Why Tantra Puts the Goddess First

We can think of God as male, we can think of God as female. It much better to think of God as female, that is what the Upaniṣads say. “Matṛ devo bhava”. A woman who is symbolized by Śrī Mata, is compassionate. By worshipping a woman as the embodiment of Devi, we get all the enjoyment that we want, all the pleasures that we want, we get peace of mind, and in Yoga aspect, we get release from the cycle of births and deaths, we get Mokṣa.

This is why all the murtis are female. Even in the Bindusthanam at the top, there is Sahasrākṣī above Sadāśiva. She is larger in size than Śiva’s idol. In the Saṃpradāya of the tradition sculptures, what is more important is shown as bigger and being above what is less important since the woman is Guru in the Tantra tradition, she is shown as being on top and more, important.

The woman is the dynamic aspect and the man is the static aspect in Tantra. Their combination is what is worshipped in the Bindusthanam. They are existence (Śiva) and awareness (Śakti). Awareness gives meaning to existence and is considered more important.

The Lalitā Sahasranāma says, “Śivā svādhīna-vallabhā.” She is the Wife of Śiva, but Her husband is under Her control. The intent is to tell people that Parāśakti, the dynamic energy that is creating, manifesting and nourishing the entire world is the highest possible truth. The worship of the Mother is to worship the beauty and aesthetics of Nature.

A first look at the Lalitā Kramam: Intimacy with God

 

 (from "A Jewel From My Mother's Crown"): 

I would like to be intimate with my God. I would like to see God in front of me, not as something unknown to me, but just like I am seeing you. I want to talk to God, to that Higher Intelligence, and I want to experience it as a reality, not something that I imagine. I would like to gather some experiences in this life that will give me that tranquil state and reenact to get a more perfect version than I have been able to experience. This is the essence of the second part of the pūjā, the offering of the Sixty Four Intimate Services to God.

You try to see all the elements of Goddess in another human being. You invoke the Goddess into a little girl, a single woman or a couple and you worship them as embodiments of Goddess. Goddess is also in you, whether you are male or female. It is Goddess who is worshipping herself.

This is where the question of Tantrā comes in. Tantrā speaks of interaction with others. The question is: as you relate yourself with others, are you trying to keep your separateness and relate to them as separate entities, or are you trying to relate to others through merging as you relate to yourself?

Jesus Christ has given a beautiful answer to this question. It is worth repeating. Love thy neighbor as thyself. Not as somebody else, because if you think of your neighbor as somebody else then the question of desire, of lust, of judgment can come in. If you are loving thy neighbor as thyself, is there any desire in that? If there is desire it can be fulfilled without any restrictions or inhibitions. If I want to enjoy myself, love myself, or make love to myself, who can stop me? I am free.

I go into the bathroom and take a soap to wash my body. Is the rest of my body ashamed that my right hand is taking the soap and rubbing me all over? It is not. There cannot be a sense of shame in unity. In the context of pūjā, notion of unity rather than separation is to be experienced. The idea that what I am seeing is myself should never be lost sight of.

For intimacy to happen there can be no restrictions of any sort. That is where the nudity comes into tantrā. You cannot surrender yourself to your partner if you say, “I am a woman. I must not remove my clothes.” You and your partner are not different people. You are trying to merge into one.

The word digambara does not mean just the removal of clothes. It is a merging of the minds, of thoughts. You are thinking the same thoughts that I am thinking. You are experiencing the same things that I am experiencing. There is a transference into the other being, an expansion of your consciousness to include the other being as yourself. Both of you are experiencing the same thoughts without talking. That is digambara. That is when you are united. That is the intent of Tantrā.

Touch alone is not the intent of Tantrā. All the five senses are included. When I am able to see you, when I can touch you, taste you, talk to you, experience you in all possible ways, like I am experiencing myself, then I can say, okay, I have seen God. Otherwise it is only a partial manifestation. I don't want a partial experience, I want a totality, the love of God directly.

In the 64 intimate services to the Mother, you are giving Her a bath and She is giving you a bath at the same time. Both experiences are there. You are not different from Her. What She is experiencing you are experiencing. It is only when the experience is common that you can say the union has taken effect.

