One needs to have the vision or the drishti of a Rishi to see what secret lies hidden in this text - cakṣuṣmantoonupasyanti netare tadvido janaḥ. The secret of this text can reveal itself to the sadhaka who engages himself in parayanam, japa, homa and tarpana. Devimahatmyam dealing with the purpose of life (artha). Devimahatmyam makes the sadhaka aware of the very purpose of life.
सप्तशती saptasati vs सप्तसती saptasati; As Devimahatmyam of Markandeya Purana contains 700 (saptasata) verses it is widely known as saptasati. But did you know that it is also called saptasati (Gatha) or the story of seven satis.
The seven mothers - Brahmi, Maheswari, Kaumari, Vaisṇavi, Varahi, Indrani and Chamuṇda are regarded by some as seven satis. Some others consider Nanda, Sakambari, Bhima, Raktadantika, Durga, Bhramari and Sataksi as seven satis.
The term “Dasha Mahavidya” comes from the Sanskrit, Dasa, meaning “ten,” maha, meaning “great,” and Vidya, meaning “knowledge.” The Mahavidyas are different forms of the Divine Mother, Adi Shakti, or Parashakti. According to Hindu Puranas, the Dasa Mahavidya were created after a disagreement between Lord Shiva and Goddess Sati (a form of Shakti).
The Mahavidya is a group of ten powerful goddesses in the Hindu Dharma. They encompass every aspect of the physical and spiritual realm, from motherhood and nurturance to destruction and wealth. The Dasa Mahavidya (dasa; ten; maha; great; vidya; wisdoms) are ten Hindu Goddesses, namely; Kali, Tara, Tripura Sundari, Bhuvaneshwari, Chhinnamasta, Bhairavi, Dhumavati, Bagalamukhi, Matangi and Kamala.
The ten Mahavidyas, or Wisdom Goddesses, represent various aspects of divinity that help guide the spiritual seeker on their journey to liberation. The seeker focused on devotion (Bhakti) may approach these forms with reverence, love, and increasing intimacy. The seeker focused on knowledge (Jnana) may view these forms as representing various states of inner awakening along the path to enlightenment.
These ten forms of Shakti are the epitome paradigm of the entire universe. They are a guide to spiritual awakening for devotees. The Devis also have specific directions in which they reside, like, Goddess Kali and Tara Maa are for North direction, Devi Bhuvaneshvari is West direction, Shodasi (Tripura Sundari) is the Ishaan corner and so on.
Did you know that Dasha Mahavidyas are a traditional collection of female deities with distinct aspects of divinity under the Kaula Tantrika literature?
The Dasha (ten) Mahavidyas or Wisdom Goddesses, representing aspects of Adi Parashakti in Hinduism, are distinct aspects of divinity intent on guiding the spiritual seeker toward liberation. Evolution of these ten aspects, following the decline of Buddhism in India, in the forms of the Divine Mother, is attributed to the Kaula Tantrika practice. It is said that the Dasa Mahavidya were created after a disagreement between Lord Shiva and Sati (a form of Shakti), and the enraged Sati transformed into the Mahavidyas, surrounding Shiva from the ten cardinal directions. Kamagiri in Kamarupa is represented as the seat of the ten Mahavidyas.
The 10 Mahavidyas are Kali (काली) ,Tara ( तारा), Tripurasundari (रिपुरसुन्दरी) (also called Shodoshi), Bhuvaneśvari (भुवनेश्वरी), Bhairavi ( भैरवी) also known as Triupra Bhairavi, Chinnamasta (छिन्नमस्ता), Dhumavati ( धूमावती), Bagalamukhi (बगलामुखी), Matangi (मातंगी), and Kamala. These are a late medieval Sakta adaptation of the Dasavatara conception.
In Dasavatara conception the traditional list, as given in the Mundamala, are: Krishna and Kali; Rama and Tarini; Varaha and Bhuvana, Narasimha and Bhairavi; Vamana and Dhumavati, Parasurama Bhrugukula and Chinna, Matsya and Kamala, Kurma and Bagalmukhi, Buddha and Matangi, Kalika and Sodasi. In another list both Kamala and Matangi are omitted, but replaced by Balarama and Bhairavi, and Buddha and Mahalskhmi.
