The source of all beauty, riches, and good; the ultimate in happiness, strength, and power; the one who makes you Viṣṇu; the mother of Manmatha; the prime mover behind all great actions and activities; the giver of knowledge and bliss, the Paramā Kalyāṇī, the Śiva; the cool disc of moon in the lotus of Sahasrāra; who walks on lotuses; gives beauty to them; that is Śrī, the Saubhāgya Lakṣmī, the one and only Kamalā; for the sake of whom wars are fought; for the sake of whom brothers separate; kingships forgotten; that is She, whose affection knows no bounds, who sustains the world with the milk of life from Her very breasts.
She is born out of the ocean of milk, as Sudhā, as Viṣṇumāyā. She is the Divya Guru, the inspiration of these notes. She is the Hlādinī Śakti, the power of enjoyment, bhoga, of Viṣṇu. She is the tenth of the Great Vidyās; in this, she symbolises both the 1, the saguṇa, and 0, the nirguṇa Paramātman who extends over all space.
Kamalā means one who wears the waters for robes. She is clothed in waters of creative consciousness, the soul-force immanent in all creative activity. She is described as the Lady of the Lotus. She walks on lotuses, giving them beauty. She has two of Her hands holding lotus flowers, and the other two are engaged in the act of warding off fear and granting boons. Draped in white silk, Her luminous complexion is golden. She is constantly bathed by four huge elephants, white as the snowy mountain, with pots full of water of luminous immortality. Elephants signify sagacity, wisdom, mental movement and activity, the creative principle as manifested in the creative world.
Her mantra is Śrīm, the one and only central bīja in Śrīvidyā, by which the name of Śrīvidyā is obtained. It is not proper to see a distinction between Lakṣmī and Tripurasundarī. Her Upaniṣad is the Saubhāgya Lakṣmī Upaniṣad.
Her invocation is:
Saubhāgya-lakṣmī kaivalya-vidyā-vedya-sukha-kṛtiḥ
Tripannārāyaṇānanda-rāmacandra-padaṃ bhaje
Saubhāgya Lakṣmī is the mokṣa-vidyā and aiśvarya-vidyā which makes known the nature of sukha or bliss. She is the ānanda of Nārāyaṇa who has three feet (the three dimensions of space are his three feet). She is the abode of Rāmacandra, meaning:
Rāma = the one who enjoys (from the root ramana, to enjoy),
Candra = the nectarine moon of the Sahasrāra lotus,
Padam = the feet of the Guru, the Guru-pādukā.
So Rāmacandra-padam means Sudhā as the Divya Guru. That I adore.
Gods asked (in the Saubhāgya Lakṣmī Upaniṣad),
“Show us the fourth way, the way of samādhi, described by Māyā, the Hrīṃ.”
Then Nārāyaṇa told them as follows:
1) Through union, yoga is to be known. By union yoga grows. One who is aware in his union, that yogī enjoys for long.
Yogena yogo jñātavyo yogo yogāt pravartate
Yo apramattas tu yogena sa yogī ramate ciram.
2) Having finished sleep, and digested the food well, taking enough to sustain oneself (not overeating), when one is not tired, in a lonely place; always cool in head, having no desire at heart, the practice of union is attempted. Or else, by the more difficult control of breath according to the practices taught by a Guru may be done.
3) Fill the air into the tummy, direct it against the Mūlādhāra by holding it and saying “hum,” and pressing the heel against the Mūlādhāra, hold and close lightly the eyes, ears, nostrils. This way one hears the Oṃkāra of many kinds.
4) When one observes carefully in the pure Suṣumnā, one hears the pure sound clearly. This can then be observed even without forcing one’s breathing to a halt.
5) Many strange sound combinations are heard as anāhata sound. By following it, one attains a godly body, tejas, divine perfumes, and a diseaseless body.
6) Having a full heart, in emptiness in the beginning, one attains to yoga. In the second phase, the vessel of the body is opened up, and the vāyu (prāṇa) goes into the central region (heart centre), having broken Brahma-granthi.
7) Then comes stability in the āsanas such as Padmāsana. (Ādhāra-śakti-kamalāsane has two meanings: the lotus in the Mūlādhāra; and the Śakti who is used for āsana.) Having then broken Viṣṇu-granthi, one attains Paramānanda.
8) Then in utter emptiness, the sound of big bass drums is heard. Having broken the third kośa, one hears the sound of maddala.
9) One then enters Mahāśūnya, which is an abode of all siddhis and all pleasures. Having broken through the pleasures, the fire of consciousness.
10) Hears in himself the sound of “kvana” or “cini,” like the jingling sound of anklets of a woman walking stealthily. Then one merges into the oneness, the abode of Ṛṣis like Sanaka.
11) Then merge the infinity into the infinite. Into the piece, merge the totality. One merges into indescribable happiness like a continuous orgasm. One becomes / realises immortality.
12) Through union one can attain and break (control) yoga. Through control of orgasm one can control Brahmānanda. If one wants, one can permanently remain in Nirvikalpa Samādhi, but this remains a free option.
13) A knower who has known this never fears death, or the loss of perception of the world, because in him the worlds are born and die.
14) Through yoga one dissolves in the oceanic Paramātman as salt dissolves in ocean and has no name or identifiable form afterwards. Such a merger between jīva and Paramātman is defined as Samādhi with no seed (nirbīja).
15) When the vital breath stops, then mind also stops functioning. Then the equality of bliss of jīva and Paramātman is defined as Samādhi.
16) That equality, identity between jīva and Paramātman, attained and maintaining the elimination of all plans (saṃkalpa), is defined as Samādhi.
