundari, at whose insistence the entire event had been arranged.

~

The grand Devi Yagna opened under a shimmering full moon on April 27, with 108 ritwiks led by Vemakoti Krishnayaji performing rituals for each of the 18 Maha Shakti Peetams. The festivities would continue nonstop for the next 16 days until the new moon arrived on May 12—and it was a big hit with the populace. “The whole city of Visakhapatnam was agog with devotion,” Mrs. Neti Sitadevi wrote in a Telugu biography of Guruji. Before the event ended, “more than a lakh people visited and prayed and offered obeisance at the feet of the Goddess.”

As the days passed, the buzzing devotional energy in the mandapam became ever more palpable. Rituals commenced at 5 a.m. and ended late in the evening, with a 360-wick aarti offered to the erstwhile “cinema goddess” to close each day’s ceremonies. The several delicious meals served each day attracted less devotionally minded visitors, as did the classical dance, vocal, and instrumental performances sprinkled throughout the program along with learned religious and philosophical discourses.

Then there was the ritual; a kaleidoscopic array of ritual—from ancient Vedic chants to modern devotional hymns; from simple kumkum archanas to hours-long Navavarana Pujas. Some were performed by the ritwiks, some by Guruji and Amma, still others by members of the public. After a recitation of the Lalita Sahasranama in the afternoon, puja would be offered to 18 suvasinis representing presiding deities of the Maha Shakti Peetams. Still later, a kumari puja was offered to the children in attendance.

At the conclusion of each day’s events, “the 108 ritwiks would recite the Mantra Pushpam,” an ancient Vedic hymn, Radha recalled. “The whole hall reverberated with melodious chants, touching one’s being to the core.”

One day an old beggar woman appeared and asked Guruji to perform a puja to her. Without hesitation he invited her to sit down, and—with utmost devotion—performed a full suvasini puja to her. He later told Amma, who was at his side throughout the puja, “These are the situations in which the Goddess takes the liberty of testing us. She may come in any form or guise. No one can be ignored or disrespected during this grand event.”

On the 16th day, when the Maha Devi Yagna reached its finale, the Goddess’s image was carried—accompanied by 18 kalasa, again representing the Maha Shakti Peetams—in a final great procession to the sea. “The city turned out to bid an emotional farewell to the Goddess who had become so dear to them,” Sitadevi observed. “With heavy hearts, the procession’s participants submerged her into the sea, where she bobbed up three final times—as if she too were heartbroken to part with her devotees—before finally disappearing beneath the waves.”

With that, Guruji and Amma themselves waded into the surf—in an act of avabrith snanam, or release from a vow fulfilled—before returning to the Simhachalam mandapam for a concluding puja. The final cost of the event was ₹70,000, an expense advanced solely by Guruji from his savings. But when donations from the yagna were tallied, the total collected came to ₹73,000. Thanking the Divine Mother, Guruji deposited the balance into a trust account opened on her behalf, which he named the Sri Vidya Trust.

Reflecting on the event years later, Amma observed, “The Devi Yagna is really where Devipuram began. The rest, as they say, is history.”

Sequence Before Lalitā: Gaṇapati → Śyāmā → Vārāhī → Lalitā

(from Srī Vidyā course lecture by Guruji):

After we worship Gaṇapati, Paraśurāma says that it is better to worship the Heart of the Goddess and then worship Varahi who is a unit of time at the eyebrow center. Worship Gaṇapati at the base, Śyāmā at the heart and Vārāhī [at Ājñā], and then go to Lalitā, the Supreme Empress. And where is the Supreme Empress sitting? In the second chakra - Svādhiṣṭhāna cakra. And it is directly connected to the top. The Śakti is at the yoni center, and Śiva is at the top and they are directly connected. So this is their play.

So he [i.e. Paraśurāma] says, you start with Gaṇapati and then you go directly to Śyāmā and then Vārāhī. Śyāmā, because you should express the Mother you are going to invoke. It’s a very powerful thing, it’s not powerless. It’s got cruel elements and it’s got kind elements. So to invoke the kind elements and to make Her feel that you are a son, that you are not to be destroyed. So seek Her grace first and get nourished from Her breasts. So you first worship Goddess here [i.e. in the heart] and attract all the good things. And getting rid of all the bad things is [a function of] Vārāhī. And then you go to Lalitā.

