Bagalamukhi — The Power That Arrests Manifestation

Bagalāmukhī is clad in yellow and has two hands. With Her left hand She catches hold of the opponent’s tongue and strikes him with a mace held in Her right hand. She is the striking force, the paralyzing power, the stupefying Śakti. She paralyses the opponent’s speech (vāk-stambhakārī).

Her bīja-mantrā is Hrīṃ. She has to be thought in contemplation as all yellow. Her complexion is yellow, Her garment is yellow, and Her ornaments and garlands are yellow. The worshipper is also to be clad in yellow and do the japa with beads of turmeric.

What is the significance of the yellow color? Yellow is gold with its hue suppressed. It is the color associated with the thinking mind. A thinking mind arrests the downpour of intuition and inspiration, keeping man dwarfed before higher faculties.

Bagalāmukhī has close connections with Śrīvidyā. She corresponds to Daṇḍanātha, the Commander of the Armed Forces of Rājarājeśvarī. She is the striking force of the Mother, stifling all movement and activity. She induces sudden immobility in action. She suppresses action after it has begun. She is the power which arrests manifestation.

When a rushing current of water is stemmed, two things may happen. Water whirls and eddies, gathering momentum, or it changes its course and flows swiftly into new channels. In fact, this is the principle on which the whole edifice of Haṭha Yoga and Rāja Yoga is based.

By arresting the flow of breath for a while, control over prāṇic energy is obtained. By the sudden stoppage and release of breath in prāṇāyāma, a haṭha-yogī can continue to live for any length of time. He gains the power to stop natural activities like impending rain. However, the laws of nature can only be suspended temporarily, not annulled.

Rāja Yoga deals with mental prāṇāyāma. The thoughts coming into the mind and leaving are equated with the inhalation and exhalation. Thus, control of the space between thoughts leads to control over the mind.

Worship of Bagalāmukhī can change the course of progress towards destiny, not the destiny itself.