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| Guruji and Aiya, mid 80-ties |
In the next 44 visualizations with the mantras, the beginning Aiṁ Hrīṁ Śrīṁ can’t be replaced. The remaining part of the mantras can be translation for ease of people who do not know Sanskrit.
Where the meaning can be clearly established, we do not consider that a mantra. Where the meaning cannot be divulged, where the words are a channel of communication, we recognize it as a mantra. That is the criterion we are using to distinguish the untranslatable mantra from the translatable parts. Ka e i la hrīṁ, Ha sa ka ha la hrīṁ, Sa ka la hrīṁ is all a mantra. It can’t be translated.
Now, what are these meditations about? These meditations are something like a guided imagery. It creates an environment in your mind’s eye. It challenges you to explore your creative visualization.
Meru is supposed to be the tallest mountain in the world. It spans the 14 worlds. And the 14 worlds are located from the bottom of the feet to the top of the head. The spinal chord is the real Meru. The spinal chord is the abode of the Goddess who travels up and down playing the music of life in the seven centers.
What do you do as you recite each mantra and visualize the corresponding image, mapping them into the forty-four triangles of the Śrī Cakra? You place a dot of sandalwood paste and kumkum on the center of the Śrī Cakra. On that you place sandalwood (symbol for semen), which is gandha perfume.
On top of gandha you place kumkum which represents blood. So again, the union of the male and the female fluids creating life is symbolically placed on the top of the Śrī Cakra with each of the mantras, or at the end of the entire visualization process.
Aiṁ Hrīṁ Śrīṁ is repeated with each phrase. This phrase means: I request Sarasvatī to teach me about Māyā and to receive the grace of Goddess Śrī. When we meditate, we first prepare ourselves for meditation by preparing a beautiful location and sitting there in a calm state. Creation of this sacred space is the intent of these 44 meditations.
1. Amṛtāmbhonidhaye namaḥ
Nidhi is an ocean; ambha is water; amṛta is nectar, or the ocean of nectar; namaḥ means I am that (ocean of nectarine waters which give and support life).
Namaḥ. A word about namaḥ. If you look at the Śiva Sūtram, Na is śabda, Ma is touch. Na means no. No touch. What could it mean, no touch? Are you not touching left and right hands with namaḥ? Aha, that is the meaning: the toucher and the touched are the same.
When do you have a touch? When there is a difference. Can a finger touch itself? A finger can touch anything else, but it cannot touch itself, yet it can be aware of itself. So when you are the object of your vision, the touch disappears, but awareness does not. The touch is there as long as the interval is there. When you say namaḥ there is no touch, no contact. It means that what I am meditating on has become myself. So I have become the ocean of nectar.
Also, you say namaḥ by joining your left hand and right hand. If you know that your left hand belongs to the female part of you and the right hand to the male part (Ardha Nārīśvara), you join the male and the female in namaḥ. Left is Vāma, what you see (Vāma = what you vomited, what came out of you).
The right is what you are. Joining of what you see with what you are is the meaning implied by joining the left and right hands. When you say namaḥ you are gesturing in effect that “I am seeing you as a separate being, but I know you and me are one”.
You are imposing the qualities of the object on which you are meditating upon onto yourself by the gesture of namaḥ. That is called meditation. In meditation, you don’t stop seeing; you don’t stop knowing; but you are becoming what you see, what you know. This state of being in which you are merged with, in yoga with the object of perception, is called Samādhi. The word Samādhi is composed of two terms: Sama = equal, Adhi = regarding. In this first meditation of Śrī Cakra, you are thinking of it as an ocean of nectar first as an object; then you are becoming the ocean of nectar.
Let me tell you about a nice custom. Hindus make the child write Oṁ Namaḥ Śivāya Siddhaṁ Namaḥ at the time of starting to learn letters. What does this mean? Oṁ is the name of God. Namaḥ — I am not seeing anything different from me. This knowledge that I am what I am seeing is Śivāya — for the good of everyone. And how you attain this state? Siddhaṁ Namaḥ. You go to a person who is a Siddha, one who is enlightened, and gesture namaḥ: “You are me”. Thus you are invoking the Siddha into yourself. Then the Siddha’s knowledge becomes yours and therefore you can become enlightened. The transfer of power or grace occurs through identification, which happens through paying attention.