He says don’t go directly to Her because [you may get] embroiled into the passion of sex. And it says, if you are working on the second chakra directly at the start, you get embroiled into that and you can’t get rid of that intricate burning fire; you’ll get caught in the fire and you will get burned.

So he [i.e. Paraśurāma] says, first you become the child of the Mother, take milk from Her and then move on to Vārāhī and then go on to Lalitā. Then She will be kind and compassionate. And then She will treat you as Śiva to enjoy you and not to destroy you. So that is the argument for Paraśurāma telling in the Kalpa Sūtras that this sequence should be followed.

Guruji's Kalāvahānā Class

 

Devipuram · Kalavahana Ritual Mantras

(Transcription with edits):

1. Kara Nyāsa

So there are six limbs.

aṅguṣṭābhyāṁ namaḥ – aṅguṣṭhā (thumb)
tarjanībhyāṁ namaḥ – tarjanī (index finger)
madhyamābhyāṁ namaḥ – madhyamā (middle finger)
anāmikābhyāṃ namaḥ – anāmikā (ring finger)
kaniṣṭhikābhyāṃ namaḥ – kaniṣṭhikā (little/pinky finger)
karatalakarapṛṣṭhābhyāṃ namaḥ – karatalakarapṛṣṭhā (palms)

You are placing Gods or Goddesses or parts of the mantra in these parts. This is called karanyāsa – placement on the hands. Why do we do that? When you do any mudrās, you are combining fingers in different ways, so these parts are getting together and when they are assembled in certain ways, that generates power, which you transmit to others. To transmit power to others you use karanyāsa.

---

2. Namaskara mudrā

And this is called namaskāra mudrā. Namaḥ, when you say namaḥ, “na” means “not,” “ma” means “I’m an individual,” I am not an individual that I think I am, but I’m all that I see. All that I see is “Mahā”. I am not this individual, but I’m all that I see.

Left hand is what you see, and right hand is what you are. By joining them, you are saying that: “You and me are one”. Whoever it is, we have different form, different, shape different gender that doesn’t matter. It may be a fish, bird, an animal, it doesn’t matter. When you show this mudra, you are identifying yourself with the other. First you are making a statement, that I am you. And from that vantage point you do all your transactions.

---

3. Aṅga Nyāsa

Then placement of the energies on your body:

hṛdayāya namaḥ (The heart is called Hṛdaya)
śirase svāhā (Śira, means the crown of the head. The heart is namaḥ, the top of the head, is svāhā.)
śikhāyai vaṣaṭ (on the tuft, where the spiral is there, it’s called śikhā, like the fire)
kavacāya huṃ (kavaca, it means protection)
netratrayāya vauṣaṭ (netra – means eyes, traya – means, three) Vaṣaṭ is male, Śiva, and vauṣaṭ is female. When we offer homa in the fire ritual, we say the mantra vauṣaṭ because we are offering to Devi, the Mother Goddess. When you are offering to the male God, you are using the word vaṣaṭ.
astrāya phaṭ (it’s not “fat”, sanskrit doesn’t have the sound “fa”. It’s phaṭ. Take your lips inside and breathe out. Phaṭ.)

Then, bhuḥ (means Earth); bhuvaḥ svaḥ, oṃ, iti digbandhaḥ (creating a cage into which any evil cannot enter), you are shutting off the directions: East, South, West and North. So you are erecting walls, which prevent the obstacles that are going to come for your pūjā, that’s why we are saying digbandha. And it’s common in everyday culture practically. You turn towards East and invite the gods to protect you from the East. Turn towards West, turn towards South…The four directions. It’s there in Hawaiian, Indian, Japanese cultures it’s there in every culture – a protection from elements coming from different directions. Also, things can come from above and things can come from below. These are the basic placement on the body. For every mantra, these two things are normally done.

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4. Trikuṭa and ṣaṭkuṭa mantras

Now let me tell you a little bit about two kinds of mantras.