Suppose I rub my right hand over my left hand, the feeling of being touched is in the left hand. The feeling of touching is in the right hand. Both these hands belong to me. Both these experiences belong to me, they are occurring in me at the same time. But if I am touching someone else, the experience of touching is in me, but the experience of being touched is not in me. The separateness has come. If I am being touched by somebody else, then the act of being touched is there but the act of touching is not in me.

When your consciousness pervades the consciousness of the other, then you are totally united. You have lost your boundaries. When you are experiencing yourself as the other, the sense of shame has no place. You are not ashamed of yourself. The sense of other has no relevance. It is only in the sense of advaita (in a sense of unity) the pūjā should be performed.

Advaita in theory is Vēda. Advaita in practice is Tantrā. Tantrā means practice, proving the ideas through experiment. Through practice you try to prove and become clear about what the theory has said.

Each of the four Vēdas have certain aspects of tantrā:

1. Ŕg Vēda is what you have seen or heard in your meditation.

2. Yajur Vēda is the compilation of these individual pieces of revelation into a structure that can be used as a ritual.

3. Sāma Vēda is the singing and dancing rituals spontaneously.

4. Atharvaṇa Vēda is how to apply and share this knowledge, how to use it as a weapon to remove evil tendencies in us or to attract, empower and help somebody.

Sometimes you have got to hurt. What is it that you have to hurt? Your fear you have got to hurt. You have got to get rid of it. Your lust you have got to hurt, to get rid of it; your internal enemies you have got to kill. That is what Devī does. She kills Mahiṣāsura; a buffalo is to be offered as sacrifice to Her.

What is this Mahiṣa? Mahiṣa is the bull which represents blind, hurtful lust. Lust has to be transformed into something higher. Lust means that the notion of the other is preserved and you want it badly, no matter what cost. You want to grab and seek only for your pleasure, ignoring the other's sentiments or feelings. That is lust. This has to be transformed.

Transformation means changing its nature. Transformation means killing its present nature, and giving birth to a new nature.

However, love cannot survive without lust. Let us understand this. The lotus flower is born in the mud, then grows in the water. Its flower comes out into the open, into air, and looks to the light and blooms when the sun comes out.

We are like the lotus. You are born in flesh. You can say, “I don't want this flesh, I want to throw it away,” and then you cut off the lotus from the stem. It is the lotus itself that will die.

It is the fear, the lust, the greed and the jealousy which are transformed into love. It is the demonic that have to be transformed into the divine. But you cannot totally destroy the disorder. Order and disorder have to be in balance.

A Brief Glimpse at the Śrī Kramam

 (from "A Jewel From My Mother's Crown"): 

First you worship the Guru, then you make your bath a ritual by invoking the Goddess into you and worshipping Her in your body. When you are taking a bath, you are indeed giving a bath to Her, without any sense of shame. The sense of shame comes from the notion of the other. Fear and shame go away when you realize that whom you are worshipping is your own self. You can recite the Śrī Sūktam and all the Sūktams that you know when you are taking a bath because you are indeed the Goddess.

Next you worship the forty-four triangles of the Śrī Cakra. Think of the central part of Śrī Cakra as a beautiful palace of jewels and the most beautiful things in the world, where Śivā and Śakti are making love among celestial dancers and nymphs, in a very erotic place filled with beauty and harmony and grace and loving couples.

You realize that you are in a very limited state of being and you try to overcome this state by resetting yourself to the state of being the Goddess. How do you do that? By thinking like this:

“OK, I am sixty years old now. So what? Age is just a concept. I am also a 16 year old girl bubbling with joy and happiness and not crippled by my age, or pulled down by my worries. I am free and I want to look at every moment as an opportunity to grow in whatever way I can and to help others in whatever way I can. I will share my beauty, share my joy, my bubbling enthusiasm and power with others. This is what I am, this is what I will do.”

So saying, I reset myself to this state by getting rid of this old, useless, stupid, worrisome kind of existence that I am going through and say, “Let me burn this body and get rid of all the muck that I have acquired through social conditioning and programming. I will reconstitute my body to be forever 16, beautiful, powerful.” This aspect of the pūjā is called the Virajā Homaṃ.

