Bhuvaneshwari

Integrating, unifying knowledge begins with Bhuvaneshwari. The seven worlds below and the seven worlds starting from this earth above arise from the act of seeing. The act of seeing is Bhuvaneswari. She is also known as Maya or the shudha vidya. What comes before knowledge? Sometimes it is the act of seeing/perception. Sometimes it is one devise which makes the act of seeing to happen. Knowledge has two origins. What coming from the sensory perception is the first origin.

Among the second class of knowledge, there are two further divisions. If the devise to see, relive a past experience exists, with the object of desire known before the seeing happens. This seeing is related to memory; the object of desire springs forth from individual memory. Seeing a divine image of Krishna or Lalita in meditation belongs to this class of knowledge. These are projections from the mind.

If the desire to see is there, but the object of seeing is not preconceived or prespecified, then such as act of seeing forms the subject of revelation. This can happen in a seedless meditation, this causes vijnana. It’s origin is not necessarily in the individual subconscious, but it could be in the collective subconscious, and we will use the name God to represent the unmanifest, but potentially manifestable source of knowledge. When one reads books (not read before) in meditation, or one sees sights not seen before, then these are revelations.

The word seeing is used in a loose collective sense here. It is to be taken to mean all possible modes of receiving information: contact, sound, objectory, taste, seeing.

The upasana of Bhuvaneswari is an attempt to receive such knowledge of God as a direct experience. The basic idea here is that the restriction of an individual consciousness is an artificially imposed one, and it is possible to transcend this by means of the following way.

Suppose you are seeing an object. Normally the eyes tend to focus to get a clear image of the object. But it is possible to focus the eyes on the space in between the object and the eye. The eye no more perceives the object them, but looks at the space in between; this space is objectless.

Or alternatively, one can focus one’s eyes to the space beyond the object to eliminate the object recongnition. See figure accompanying. Thus one generates a mode of mewing which is not normal. The normal way is to focus the image, trying to analyse the image, trying to name it, trying to assess whether it is threatening or loving, trying to polarize it, trying to judge it. The abnormal way is to defocus the object, and instead of looking at the object, look at the projection from the universal mind on the object. This way the illusory nature of the world is destroyed, and the true nature of the world is made self-evident.

All the worlds have their origin in focus- in the act of seeing, defocus and multitude merges into the one.  This is the open eyed meditation of Bhuvanesvari, by Sambhavi mudra.

It is difficult to practice this with everyday objects, because we have been trained in a particular way all the time to focus only. Besides, there are likeable and unlikable objects which immediately bring in the colour of love and hate into the mind, destroying the peace of oneness. It is easier to start practice on objectless space, like the sky.

It is important to notice that Sambhavi mudra applies not only to the sense of sight, but also to other senses as well. This is left at an exercises to the reader and to apply it!

Bhuvaneshwari is perceptive power leading to knowledge. Therefore She is Jnâna Shakti. She is the Space concept in creation, the ether medium through which light moves and extends. Space, in fact, is an extension of perception. What we call space is the extent to which we see, the range of our vision. As our vision widens, the Space grows and we are able to realize more and more of the Self-extension of the Divine. The Divine's vision is vast and so is the Space (Âkâsha). She creates the myriad primoridial worlds (Bhuvanâs), sustains them and nourishes them. She is the all-pervasive force, permeating the whole fabric of creation. The Space gives a form to the formless Divine.

Another name for Bhuvaneshwari is Mâyâ. Mâ is to measure. It is the Space which measures the immeasurable. The feat implied in measuring the immeasurable is acclaimed as an illusion by some seers. However, to the tântric, Mâyâ is the infinite consciousness having the power to clothe itself in finite forms. She is the measured out space, the perception of the Divine, force of the first knowledge. This vast space, Bhuvaneshwari, resides in the little space of the heart (daharâkâsha) of every being!
The mantra of Bhuvaneswari is Hrim - meaning illusion. It is a constant remind not to fall into illusions of focus, of detail, but see beyond the unifying identity underlying all. Sometimes, the mantra is given as Om Hrim Om - implying that anahata should be strung through the Hrim. In fact, Hrim is the tântric Pranava. It connects the little space within one's heart with the infinite space outside, making the heart yearn to go beyond boundaries of shape into the vast immensities.

Hrim is known to the tântrics as the lajjâ beeja, implying shrinking and not free. Hrim, therefore denotes a manifestation that is not yet fully blossomed- the worlds created by Bhuvaneshwari continually evolve. Hrim is the sound of Space itself, a yearning cry of the created towards the Creator.

The view of the lord is the one of identity. Bhuvaneshvari upasaka is led to this view, in all circumstances. He sees himself everywhere, initially. After some time, he stops seeing the external world, and is all the time merged in the oneness of God, loving himself deeply.

Bhuvaneswari is the central deity of the Sakti worshippers. She occurs thrice in Pancadasi, as Sarasvati, Lakshmi and Gauri.

Tripurasundari

Sundari, or Tripurasundari is the flower of consciousness - graceful, harmonizing, joyous, peaceful, bountiful, protective, knowing and powerful - symbolized by lotus of lotuses. She is The Most Beautiful who manifests divine knowledge and love; She knows best how to lift a man from the illusion of bondage to eternal cosmic love and power of the all pervasive. She is Âdishakti, the mother of mothers - Lakshmi, Saraswati and Gowri. They are three emanations from the Adishakti. She is the upward thrust of evolution; not merely of an individual liberation, but for a whole class of classless human beings. She is the great vehicle of vajrâyana of Buddhism in Tibetian mandalâs. She plays with such things as the moon, rainbows, space, the sun. Three is Her abstract symbol in OM, She is Three Pura Sundari, the beautiful girl in all three aspects of creation, nourishment and destruction.

Sundari is the primal power of God, Âdishakti, to see Himself in various forms. The first desire of the Supreme to manifest caused a division in the Being. Sundari is this first desire (Kamakala or Ichcha Shakti). Desire is the secret of creation; it is the root of manifestation; it is the mainstay of existence. The Desire first takes the form of fragmentation and then a seeking to unite all the fragmented parts in the whole. The Divine desires to sacrifice Himself in creation and then desires to receive back the creation into Himself. This two-fold desire is the basis of Love, the vivifying bond that ties the creator and the created. Love exists by itself, independent of the objects through which it manifests. Love has no clinging, no desire, no hunger for possession, no attachment. It is simply the craving for union of the self with the Divine.

Sundari is Hrim, the combination of Hari, Hara, and Virinchi; She is called Vishnu Maya, the great illusion; She is the greatest seductress there is, continuously assuming new forms, and highly procreative and blissful like a sixteen year old girl.

She is described in 108 letters in the three vedas, in a triad each consisting of four lines in anushtup metre as follows:

Tat Savitur varenyam
bhargo devasya dhimahi
dhiyoyonah prachodayat
parorajase savadom (32)
Jatavedase sunavama somam
aratiyato nidhati vedaha
Sa nah parsadati durga naveva sindhum duritatyagnih (43)
Tryambakam yajamahe Sugandhim pushti vardhanam
urvarukameva bandhanat mrityor muksiya mamritat (33) 

The first four lines are known as Gayatri, of four feet. Their purpose is to unfold the divine presence in the aspirants heart. From this chandas or metre is derived the Sri Vidyâ mantrâ of fifteen letters, as will be subsequently explained.

The next four lines are known to unfold the power of God in the aspirant and hence relate to the sakti , the primal power. From this are derived the nine Chakresvari mantras of Sri-cakra, a mandal of divine couples in union. Sexual union is a symbol for an active God- that is, God with his power to act, saktiman, not the inert God who does not even want to see himself.
The last four lines relate to Shivâ, the bestower of immortality, and the conqueror of death.
In these three stanzas the worlds, the realities (Vedâs), the learned books (Shâstrâs), the explanatory texts (Purânâs), the duties, the predictive sciences (Jyotish Shâstrâs) all proceed from the union of Shiva and Shakti, that is an assertion of God.

Now let us go deep into how the panca dasi mantra of Sri Vidya has come to be coded by the God in love with Sakti. From Gâyatri, we shall derive and interpret in three stages the three parts of pancadasi - called the Vagbhava kuta, and sakti kuta. They indeed represent the union of Saraswati with Brahma, Laksmi with Vishnu and Gowri with Siva. First then, the vagbhava kuta, by which will power is generated. Will indeed is the creator; will power is creatix; manifestation is creativity, brahmananda, the bliss of the union of Brahma and Sarasvati. The correspondence of Ka e i la hrim to Gayatri is first indicated and then explained.