The first one is called trikuṭa mantras. How do you say mantra? Man tra. Trikuṭa –means, divided into three parts. For example, the Bala mantra goes:

Part 1. Aiṃ | Part 2. Klīṃ | Part 3. Sauḥ

If you are doing nysa only with these three parts, how will you do?

aiṁ hṛdayāya namaḥ
klīṃ śirase svāhā
sauḥ śikhāyai vaṣaṭ

What will you do for the remaining three? You repeat the same:

aiṃ aṅguṣṭhābhyāṁ namaḥ
klīṁ tarjanībhyāṁ namaḥ
sauḥ madhyamābhyāṁ namaḥ
aiṃ anābhikābhyāṁ namaḥ
klīṁ kaniṣṭhikābyāṁ namaḥ
sauḥ karatalakarapṛṣṭhābhyāṁ namaḥ
aiṃ hṛdayāya namaḥ
klīṁ śirase svāhā
sauḥ śikhāyai vaṣaṭ
aiṃ kāvacāya huṁ
klīṁ netratrayāya vauṣaṭ
sauḥ astrāya phaṭ

The second one is called ṣaṭkuṭa mantra, with 6 parts. An example of this mantra is Bala Tripurasundari with six letters: Aiṃ, Klīṁ, Sauḥ, Sauḥ, Klīṁ, Aiṃ. It keeps on going forward and backward. Opens the bracket and closes the bracket. Go forward, return. Where’s Aiṃ, Klīṁ, Sauḥ keeps going forward only like an infinite series: Aiṃ, Klīṁ, Sauḥ; Aiṃ, Klīṁ, Sauḥ and so on. That’s one example.

The Mahāṣoḍaśi Mantra has six kūṭas, but will not go that deep into it.

So here you go? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

aiṃ aṅguṣṭhābhyāṁ namaḥ
klīṁ arjanībhyāṁ namaḥ
sauḥ madhyamābhyāṁ namaḥ
sauḥ anābhikābhyāṁ namaḥ
klīṁ kaniṣṭhikābyāṁ namaḥ
aiṃ karatalakarapṛṣṭhābhyāṁ namaḥ
aiṃ hṛdayāya namaḥ
klīṁ śirase svāhā
sauḥ śikhāyai vaṣaṭ
sauḥ kāvacāya huṁ
klīṁ netratrayāya vauṣaṭ
aiṃ astrāya phaṭ

This is the fundamental difference between these two types of mantras.

Pañcadaśi is a 15 letered mantra of the Goddess. What kind of a mantra is it, trikuṭa or a ṣaṭkuṭa? It’s trikuṭa.

Ka E Ī La Hrīṁ
Ha Sa Ka Ha La Hrīṁ
Sa Ka La Hrīṁ

So when you do the nyāsa, it has got to be repeated.

Question - “Guruji, if you had śrīṃ at the end, is it still the three parts, and you just said śrīṃ on the third part for the ṣoḍaśī?”

Answer - “That’s not a proper mantra. People pass it off as a proper mantra, but it’s not. Or you have to divide the last śrīṃ into three parts - ś ra ī ṃ. These are the basics of the mantras.”

I want you to learn about the mantras that you use to empower yourself or empower others, what we do in Kāmākhyā.

---

5. Alphabet pronunciation

I think you all know how to pronounce the Sanskrit letters, but for the sake of completeness let us do that.

aṁ āṁ iṁ īṁ uṁ ūṁ ṛṁ ṝṁ ḷṁ ḹṁ eṁ aiṁ oṁ auṁ aḥ aḥṁ

These are the vowel sounds, which can be pronounced independently.

The consonant sounds, which follow that, cannot be pronounced independently. Because these can exist independently, they are called Śaktis, for the female. The male cannot exist without the female. The consonants cannot be independent and need to be associated with some female part. For example, the sound of “ka”, it has got to be ka, or ki, or ku, or ke, or kai, some vowel sound has to be there, you can’t just say “k”. It has to come out of the voice chord, the Śakti is needed, something has to push it out. It cannot push out by itself.

And these are Śiva akṣaras.

ka kha ga gha ṅa
ca cha ja jha ña
ṭa ṭha ḍa ḍha ṇa
ta tha da dha na
pa pha ba bha ma

You see, five sets of fives, neatly arranged. First one is harsh (ga), the second one is soft (gha). Ṅa - that is something like vowel sound, but it’s not. Similarly ca cha – the first one is without emphasis, cha is with emphasis; ja jha ña. Ṭa ṭha ḍa ḍha ṇa - the difference is that the emphasis comes from, the tongue rolling back and coming back with force, and more force is used in the air.

Then – ya ra la va. Śa ṣa sa ha. And then two more ḻa and kṣa. Notice the difference between la and ḻa. La is tongue normal, and ḻa tongues goes back and comes back; ḻa is very rarely used. Even sounds ṛ ṝ ḷ ḹ are rarely used. You’ll only be able to find them in the mantra śastras, not anywhere else.