Then you imagine that you have just become a body of light. And you merge with the cosmos and become a ball of light. This ball of light condenses and turns into the most beautiful, most harmonious, most loving, most wonderful, most powerful and most enriching kind of a being. You are a 16 year old girl, Ananda Bhairavī. She is enjoying herself nonstop with her consort Ananda Bhairava, playfully acting all the moods, and out of their enjoyment is coming this world full of beauty, of harmony, of loving, of caring, of compassion.

It is not the world demarcated as Germany, Austria, Denmark, North America, South America, Canada, Brazil, India, Pakistan, and China.

When you fly, you go to the sky, you go to the satellites, do you see any boundaries there? None. It is we that created our boundaries. If the world was governed by women who care for their children, then they would come forward and say, let’s get rid of all these boundaries and make one world. It’s too small, it’s just one village, and we can’t afford to destroy it. We won’t destroy our children, we will teach them to be loving and caring.

Thus you go through the process of creating an immortal body for yourself. It is going to continue to exist after your mortal coil has been shed. It will continue to do good because you are going to evolve through the fourteen different worlds. This you do with the power of your imagination, the power of your creativity, your visualization acuteness, the clarity with which you can perceive things. With these things you create an image. This image goes and does whatever good it does. It is just like a child born out of you which continues its existence independent of you.

You can try to control it. You can try to make a friend of it. You can create eight simultaneous existences which can work independently. Why eight? It is eight because the properties of God are eightfold. They are spatially different. Actually, time-wise you can have sixteen different forms.

After you do the Virajā Homaṃ, you do Vajra Pañjara Nyāsam. It means that you are creating for yourself an indestructible cage. This cage has the power of the Śrī Cakra. As long as the Śrī Cakra and the cosmos exist, you are going to live in this cage. Once the world is dissolved, you dissolve. You are merging with Śivā. That is the format you are trying to create for yourself.

Essence of the Ritual of the Śrī Cakra Pūjā

 (from "A Jewel From My Mother's Crown"): 

The ritual is a process of training by which you try to understand yourself, by which you try to relate yourself to the world around you, by which you can say, “yes”, I have lived a rich, harmonious, empowering life for myself. For those around me, for whomever I have come in contact with, I have tried to help them in whatever way I can, to enable them to have this kind of feeling — the ritual is useful.

Conducting your life with happiness is a ritual. Everything is a ritual. When I talk with you it is a ritual. When I gesture, it is a ritual. When I take a bath it is a ritual. When I take food it is a ritual. When I get up from the bed it is a ritual. Life itself is a ritual.

You can invoke anything into yourself. You can invoke all the evil in the world into yourself. You can invoke all the good in the world into yourself. It is your choice. How you want to live your life and whether you want to make your life happy for yourself, or a disaster for yourself and others, is in your mind. What kinds of thoughts you entertain — that is the kind of situations you attract to yourself. That is the reality which you manifest for yourself.

This is where the paths differ. Those paths which make you and others happy are called the right paths. Those which make you unhappy and those around you unhappy are called the wrong paths. The wise ones choose the right paths and try to avoid the wrong ones. This is where wisdom lies.

You are wise if you can learn from your own experiences. You are wiser still if you can learn from others’ experiences. You are a fool if you don't learn even from your own experience! And most of us never learn even from our own experiences. We develop a pattern of repeating the same mistakes again and again foolishly, compulsively.

We continue foolishly with our old patterns of thinking and old moulds of behavior, of finding fault with others, as if we are free of them! I am a repository of faults. But not a single fault of mine appears to me. The slightest fault of another appears to me.

Sai Baba keeps telling people, “Don't find fault with others. If there is some little good that you can find in others, tell it to your friends.” Forgive and forget the faults of others. This way you can increase the area of harmony and cooperation; even with those that restrict you, you can increase your heart space in which you allow others to come into you.

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” Jesus once said. Do you like to be criticized? You don't. Then why do you criticize others? Do you like to be loved? Yes. Then why don't you love others?

What you give, you receive. If you don't give, you don't receive. The best thing to give is love, intimacy, affection, a kind word. We find it difficult to do this. Do you like to be rejected? You don't. Then why do you reject others?

This is the kind of understanding you must have. What applies to you, you must apply to others and see that you are always engaged in such actions which attract similar actions to you.