Tat Savitur Varenyam = (ka, e)
Bhargo Devasya dhimahi = (i, la)
Dhiya Yonah Pracodayat = the mantra is to be pronounced only mentally, not externally
Paro rajase Savadom = (hrim = will united to power)

Tat: Brahma, the creator, the will is permanent. He is attributeless, blemishless, he contains the womb of power by it, i.e., he can exist independent of it also. When he enters his womb of power, he desires consciousness. He opens the eye of power as it were and projects himself through it and that generates the power of will. By his desire to see, he sacrifices his completeness; so, he sees himself in the sacrifice called the emission of his seed into the womb of power. His desire is the first cause. The desire springs out of desirelessness in a silent will, quite spontaneously, without any prior cause to it. When this happens, he invents a symbolism (series of  50 letters of sanskrit, organised into eight groups; the 16 vowels is the. first group; the 34 consonants divided into seven groups). This is why the lord is known as the God of love, Kama, or the lust of creativity. Manmatha and Ishwara are the two poles of the same reality - a silent consciousness manifesting desire is Manmatha, and a desiring mind wishing for its satisfaction (and thus its elimination) is Ishwara. Thus the essence of consciousness or will is established to be a desire – either more or less of it. But it is desire, at the roots it is connected to eros. Thus the word Tat which means ‘that’ essentially arises out of desire, because ‘that’ will not exist in a non-dual state of total absence of desires, The latter ‘K’ symbolizes the essence of will power; it is therefore identified with 'tat’.

Next consider Savitur varenyam: Savita means the one who gives birth to. Tripura as maha kundalini, light and heat streaming from the Sun, the Savita, interacts with the mother Earth to procreate all the life forms on it. Without light and heat of Sun there can be no life on Earth. Sun is the father and Earth is the mother, and life comes out of their union. What is life? Life is a movement in Consciousness. When consciousness moves in itself, it created a vortex, which enables the trinity: the seer, seeing and the seen to be created. The separation of the seer and the seen creates the act of seeing. This trinity, the triplet, is symbolised by a triangle, since it is a creative triangle which produces life, hence let us call it yoni, or the divine vulva. The divine yoni is to be known as the bhaga or the Sun, the creative power. The letter ‘e’ is the result of union between ‘a’ and ‘i’. ‘a’ is known as the nirguna brahman, and ‘i’ his iksha, or the desire to see; in combination, they become ‘e’, the divine force, the mother of all that is seen, the adi sakti as yoni, the caussless cause.

The word Varenyam, means the best part: the best or the central part of creative power, the enjoyable part, is the yoni. Also, the central part of the word varenyam is ‘e’. Thus the essence of the words savitur varenyam is completely symbolised by ‘e’, the source of all higher forms of vowels. The answer as to which higher forms, is contained in the word varenyam itself. If we look at the letter meanings according to Sivasutras, Va= necrar or the seed of immortality, ra = fire, e = cause, n= taste, ya= air, m = touch or contact. Thus varenyam means that the seed of life is to be placed in the fire of the yoni to taste and touch the current of air, the breath of life, coupled with the dual oriented Brahman, or Kama, the sexual symbolism of ‘e’, the divine yoni, is indeed most appropriate one. ‘e’ is the mother of all life forms, it is the enjoyable or dear form (life is dear to everyone), it produces a continuous current of contact awareness is consciousness; for these reasons the sexual symbolism is not only appropriate but is essential. Thus ‘e’ equals savitur varenyam; and it is to be worshipped as the live giver. It must be remembered that the sexual symbolism works at three levels. At the physical level, ‘e’ means indeed the vulva. At the mental level, ‘e’ means the desire - any desire, not necessarily sexual, which leads one to action, any action. At the spiritual level, ‘e’ means the Connsciousness, which is the source of desire which then is the source of action, which is based on duality and promotes duality. A mature person can deal with the symbolism without getting lost in the mere physical aspect. The one connecting link at all three levels is that Consciousness, desire and an action - all arise from interactions, and all interactions are collectively described as contact phenomena - or referred to as maithuna or coitus.

Next consider Bhargo devasya dhimahi: Bhargo devasya means the central characteristic of the deva, which is immortality. The inmortal, in dying state, the akshara, is the ‘turiya’ fourth last or the state all the other three states of wakefulness, dreaming, sleeping do not affect it, Samadhi
overlaps the other three states of wakefulness, sleeping and dreaming, and is the fourth aksara, the fourth letter ‘i’. The letter ‘dhi’ implies ‘i’, in combination with ‘dha’, for dharana, which means flowing with a particular mode of awareness, God flows the world by his dharana; it is an object of his consciousness, and is subject to the flow of consciousness in dharana. Thus ‘bhargodevasya dhi’ is identified with ‘i’, because ‘i’ is the last of this word, and it overlaps the rest of it as turiya. ‘Mahi’ means the solid state whose weight, solidity and hardness are apparent, It is apparently indestructible, it is a symbol for earth, food and semen; all these meanings are contained in the letter ‘ha’. Hence ‘ha’ implies 'mahi’, the bright spherical object the earth having the oceans, the mountains, the islands, the forests is really one object implied by ‘ha’ in the cosmic form, the food and seed at the physical level.

Dhiyoyonah Pracodayat: Paramatman is an objectless entity. He is established in Sridevi, the divine consciousness that is like the surface on a still lake of the mind, and he floats like a swan on this still lake. The words dhiyoyonah pracodayat mean that may he inspire us towards the objectless intuitive perceptive state of super consciousness, in utter silence of the mind. The net impact on the mantra is that the mantra is not to be associated with any external action like active production of sound or movement of lips or tongue, or mental projections or analysis of sense perceptions, but that the mantra is being spoken by Tripura Sundari, and the aspirant as the paramatman is merely a silent spectator to the show that is put on for his benefit. From this set of syllables then, silence of perception of Brahman is indicated to be taken.

Parorajas Savadom: At the end of silence, which is not inert but full of activity (beyond raja, or beyond all activity), the pure unshadowed light called para samvit is seen in the heat, welling out of the divine consciousness. Since it stays in the heart, it is identified in the matra by the bceja hrim, meaning modesty. A modest girl covers her breasts; locating the heart centre, so heart is symbolised by hrim.

This is the vagbhavakuta revealed to God by Tripura Sundari herself in the first interpretation of Savitur devata in the Gayatra metre. It consists of five letters, representing the five states of matter. Solid state, liquid state (flow), plasma state (fire), gaseous state (air), vacuum state (space)
all these spring out of the mind, and mind springs out of objectless consciousness, of samadhi. This are the seven vyahritis of Gayarri, which are sometimes recited as part of the gayatri.

Now we shall see how the Kamaraja kuta is revealed from Gayatri. The nature of ka maraja kuta is Kamakala - the form of a woman with a circle for the head, the sun and the orbit of moon as her two breasts and fire as the yoni (harartham). 

tat = ha
savitur = sa
varenyam = ka
bhargo devasya dhi = ha
mahi = la 
dhiyoyonah prachodayat  parorajase savadom = hrim


Tat: Tat, or `that' points to perceptionless pure awareness of non-duality that is characteristic of Shiva, symbolized by `ha'.

Savitur: Shiva emits his veerya, or shows his power of divinity as a solar ord which has the Shakti,  the energy, symbolized by `sa'. This Shakti is like a glow of a pearl around it. This creative power Shakti flows from the Sun, through the space, and through the head towards the genitals to manifest as reproductive power; if it can be contained in the head or the heart centers, it will manifest as the creative fury of epic writings and other gigantic artistic expressions.

Savitur Varenyam: The central component of the sun is cool and symbolized by the moon. A cool head  is creative, while a hot head is confused.  When the sun's energy is controlled at the heart center, it becomes creative energy in the man. Creativity is the desire to know, to show, to demonstrate ; it is the potency of libido as such it is symbolized by kâma, or the letter `ka'. The word kama itself means ka = brahman, ma = touch, or the contact interaction with creative brahman. This ‘ka’ means the union of Shiva and Shakti, it is to be worshipped as such. When the utter creativity of the sun is muted with the coolness of the moon, a hamsa is born as the jeeva. Ha is Shiva, the out-going breath and sa is Shakti, the in-coming breath. Bindu between them is a result of their union, the kumbhaka, which readies the mind for concentrated attention. The bindu thus is a symbol for (i) the mixing of the male and female genital fluids (ii) the kumbhaka and (iii) the mind. The word bindu tatparam then has meanings at all these three levels. At the physical levels it refers to the creation of a new life. At the vital level, it refers to the suspension of physical activity, the prelude to perfect concentration occurring in kumbhaka. At the mental level, it refers to clearing up the lake of the mind of all surface waves, leading to the union of jeeva with Paramatman.