---

6. Alphabet, Body and Saraswatī:

I think you should prepare a chart which has alphabet located in different parts of your body. Cause these alphabets are like pointers to where you have got to keep your attention when you are reciting any mantra or anything.

This itself is a great mantra. The mantra of Saraswatī. The Goddess of Learning. What do I mean by saying this is a mantra of Saraswatī. That means you know more than you already know by saying this mantra repeatedly. How do we say this mantra? By taking your awareness to each part of your body… pointed to by these letters.

For example:

aṁ āṁ iṁ īṁ uṁ ūṁ ṛṁ ṝṁ ḷṁ ḹṁ…

ka kha ga gha ṅa ca cha ja jha ña ṭa ṭha

ḍa ḍha ṇa ta tha da dha na pa pha

So these are actually pointing to places where you have got to keep your attention on. When you are reciting a mantra corresponding to that thing, or an aspect of the Divine, or a power that you want to access. And

ba bha ma ya ra la around the second chakra. And

va śa ṣa sa in the first chakra. And

ha ḻa and kṣa are the three eyes.

So when you are able to do that, you are able to go to a place pointed to by the bījākṣara. Bīja means seed. Why is it called a seed? Cause when you put a seed and keep on repeating, putting water into that seed, that means life into that thing, it sprouts. It is small, keep on watering it more, it becomes a plant. Keep on watering it more it becomes a tree and it will yield fruits. And with fruits, you will have more seeds. That's how lifecycle renews. That's why it's called "bīja akṣara". Akṣara means undecaying, not changing. So to maintain the cycle of life without decaying, these bījas are useful, the seeds are useful. What are these seeds? The genetic codes. They are giving the life to the genetic codes and the genetic codes give the life too. So it's a cycle, it goes on.

I think you should prepare a chart with all these parts of the body identified and these things so that you can practice Saraswatī mantra. Saraswatī mantra in the forward direction, in the reverse direction, up and down.

This constitutes a mantra japa of Saraswatī. Saraswatī is a river, a river of flowing awareness in the petals in the charka in your body. If you practice this, knowledge comes to you. The knowledge that is [given] to you that's going to [create] meaning [for] your life; bring all the good to you and keep the evil away. Saraswatī is a blessed form of all Knowledge.

It doesn't come all at once, like a big jolt. It doesn't come like a torrent to sweep you away. It comes in bits and pieces like jigsaw puzzles they fall into place and they are showing the next step, next step, like that. It takes you along.

I had this beautiful experience of Saraswatī. I was like a little child holding Her little finger and She was walking… and I was walking with Her. There was a kind of a beautiful feeling I had when being with Saraswatī. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beauty personified is Saraswatī.

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7. Introduction to Kalavahana

Now we will move on to the mantras which we use in empowerment. I’ll omit the bījākṣaras because when we are empowering others, we are touching different parts of our body, and since you are already touching that, you are already going to a place you have to go, bījākṣaras are irrelevant, so I deleted them. Although the original has these things because it has got to tell you where you got to keep your attention, but since you are already keeping your attention on…

What is meant to keeping your attention on?

Suppose you keep your hand like this. Are you consciously aware that a finger is coming and touching it? Is this finger aware that it is touching that part? Is this part aware that this finger is touching it? It is not clear but still, even if you are not conscious of it, still your awareness at a deep level knows that. If you did not know that, your hand wouldn’t have moved to that place. A lot of processing has to be done between the idea that was unexpressed and action which is expressed, so this whole chain is there involuntarily, unknowingly inside of you. Whether you are concisely or unconsciously aware of it, still the result is the same. So it’s good to learn these things. So let’s us start with the empowerment process which you practice individually or collectively, drawing of Śrī Cakra, sitting around it and and doing the pūjā. Which is a beautiful thing to do once in 15 days or full and new moon days. But it’s also a beautiful thing when you do it to a person, it’s called Kalavahana. Now we will go through the mantras of Kalavahana.

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8. Three Types of Fires.

The Kalas that we are talking about are the lights that we see first. What are the lights we see? We see the Fire, we see the Sun going in the sky, we see the Moon. All the lights that we see and are aware of, come from these three kinds of lights. So visualizing and imagining Fire, Sun and Moon are the first set of three things that we do.