What you like to happen to you, you must do to others. You wish to get wealth? Give it to others. You wish to gain knowledge? Teach others. You wish to be praised? Praise others.

Praising others is praising God. If you praise God, God praises you. What better than having God on your side?

"Spiritual Reality: Meditation, Journey Within" by Guruji

Booklet compiled by Guruji and published by Devipuram 

Spiritual Reality

Spiritual Reality takes you through a unique journey. A journey which will change your life. A journey which will enrich you and make you knowledgeable and peaceful.

Spiritual Reality is a programme on meditation and meditational experiences. While you watch this programme be totally relaxed. Just witness it. Just flow with it. Don't try to analyse it. Totally be with it.

If any thought comes, cut the thought, take a deep breath and just be with it. It is just for you.

In this whole creation we are just a small speck. Each one of us is in search of good health, peace, knowledge, prosperity, harmony and overall a happy and peaceful life at all given times and situations. Each and every person strives hard to achieve this state, yet can this really be achieved? Yes, this can be achieved. All this is possible only by understanding and self knowledge.

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Cosmic Energy

The cosmic energy exists every where in the cosmos. It is the bond between the galaxies, the planets, humans and molecules. It is the space between each and everything. It is this bond which keeps the whole cosmos in order. Cosmic energy is the life force. This cosmic energy is essential to maintain the order of our life and to expand our consciousness. Cosmic energy is the base for all our actions and functions.

We receive some amount of cosmic energy in deep sleep and in total silence. We are using this energy for our day-to-day activities of our mind like seeing, speaking, hearing, thinking and all actions of our body. This limited energy gained through sleep is not sufficient for these activities. This is why we feel exhausted, tired and tensed. This leads to mental and physical stress and all kinds of illnesses. The only way to overcome this is to get more and more cosmic energy.

Cosmic energy is essential to maintain the order of our life, to lead a healthy and happy life, to totally involve in all situations we are in, to obtain knowledge and finally for expansion of our consciousness.

Abundant cosmic energy is obtained only through meditation.

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Meditation

Sleep is unconscious meditation. Meditation is conscious sleep. In sleep we get limited energy. In meditation we get abundant energy. This energy enhances the power of our body, mind and intellect. It opens the doors for our sixth sense and beyond. With this boosted energy, through meditation, we will be relaxed, happy and healthy. It also helps to reach greater heights in the physical realm.

Meditation is nothing but a journey of our consciousness towards the self. In meditation we consciously travel from body to mind, mind to intellect, intellect to self and beyond.

To do meditation first we have to stop all the functions of our body and mind that is, body movement, seeing, speaking and thinking.

Now let us know how to do meditation:

For meditation the first thing is the posture. You may sit in any posture. The posture must be very comfortable and stable. We can meditate either on floor or on a chair. We can meditate in any place wherever we feel comfortable.

Sit comfortably. Cross your legs, clasp your fingers. Now close your eyes. Stop inner and outer chatter. Don't chant any mantra. Just relax, totally relax.

When we cross our legs and clasp our fingers, energy circuit is formed and gives more stability. Eyes are gates to the mind, so eyes should be closed. Mantra chanting or any chattering inner or outer are the activities of the mind. So, it should be stopped. When body relaxes, consciousness travels to the next zone - mind and intellect.

Mind is nothing but a bundle of thoughts. There are numerous thoughts always coming to the surface of the mind. Whenever there are thoughts in the mind, we may get many questions - known or unknown. To transcend the mind and intellect one has to observe the breath.

Observation is the nature of the self. So one should just witness the breath. Don't do conscious breathing. Don't inhale or exhale consciously. let inhalation or exhalation happen without effort. Just observe the normal breathing. This is the main key. This the way.

Don't go behind the thoughts. Don't think queries, questions or thoughts. Cut the thoughts. Come back to the breath. Observe the normal breathing. Be with your breath. Then the density of the thoughts reduces. Slowly breath becomes thinner and shorter. Finally breath becomes smallest and settles like a flash in between eye brows. In this state one will have no breath and no thought. He will be totally thoughtless. This state is called "Nirmal Stithi" or no thought state. This is the meditative state.