In the above collection of female deities some are gentle, some are loving, some are horrific. Each one is an aspect of the goddess Parvati. These many forms are personifications of great wisdom, acknowledging that nature is myriad can take many forms, not all of which appeal to our sense of morality and aesthetics. These traditional ten forms are briefly explained.
1. Kali, the ultimate form of Brahman, "Devourer of Time" (Supreme Deity of Kalikula systems), is pitch dark in complexion with three eyes, representing the past, present and future. In iconography she is adorned with skeletal bones, skeletal hands as well as severed arms and hands as her ornamentation. She has a gaping mouth, and her red, bloody tongue hanging from there.
2. Tara is guide and protector, or Who Saves, Who offers the ultimate knowledge which gives salvation. She is the goddess of all sources of energy. She has three eyes, a snake coiled comfortably around her throat, wearing the skins of tigers, ornamented with a garland of skulls.
3. Tripura Sundari (Shodashi) with molten gold complexion is "Beautiful in the Three Worlds" (Supreme Deity of Srikula systems) and is the "Tantric Parvati" or the "Moksha Mukta". She has three placid eyes, a calm mien, wearing red and pink vestments, adorned with ornaments on her divine limbs and four hands, each holding a goad, lotus, bow and arrow. She is seated on a throne.
4. Bhuvaneshvari is personification of World Mother, or Whose Body is all 14 lokas (whole cosmos). Attired in red and yellow garments, decorated with ornaments on her limbs, she has four hands, and is seated on a celestial throne. With a fair, golden complexion, she embodies three content eyes as well as a calm mien.
5. Bhairavi is the fierce Goddess, a female version of Bhairav. She is of a fiery, volcanic red complexion, with three, furious eyes, and disheveled hairs. Decked with snakes and serpents, she wears a belt decorated with severed hands and bones attached to it.
6. Chhinnamasta is the self-decapitated Goddess, who chopped her own head off in order to satisfy Jaya and Vijaya (metaphors of Rajas and Tamas - part of the trigunas). She is of a red complexion, embodied with a frightful appearance. She is mounted upon the back of a ferocious lion and wears a garland of skulls on her body.
7. Dhumavati (The Goddess) is depicted as a combined source of anger, misery, fear, exhaustion, restlessness, constant hunger and thirst. She wears white clothes, donned in the attire of a widow. With a very smoky dark brown complexion, she is sitting in a horseless chariot as her vehicle of transportation and on top of the chariot, there is an emblem of a crow as well as a banner.
8. Bagalamukhi is the Goddess who paralyzes enemies. She has a molten gold complexion with three bright eyes, lush black hair and a benign mien. She is seen wearing yellow garments and apparels. She is shown seated on either a throne or on the back of a crane.
9. Matangi, also known as tantric Saraswathi, who bestows boons to her devotees, is said to be the Prime Minister of Lalita (in Srikula systems). Seated on a royal throne, she is depicted as emerald green in complexion, with lush, disheveled black hairs, three placid eyes and a calm look on her face. She is seen wearing red garments and apparels and bedecked with various types of ornaments all over her delicate limbs.
10. Kamalatmika (Kamala) is the lotus goddess, the "Tantric Lakshmi". She is seated on a fully bloomed lotus and has four hands, two of which held lotuses while two others grants her devotees' wishes and assures protection from fear. She is seen wearing red and pink garments and apparels and bedecked with various types of ornaments and lotuses all over her limbs.
These "Ten Mahavidya" forms are worshipped in a spirit of reverence, love, and increasing intimacy. For a devotee seeking knowledge, these forms can represent various states of inner awakening along the path to enlightenment.
Everything expressed here is what has risen from my own practice of tantra, usually in times of intense clarity and insight that happen spontaneously. As with all of the paths of self-unfoldment, these insights will also evolve and refine.
The basis of these writings are the tantric practices of Tattwa Shuddhi and Sri Vidya Sadhana. Tattwa Shuddhi (literally, cleansing of elements) comprises of dissolution of elements corresponding to the various chakras into progressively subtler elements and then into the mahatattva (great element), Prakrithi (Shakti) and Purusha (Shiva). After internal cleansing rituals, the elements are returned to rest in the opposite direction.