Similarly the words nâda and kalâ have meanings at all these three levels. Nada means sound, vibration, rhythm; the rhythm of sex, the vibration of breath,  and the sound charming into silent light as the frequency goes up in the still mind. Kalâ means orgasm, suspended breath leading to a carnival of lights of divine glory in the contact with saguna brahman). Beyond this triad of nâda, bindu and kalâ is the immensity of the wonder of wonders of nirguna brahman which one experiences in nirvikalpa samadhi only. There can be no description possible of this state, because there is none to describe it, none to know it; there not even `I' exists. Is it vacuum? Emptiness? God only knows, and you know it if and when you are God and experience it. That is all that can be said about it.

Bhargo devasya: Bhargo deva means Shiva, sya, The nature of Shiva is to be in continuous abhishekam. There is an abhisheka happening when jeeva merges into paramatman resulting in Brahmânanda. This is a cooling current from head to foot called amritha snanam which cools the 72,000 nerves in the body, clearing away all sins, accumulated karmas, and bondages.

Dhimahi: The earth, by its inactivity demonstrates the ultimate in dharana, a rock-like steadiness of thought flow. La is symbol for earth and is the most appropriate for Shiva because He has indestructible potency for creative orgasmic bliss and still holding on to the form. In the Buddhist parlance this is known as Vajra, representing the indestructibility of egoless bliss.

Dhiyoyonah prachodayat: Silence is once again alluded to.

Paro rajase savadhom: May the rock-like steady flow of awareness move up in space beyond rajas into Sattva. Pure sattva is characterictics of Vishnu. Gopis are the jeevâs, reluctantly but irresistibly drawn by the love of the Lord, dancing to the tune of the Murali of Krishna. The flute of Krishna is the Anahatha in one's own heart, if one listens to it with love, one is invariably drawn to the lord. Thus all the jeevas are women, and the Lord is the only male. When the jeeva mates with the Parmâthman, the resultant is a sexless, objectless subject called Ananda. The symbol for all this Hrim, the essential component being shyness, reluctant to express love, but needing that badly.
This is the Kâmarâja kûtâ revealed by Tripura Sundari as Lakshmi to Her Lord, Vishnu. Love universal and egoless, cosmic in dimension, is what one gets when one concentrates on the heart center. This is where one hears the call of Krishna. In female form Krishna is Lalita, to satisfy all the desires of Her devotees. The integration of jeeva with paramâtman is completed when each person realizes the bisexuality within oneself; when through experience one can express the opposite partner (kundalini) in oneself. Then, having enjoyed the highest union, one no more craves for any physical union as its ability to satisfy is so inferior; moreover it is subject to the costs of bondage.  Desires go away of their own accord, without having to suppress them; because, in a state of oneness with God there is no gap between desire and fulfillment. God is apta kama – he has obtained  all the desires.
Going now to the Shakti Kuta which symbolises the time Kala, in union with his Samhara Sakti, Kali:

Tat savitur varenyam = sa
Bharho devasya dhi = ka
Mahi = la
Dhiyoyonah pracodayat = hrim

Tat Savitur Varenyam: From the best part of creativity is created the space, from that the air, then the remaining three great elements, and the mind, and the ego, called the jeeva. The jeeva is the best part of the creative chain; it deserves the light of the sun, of union with divine at all levels. Darkness is death to it; it deserves to see light. So this refers to jeeva or chit shakti, `sa'. `Sa' is the illuminating consciousness.

Here It must be brought out once and for all the intimate relationship between life and death. Death is the hooded cobra watching the light of life between the eyebrows!

How is light seen? When a photon dies in the retina, a consciousness of light is born. If you are seeing a light continuously, know that billions of photons are dying to maintain the stream of consciousness of the light within. The pleasure one gets of seeing the light is the pleasure of watching the death of billions. That is you, the reader, as Shiva, the Lord of death.

How can life be without death? Something has to die continuously to let life come to existence. So Shiva as Kala has to die continuously so that new time can be born. Without death, there can be no life. Death is Shiva, and life is Tripura Sundari, as KAli. Little doubt then that they are forever inseparably united! The source of life is death, and the source of death is life. The reality is neither this nor that; it is both sides of the same coin! One side is called life, and the other side is called death.

Samâdhi is the union of extinction and awareness. Death is extinction; Life is awareness. In samadhi, one is switching back and forth between extinction and awareness in all the states: waking, dreaming, or sleeping. Every moment, your consciousness of the previous moment is dead and gone, and you are a new you, whether you like it or not. Samâdhi is an eternal property of Godhood. Since you are God, it is your property too.

Eros and thanotos are the life and death instincts. They derive from the same source, called the negation. Negation of life is death, and of death is life. God desires to be born; being born, He desires to die. What is born must die, what is dead must be born again. This is a law of causality. In thuth causality is nothing but a preceding relationship, a well ordeness of in time. Time is causality, time is energy, energy is life; so you seem all is one and one is all, in an endless loop of leela play.

Not only do the erotic and thanatos desire from the same cause; it is most important to know that they are both the same, identical stuff. Hence the attraction for both; the only difference is that one is conscious, the other is unconscious and supressed as fear, but the attraction of fear is
undesirable. Sex sells; so does horror.

What then distingushes whatever something is interpreted as eros or thanotos is really the state one is in. If you are dead the emotion you experience is aros; if you are living , the emotional pull is to thanotos. Here life means you are in contact with Brahman; death means you are not in contacy with it.

Now we are ready for the next letter of the mantra.

Bhargo devasya dhi: The source of cit or consciousness (the best part of creativity) is death; Siva, the great corpse when not connected with consciousness. But when is he not coupled to consciousness? If there exists a time when existence is uncoupled to consciousness, that existence might as well not be there for all one cares; because there is no one to care then. Only in the loving embrace of consciousness, existence has a meaning. Only in the loving embrace of life, death has a meaning. Thus for the divine life, Shiva is the intelligence giver. So bhargo devasya dhi is condensed to `ka', the symbol for Shiva, the nirguna Brahman.
Please note, ‘ka’ is also the symbol for Brahma; thus showing the equivalance of creative and destructive aspects of Godhood.


Creation is the creation of multiplicity through duality; destruction is the destruction of multiplicity to give rise to advaita, a non dual state. Siva, and his samhara sakti Kali, is the proper aspect for worship if one wishes to reach the state of undifferentiated advaita state.

The desire for denial of self is common to both creation and destructive aspects . Brahma and Siva. This is called Yajna, the sacrifice of self. In Yajna these two things are Sacrificed. One is desire, the other is desirelessness. Thus only does Yajna reach completeness and becomes fruitful.

Thus the concept of Yajna becomes identical to living a purposeful life of activity. Sacrificing first the desires, coming from ego, one is then asked to sacrifice desirelessness; meaning, that one should not reject or be averse to what comes one’s way - one enjoys fully, what is available, and what
has come without seeking for it. Thus springs the nishkama karma; do, and enjoy what comes. But dont get despaired if your expectations are not fulfilled, for is that also there lies divine purpose of destroying your ego structure.

Mahi: ‘ma’ is contact, with ‘h’ - siva, ‘I’ - desire to see. This means a detached desire to see and enjoy the lifv, without the notion of identification of oneself with the act. The basic desire to see is still there. It is desirable to see, no to run away from the world. Mahi is `la', the symbol representing the wonderful world, the myriad beauties of nature who is your wife, and the waves in Her ocean of consciousness, and also the procedure to remain blissful forever. The trick is to remain detached, no matter what happens. When death threatens, do not be concerned but observe this the process carefully, enjoy every moment of it. This is the higher moral law, the dharma or the property of a realized soul. He may be a thief, a rascal, a murderer, but if he is detached, he is sinless. Has not Krishna played with 16000 gopis? How come then he is not an adulterer, how come he can tell Arjuna, “I shall deliver you from all the sins?” Think deeply about this and know the truth of it.

“When you are observer”, says Krishna, “You are a witness of murder, but not a murderer, even though that it can be your hand that dealt a death blow. God has sinned, not you! Beware, don’t apply this spiritual law in a human court of law. Use it in the divine court of law. 

Dhiyoyonah Prachodayat: This implies silence, as before.

