Guruji: This temple is made in the form of Sri Chakra.
Q: What is Sri Chakra?
Guruji: Sri chakra is the abode of the Mother Goddess Lalita and Her retinue.
Q: Who is Lalita?
Guruji: Lalita is the tantric form of Gayatri. Anyone can worship Her. She represents life in all of nature.
Q: In Hindu religion we have too many Gods. That is our confusion, is it not? Will not one God do?
Guruji: Well, it is a problem and its solution also. Let me explain. We know that life is one. But when it is in our eyes, we see; in our ears, we hear. Seeing and hearing are totally different. The same life is given different names in different organs because it is doing different things. What is wrong with that? It is also the same life which is manifesting as you and me. So, we have different names. It reduces confusion to have different names for different things.
Let me aswer the question why need many Gods. Every time your house pipe leaks will you call the president to come and repair it? You will call a plumber. Just the same way, we don't have to go to the supreme God for every litte job. We can go to a Sarpanch for problems of the village. Appropriateness is the key to diversity; grandeur is the key to unity. We need both. They are same.
So, there is only one Goddess, the life of all. Also there are many Goddesses, the lives in each of us, and the life in each organ of us. Life is the same but it is called by different names in different persons, organs, places, times and cultures.
Guruji: We worship God as Mother Lalita here. We worship, adore and protect nature; ours as well as that of our environment. Nature is our mother who created us.
Q: But the male is also needed for creation.
Guruji: That is true, but the prime role is that of woman. In creating life, Man's role is only pleasure. Woman's role begins there. She labours for nine months, gives birth to baby, nourishes it for 27 months at her breasts, and teaches it for seven years more. Sex is man's preoccupation, while compasssion is woman's preoccupation.
Aggression belongs to men, patience belongs to women. Given our nuclear bombs which can destroy the whole world 27000 times over, we don't have to adore aggresssion any more; womanly patience and compassion are the needs of the hour to protect our little world. So we prefer the compassionate female form of Goddess to the aggressive male form of God here.
Q: Why are the Goddesses shown nude here?
Guruji: Nudity is a symbol of purity. All of nature is nude. Are not flowers pure? Are they not the genitals of trees? Do we recognise them as genitals and condemn them calling them obscene public display?
There is a deeper reason than just purity for showing the nude icons here. All powers are in a half awakened state in people. Vedas and tantras teach that your body is a temple in which Goddesses live. All parts of your body are the real seats of power, Shakti Peethams. This is the secret of the puranic story of Sati. When Daksha insults Siva, saying "why should we worship the erect male genital, Siva?" Sati is unable to bear it and dies. With Her body on Him, enraged Siva wants to destroy the world. To save the world, Her body is cut into bits and pieces by Vishnu to pacify Him. The places where these pieces fell are the Sakti Peethams, the homes of Goddesses. The story clearly identifies Sakti peethams as the body parts. By worshipping the organs, we awaken the Saktis there. There is also another lesson here. Siva is angry because of the dead Shakti. Worshipping a dead yoni leads to anger. This is a pointer to the dangers in deadening eros, the love of life. Of all body parts, the female genital is the most potent life giver. It is the greatest generator of power. If we worship that, we are assured of awakening all powers latent in us. It is the basis, Adhara, the ground of all.
Guruji: Yes, provocation of lust will be there. But that is the natural first reaction, due to our supressing nudity in public. Who tells us to go against our own Nature? If we really worship women, the lust will be replaced by kindness sooner or later. The fear that public nudity enhances sexual crime is baseless. There are many tribal people who go completely nude. In these societies, people are not aroused by nudity. Sexual crime is practically unknown in such societies. Sexual crime increases by supression, not by expression. It is extinguished by expression, not enhanced by it. In Scandinavian countries, sex is open; rape is never heard of there. Blue films are sold in every store; people hardly take any interest in them.