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Nirmal Stithi

In this state we will be under the shower of cosmic energy. The more meditation one does, the more cosmic energy one receives.

This cosmic energy flows through the etheric body. It is also called the "Etheric Body".

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Etheric Body

The energy body forms with more than 72,000 Nadis or energy tubes, which run all across the body. All these energy tubes start from the top of the head region. This region is called "Brahma Randhra". These Nadis spread throughout the body like roots and shoots of a plant.

The energy body is the main base for the design of our life. This energy body is the main source of all our actions and even our existence.

Our energy body will receive cosmic energy during deep sleep and meditation. We are using this energy for our body and mind activities like seeing, speaking, hearing, thinking and all physical activities. All these functions are totally based on the incoming cosmic energy.

The inflow of cosmic energy is purely based on our thoughts. When we have thoughts, the inflow of cosmic energy is obstructed. In other words, our thoughts are the stumbling blocks for the inflow of cosmic energy. When the inflow of cosmic energy is less, energy in the energy tubes depletes. The depletion causes etheric patches in the energy body. These etheric patches gradually lead to diseases in the physical body. In other words, root cause for all diseases is the lack of energy in the etheric body.

In meditation we get abundant cosmic energy. It flows through all our energy tubes of the energy body. When cosmic energy is passing through the energy tubes, because of its heavy flow it cleanses all etheric patches. When etheric patches are cleansed, we come out of all our illnesses.

When energy starts flowing through the Brahma Randhra, we feel heaviness in the head region or heaviness of the whole body. When energy is cleansing the energy tubes in the particular region, we may get itching sensation or pull in that region. Sometimes we may experience pain in various places in physical body. For these pains we need not take any medicine. All these pains will vanish by doing more meditation. By taking in more and more cosmic energy through meditation, we come out of all physical and mental illnesses.

If we meditate inside the pyramid, meditation state can be achieved three times faster than normal.

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Pyramid and Pyramid Power

Let us now know about pyramid and pyramid power.

Pyramid is the most stable structure, which receives the highest cosmic energy in this planet earth.

Pyramid forms at the angle of 52° 51 min and because of this angle it receives highest cosmic energy. Pyramid can be constructed with any material. Materials make no difference in the receiving of cosmic energy. Pyramid has to be aligned to perfect cardinal directions - north, south, east and west. Cosmic energy gets accumulated at 1/3 height from the base of the pyramid. This place is known as "King's Chamber".

Cosmic energy will be maximum in the King's Chamber and it spreads throughout the pyramid. Nirmal Stithi is attained three times faster if one meditates inside the pyramid.

Pyramid can be used for communication with higher frequencies. Meditation in the pyramid helps in healing and for all meditational experiences.

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Summary

Now, let us go through once again what we have understood so far:

Meditation is a journey towards the self. For this we have to transcend the body and mind. By assuming a comfortable posture, the body totally relaxes and this facilitates transcending the body consciousness.

By observing our own breathing, we transcend the mind. When we transcend the body and mind, then the cosmic energy flows.

Cosmic energy cleanses all the illnesses of the body. Thereby we will be healthy without any medicine.

More and more cosmic energy relaxes all the tensions and stress. As we practice more and more meditation, mind becomes calm and has more space. This leads to higher memory power. More and more meditation leads to higher understanding capabilities, and it leads to better interpersonal relationships.

Meditation enhances the happiness of family life. Mind will be tranquil. Meditation makes you healthy and peaceful.

Meditation can be done at any place. Meditation can be done at any time. Even during the journey.

In one sitting meditation should be done for a time equal to one's age. For instance a 30 years old man should do meditation at least for 30 minutes in one sitting.

For meditation you need not leave the family life. Every one should do meditation. Children are the best meditators. They can start meditation by the age of 5 years.

For meditation you need not go in search of any physical Guru, Master. The Guru, the Master is within you. Your breath is your Master.

Meditation is consciousness towards the self. To do meditation one has to transcend the body and mind. When we transcend the body and mind we reach the self. When we receive abundant cosmic energy by more meditation, our self-knowledge expands.

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Knowledge

Meditation takes you to the ends of the higher knowledge. Knowledge is nothing but experience. Experience is nothing but totally involving yourself.