Paro Rajase Savadhom: Beyond rajas is either satva, or tamas. In the tamasic interpretation as kriya sakti, the integrating, duality, destroying - coitus of Shiva and Shakti is symbolized by third hrim. Ha' is Shiva, `Ra' is is fire, `i' is the desire to destroy all dualities, and `m' is the contact. This is hrim, the fiery contact of destruction  of dualities, the 15-th and last letter of panchodasi mantra. In Kaula mârga, all males are considered Shiva, and all females Shakti. In the knowledge of advaita, their act of voluntary choice and union both mentally and physically become pure and purifying acts. If one does not have this perfection of understanding, it brings immorality and has been criticized on this account. If one acts not out of the knowledge, but for seeking pleasure, not for the urdhvaretas but for casual enjoyment; not out of voluntary acts of testing balance of ego but using force and violence; then these very same acts become not means for upliftment but cause for downfall. Poison in controlled form can give life, but more usually, it kills. Thus there is a necessaty of Guru in liberation. A liberated man sees no distinction between any opposites including good or evil. But this does not mean he will commit evil voluntarily. As a reaction to evil forces, he may and will act evilly – that is not rulled out. But his maturity prowing out of his knowledge of Samadhi leads to yama, niyama.

If he fights, he knows that he is fighting with himself. If he wounds, he knows that he wounds himself. Because there is not object other than himself, whatever he does to himself becomes right and for the good, generally, of his cosmic self. Who wants to wound, hurt himself? To what purpose? He may commit surgery to remove some pus cells or a bad growth. But that is all!
Thus indeed did Tripua Sundari reveal the derivation and significance of pancadasi to her three consorts Brahma, Visnu, and Kala. She is Saraswati to Brahma, Lakshmi to Vishnu, and Kali to Kala. And they are not different from each other. The conversation between Siva and Parvati was rewarded by Ganapati and the Guru-parampara started that way.

From what did all these interpretations come forth? Through consciousness, the sustainer of life. Sustainance is the aspect formed by Lakshmi, the all pervasive power of Vishnu. She is called Sri, the auspicious one, sarva-mangala-karini She is the beautiful one, She is prosperity and well-being, She is enjoyable one, She gives both bhoga and moksha. If you go with desire to Her, She will blend your spiritual progress with material glitter which is imitation jewellery. She shows Herself and Her true riches to the one who is dispassionate, and approaches Her with divine oneness. When the Sri beeja is added at the end of Panchadasi, it becomes what is known as laghu shodasi. She is ever radiant and charming like a sixteen year old girl.  She mothered love God, manmatha; She is particularly pleased by the worship of manmatha by her devotees. Rati is her daughter is law; Rati has to be offered to her as worship.

Lakshmi, Tripura Sundari is an ocean of knowledge. She cannot be exhausted even if one were to write a million volumes about Her. The best thing to do is then do Her upâsana as She directs it. The best form of upasana is to seek the source of knowledge as an observer; by not running away from bondages; by not being attached to the results of actions, but by acting out of divine will. This is the triple combination of bhakti, jnana, and karma margâs.

We will conclude Tripura Sundari upâsana in Her own words:

The more you know,
the more you love,
the more you experience OM.

Tara

A star in the dark night bursting forth a sphere of light out of vacuum - that is Tara, the second of the great paths to self realisation. The unmanifest sound of Omkara bursts forth into the manifest world, that is Tara.

Cut a sphere with a central star in it, into two halves, and place them side by side. Move the half star into the surface centres of the two hemispheres. Thus does Omkara assume a female form, where the centre is moved to periphery, and one appears as two. Out of this, the creation proceeds further, shown by the tail of the Omkara and a third centre of the world develops - that is jeeva. Jeeva is located in the navel, and that is Tara as Omkara symbolising manifestation. Tara is worshipped at the navel centre, called the manipura. Manipura is the first place where lights manifest, like so many starry jewels. The Sanskrit word Tara takes on different meanings.

The highest meaning is that she is Tarini, she crosses you to the beyond, she is the bridge for you to walk to immortality. In this, she is symbolised by Omkara.

The second meaning of Tara is that she is high pitched sound. This reflects how the Omkara heard in the heart centre transforms itself first into supersonic sound, and then into light, and then into darkness again as the frequency increases. This is the level of unmanifest manifesting as it comes down.

The third meaning is that Tara is- the lover of Moon, whom moon seduced from Brhaspati, the one intelligent counsellor to Gods. This shows that manifestation is a reduction of band width, a ray of the infinite frequency, since moon symbolizes love, which is based on duality. At the physical level representing duality, Tara is worshipped with an aim to experience the undifferentiated state by a couple. Here the worship bears a similarity to Kali, but with this difference that the focus of awareness is at the navel centre, not the svadhisthan centre as in Kali. Tara involves seduction too, which Kali does not. As the purpose of seduction is self realisation, it becomes purified in the nondual state.

In its first meaning, Tare is a Vedic mantra, the suddha pranava. This mantra is OM. In its second meaning, Tara is - tantric rantra, to be worshipped as Hrim Strim Hum Phat. The object is that the maya, illusion Hrim acting as the great seducer Strim, the woman(symbol for mind), should be blown away (Phat) by the fire of knowledge of Siva (Hum.  This is done by a sadhaka alone, but in union with Kundalini. Seduction is present here too, as a goddess or a god is invited to couple in the Consciousness. Sexual union between 2 partners of opposite sexes is indicated.

In its third meaning, where physical seduction is present, Tara is a buddhist mantra of the Mahayana or Vajrayana sect. Here the mantra takes the form OM Hrim Strim Hum Phat. The meaning is the sane as above. Seduction is the situation where the maximum sensory imputs are present physically and mentally. So gaining control here is vital.

The sound symbol Phat is very important. It is an explosive sound, and symbolises the piercing of darkness by light. The Fourier transform of a sharp transition contains all frequencies in it; when the frequencies fall in the visible range, it becomes an explosion of light in meditation.

At the lowest frequencies, the sound is a current or a vibration in the body„ As the frequency rises, the following transformations occur: feelings, sound, heat, silence of radio waves, light, ultra-violet, then silence again. All these effects can be felt in meditation.

The sensory mechanisms of the body respond only to the shaded zones, and do not respond to the others. The second branch consists of the regions I, II and III, I is called para, II is called madhyama. III is called pasyanti. When II is modulated by throat and tongue and becomes recognized as meaningful words, it is called vaikhari. Beyond the sound forms is the light branch. Beyond that is invisible infinite spectral range of frequencies. Here lie the material waves whose phase velocities w are related to the group velocities v by the relation w = (c^2)/v. If the matter particle is at rest, it’s waves are moving with infinite velocity. (when v=0, w = infinity). Hence Upanishadic statement – it moves, it moves not – is true.

As Kundalini moves up, first it is para, then pasyanti, then madhyama and lastly vaikhari - in the sound branch. In the light branch, it becomes infra -red, visible light, ultra-violet, and the invisible black, cold light of x rays, gamma-rays, cosmic rays, and matter waves.

So, after sound ceases, comes light. After light ceases, awareness persists in sunyata. This is what the Buddha says - nirvana is sunyata, which has the nature of vajra or a diamond - it is indestructible. It is wrong to assume of course that sunyata is emptiness. Quite the contrary, it is the utter completeness of variety which is incomprehensibly deep in knowledge and awareness. Consider am example.

Suppose you are listening to music. The tempo builds up, the rhythm beats faster and faster. After some time, no rhythm can keep pace with the speed, and everything merges into a steady monotone of unmanifest silence, which is one pointed awareness, which appears to have lost all vibrations. It is vibrating at an infinite frequency as awareness. It is the stillness of a spinning top, not the laziness of a sleeping man. That in essence is the difference between Samadhi and sleep.

It should be realised that the combined band width of para, pasyanti and madyama is far below that of the light waves; and that the band width of the light waves is far below that of the waves of awareness or the matter waves, which invariably travel faster than light, and hence are always moving backwards in time.(Anything which moves faster than light has, of necessity, to move back in time). Hence Buddha's statement that silence and Sunyata is the nature of the universe is absolutely correct. This is what the Upanishads also say - that the manifest universe is only the tail of Brahman.