Men realise that the approach to woman's sexuality is not through lust. She has ten times the capacity for sex pleasure than man, as Vatsyayana points out in Kama Sutras. Her sex is distributed all over her body unlike that of men, in whom it is only in lingam. That is why Linga Puranam says, Siva us to be worshuooed only in the lingam, not his body. And how? By Rudra abhshekam. For what purpose? Mahanyasam says, "Rudrasya antarhityai", which means, to defuse anger. It does not say, to provoke lust. Lalita Sahasram advocates the worship of yoni and sex: see "Bhaga Aradhya, Kula kunda alaya, Yoni nilaya, Rati priya, Kama keli tarangita, Veera Goshti priya ," etc. "Worship Her genital. She resides as Mother there. She resides in the vagina. She is fond of sex. She enjoys lusty intercourse. She is pleased by group sex of heroes and heroines." Lalita Ashtottaram says "Maha Deva Ratoutsukya Mahadevyai Namah". " Mahadevi desires intercourse with Mahadeva, the great phallic God"
Khadgamala says "Upastha indriya adhishtayi Varuna Aditya Rishih". The waters of life and their shine in the vulva are the sages who reveal Her. The puja of Lalita describes giving 64 intimate services to Goddess including a complete body massage with scented oils and then a bath "abyangana snanam"with pouring milk, rubbing all organs with curds, slippery ghee and sticky honey, pouring fruit juices, erotically satisfying the senses and then a bath with scented waters reciting all Veda Mantras for hours. It is indeed a great feeling to be worshipped like that by ten people around. She is worshipped in a married woman "Suvasini archana prita". The Sastras describing the worship of Goddess are very clear that all the body parts contain Devis. They should all be worshipped without exception.
And She should be worshipped with lot of fun, gaity, music and dance. In the olden days of temple worship, even public sex was service to Goddess. This was so not only in India, but throughout the world. The temples of Goddesses had sacred prostitutes who taught the arts of making love to initiates. In India, they were called Deva Dasis. They used to sing and dance for the Goddess. The temple walls show sculptures of group sex, and our Government is proud to promote tourism to these erotic places of worship. Famous examples are Khajuraho and Konark.
Guruji: They have a right to think like that. The same was said about Buddha. They will continue to think like that till the truth dawns on them. They are important people; they have an image to protect. Fortuately, I am not important, ao I have nothing to lose except my identity by exposing myself.
Q: Is what you are saying the only path in Sakti puja? What is your path? I am not an expert nor a Siddha. I am seeking, that is all. As far as I know, there are four basic paths in Sakti puja. They are called 1.Samaya,2.Dakshina, 3.Kaula, 4.Vama. They are essentially the same; they differ only in what they use as the symbol of Goddess. Fire, Idol/Yantra, living person, dead person are the respective symbols chosen in these paths. Dakshinamurthy is the guru for the first two traditions; Dattatreya for the remaining two. Samayachara is reserved for Brahmins by themselves. To enter it, you have be 1. a high caste brahmin, 2. learned in Vedas and Vedangas, 3. maintain the four kinds of fire every day, 4. renounce sex even with one's own married partner except for procreation, and on prescribed days only, 5. treat every woman as mother. Fire is the symbol of Goddess. It treats the base and sex chakras as unworthy of worship as they arouse fears and passions. There is a veil of secrecy and many dos and donts. It condemns the last two paths they go against vedas. They do puja to a married woman though, as a of Goddess with no sexual nuances.
Dakshinachara is reserved for the upper three castes; brahmins, kshatriyas, vysyas.It uses an icon or a yantra as the symbol of Goddess. It lays down that Brahmins use milk, kshatriyas use ghee, vysyas use honey to worship Sakti. The restrictions are many, like in Samayacara. It is difficult to enter. Puja is done to a married woman as if she were Devi. If she demands, sex can be had with her, except by Brahmins.
Here you can awaken latent powers in yourself.
Goddess sculptures, some nude, help you to do this.
They say, let us be affectonate to all.
Removing clothes alone is not nudity but opening up your mind is.
Learn how to worship Shakti, and Sri Chakra puja
as Dattatreya taught to Prahlada and Parashu Rama.
We can know the secrets of ancient rituals
to change our destructive attitudes arousing anger.
To benifit yourself first, and then the society.
Discover how you can love yourself.
Sex is worship because it is the highest offering of self.
Worship it in such temples where it belongs.
Learn the fine arts expressing love to divinity in temples.
To make our relationships pleasant we shall pull down our egos.
Then the others will also do the same. Then harmaony happens.
Opening our mind for others to read is nudity.
Amrita
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