By practicing more and more meditation we receive higher energy. With this higher energy, higher involvement is achieved in every aspect which leads to higher knowledge.

Through knowledge we get higher understanding and wisdom. With this understanding we understand that we are not just the body and mind. We understand that we are miraculous beings. We understand all the situations we come across and come out of all our problems by higher understanding.

Higher energy and higher knowledge expand the consciousness. Expansion of the consciousness is the very purpose of the self. Higher knowledge is obtained only through higher senses like third eye and astral body.

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Third Eye

The third eye is a very powerful tool of the soul. To see, to feel, to hear the higher frequency realities. These three functions of the soul are known as the third eye.

By practicing more and more meditation more energy flows. More energy activates the third eye. It is a great experience for a meditator. At the time of activation of the third eye, we feel an itching sensation or pulling sensation at the forehead region. We start seeing glimpses of fantasy colors rotating around us. We hear various sounds. We feel as if we are travelling in a pitch black tunnel.

When the etheric body gets sufficient cosmic energy by more meditation, our third eye gets activated. Here we perceive crystal clear visions of this plane and other planes.

With third eye perception, we see many things clearer than physical vision. We see other frequency realities. We see the things which are not present with the help of five senses. We feel so many things which can't be expressed with words. We hear inner voices, sounds or sounds of instruments from other frequencies. We see masters who are not there physically with us. We see masters in a physical form as we are used to them.

After more meditation we start seeing the master like a bright light. Even by seeing the bright light we feel the identity of the master. We can hear the messages from the masters. We feel like moving in a tunnel and finally merging with a light.

Through third eye experiences we know we can get answers for all problems through messages from the masters or by seeing other frequency realities or as a feeling.

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Astral Body

Astral body is a tool of the self to perceive other frequency realities. Astral Body is one more form for consciousness just like the physical body. In normal condition our consciousness is spread throughout our physical body. When we receive sufficient amount of energy and when we feel to perceive other frequency realities consciousness moves into the form of Astral body.

We perceive astral body experiences unconsciously in our sleep. One can perceive astral body experiences consciously in meditation.

Astral body travels beyond space and time. After astral experiences we start perceiving new dimensions.

In meditation after receiving abundant cosmic energy the consciousness which is spread every where in the body starts moving towards a point. While consciousness is moving we experience jerks in the physical body. We feel as if our body is floating. We don't feel the hands and legs, we feel lightness of the body like a feather, movements may be experienced in different parts of the body or sometimes one may experience as if the whole body is rotating. These are known as astral moments.

By practicing more and more meditation we get more cosmic energy. The consciousness taking the form of Astral Body starts rotating very fast which causes heavy movements.

After these movements the Astral body starts coming out of the physical body with a link called "Silver Cord".

Silver Cord is nothing but a high vibrant consciousness which transfers the messages of the physical body to the astral body and vice versa. With this we do Astral Travel. Astral Travel is a travel of our consciousness to known and unknown places and frequencies.

By doing Astral travel we get highest knowledge and understanding of the self. In Astral travel our astral body can pass through all physical materials, all elements like earth, water, fire, wind and ether. Astral body can go to all other frequencies without any limitations.

After coming out of the Astral body the meditator sees his own physical body. By this he gets a great understanding. He understands that he is not just body and mind but he stays in the body. This is the great understanding.

Every one should experience astral travel. By experiencing astral travel our limitedness will vanish and we understand that we are unlimited. By this experience, we understand that we are the consciousness. We understand that we are unlimited. We understand new dimensions of life.

By practicing more and more meditation we will receive more cosmic energy. Cosmic energy improves our involvement in whatever we are in. We understand the totality about the situations. This understanding is nothing but knowledge.

The common person will get only experience, but fails to perceive the knowledge in that situation. It is because he experiences the situation with physical understanding alone. But a meditator will understand the situation in total. It is so because he knows that he is not just the body. He knows that he stays in the body. He understands that the situations are for his evolution.

After experiencing all the meditational experiences and implementing them in our practical life we will get greater understanding. This understanding opens up several thousand doors which give new dimensions of perceptions in our life. On understanding, our perception and our knowledge expands a lot. This leads to the expansion of our consciousness, which is nothing but having wisdom. We experience this state of wisdom as a thousand petalled golden lotus.