FIRE: First the fire. The fire exists in three forms:

Kāma Agni: A form in the reproductive organs, which creates the desire to procreate. Kāma – means desire.

Jathara Agni: In the digestive organs, as the heat that burns your calories.

Kāla Agni: The eye of time, which moves. The fire called Time. Kāla means dark. Kāla means time. What is not known to you is the future, so kāla is also considered to be the aspect of time. It burns the present and pushes it into the past and creates a new future. Kāla Agni is the creator and the destroyer. It’s half way between the creator called, the Sun, and the destroyer called, the Moon. The Sun and the Moon define the cycles of time. Sun is creating the days, and the Moon is creating the months. So they are in effect our definitions of months and days. The Sun is the fastest object moving in the sky but it’s too hot and the Moon is too cold for life. In between life exists where it’s not too hot and not too cold.

So Agni has these three aspects in it.

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9. 10 Agni Kalās

First we will talk about 10 Kalas of Agni (Fire):

dhumrārciṣe namaḥ
ūṣmāyai namaḥ
jvalinyai namaḥ
jvālinyai namaḥ
visphuliṅginyai namaḥ
suśriyai namaḥ
surupāyai namaḥ
kapilāyai namaḥ
havyavahāye namaḥ
kavyavahāyai namaḥ

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10. 12 Sūrya Kalās

And the kalās of the sun are placed around the heart, there are 12 of them:

tapinyai namaḥ
tāpinyai namaḥ
dhūmrāyai namaḥ
marīcyai namaḥ
jvālinyai namaḥ
rucyai namaḥ
suṣumnāyai namaḥ
bhogadāyai namaḥ
viśvāyai namaḥ
bodhinyai namaḥ
dhāriṇyai namaḥ
kṣamāyai namaḥ

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11. 16 Candra Kalās

The 16 Attributes of the Moon are located in the 16 vowel sounds, vowels are supposed to be female, the moon is supposed to be female. Luna, lunar.

amṛtāyai namaḥ
mānadāyai namaḥ
pūṣāyai namaḥ
tuṣṭhyai namaḥ
puṣṭhyai namaḥ
ratyai namaḥ
dhṛtyai namaḥ
śaśinyai namaḥ
candrikāyai namaḥ
kāntyai namaḥ
jyotsnāyai namaḥ
śrīyai namaḥ
prītyai namaḥ
aṅgadāyai namaḥ
purṇāyai namaḥ
purṇāmṛtāyai namaḥ

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12. Brahmā Kalās

Then we invite the attributes of the solid state state in the pleasant and violent aspects into the chakra number one. They are called Brahmā Kalās:

sṛṣṭiyai namaḥ
ṛddhiyai namaḥ
smṛtīyai namaḥ
medhāyai namaḥ
kāntiyai namaḥ
lakṣmīyai namaḥ
dyutiyai namaḥ
sthirāyai namaḥ
sthitiyai namaḥ
siddhīyai namaḥ

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13. Viṣṇu Kalās

Then there are oceans:

jarāyai namaḥ
pālinyai namaḥ
śāntayai namaḥ
īśvarāyai namaḥ
ratiyai namaḥ
kāmikāyai namaḥ
varadāyai namaḥ
hlādinayai namaḥ
prītīyai namaḥ
dīrghāyai namaḥ

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14. The aspects of the oceans and the controllers

Second chakra, the aspects, we have finished, they are the oceans. Sometimes they are very turbulent, very nasty, and sometimes they are very pleasant. So both the fiery and restrictive aspects and the pleasant aspects are there, and you need their controllers also, they will come later. So then they will be in your control.

I think in the Bible there’s a story the covenant between earth and water. You should not cross this boundary. If you cross this boundary, it’ll show a rainbow, that’s the sign I’m there. Don’t cross this boundary. If the seas decided that they will go anywhere then we will have to be come fish or we will be gone.

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15. Rudra Kalās:

At the navel, 10 kalās:

tīkṣṇāyai namaḥ,
raudryai namaḥ,
bhayāyai namaḥ, bhaya means fear
nidrāyai namaḥ,
tandryai namaḥ,
kṣudhāyai namaḥ,
krodhinyai namaḥ,
kriyāyai namaḥ,
udgāryai namaḥ,
mṛtyave namaḥ

krodha - means anger, kriya - means action. If I’m acting, that’s the power of Śiva, rudra kalās. udgāri - it means the energy flows up, that’s the function of Śiva. mṛtyu - death. You are worshipping death. You are worshipping anger, you are worshipping kṣudha - means hunger; tandri - going into coma; nidra - sleep; bhaya - fear; raudra - terrible tīkṣṇa - sharp/piercing. All these are the aspects of Rudra, we are worshipping.