In the “dissolution” part of this practice, it gradually becomes intuitively known that Shakti/Prakrithi is the witness, the first separation from the Absolute. Even when we become aware of “witnessing”, there is a sense that it is not all, or the final “it”.
With deepening inquiry, one is eventually propelled to ask, “Who is aware of the witness?” and in time, we open up to the direct knowing of this awareness, that is, Purusha/Shiva. While it feels that Shakti is the “individual” witnessing principle, with a retained “I” in it, the individuality of the witness collapses as Shiva, and there is only knowing awareness that is not fixed to this and that, I and not I.
In witnessing, there remains an experience, and a knower of the experience. However, with further openings and deeper delving into this knowing awareness (Shiva, in this analogy) to be one’s true self/identity, we gradually come to see that every experience that arises is awareness itself, only seemingly separated from the knower.
In every experience, when we look deeply, the “knower” is added ad hoc, in a swift play of illusion by the mind, the master magician. If we can stay with the experience, free from the mind’s interference, the knower is not seen to be separate, but known directly to have risen as the experience itself. Thus, Shakti is never separated from Shiva. If Shiva is the void, Shakti is what makes up the contents of the void, giving it form; yet, the void and the form are known via each other. Shakti is indeed Shiva, like the waves of the ocean being the ocean itself.
As in Tattwa Shuddhi, we then return to daily life, elements aligned once again as before. However, there is a distinct difference in how these elements are “held” in experience; they are transparent and not as solid/real as they did on the way up. The borders between “in here” and “out there” become blurred and disappear.
Along this path of openings and awakenings arise the Mahavidyas, setting the inner void ablaze with intuitive arisings and wisdom. They reveal themselves as the inner essence of time, vibration, space, silence, wisdom, compassion, oneness, dissolution, eternity, and beauty. Each of these powerful forms of Shakti is a complete path, leading to Shiva and back into Herself; each will bring the sadhaka to his/her knees in awe and surrender.
Once during their numerous love games, things got out of hand between Shiva and Parvati. What had started in jest turned into a serious matter with an incensed Shiva threatening to walk out on Parvati. No amount of coaxing or cajoling by Parvati could reverse matters. Left with no choice, Parvati multiplied herself into ten different forms for each of the ten directions. Thus however hard Shiva might try to escape from his beloved Parvati, he would find her standing as a guardian, guarding all escape routes.
Each of the Devi’s manifested forms made Shiva realize essential truths, made him aware of the eternal nature of their mutual love and most significantly established for always in the cannons of Indian thought the Goddess’s superiority over her male counterpart. Not that Shiva in any way felt belittled by this awareness, only spiritually awakened. This is true as much for this Great Lord as for us ordinary mortals. Befittingly thus they are referred to as the Great Goddess’s of Wisdom, known in Sanskrit as the Mahavidyas. Indeed in the process of spiritual learning the Goddess is the muse who guides and inspires us. She is the high priestess who unfolds the inner truths.
According to this version, the Mahavidyas appear when the great battle queen Durga confronts the demons Shumbha and Nishumbha.
The myth of Durga's defeat of these demons constitutes the third episode of the Devi Mahatmya, which is also told in several other puranas. Although none of the texts that describe this battle mentions the Mahavidyas separately, it is known that they fight in it as a group.
The three Vedas, the oldest scriptures in the Hindu tradition, represent the three faculties of mind, speech and breath and are called Trayi Vidya or the three (feminine) wisdoms.
True Goddess worship involves the knowledge that is her real form. It is not just an outer cult, but an inner cult, which is meditation. Meditation on the Goddess is a form of self-enquiry or a means of acquiring knowledge. It is not merely an adulation of female form or qualities. It may begin with an image of the Goddess, but it goes far beyond the boundaries of form, name and personality into the impersonal absolute.
The Goddess represents what is hidden, secret, subtle and sensitive. It represents what has to be researched and discovered. As the word it represents both the teaching and its understanding. It is therefore the inner power of guidance. It represents what there is to be known. What we are drawn by an inner fascination to discover. It is the mystery and fascination of higher knowledge that makes us lose interest in what the mind can know, the familiar realms of sense. The Goddess takes us beyond the realm of the known and the realm of space-time into the secrets of infinite eternity.