Each and every petal is a new dimension of understanding. By perceiving more and more dimensions we understand more knowledge of other existences. We understand what is birth and what is death.

We come to this earth place as a speck of cosmic consciousness. While coming from the source we come with etheric body as a structure of the self. We come to this earth plane to have unique experiences. For our experiences, we select the parents, environment and situations. The whole design of life is known to the self.

After selecting the mother, the speck of consciousness enters the mother's womb. After consciousness enters the mother's womb the foetus gets life. The physical body takes the shape according to the cosmic energy in the etheric body and the consciousness will be changed frequently to the source till it takes its first breath. After coming out of the mother's womb it takes its first external breath. This is known as birth.

From day 1 to the age of 7 we will have awareness of the source. The mind starts taking its shape in the age of 7. It completely forms by age 14. The intellect starts its activation from the age of 14 and is fully developed by the age of 21. From the age 21 to the age of 28 one experiences the combination of body, mind and intellect.

From the age of 28 life depends on self knowledge. If one does not have the awareness of the self, his consciousness lies in between body and mind. Because of this, miseries start. He can't understand the situations. He moves himself into concealed rigidness. Rigidness blocks the cosmic flow. He suffers physical illness, stress and tensions.

He passes his days without awareness. He can't understand the very purpose of his life. He passes from childhood days to youth, then old age and finally passes away from this earth place without completing the purpose of coming to the earth place.

This is what we call death. Even after death, the layer of rigid mind, with lack of understanding, will not allow the consciousness to reach source.

Because of the lack of understanding, he creates his own hell and heaven and stays as a lower astral being.

If one starts one's life being with the self, one will always be blissful in all given situations. Even after death, one would be living in the higher frequencies, and will go back to the source.

By obtaining higher knowledge through the Third eye, Astral travel, knowledge of birth and death, one will have perfect understanding of body, mind, intellect, self and life force.

One understands that the consciousness is the combination of energy and knowledge. Consciousness comes to this plane to give you energy and knowledge. By living all the time with this understanding one starts getting a higher understanding about the existence of the whole creation.

With this understanding one will become miraculous creator. Then whatever one speaks it manifests, whatever one thinks it manifests and whatever one does it becomes a creation. This is enlightenment.

Dattatreya Mantra 108x Chant by Guruji

 

oṁ hrīṁ drāṁ

dattātreya hare kṛṣṇā unmattānanda-dāyakā

digambare-mune bāla-piśāca jñāna-sāgarā

drāṁ hrīṁ oṁ

Daśa Mudrās in Śrī Vidyā Upāsana (Guruji’s Explanation)

 

Devipuram · 10 Mudrās of Śrī Vidyā

Today we will be talking about Daśa Mudrās. What is the meaning of the word mudrā?
«Mudam rāti iti mudrā» — because it brings happiness it is called mudrā.
Mudam means happiness, pleasure.

In Śrī Vidyā upāsana we use 10 mudrās. In Lalitā Sahasranāma it says:
daśa-mudrā-samārādhyā.

These 10 mudrās have the following bījākṣaras:

• sarva-saṃkṣobhiṇī (drāṁ)

• sarva-vidrāviṇī (drīṁ)

• sarvā-karṣiṇī (klīṁ)

• sarva-vaśankarī (blūṁ)

• sarvon-mādinī (saḥ)

• sarva-mahānkuśe (kroṁ)

• sarva-khecarī (hskhphreṁ)

• sarva-bīje (hsauṁ)

• sarva-yone (aiṁ)

• sarva-trikhaṇḍe (hsraiṁ, hsrklīṁ, hsrsauḥ)

These 10 are called daśa-mudrās.

Broadly speaking drāṁ, drīṁ, klīṁ, blūṁ, saḥ are the five arrows of Manmatha, pañcha-tanmātra-sāyakā, which Lalitā Devī is holding in Her right hand. Drāṁ, drīṁ, klīṁ, blūṁ, saḥ are the śabda, sparśa, rūpa, rasa and gandha. They are the five arrows of sensory pleasures that come through the interaction with the world at large.