There are three kinds of particles known in physics. These are particles, light waves and antiparticles. Particles move forward in time; antiparticles move backward in time. Light waves don't move in time - they freeze the present. When a particle meets another corresponding antiparticle, they annihilate each other explosively, and that becomes light. So, light is a result of pair annihilation; knowledge is a result of the union of past and future in the present. The nature of present is bliss. Buddhist philosophy says - eliminate desires, which are anticipations based on duality; you will eliminate misery. In the present lies realisation; if you move away from it either by remembering or by planning, you have lost irretrievably the contact with the purity of the present moment, the utter bliss of the present moment, the nirvana of the present moment. Come to think of it, there is no past, there is no future. There is only present, a moving present, an infinitesimal moment of time which contains all of infinite time in it. There is no time away from the present!

Tars is the pashyantî sound, which overlaps madhyamâ in frequency. The power of manifest sound is bridge to God within the human system. The power of sound is called Om. The word syllable Om is only imitating the sound within. It is only a symbol. What the symbol points to is an unbroken sound which is heard inside, which resembles Om. The external symbol has a beginning and an end. Not so for the inner sound. It is there always. That is Târâ.

That Târâ pointed to by the symbol Om, has many forms. One form is called Nîlâ - She is called the dark one, Tâmasî. Here the darkness refers to unheardness, unmanifestness, unclearness. The same applies to the Tâmas of Rudrâ, the God of unmanifest. This Târâ is the most pious of the pious. Because Om is the unusual name of Îshwarâ. Patânjalî has said - Om points to Îshwarâ. One who has not heard the Om within, has no use for any mantrâ. Even the Vedâs say - what will any one do with the song (of the Vedâ) if one has not heard the Om within?

This Om enters all sounds and makes them come alive individually. However, there is a difference in the ability of different sounds to convey the Om. Among the sounds, vowels carry Om best. Even there, Vedâs contain the quality of sound best. If one ignores the barrage of consonants and listens to the vowel sounds of the Vedic mantras, the pleasing nature of Om will become evident. That is why it is important to protect the sound of the mantrâ.

When mantrâs are translated, the purpose is only to bring out the hidden meanings - the coded meanings of the mantrâ. But such translations cannot be used for japa, because the sound Om is not brought out clearly in the translation.

What then is a mantrâ? When sages sit meditating, that is listening to the sound of Om in their heart - throat - head centers, out of the ocean of the Om, waves called mantrâs arise, and are heard or seen in meditation. That is why each mantrâ has a seer - the rishî who happened to see or hear the mantrâ in his meditation.

These mantrâs are natural flow of sound waves, controlling a manifestation of Omkârâ. If one meditates on Om, that is Târâ or Saraswatî, She gives mantrâs. If one meditates on these mantrâs, one gets communications of knowledge from that wave. All such communications form the content of the mantrâ. These mantrâs arise spontaneously, without effort in meditation - it is a by product. There must have been no effort at all in designing the mantrâ. A mantrâ is not designed; it is complete and arises by itself. It designs itself, it creates itself.

What is designed with effort is ordinary language constructs which cannot convey Om so clearly. A limited intellect has no capacity to design a mantrâ. Though all elements are available, a sculptor cannot build a living being. A mantrâ is a living sound. It has life in it. Only unlimited intellect of God can foresee and build life out of a genetic code. The mantrâ is the genetic code of the deity. By repetition of the genetic code, Man is made. By repetition of mantrâ a God or Goddess is made. That is why mantrâ manifests God by repetition.

When mantrâ starts flowing, it can become joy, peace, power, dance, art, poetry, prose, vedâs, purânâs, Agamâs, nigamâs, etc.

Among these several manifestations, some are true and some are untrue; the mostly true and accurate picture of Godliness is contained in Vedâs - called the Trayi Vidyâ - they contain the highest light and wisdom. So do the religious texts of all religions.

Absolute truth cannot be conveyed in words. So, all words are mappings of the truth, but contain some lie in it by necessity. It is a question of degree of how much truth is there.

Here truth is used in the sense of resemblance. Can the idea formed in the reader be same as the idea which prompted the seer or writer? The answer is sadly no, in most cases.

Vedâs are direct revelations. So are the revelations of the seers, jnânîs in their dhyânâ. They all have the same validity. They contain the highest degree of resemblance to the reality seen. They are called Shukla, the white, or the manifest Târâ.

In coitus, the state of potent joy is before the climax. That is unmanifest, potent joy - that is Nila. The orgasmic bliss, the flow of the mantra into a bursting explosion of language constructs which are true, is called Sukla. Seminal fluid is white in colour, it is manifest joy, obtained through a leap of the ego out of the body.

When ever ego breaks loose of the body - either in sleep, or in coitus, or in death, or in Samadhi - deep joy is experienced. There is a similarity between sleep and death, and a similarity between coitus and samadhi. Sleep and death differ only in the time scales. Orgasm and Samadhi differ oaly in time scales. Death is a continuous sleep, Samadhi is a continuous orgasm. In orgasm, you are not there, you have jumped out of the body; but this is short-lived, and one craves forth again. But the craving cannot be satisfied immediately, because the seed is no more there. The better way thus is to achieve an orgasm without spending the seed. And this is exactly what Samadhi is. The seed is not spent - so the orgasm continues uninterrupted as long as the seed is there. Who wants to come out of the middle of an orgasmic bliss? That is exactly the dilemma faced by a sage in the continuous orgy of an orgasmic splendour of Samadhi - he doesn't want to come out of it, ever. That is union with God, that is Yoga. Ordinary coitus is an imitation, a passing memory of the infinite coitus that God can do to you, the maddening creative egoless bliss - the path of no return. Once one has known the taste of this one doesn't want any thing else. That is Ardhanareesvara tattva - the unending orgasmic bliss called Brahmananda.

Vedic knowledge and proper meditation can lead one to infinite joy. This is obtained by study and practice of Vedas and Upanishads and revelations contained in Agamas and Nigamas. Agama means it came out of Siva's head and went into Parvati's face.

"Agatam Siva vaktrena gatam ca girija mukhe”.

Siva is the erect phallus on the physical plane - Coming out of its head is semen, the leap of the ego. and the bliss experienced in the orgasm. It goes into the mouth of Parvati. Parvati is Para-sakti, the power, the source, the mother, the womb, the divine vulva. So, all Agamas preach the worship of
the genitals as the first step towards sublimation. Vedas countenance this, because at the end of Yajna, the couple performing the sacrifice have to engage in coitus, and offer the coital fluids into the homam. This is the nain ingredient, called the purna homam - an offering of the self to the higher self. This occurs in Asvamedha vaga, where the horse's seed where the horse's seed is collected and offered along with the human seed; the idea is an essential unity of all life forms cutting across even the genital and species barriers. This is also  done in jyotis toma and panca rata yajna's prescribed in Vedas.

In Hindu and Vajrayana pantheism, erotic element plays a vital role. There is no temple which is complete without the erotic element, Eros was worshipped in all possible ways in the olden days, by house-holders. Eros was only forbidden to Sanyasis. The goal of life - Kama had a high place in society - with Sastra's supporting how to achieve it. It was elevated to art, recognising that the vital lust is best handled as Sringara, the decorative, unhurried, detached bliss.

The word Nigarna means the reverse. It refers to revelations of power, achieved by Urdhva retas; control of seed, and transformation of vital sex drive into higher forms, which are more satisfying, which have immanance in them. This is called the Amritham,the flow of energy from the power - the woman to the powerful ~ the man. This is the path of with drawal, nivritti, the vajroli mudra practised by hatha yogis. Vajroli means creating a vacuum in the bowels, enabling a continuous suction of semen back into the phallus, and the libido moving up into the head. In Srividya Upasana, vajroli is  symbolised by Sarva Trikanda Mudra, meaning, the sex drive moving from vital to mental to Supra-mental.

So the study of the Vedas, Upanishads, Agamas, Nigamas provides a worship of Saraswati, the creative power of Brahman; this is called Sukla Upasana. The study of the source of all such revelations, to get the revelations oneself, is called the Nila Upasana. Then there is the third form of Upasana of Tara. It is called Citra.

The words spoken by people, ordinary people, contain both lies and truths. Such is Citra - truth and untruth; reality and myth; perception and projection. Seeing Omkara, hearing Omkara in all such sounds, and not responding and reacting to the pairs of opposites in them constitutes the Upasana of Citra. All three forms are forms of Tara, The pranava, the sastras, and the ordinary conversations, are all forms of Tara. Any one procedure can be followed. Jnanis follow the study of vedas, sastras, etc; Yogis follow the Om in their heart; the common man can simply concentrate on the world of sound around him.