Knowledge of her reveals her powers that are fantastic and transformative. Understanding yours reveals happiness, which is the joy of going beyond all limitations of the body-mind.
However, the Goddess does not just give us knowledge. She is the knowledge. Inner knowledge is the body of the Goddess, which she unfolds as her diverse adornments and eventually as her very being. Wisdom is the ultimate form of beauty and pleasure, the most sought after object in creation, and therefore the ultimate embodiment of the Divine Feminine. Ultimately, the Goddess is not just knowledge, but pure awareness (samvit). It is the knowledge that puts the mind to rest and returns us to the source. Through it we discover the serenity of the self.
Hindu deities represent divine consciousness functioning on all levels of the universe. Both externally and internally. They represent the various principles, energies and faculties that make up this grand universe, manifest and unmanifest. The Goddess, who represents creation at all levels, have this same diversity, which is expressed through her ten wisdom forms (Dasha Mahavidya) and their different functions.
In the process of spiritual learning the Goddess becomes the muse that guides and inspires us. She is the priestess who unfolds the inner truth. However, true knowledge as part of an integral understanding of reality is always related to energy and beauty. The Goddess is not only knowledge, but power and pleasure.
Dasha Mahavidya means 'ten Great Knowledges'. They reveal the inner workings of the universe and the psyche once the veil of appearances is pulled back. They represent the deeper truths of life hidden behind our attachment to the outer form of things. His messages are sometimes inspiring and sometimes frightening because they represent life itself, but they're always instructive for those who are looking for something beyond the common realm. The ten forms of the Goddess function not just to teach us superficially or intellectually, but to challenge us to look deeper.
As great cosmic forces their energies can be difficult to bear and their extreme appearances can overwhelm us. Their ways are often disturbing not meant to be just pleasant. They are meant as mysteries to enter or shock the mind into awakening. They are not only meant to console and inspire, but to promote the deepest inquiry within us. Its forms are ambiguous, contradictory and paradoxical. They are provocative energies meant to take hold of our minds and through their enigmatic nature neutralize the thought process that holds us captive. Life itself is something amazing and mysterious. We don't know why we were born or when we will die. We don't even know how to move, breathe or drink. Most of what we are looking for is only transitory and does not answer the fundamental question of our destiny: what, if anything, in us transcends death.
Our knowledge only grasps the surface of the world, and we don't have any last tour sense of identity. To approach higher knowledge we must set aside our lesser knowledge, which is not to reject it completely, but to recognize its limited place. The wisdom forms of the Goddess are part of a spiritual science, which we can analyse only when we have set aside our outer knowledge and are hungry for information and ideas.
However, this spiritual science is also an art. It cannot be approached mechanically, but it does require creative participation. We must become that reality and experience within us all its manifold dimensions. We must become the Goddess as her power comes to work through us. This form of Yoga knowledge is a theater or play in the mind. It contains all life and the entire universe as it flows through our nervous system. It is perhaps the ultimate of all experiences, as by experience itself it is dissolved in the transcendent.
Each of the ten forms of the Goddess represents a specific approach to self-realization, to the knowledge that within us transcends time and transient identity. However, each of the 10 has many layers within it. Unless we are willing to look deeply, we can get caught up in a minor aspect of Goddess form and function.
As representatives of powerful cosmic forces, the Goddesses can be approached to obtain wealth, health, fame, or other common goals in life. However, if we approach them with selfish intent, their inner powers cannot come out. We cannot manipulate these deep cosmic forces. We can only benefit from them if we honor the wisdom at their source.
Therefore, these forms of knowledge should not be approached lightly or casually. For them to really work, we must first surrender to the Divine Mother herself and earn her grace. It is your power, your Shakti Yoga that does the work. We can be receptive to its current and learn its rhythms, but we cannot direct its flow. We must not try to use the teachings of personal obstinacy, or they will not be liberating for us. The Ten Forms of the Goddess make up a complete and integral teaching, but several of them have their special worship as representing the Supreme Mother Herself.
Authored by Dr Anadi Sahoo