17) Free from lights, free from mind, free from decisions, free from diseases, total emptiness, with no reflections, just pure awareness on the point of extinction but not extinct — that is defined as Samādhi.
18) When the one who resides in the body decides to quit the body by permanent Samādhi, that is known as Niścala Samādhi.
19) Wherever the mind goes, there and there is the Reality — Param Padam. There and there lies Paramātman.
Thus did Nārāyaṇa expound Samādhi.
Then the Gods asked Nārāyaṇa, “Tell us the knowledge of the nine cakras, please.” Viṣṇu said:
“In the adha (Mūlādhāra) there is a Brahma-cakra with a triangle inscribed by three circles. This triangle is shaped as a vulva. In this primal source of power, the power Kuṇḍalinī-śakti is to be meditated as fire. This is known as Kāmarūpa Pīṭham. It gives and fulfils all desires (Sarva-kāmapradā).
Second is the Svādhiṣṭhāna cakra, which has six petals. In its centre one must meditate on a westerly liṅga (the head of the liṅga pointing to the west), red with desire like the glow of coral. This is called the Uḍyāna Pīṭham. This gives the power of attraction over all the worlds.
(This means: i) attracting all people, ii) attracting the whole cosmos into oneself, a necessary precondition to self-realisation. Attraction is the same as expansion.)
(Jagad-ākarṣaṇe siddhidā).
Third is the navel centre. It is coiled five times like a snake. In its centre Kuṇḍalinī is seen as having the brightness of a crore of morning suns. She is flashing like lightning, and She has a thin and lovely figure beyond description. She is bedecked with jewels of all colours. This gives the ability to perform anything — Samarthya-śakti, Sarva-siddhi-pradā. This is the Maṇipūra cakra.
The fourth cakra is the Anāhata centre, the heart centre. It has eight petals and is facing downwards. In its centre a sparkling, light-emitting liṅga must be meditated upon. It is receiving the light from the flashing Kuṇḍalinī below. This is called the Haṃsa-kalā. She is pleasing to everyone, and brings all the worlds under control.
The fifth cakra is the neck cakra, four digits (inches) long. There on the left is Iḍā, the Candra-nāḍī or cool current; on the right is Piṅgalā, the Sūrya-nāḍī or the hot current; in the centre is Suṣumnā of white colour. Iḍā has blue colour; Piṅgalā yellow-orange colour. To one who knows this — Anāhata gives siddhi.
The sixth is the Tālu cakra, located between the join of neck and head. The hanging liṅga at the end of the top palate is the place where the following shape of space occurs. There is a twelve-petalled lotus there. Here emptiness is to be meditated upon. The mind gets absorbed and negated.
The seventh is the Bhru cakra, one digit long, between the eyebrows at the top of the nose. Here the eye of knowledge is to be meditated as the pointed flame-tip.
The eighth is Ajñā cakram, or entrance to Brahmarandhram, and is known as Nirvāṇa cakram. The pointer to this is the wisp of smoke emanating from the eye of knowledge. At Ajñā the words of the Vedas, etc., are stored — they become known along with the bliss of Ardhanārīśvara.
At the Brahmarandhra, the flow of amṛta — the coital fluid of Śiva and Śakti in union — flows down the body, cooling the 72,000 nerve centres. The pair Ajñā and Brahmarandhram is known as Parabrahma cakram, and the Jālandhara Pīṭham. Brahmā is the creator, whose creative power is manifested as the yoni. This Brahmarandhram is the cosmic yoni into which the creative power of time, Kāla, or Śiva flows to manifest the world. One gets liberated — attains mukti here.
The ninth is the Ākāśa cakram, the exit of Brahmarandhram outside the body. There the sixteen-petalled lotus facing upwards exists. In its centre is the shape of a triangle. Through the hole in the triangle the power that takes one upwards is there. One should be seeing that and meditate. This is called the Pūrṇa-giri Pīṭham. It fulfils even the slightest desire that manifests in the sādhaka.
One who learns this Saubhāgya Lakṣmī Upaniṣad every day becomes purified by fire and air (at the north-east and south-west directions — Agneya and Vyavāya). Agni is the power to go up; Vāyu is the power to descend. (Agni always tries to go up; Vāyu tries to hang around the earth. The balance of these two is liberation. Also, the word Vyavāya, coming from Vāyu, means contact, sparse sukha, maithuna. Contact with Agni is destroying the body. Thus true liberation means detached enjoyment of senses and actions.)
He does not come back. He does not come back.
Śānti is through “Om vāk me manasi,” etc. Hariḥ Om Tat Sat.
This completes the Saubhāgya Lakṣmī Upaniṣad.
Lakṣmī is prosperity and beatitude. How is this attained? Through the knowledge of your ability to detach from both pleasures and pains and to retain a clear mind in the midst of distractions. One can do upāsanā with what prove to be distractions for others, to gain control over the passions.
May all people know their bliss. May they know that they can be free the moment they want to be so. There is no one outside who is limiting one, but all limitations are springing from within.
May all know detachment and attachment. May they know that they are God. May they not fall into the trap of name and form, but see the same consciousness, Śrīdevī, in everyone, everything.
May all love peace. May anger, violence to self and non-self diminish. May all worries disappear. May people love each other irrespective of caste, creed, colour, belief. May people give of themselves, share freely what joy they have with others.
May hunger, thirst, need for clothing, strife, poverty go down. May all drink deep from the knowledge of the God within them. May misery vanish in that knowledge. May happiness reign supreme. May tension subside. May you see God in you. May you see God in others. May love prosper, through the love Lakṣmī has to Manmatha, her son.
MAY ALL BE ONE AND ONE BE ALL.
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