In the upasana with mantras we have already listed the forms of mantra. Om is to be recited alone - this leads to Yoga path. The mantras Om Hrim Strim Hum Phat; Hrim Strim Hum Phat; Hrim Strim Hum; all these can be practised by a Parasakti and Parama purusha, in an attutude of eliminating illusions of other. In Tara upasana, unlike Kali, if physical union is to be used, it must be with a para sakti, not sva sakti, because there is to be no ejaculation; in Buddhist union seed emission is forbidden. In Hindu union, seed emission is allowed after the_repetition of required number for mantra is complete. In Tara, both religions meet; both insist on para sakti, and both forbid ejaculation by the male, for the very reason that it is para sakti. Kali is Kundalini, svasakti; Tara is para sakti. Sundari uses both; sva sakti and para sakti. Sundari is a circle where all males are Sivas and all
females are Saktis as long as they are aspiring for yoga. That is why in Sundari Upasana, the words “paraya, aparaya, paraparaya” are used. Once they are in Yoga, they are both Siva and Sakti.

The need for para sakti can thus be envisaged in the fallowing progression. -The main aim is to destroy the ego structure, and identifying oneself with the body. As long as this identification exists, the notion of one’s own and that belonging to another - para and apara persists. The first thing is to integrate with ones own partner - that is Kali. The next wall to be broken down is the notion of the other; so para sakti is prescribed, that is Tara. In the third stage, group identity is to be established, hence Tripura Sundari. In Sundari, this identity proceeds by establishing all the Gods and Goddesses in ones own body, and in union of a pair, it is the mating of Gods and Godesses that is envisaged; this final act is brought down to the physical bliss level by a group of initiates forming a mandala - or a circle. Sricakra allows a union of 108 pairs, the number of dieties in Khadgamala.

Whether singly or by a couple, upasana of Tara is done by a constant awareness of unmanifest sound within; this is obtained by constantly researching the sound of the mantra within, when the unmanifest sound comes to be known. It becomes known by a permissive mood (anujna mudra), uncensoring mood.

This Tara is known as Aksara Vidya - in the Upanishads. Aksara means i) not subject to decay, ii) beginning with A ending with ksa, that is all letters, language, etc., the manifest sound. Both meanings are valid. She is also called the Udgitha Vidya, meaning, the v|dya which allows you to transcend upwards.

No untruth should be spoken. Only truth is to be spoken even if it hurts ones own ego to do so. One must study well and remember what is said or taught. This in brief is Sukla upasana.

Citra is the Om in other's voices. In abuse and praises in pointless talks and in great epics; in harsh noise and in melodious music; in crying and in singing; the sound must be taken in equally, observing the sound picture. One should not turn away from the unpleasant, one should not seek the pleasant sounds. One should be a detached observer. This is Citra Upasana.

The bliss of speaking out, from the tip of the tongue, is Sarasvati. Sarasvati is rasavati, one who has rasa, or ananda with Sa the sakti. Sarasvati means the bliss of orgasmic union, utter creativity, manifest by detachment, and elimination of the notion of one’s own, and another's.

Sanyasa is an outgrowth of yoga. Having.tasted union with God, all other pleasures pale in comparison. For that reason one must not however spurn the lower nature, but use it intelligently, wisely, to break down the ego barriers and reach Samadhi. From untouchables, one should become touchable. If you are afraid of touching man, how are you going to touch God? Have no fear; use that by which man fall to lift yourself upwards. Poison can kill; but snake poison is serum, giver of life at the moment of death. How wise can you be? This is what Tara Tantra teaches.

Kali

First, what is Kali? What path is Kali? Kali is power of action. Kali is the electromagnetic energy, which extends over all space.

Radiation is the means available for one particle at one place and time to know about the existence of another particle at another place and another time. Radiation interacts with matter, and their interaction impacts on the material system. It is interaction, made possible through radiation, which creates time.

Interaction is a fundamental thing. It is like the shyness of a bride. When the groom looks at the bride, she blushes. The look is the probe, the blush is the reaction. The probe and the reaction together constitute the interaction. For this reason, Kali is related to shame; She is shown in pictures as a naked woman, a shameless creature. The idea of the symbol is that She eliminates interactions which create duality. Lack of interactions is death.

Nakedness has this meaning, that space is your clothing. Yes, space is the clothing in which energy is concealed. Energy transforms matter's position and creates time. So Kala, the time symbolized by the all pervasive, eternal Shivalinga, is in fact a creation of Kali, the energy. This is one reason why Shiva is shown as a corpse lying flat under Her feet.

The difference between energy and matter is the following. Energy is dynamic, matter is static. Energy is unbottled matter, matter is bottled up energy. Energy moves, probing the matter into motion. Matter is energy at rest, or rest energy. So Kali is shown as the active member on top of Shiva.

People say that time transforms things. Time does not do anything. Interactions transform and create time in the process.

Time is not absolute, space is not absolute. Through motion, they can be exchanged. Through interactions, even the direction of time can be reversed. The rate at which time flows can be reversed. The rate at which time flows can be changed by motion itself; or, energy controls the rate of flow of time. The more energetic a particle, the slower time moves for it.

Density is a property that is related to the proximity in time of a certain material object to the present. If you move an object away in time from the present, it dematerializes. If you bring an object into present, it materializes.

The secret behind materialization, is the ability to move in time -- into the past and into the future. This is granted by the power of Kali.  Kali is manifest as the power of Kundalini in the body. She is experienced as a thunder--bolt, as an explosion inside. This kind of a first experience occurs when the ego consisting of identification with the body is destroyed. Kali represents power over time, conquering time.

The power of transformation not only destroys but also creates. Kali, the power creating time, has destroyed many a galaxy, sending them away into the past. The garland of heads Kali wears is a symbol to remind us of the destructive aspect of time. The destructive aspect is also known as Shiva Tandava, or the dance of time -- this is the dance of matter energy exchanges -- a cosmic hydrogen bomb.

It is not possible to enjoy the spectacle of death, devastating cosmic fire engulfing all known things and knowledge itself, unless there is utter detachment. It is only given to Shiva, the great detachment personified, to observe with dispassion his own destruction, the stoppage of time. Kali teaches such dispassion, utter vairagya. Kali spares no saint, She spares no sinner. To Her, saint and sinner are the same. It is only the limited human intellect which tends to see God the good and refuses to see God the evil. Kali is not concerned with such limitations, because She knows better.

Kali knows that the universe is nothing more than a thought in the mind of God. Just as one does not weep when one thought is replaced by another, so She is not bothered in the least by one thought being replaced by another in the cosmic mind. She is the driving force chasing away one thought and bringing in another, because Kundalini is the power of consciousness. She has mothered time, and She has no compunctions about destroying time itself, when She wants to give the taste of Samadhi to Her worshipper.

Kali, the power of transformation, reminds us about Her being purely sattvic in character by the symbol of a head, cut off by Her sword and blessed profusely. Blood is a symbol for rajas.

Bleeding head is thus a symbol for the rajas going out of the thought patterns; thoughts are commonly located in the head; and flow is the characteristic of thought. Also the head is considered to be the site of jnana, or knowledge. So the symbol of the bleeding head suggests a state of perfect knowledge, free from attachment to body and activity, death like in Samadhi. The head is a living head. How can it die when held by Kali?

The symbolism of Kali does not stop with destruction. She is also the supreme Creator. Killing the present by sending it into the past is the first aspect. The second aspect is that of making the unmanifest future to become the manifest present. The second aspect is the creative aspect. She is ever creative. Because the future is unmanifest, unknown, poetically it has been called the dark one. That is why Kali is supposed to be dark in color, of the color of sky, blue unmanifest; future contained hope, cure for miseries. So blue is the healing color.

The creative aspect of Kali is also symbolized. In one hand She holds the ‘fear not’ posture and in the other ‘I bless you’ posture. The ‘fear not’ is to remind you that the universe is just a passing chimera of a thought, and that it is your thought, and you are God, you are immortal, and you are not going to end with the physical body. Nor is there any worry if your relatives, near and dear ones die. For, are they not your thoughts as well? The blessing is to remind you that you are beyond time, Her creation. That you persist beyond space and time. That you are going to create fresh relatives, fresh worlds through Her. She is the lusty female, hungry for sex. She is worshipped through reverse coitus. Of this, more later.

Kali is raw power (the living veritable tigress when She catches hold of you) representing on the one hand Thanatos the death instinct, and on the other irrepressible Eros. She represents the burning head of desire plus the detachment of the burial ground.

These are Her two poles; She is the bipolar entity, the unity of opposites. And the world manifests in the separation of Kali and Kala; it disappears in their union.