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16. Īśvara Kalās

Then, Īśvara kalās:

pītāyai namaḥ
ṣvetāyai namaḥ
aruṇāyai namaḥ
asitāyai namaḥ

These are at the heart center.

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14. Sadāśiva Kalās

Then, there are Sadāśiva kalās at the neck center:

nivṛtyai namaḥ,
pratiṣṭāyai namaḥ,
vidyāyai namaḥ,
śāṃtyai namaḥ,
indhikāyai namaḥ,
dīpikāyai namaḥ,
recikāyai namaḥ,
mocikāyai namaḥ,
parāyai namaḥ,
sukṣmāyai namaḥ,
sukṣmāmṛtāyai namaḥ,
jñānāyai namaḥ,
jñānāmṛtāyai namaḥ,
āpyāyinyai namaḥ,
vyāpinyai namaḥ,
vyomarūpāyai namaḥ

So far we have described three celestial lights - sun, fire and moon and the five elements, which are described in chakras, one to five.

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18. Agni Mantra

Now we go to mantras of fire, sun and moon.

Mantra for fire is this:

aiṃ hrīṃ śrīṃ - this is common in Śrī Vidyā tradition of Lalitā upāsana. Aiṃ is the request for knowledge about hrīṃ – limitations or inhibitions that are stopping you from progressing. And śrīṁ is to receive the grace of the Divine Mother. So I’m requesting knowledge to know my limitations, what is stopping me and to see Her grace. It is a prayer aiṃ hrīṃ śrīṃ is a prayer common to all the mantras in Lalitā upasana. The beauty of being close to, upāsana - means, being close to beauty. Śrī Vidyā means, appreciation of beauty of the world.

aiṁ hrīṁ śrīṁ
agniṁ dūtaṁ vṛṇīmahe hotāraṁ viśva-vedasam
asya-yajñasya sukratum
rāṁ rīṁ rūṁ raiṁ rauṁ raḥ ramalavarayūṁ
agni maṇḍalāya namaḥ

You invoke fire into the chakra number one.

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19. Sūrya Mantra

And the mantra of sun. Sun is the terrible nuclear reactions, about 100 million fusion bombs going on at the same time. Terrible guy. But he gives life, he gives life to us. Don’t go too near him, what happens to you is just like Mars, you’ll get burned. And don’t go too far away or you’ll freeze, too cold.

aiṃ hrīṃ ṣrīṃ
āsatyena rajasā vartamāno-niveśayannamṛtaṁ martyaṁ ca
hiraṇyayena savitā rathenā devo yāti bhuvanā vipaśyan
hrāṁ hrīṁ hrūṁ hraiṁ hrauṁ hraḥ hramalavarayūṁ
sūrya maṇḍalāya namaḥ

That is the mantra of a thermonuclear fusion. If you know how to assemble the fusion reaction, controlled nuclear fusion reaction, you have solved the problem of the energy in the world.

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20. Candra Mantra:

aiṃ hrīṃ ṣrīṃ
āpyāyasva sametu te viśvataḥ soma-vṛṣṇyam
bhavā-vājasya saṅgathe
sāṁ sīṁ sūṁ saiṁ sauṁ saḥ samalavarayūṁ
soma-maṇḍalāya namaḥ

That was the mantra of the moon.

Now we come to five elements.

Brahma, the creator. Viṣṇu – sustainer, Rudra – the destroyer. And then there are two more: Īśvara and Sadāśiva. Creation, preservation and destruction. What is this Īśvara and Sadāśiva? It’s localization and non-localization. Limitation and unlimitation. Finitization and infinitization. These two aspects. Limiting and expanding.

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21. Brahmā Mantra

It’s an easy mantra because it’s so difficult. But don’t worry I’ll make it easy for you.

aiṃ hrīṃ ṣrīṃ
hagmsaḥ śuciṣad vasur antarikṣasad-dhotā vediṣad atithir duroṇasat
nṛṣad varasad ṛtasad vyomasad abjā gojā ṛtajā adrijā ṛtam bṛhat namaḥ

The mantra for Brahma, the creator.