Namaḥ is constantly being used as an ending here with every mantra. There are five endings which can be used normally to any pūjā. These are jaya, namaḥ, svāhā, tarpana and śuddha.
The Khaḍga Mālā Stotram is the Devī’s praise which lists the powers of Devī. It can be recited in five different ways. Śuddha Śakti Mālā means you are not adding any ending, you are just being the power yourself (not seeing any difference). Namo-anta Mālā, you are adding namaḥ at the end (seeing a difference, but knowing that you are not different from the power). Jaya-anta Mālā means you are saying jaya (victory to) at the end. Svāhā-anta Mālā means you are saying svāhā and offering ghee into the fire. And Tarpantha Mālā means you say tarpayāmi and offer water of your life in the cause of the power.
You can think of Devī as a male, as a female, or you can think of Devī as a loving couple in union. These three ways of thinking can be combined with the above five ways of endings to make 5 × 3 = 15 ways of worship. Such ways of worship are indeed an integral part of worship of Devī. They are the meanings of letters in the Pañcadaśī Mantra.
In each of the 15 days of the lunar calendar you are supposed to worship in these 15 different ways associated with that day. This is called Tithi Nitya Pūjā Vidhi. There are fifteen ways in which the Khaḍga Mālā can be worshipped. On what days Devī is worshipped in a male (liṅga) and what days Devī is worshipped in a female (yoni) and on what days Devī is worshipped as the union of the male (seer) and female (seen) is to be found in the Pañcadaśī Mantra, as given below.
In the Pañcadaśī Mantra of Devī called the Kādi Vidyā, there are three “Ka”s and the two “Ha”s which represent the male. The mantra is also the sequence of the days of lunar calendar; the first letter is the first day, the second letter the second day and so on. Śiva is supposed to be the destroyer; so the days on which we worship Devī as male Śiva are considered inauspicious for materialistic gains (but auspicious for spiritual gains). The seed letters E, I, one La, two Sa are the days on which we worship Devī as a female (yoni = mother = source). These days are obviously auspicious, for she is taking care of our material needs. However, the very best days are those in which Devī is in the form of a couple in union; these days correspond to the second and third La, and the three Hrīṁs.
So on lunar days 1, 6, 8, 9, 13 Devī is worshipped as a male; on days 2, 3, 4, 7, 12 Devī is worshipped as a female; and on days 5, 7, 10, 11, 14, 15 in a couple.
It is our normal understanding that Devī is the mother who gives us life, nourishes us through her milk and gives us knowledge. Hrīṁ is the union of the male and female which gives us life. So firstly, it is best to worship Her as male and female in union, to get all forms of creativity invoked into us. Worship of genitals therefore gives us Kriyā Śakti (called Pārvatī or Durgā or simply Mā), to manifest all kinds of creative powers in real life. Second best is to worship Her as the female only, that gives us nourishment (meditation on breasts gives that). And the last is to worship Her as a male, which helps us to detach ourselves from this world. All this information is coded into the Pañcadaśī Mantra. These notes given here are designed to help the reader to clearly visualize the meanings of the meditations.
2. Ratna-dvīpāya namaḥ
In the Amṛta ocean we have the Ratnadvīpa, the island of jewels.
3. Nānāvṛkṣa-mahodyānāya namaḥ
A beautiful garden of flowers, many big trees.
4. Kalpavṛkṣa-vāṭikāya namaḥ
Here are trees that when you sit beneath them whatever you wish is granted to you. (There is a trouble with that. If you, without thinking, think of something bad, that also will happen for you. So the Kalpavṛkṣa is a double-edged sword.)
5. Santāna-vāṭikāya namaḥ
We know we are going to die one day. So, to prolong our life we enter into relationships and we beget children. Begetting children is an attempt to gain immortality. However, we will not gain immortality this way; but it is one of the aspirations of humanity, to have children and grandchildren, and so on and to perpetuate the race.