Kâli prefers union representing the dissolved state, the Nivrithimarga. Thus She is the first one to be worshipped by the aspirant as She gives vairagya so easily. Kâli is worshipped in two forms. As Samhara Kali, and as Dakshina Kâli, referring to the dissolved and manifest states. As Samhara Kali She gives death and liberation; as Dakshina Kali She gives enjoyment while living and liberation on death. Dakshina Kâli is inviting you to mate with Her; when you do so, She becomes Samhara Kâli. She is maya; dissolution of maya leads to mahasamadhi from which there is no return. This is the reason why it is insisted that you treat Kali as your mother; then the thought of enjoying Her does not arise that easily in the head, preserving your life. But think! what better way to die than in the hands of mother, to become Shiva, a death like corpse? If you are Her child, She feeds you with milk from Her ever full breasts; and the milk of life is sweet indeed. In the total recognition, there is no second, one does indeed become Shiva and Shakti in union; then there is no manifest world, except the continuous unending bliss. And one, who has once tasted the sweetness of it, wants to come back, except as a sacrifice of freedom brought about willfully!

Mantra of Dakshina Kâli is

Krîm Krîm Krîm hûm hûm hrîm hrîm Dakshinê Kâlike
Krîm Krîm Krîm hûm hûm hrîm hrîm svâha

The mental associations which go with the mantra are the following. Krîm is the beeja of  fire, coupled with the beeja of k of manmatha, coupled with rim, the act_of seeing. So krim represents the overpowering fire of lust, kamagni. The beeja hûm is the Shiva beeja, rî is Vishnu. This is known as Koorcha, by which the Kâmagni is aroused. Hrîm is the forceful thrust of Shiva, the probe which wants to measure the depth of consciousness. The three krim beejas arouse fire in the three planes: on the physical, lust; on the mental, the desire to know; on the causal, anger with physical manifestations, vairagya. The hrîm repeated twice is the surge and ebb of life, throb felt at the tip of the male generative organ in full erection. Hrim is the echoing, reacting, cooling response of the female to the thrusts. It is cooling because  in hrim,  H stands for space, and the fire in space is amrita; because egoless state is space like and therefore not subject to passions. Bhuvaneshwari as Sudha responds to the fire of Shiva by liquid fire which is cooling. The word Dakshina is used so as to remind one of the region to the south of the body, the sex center. There is another meaning to Dakshina. After PArvati extracts the Svatantra Tantra, the Sundari upâsnâ from Shiva, Shiva asks Her to give his GuruDakshina. The all knowing Parvati blushes at the implication, and as is proper offers herself totally to Shiva's embrace, hence She came to be known as Dakshina Kâlika. Upâsna of Dakshina Kâlika leads to a permanent realization of the Ardha-Naaresvara form in the genital centre. If done with vairâgya it leads to unending bliss called urdharetas.

This notion from Kâli upâsana is embedded in Srividya upâsana by the first two words of Ârdram jvalati -- mantra, which refers to the taking of amrita. Here the most important sloka of Uttara--Ramayana is not irrelevant:

Yonitsu Vaishnavi Shakti Linga Rupo Sadâ Shivah
Ânando Brahmano Rûpam Tasmin Tatrâvalambatê

The connection between Kali and Sundari Upâsanas is very intimate indeed. The same diety is known as Kali during the dark half of the month and as Sundari in the bright half of the month, referring to the nivrithi and pravrithi paths.

Apart from the fact that the worship is to be done at the Ajna centre, and IM is the most secret symbol leading to liberating dissolution called maha samadhi, no further explanations will be offered here about Samhara Kali. Already too much has been said about Her.

In Kali, death and life are in union. She is the hooded Kundalini cobra, the serpent power, ready to strike at the Ajna centre - if you give her permission to do so, she will complete the act to mutual satisfaction!

Kali is the combined life force in the world. The vitality flowing in all bodies is kundalini. She joins with the breath to become the power of action in an individual. Breath is not life, although the same word prana is used for both. The movement of life force, vitality, opposes the movements of breath. When breath is going down, life is surging up; when breath is going out, life is surging in. To arouse kundalini, one has to imagine that the breath is going and hitting at the muladhar centre, coupled with sakti calan mudra.

Now what is this muladhar centre? It is located between the anus and the base of the penis in man; it is the ejaculatory sphincter muscle. Sakti calan mudra is the contraction of this muscle while breathing in, and relaxing it while breathing out. These alternate contractions and reactions will soon have a penile reaction as an erection. This erection is symbolically described as - "take a stick and hit the tail of the sleeping serpent. It will open its hood and rise with a hissing sound".

Once the erection is obtained one maintains a steady contraction of the ejaculatory sphincter, with occasional relaxations. At the same time the mind is turned to a state of happiness, remembering the orgasmic release. Control is exercised with sufficient detachment to prevent a physical release. One pointed stay at the peak is practised. Then a strange thing happens. The erection subsides. The mind gets calm, the "kundalini enters the hole on the head of the linga in its upward journey." This is the sushumna canals, of freedom from desire.

Instead of individually, it is really best to practice for the husband and wife together, in union. After coupling, the partners ease themselves into an easy posture where no bodily tensions or weights are present, and one starts off on the breath muscle movement - mantra rhythm with no external movements. Asana implies no external movements. Mentally, the bodies are agile; they can move as much as they want, do what they want. When a couple does sadhana, it is best to say the mantra loud, with each beeja alternatingly told by one and the other partner. This synchronises the breath-mantra life currents automatically. When each one learns the other's life current, mantra can be
synchronised to that, rather than saying it aloud.

When the beeja is spoken out by the husband, his life goes in. At that time, the wife, is listening, preparing to utter the same beeja, so she is taking her breath in, and her life current is moving up. So, the life current moves from the husband to the wife through the genital coupling when the husband is speaking, and moves from the wife to the husband when the wife is speaking.

The situation is illustrated symbolically by the two figures below and described in table.

It is clear that by alternately saying the same beeja by husband and wife, or by a single person saying and listening mentally the Kundalini or life force starts moving like a pendulum, increasing amplitude as japa proceeds, and a complete circle is formed uniting the two completely.

The next figure here illustrates the differences in the Locations of the muladhar and svadhisthan centres in the male and female. In the female, svadhistham is the clitoris, muladhar is deep inside vagina.

In the male,

svadhistham is at the base of the penis, in contact with vulva; it is a ring around the base of the linga. Sakti calane is shown in the picture.

The figures above show the route Kundalini takes around the svayambhu linga in male and female when sadhana is done alone, with kundalini as the partner. This figure also symbolises the nature of arthanareesvara experience. When the practise is done by a couple, the flow of kundalini is not constricted due to the (inductance of the) coiling round the real or its compliment linga. For the couple then, the muladhar in the male and the svadhisthan in the female are bypassed, and the coil or the brahma-granthi is simply not there.

It should be remembered that kundalini is associated with Sex. Sex is a part of kundalini, not the whole of it. In the lower centres, it does represent the vital force of sex. When one goes beyond this, when desire subsides, when mental body shakes loose of the physical body, one enters the Manipura and Anahata centres, when body consciousness is gone. There kundalini represents the affectionate love of the sustaining mother to the whole world.

Dakshina Kali's job is to make the kundalini move in the central channel. This is done by simulating her nature; utter vairagya coupled with utter desire of creativity. In between the searching fire and the deadening cold lies warm path of the Sun, the Sushumna canal of sublimated sex drive.

Vasishta has dismissed the whole subject with the following brief explanation. "Kali Apasana is done at svadhisthana, because she is kriya sakti, the power of action. The vital power of individuals is lost by lack of control over breathing, and short breath cycles. To improve the life energy, one has to understand the nature of "rasa"; knowing awareness of all implications of breathing is the pure form of upasana of Kali.”

What this "rasa" is, what is the knowledge of breathing, what are the implications; some of these aspects we have dealt with above. The "rasa" is the bliss of orgasm; the knowledge is the connection between mantra, breathing, and kundalini movements in the svadhisthana centre. The implications are the upward movements, and the consequences arising thereof. This is the pure form of upasana of Kali; which can be done alone, or with the help of a co-operating partner.

Vasishta continues: "Aware breathing has great ’mahima'; it is one of the 8 siddhis, control over time, knowledge of past over present. It gives power to the mind; to the speech; to the eye; long life. Also, it liberates".

Power of the speech means - vaksuddhi - or whatever one speaks becomes true. Control over time has already been referred to knowing the past lives and future removes the fear of death once and for all; the power of materialisation is implied in the power over time. Power to the mind means the ability to dig deep into the divine nature and get knowledge within oneself, power to the eye means the ability to see into distance, into time.  Liberation means eliminating the ego creating shackles.