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22. Viṣṇu Mantra

aiṃ hrīṃ śrīṃ
pra-tad-viṣṇuḥ stavate vīryeṇa mṛgo na bhīmaḥ kucaro giriṣṭhāḥ
yasyoruṣu triṣu vikramaṇeṣu adhikṣiyanti bhuvanāni viśvā namaḥ

The third one is of Rudra. The controllers of the earth, the oceans and the fires. If they are not appeased, these things will take on violent forms, if they are appeased, then they will keep them under control.

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23. Rudra Mantra

aiṃ hrīṃ ṣrīṃ, there are three letters: ta, ra, ya. All these letters have to be pronounced together tryambakam, if you pluck this thing, that kind of sound, tryambakaṁ yajāmahe sugandhiṁ puṣṭi-vardhanam urvārukam iva bandhanān mṛtyor-mukṣīya mā’mṛtāt namaḥ

aiṃ hrīṃ ṣrīṃ
tryambakaṁ yajāmahe sugandhiṁ puṣṭi-vardhanam
urvārukam iva bandhanān mṛtyor-mukṣīya mā’mṛtāt namaḥ

Creation, preservation and destruction. Now limitation.

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24. Īśvarā Mantra:

aiṃ hrīṃ śrīṃ
tad-viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padagm sadā paśyanti sūrayaḥ
divīva cakṣur-ātatam
tad-viprāso vipanyavo jāgṛvāṁsaḥ samindhate
viṣṇor-yat paramaṁ padam namaḥ

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25. Sadāśiva Mantra

Then the fertilization that takes place between space and time. It’s called garbhadana mantra, the mantra of intercourse between space and time, which generates matter where gravity rotates space around time and creates matter. It’s the mantra of that.

aiṃ hrīṃ ṣrīṃ
viṣṇur yoniṁ kalpayatu tvaṣṭā rūpāṇi pigmśatu
āsiñcatu prajāpatir-dhātā garbhaṁ dadhātu te
garbham dhehi sinīvāli garbham dhehi sarasvatī
garbhante aśvinau devāv-ādhattāṁ puṣkarasrajā namaḥ

This is mantra of Sadaśiva, it’s called space communications.

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26. Devi Kalās

Then at the ājñya chakra, the sixth chakra, invite Devi in the form of the pañcadaśī, the 15 lettered mantra.

aiṃ hrīṃ ṣrīṃ,
ka e ī la hrīṃ
ha sa ka ha la hrīṃ
sa ka la hrīṃ,

So we invoked the three celestial lights, five elements and their controllers and the time and the controller of time. Devi, the Mother Source is the controller of time.

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27. Śiva Kalā

Then from the crown, invoke the three flows of Śiva, Śakti and their togetherness.

aiṃ hrīṃ ṣrīṃ
akhaṇḍaika-rasānanda-kare parasudhātmani
svacchanda sphuraṇām atra nidhehy-akula-nāyike namaḥ

These are the flow of Śiva.

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28. Śakti Kalā

The flow of Śakti:

akula-sthāmṛtā-kāre śuddha-jñāna-kare pare
amṛtatvam nidhehy-asmin vastuni klinna-rūpiṇi namaḥ

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29. Combined flow

And the combined flow:

aiṃ hrīṃ ṣrīṃ
tad-rūpiṇy-aikarasya-tvaṃ kṛtvāhyetat svarūpiṇi
bhūtvā parāmṛtākārā mayī cit-sphuraṇam kuru namaḥ

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30. Amṛta Kalā

Then compassion from the eyes of the Mother.

aiṃ hrīṃ ṣrīṃ
aiṁ blūṁ jhṁrauṁ jūṁ saḥ
amṛte amṛtodbhave amṛteśvari amṛtavarśiṇi
amṛtam srāvaya srāvaya svāhā namaḥ

This the compassionate look of the Mother, which showers nectar. It gives life to dead people. It’s called sanjīvanī mantra, it gives ujivana, life again…

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31. Invoking Saraswatī, Lakṣmī and Pārvatī:

There are three great Mothers into three parts:

aiṃ hrīṃ ṣrīṃ, aiṃ vada vada vāgvādini aiṃ

Sarasvatī, into speech.

klīṁ klinne kledini kledaya kledaya mahā kṣobham kuru kuru klīṁ
sauḥ mokṣam kuru kuru sauḥ
hsauṃ s ahauḥ namaḥ

This completes the attributes of the powers that we are invoking.