Kroṁ is ankuśa, anger. Whereas engagement with sensory perceptions brings pleasure or displeasure, they represent attractions. Kroṁ represents anger. If you anger somebody then you push him away, you don't want him/her to come near. Anger is something that pushes away and rāga is something that pulls in. The first five are the mind engaging in interactions with the world, which brings in attractions, and the other one, ankuśa, means repulsiveness.

Hskhphreṁ represents detachment from bondages and therefore the ability to let go of things. It’s like not being born with the gravity of Earth, but you are able to fly away into space. Kha means space, Ha, Sa — Śiva and Śakti, Phreṁ — through the fire they move away into space.

Hsauṁ — Ha is Śiva, Sa is Śakti, Oṁ (Auṁ) — seed coming from the union of Śiva and Śakti. The seed is the information about how to manufacture a new entity, a creative capsule containing the information.

Aiṁ represents time, cause-and-effect relationship, causality, the creation. Aiṁ — Saraswatī. It is Saraswatī who creates, Kālī who destroys. Between them this creation and destruction is going on. Creation is called aiṁ, and destruction is called sauḥ.

These mudrās have been called secret. You are not supposed to show these mudrās in public. When you go into the temple and you see someone doing mudrās and they see someone come in, they quickly hide them. Nobody should be able to figure out what they are doing. Because you are interacting with the Goddess and you are talking to Her in sign language. Mudrās are a sign language for communication with the Goddess.

What kind of communication are we asking?

Remember, Goddess is the world. You can interact with Her with śabda, with sparśa, with rūpa, rasa and gandha — all these five elements. And you can interact with Her when you are detached and moving in the sky. Or you can interact with Her through knowledge, the information exchange saying: “You talk to me, I talk to you. Will you give me permission for that?” Exchange of information. “You are the creatrix and I want to worship every aspect of your creation.” So these are the different meanings of mudrās.

Now let’s go a little more in depth.

Drāṁ — in one sense, it represents the way you fold the fingers. When you fold the fingers in certain ways you are creating lines that are going to change your destiny. Drāṁ means sound, śabda. It is called sarva-saṃkṣobhiṇī mudrā. Kṣobhana means agitation; saṃkṣobhana means great agitation coming from śabda. You hear nice music and become peaceful. You hear insults and you get agitated. Road noises, breaking glass — all these come from Drāṁ. We are requesting the Goddess: “Can I speak to You?” and She says “Yes, I’ll speak to you.”

Permission is not under your control, it is under Her control. She gives permission with the last and final mudrā, which is not shown by the devotee but by Her: hsraiṁ, hsrklīṁ, hsrsauḥ — permission to worship through icchā, jñāna and kriyā.

• Hsraiṁ — Icchā — Saraswatī — White

• Hsrklīṁ — Jñāna — Lakṣmī — Yellow

• Hsrsauḥ — Kriyā — Kālī — Red

Then you say:

mahā padma vanāntasthe kāraṇānanda divya vigrahe
sarva-bhūtā hite mātaḥ ehyehi parameśvari

…and invite Her into the suvasinī, yantra, or icon.

Drīṁ is sparśa — touch. “Can I touch You?” and She says “Yes.”

In pūjā, interaction takes place through japa, arcana, homa, tarpaṇa.
Mantra is śabda.
Arcana is sparśa.
Homa is rūpa.
Tarpaṇa is rasa.
Annadāna gives strength and gravity.

This is puraścaraṇa — giving form, life, mouth, ears, and strength to the mantra.

Klīṁ is akarṣaṇa — attraction.
Blūṁ is rasa — wonder.
Saḥ is sarvon-mādinī — madness when all five arrows strike.

This madness is awakening from waking state, realizing the world is inside of you.

Kroṁ is anger directed toward the ariśaḍvarga — internal enemies — for protection and discipline.

Khecarī mudrā (hskhphreṁ) is movement in space, astral travel, expansion of awareness.

Sarva-bīja mudrā (hsauṁ) is exchange of information between Śiva and Śakti. All Āgamas are their dialogues.

Sarva-yonī mudrā (aiṁ) is worship of all chakras, all yonis.

Sarva-trikhaṇḍa mudrā (hsraiṁ, hsrklīṁ, hsrsauḥ) is Her final permission.

So the interaction between Śiva and Śakti is what is being talked about when we talk about mudrās.