Vasishtha says: “This is sung as samvarga vidya - or the vidya relating to the mind (Sam = mind, varga = relating to. Sam also means shakti), Kali is also known as prana vidya. In the upanishads it is called Udgitha-vidya. To the materialistically oriented people, she appears to be the sword which hits them. For the Yogis she is the sword in their hands.

The sword in their hands, How apt! If what you say becomes true, you can use it to destroy as well as create with it. How important then is the self control of the yogi not to exercise the power for evil!
Siddhis are dangerous to have, so beware!

Introduction to Dasha Maha Vidyas - 1980 year book by Guruji

All powers of God are manifest in man, whether one realises it or not. If one realises God he becomes God. Otherwise, he countinues to believe that he is not God, and so, searches for Godhood, outside of him. And he will never reach, because the direction is wrong. As long as you are moving along the circle, you will never be the centre.

Path to God is that which makes one God.

Kali, Tara, Sundari, Bhuvana, Bhairavi, Chandi, Dhuma, Bagala, Matangi, Kamala are the names for the ten paths. The ultimate goal is the same in each case - integration of all forms into one Godhood, which is identical with Self.

All these names are feminine. All powers are feminine, and the one from whom all powers emanate is God oneself. God enjoys his powers. He owns them. You can own them too, by realizing the truth of the statement that you are God, through experience.

There are obstacles to this realization, whose prime nature consists of two types of ignorance. The first is not seeing your true nature as that of God identity. The second is the wrong assumption of manly nature to yourself which makes you See many things where there is in reality only one thing.
That one thing which exists is Consciousness, All forms, all space, all time, all materials, are merely forms of Consciousness. That is not light, but it lights up everything for God to see. By it objects like sun, moon, stars, fire etc. shine. It is your, my, everyone's Consciousness that is the Light of lights. Take away that light and the world ceases to be.

The ignorance which creates the illusion of many is a creation of the limited ego, a mental object. The structure of the ego can be analysed to have the following components - Pity, doubt, shame, aversion, class, distiaction, norms of behaviour. These are the eight bonds which bind the unbindable Consciousness, and their stuff is also Consciousness. Once this is seen to be the case, the bonds loose their capacity to bind, and one's true nature is realised.

So, the paths to realisation of one's true nature as the undifferentiated God manifesting in many forms and names as the apparently diverse universe, have to sever these bonds, which are the obstacles, which like the shells of an onion are creating an entity out of vacuum, trying to protect an ego which is not there.

Each of the paths listed here and discussed in sufficient depth a self-sufficient guide for each path, strikes at the very root of ego, destroys it, burns up all the karmas and their ability to bind one. Knowing that the karmas are just paper tigers, one becomes sinless, and leads others to that state.

If one sees God in oneself and all that one sees, then no matter what he sees, he is sinless- Sins are afraid of such a onej-Karmas fall away from such a one.

God becomes sinful by thinking that he is sinful; in his total freedom, he chooses to be bound; in that state he is called man. Now, all that a man has to do to shake off the bondage and the misery which attachments causes is to choose not to remain bound. That choice must be exercised. That is the one step which man has to take towards God; God will do the rest. If you take one step to him, he will take ten steps to you.

If you sit and meditate, you will see God. If you sing to God, God will dance for you. If you dance to God, God will embrace you. If you embrace God, he will enter you. If you enter him, he becomes one with you. God has no choice in this natter, because you are the God, and your choice is his choice too.

So, do not offer your miseries to God, because he will do the same to you. Do not ask him  to do things for you, because he will ask you to do that is ten times over. Instead, offer God your happiness, your song, your dance, your bliss, and he will do the same for you. Make efforts to eliminate your one bondage, he will come himself and remove them all.

God is a great amplifier. You whisper into the microphone, he blasts all over the place through a public address system. So God be with you in making a wise choice of your utterances!

Cooperation or competition?

Cooperation or competition? Which is better? Most of the modern society pundits say competition promotes improvements in products and upgrades technology, so vital to progress. But let us remember that we are paying a great price for this. Why? Because competition makes your competitors your natural enemies. It is us versus them. They are not us. The NIH (Not Invented Here) complex develops. So, instead of letting the best ideas prevail, and instead of letting consensus prevail, vested interests grow, which always promote their "own” ideas and put down the others. Alienation is the result; strife is the result. Nations have gone to wars on this issue.

My religion is better than yours. You should give up your religion, your faith, and adopt mine. Because it is better! We give you food if you follow our religion. In the olden days, the song was different. "We will kill you if you don't follow our religion, the only true religion in the world," (Ford used to say, "You can have all the choice colors in the world, as long as it is my brand of black color.") " Peace and prosperity if you follow me; death and destruction, eternal damnation if you don't follow me." So. competition entered religion, causing alienation among nations.

Alienation creates boundaries and Berlin walls. On a smaller scale, the walls of our homes alienate us from the rest of the wilderness. Religion came to be blamed for creating wars. "Religion is bad; throw it away. It is an escape from the world; throw it away." "Morals are bad; throw them away. Compete; outshine; become a superman. Gain power; and wield it for your personal gain." This is the path of competition. This is where it leads. If we look carefully, wherever there has been real growth, it has come about as a team effort. Two heads are better than one. Ten sticks together are stronger than one stick, which can be easily broken. 

Cooperation has been the real key, You can have better ideas than me. That does not make me stupid. That only means I am made differently. That may be because I am meant to implement ideas rather than to generate them. I may be better in doing that. How many of the ideas that are coming up can be called entirely your own? You see farther than Newton did because you are aware of what he has done -- you are literally standing on his shoulders. The whole point is that the best ideas come out and the best ideas get propagated with cooperation and encouragement rather than with destructive criticism.

If you grew up all alone in wilderness, had no language and had no education, do you think you could have made earth-shaking discoveries? No chance. You won't even be able to think because you don't have a language to think in. You will only be able to feel; that is the language you were born with. Much of what we are able to contribute comes from the environment. Ignore the environment, alienate the environment and you lose.Cooperation. Resonance with nature and environment. Harmony. Peace. These are the human values approaching divinity. Competition. Struggle for success. Fear of failure. Loss of face. Frustration. Anger. Violence. Neuroses. These are subhuman values. They disrupt peace, stability, harmony and the environment. What is religion? It tells you, "If you do this, this and this, you will be happy and you will make others happy. If not, you will be unhappy and/or make other unhappy. So do this and don't do that." It is a belief, a faith, based on wellconsidered, rational and provable assertions. Religion is an opinion. Its content is usually determined by some local factors and some universal factors. It is an evolving opinion. Like science.

There is no difference between religion and science. Science was originally called philosophy. Physics was published in philosophical magazines. There are parts of religion that are local. They are particular to a culture, to a micro-environment. Clearly there is no point in pushing them on everyone. The universal parts are common to all religions.The universal parts of religion need no pushing on anyone. Every religion says, "You must extend your love to all." But when comes to practice, the local factors dominate. When you forget that local factors should be applied only locally, you start saying things like, "Hindus should love only Hindus and not Muslims," or that Christians should love only Christians and not Hindus or Muslims or Buddhists. This is where things start going sour. Religion itself is not the cause of strife, but the way it is misunderstood and misused. The clash is always a clash of value systems. What is an excellent opportunity to create harmony, a symphony of religions is lost in trying to impose your value systems -- which are local to you -- on others. Variety can create harmony; and is the essence of it. Just as genetic diversity is the essence of ecological balance. Why should we be all clones of one sect? Why can't we have different approaches to God or Goddess? Why should there be only one God? Is not a variety of personal relationships with lower creatures possible? Then why not variety in Gods and their manifestations in God Men and God Women? Why can't we have a hierarchy of helpers? Must we call on the President of the country every time a tap in our house is leaking? It is easier to call a plumber and fix it rather than wait for the President to find time to come and do our personal job. Polytheism originates from this idea of different levels in divine functions.

The solution to world's problems is really very, very simple. So simple that we fail to recognize it even though it is staring at us in the face. We can sit together and decide to erase our boundaries. Just a stroke of a pen! Then all the defence expenditure can be eliminated. Another stroke of a pen! Then poverty can be erased from the face of the earth. Another stroke of a pen! One world. One country. One people. One currency. All it needs is one week perhaps. Or less. Who will do it? The children who are the rulers of tomorrow. I am a dreamer. But we need to dream at this stage.

Love, Amritananda (1992)