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32. Mahāvākyas

And one last and final thing - I am the Empress, I’m the Goddess, I am the God, that is what is being stated in the last sentence here.

It’s called mahāvākya, the great sentence. The sentence is - that I am the creator, I am the God, I am the Goddess.

oṃ aiṃ hrīṃ ṣrīṃ
ārdraṁ jvalati jyotirahamasmi
jyotirjvalati brahmāhamasmi
yo’hamasmi brahmāhamasmi
ahamasmi brahmāhamasmi
ahamevāhaṁ māṁ juhomi svāhā

This completes the Kalavahana part.

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33. Invocation of the Goddess:

Now having invoked all this cosmic attributes into a person, the next stage is to invoke the Goddess herself. And the Goddess, I think we’ll do it another day.

hṛtcakrasthāṁ antaḥ suṣumnā padmāṭavī bhedana kuśalāṁ
mohāndhakāra paripanthini samvidagniṁ śiva dīpa jyotiṁ ādiparā samvidam cidrūpiṇīm

ka e ī la hrīṃ ha sa ka ha la hrīṃ sa ka la hrīṃ
hrīṃ śrīṃ sauḥ śrī lalitāyāḥ amṛta caitanya mūrtiṁ kalpayāmi namaḥ

aiṃ hrīṃ śrīṃ,
hsraim hsrklīm hsrsauḥ
mahā padma vanāntasthe kāraṇānanda vigrahe
sarvabhūtā hite mātaḥ ehehi parameśvari
bindu cakre śrīmat kāmeśvarāṅke
śrī ānanda bhairavāḥ paracaitanyam āvāhyāmi

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34. Mudras:

Then you show the mudras:

āvāhitā bhava,
saṁsthāpitā bhava,
sannidhāpitā bhava,
sanniddhī bhava,
sammukhī bhava,
avakuṇṭhitā bhava,
suprītā bhava,
suprasannā bhava,
varadā bhava,
prasīda prasīda

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35. Prāṇapratiṣṭhā Mantra

Then we do prāṇapratiṣṭhā:

oṃ aiṃ hrīṃ ṣrīṃ āṃ hrīṃ kroṃ,
yaṃ raṃ laṃ vaṃ, ṣaṃ ṣaṃ saṃ haṃ oṃ haṃsaḥ
so’haṃ so’haṃ haṃsaḥ ṣivaḥ, ṣrī cakrasya ṣrī lalitāyāḥ,
mama prāṇāḥ iha prāṇāḥ mama jīva iha sthitaḥ
mama sarveṃdriyāṇi, vāṅmanaḥ, cakṣuḥ ṣrotra, jihvā ghrāṇa,
vākpāṇi, pādapāyu, upasthaliṅgāṇi, ihaiva āgatya, asmin ṣrī cakre,
asmin dehe, sukhaṃ ciraṃ tiṣṭantu svāhā

It basically means, I am putting all my life energy into you. And then the doubt comes it, I’m giving all my energy to you, will I die? No. By giving light from one to the other, this light doesn’t die.

The second part of the mantra is the actual life giving process mantra:

oṁ asunīte punarasmāsu cakṣuḥ punaḥ prāṇamiha no dhehi bhogam
jyokpaśyema sūryam-uccarantam-anumate mṛḍayā naḥ svasti
amṛtaṁ vai prāṇāḥ amṛtamāpaḥ prāṇāneva yathāsthānam upahvayate
prāṇa pratiṣṭhāpana muhūrtaḥ sumuhūrto'stu
asmin muhūrte ādityādi navānāṁ grahānām ātyanta śubha dṛṣṭirastu tathāstu

At this time of transmission of life energy, may the sun and all the 9 planets look peacefully and quietly on this person whom I am empowering.

This completes the empowerment process.

After that you worship the Goddess in the person and the God in the person. The Goddess is worshipped with Khaḍgamālā, names of the deities in the Śrī Cakra. And God is worshipped with Śiva Namavali (names of Śiva). And you do normal 5 upācara pūjā, pañcopācara pūjā, and sing songs and distribute prasadam. That’s it.

Thank you for being with me.

Namaste.