Sri Vidya — From Desire to Identity (Advaita in Practice)

What is Śrīvidyā?

Śrīvidyā is understanding how this world came to be, and my role in it. It proves step by step that there is a collective consciousness like an ocean in which we swim like fishes, breathing in the waters of life. It also helps in understanding how a little drop can contain an ocean of which it is but a small part.

Is it important to learn it?

Śrīvidyā lets you feel the unbelievable wonder of your identity with Brahmā. Brahmā creates all our worlds with the help of Sarasvatī. She is the explosive flow of information. Brahmā is gravity which binds energy to a form. Information which can’t be bound by gravity is Sarasvatī. These are the two fields manifesting life: gravity and waves of presence, called information.

Śrīvidyā is derived from Strīvidyā (notice the extra “t”?), which means adoring nature consisting of the syllables:
s for sattva,
t for tamas,
r for rajas,
and i for desire.

Sattva means knowing, information.
Tamas means the ideas of who I am and who are my family members; in short, I and mine, which are limiting bondages.
Rajas means escaping binding, going out of boundaries of I and mine.
Desire doesn’t choose. It likes binding, gets bored of it and then likes freedom; it gets bored of it too. It keeps oscillating between sympathy and apathy.

If “t” for tamas is removed from Strī, it becomes Śrī, the wealth and pleasure of creating the world.

Śrīvidyā helps to let go of bondage to material things, and to become pure information. Adoring nature without desire is Śrīvidyā. It does not run after objects of desire, neither does it reject them. It does enjoy them when they come, but without bondage.

Śrīvidyā transforms the fiery love of passion into an affectionate love like Mother Nature, which created and cares for all living beings. It gives freedom to love all. It discovers that if you really love some person, that person’s happiness should truly be your own happiness; it can only happen in identity of the lovers.

We can appreciate Śrīvidyā as teaching that “all is one”: non-duality = Advaita in practice.