6. Hari-candana-vāṭikāya namaḥ
Candana means the sandalwood paste; it is also a symbol for semen. Hari-candana is also called Rakta-candana (rakta = blood). Hari is Viṣṇu. The three fundamental entities are space, time and matter. Space-consciousness is called Viṣṇu, time-consciousness is called Śiva, and the union between space and time, Śiva and Viṣṇu, creates matter, Brahmā. Hari-candana is the vāsanā, rajo-guṇa of Hari, which is the desire to manifest the world in his womb of space. One of the forms of Viṣṇu is Mohinī, who entices Śiva to emit his seed. That is why Hari-candana is called Rakta-candana, the seed of the woman, the menstrual flow. Just as a woman exhibits flow between her monthly cycles, the woman called mind exhibits the flow of desire to manifest thought-forms between silences. This name means that there is a container (vāṭi) full of Hari-candana.
You realize when you go through all these meditations, that you are really visualizing the form of the yoni. They are all different aspects of the yoni, the mother of all, which can be properly called the female genital, or the cosmos, or even the mind. You visualize the garbhālaya, the womb, as a beautiful garden and a beautiful temple. Actually the word garbhālaya means the womb which is the temple in which the Mother Goddess of fertility and creativity resides. In olden times yoni was not considered a sinful thing; it was indeed worshipped as the seat of the Goddess. Phallic and female genital worship was the oldest of all forms of worship, common to all religions.
7. Mandāra-vāṭikāyai namaḥ
Grove of hibiscus flowers, which are red in color with a red pistil in its center.
8. Pārijāta-vāṭikāyai namaḥ
In the forest of hibiscus trees, there is a grove with white, very delicate and fragrant flowers with red stems which are called Pārijāta.
9. Kadamba-vāṭikāyai namaḥ
Kadamba is a garland of red flowers. All these things are relating to the different colors of red. You realize that they are all the different shades of red in the yoni.
10. Puṣya-rāga-ratna-prākārāya namaḥ
Puṣya-rāga is coral. This is the enclosure made of coral.
11. Padma-rāga-prākārāya namaḥ
This is a red jewel enclosure.
12. Gomedha-ratna-prākārāya namaḥ
This is a brown enclosure.
13. Vajra-ratna-prākārāya namaḥ
This is a diamond enclosure which is sparkling white in color. Again that represents the seed. Vajra also means a thunderbolt and the ability to keep the seed within as yogis do.
14. Vaidūrya-ratna-prākārāya namaḥ
This is again a red jewel.
15. Indra-nīla-ratna-prākārāya namaḥ
This is a deep blue. Indra also is the God of pleasure.
16. Muktā-ratna-prākārāya namaḥ
This is an enclosure of pearls.
17. Marakata-ratna-prākārāya namaḥ
This is again a red stone enclosure.
18. Vidruma-ratna-prākārāya namaḥ
Coral. Again all of these are different colored enclosures one inside the other.
19. Māṇikya-maṇḍapāya namaḥ
A hall which is made of rubies.
20. Sahasra-stambha-maṇḍapāya namaḥ
A thousand-pillared hall. Also the thousand-petal lotus at the crown of the head (of the baby inside the womb).
21. Amṛta-vāpikāyai namaḥ
The well containing nectar.
22. Ānanda-vāpikāyai namaḥ
The well of happiness.
23. Vimarśa-vāpikāyai namaḥ
Vimarśa is analysis. Prakarṣa and Vimarśa are the two feet of the Guru. Prakarṣa is enlightenment (Śiva) and Vimarśa is analysis (the foot of Devī). Your ability to discriminate between different paths to reach the goal you set for yourself is called Vimarśa.
24. Bāla-tāpa-udgārāya namaḥ
Bāla means young; tāpa is the sunlight; udgāra is the profusion. So this means the profusion of the rising sun’s light. (Sun represents passion, and Moon dispassion.)
25. Candrikā-udgārāya namaḥ
Candra is the moonlight. So this is the profusion of the moonlight.
26. Mahā-śṛṅgāra-parighāyai namaḥ
Parigha is a barrage of the great sentiment of eros.
27. Mahā-padma-āṭavyai namaḥ
Mahā-padma represents a huge number, 10 to the power of twenty. The size of the cosmos is 10 to the power of 20 times the size of the human being. There are two great nidhis: the cosmos itself, and the awareness in the cosmos. The cosmos nidhi is Śiva and the awareness of the cosmos called Śakti is the Padma-nidhi. Āṭavī means a forest. A forest of island universes is meant.
28. Cintāmaṇi-gṛha-rājāya namaḥ
Within the Padma-nidhi is the jewel of thoughts and a house built out of your imaginations. Cintāmaṇi is also a mantra “arkṣmīryaum”. It is found in the classic text on worship of Devī by Ādi Śaṅkara called Soundaryalaharī. There it states that you encapsulate the Pañcadaśī mantra with Cintāmaṇi, which is then offered in the fire of your imagination and you keep the fire glowing. This means offering ghee with the mantra “arkṣmīryaum ka e i la hrīṁ ha sa ka la hrīṁ sa ka la hrīṁ arkṣmīryaum” to the fire’s glow in your mind. If you are able to visualize the fire, offering the seed along with the mantra, then all the attainments manifest. Lalitā Sahasranāma talks of Cidagnikuṇḍa-sambhūtāyai namaḥ. Cit means consciousness. In your awareness the fire is made and the fire is sustained by the mantra. The seed of the Cintāmaṇi mantra is being placed inside the light, and this Cintāmaṇi flower is born and inside it you will see Devī, who will give you whatever you ask Her, if it be Her wish to grant you that. The house of Cintāmaṇi is the Śrī Cakra itself. The Śrī Cakra is first seen in meditation by Sage Agastya. Worship of Śrī Cakra gives Devī to the sādhaka.
29. Pūrvāmnāya-mayā-pūrvadvārāya namaḥ
Next you see the outside doors of Śrī Cakra described. The Ṛg Veda is the eastern entrance. The Ṛg Veda is the revelation of truth in meditation. This is one way to reach the Goddess.
30. Dakṣiṇāmnāya-mayā-dakṣiṇadvārāya namaḥ
The Yajur Veda is the southern entrance. Yajur Veda is the use of Ṛks in rituals. Rituals are the second way to reach the Goddess.
31. Paścimāmnāya-mayā-paścimadvārāya namaḥ
The western entrance is the Sāma Veda. Sāma Veda is singing the Ṛks. Song and dance are the third way to reach the Goddess.
32. Uttarāmnāya-mayā-uttaradvārāya namaḥ
The northern entrance is the Atharvaṇa Veda. Atharvaṇa Veda is the practical use of the Vedic hymns to achieve ends magically. Helping others and yourself through Her grace is the fourth way of reaching the Goddess.
33. Ratna-dvīpa-valayāya namaḥ
A circle of islands made of jewels are surrounding this island.
34. Maṇi-mayā-mahā-siṁhāsanāya namaḥ
The great throne guarded by lions is made out of jewels, sitting on four living pillars.
35. Brahma-mayā-eka-mañca-pādāya namaḥ
Brahmā is one of the legs. It represents the Mūlādhāra Cakra (the root chakra at the cervix).
36. Viṣṇu-mayā-eka-mañca-pādāya namaḥ
The second leg is Viṣṇu. Viṣṇu is the Svādhiṣṭhāna Cakra (2nd chakra at the entrance to birth channel).
37. Rudra-mayā-eka-mañca-pādāya namaḥ
The next leg is made of Rudra. Rudra represents the Maṇipūra Cakra (3rd chakra at the navel).
38. Īśvara-mayā-eka-mañca-pādāya namaḥ
The next leg is Īśvara which is the Anāhata Cakra (the 4th, heart chakra).
39. Sadāśiva-eka-mañca-phalakāya namaḥ
Sadāśiva is the Viśuddhi Cakra (the throat chakra).
40. Haṁsa-tūla-talpāya namaḥ
Above the Viśuddhi Cakra is a very soft swan-down bed. It also means the soft yogic breath called the kevala kumbhaka. She is sitting softly on the ingoing breath So and on the outgoing breath Ham.
41. Haṁsa-tūla-mahopadhānāya namaḥ
A soft swan’s-down cover. This is also the life floating on the breath. Tūla means a feather floating freely in the wind.
42. Kausumbha-staraṇāya namaḥ
The red satin sheet is covering this bed.
43. Mahā-vitanakāya namaḥ
The enclosure which prevents others from seeing what is happening inside. It is all inside the mind of the devotee. No one else can come inside your cosmic mind and understand what is happening there.
44. Mahāmāyā-yavanikāyai namaḥ
The covering Māyā which separates you from that which you are seeing. Only when that separation is removed are you joined with Devī.
This completes the 44 meditations on the 44 triangles in the central parts of the Śrī Cakra.
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