Thus Spake Venkatesa Iyer: Devi Upasana

 Greetings on the auspicious Vijayadashami day 2020

 

 

On this auspicious day, I want to start posting on Taatha's thoughts on Devi Upasana. This is a continuation of the "Thus Spake Venkatesa Iyer" series that started with Lord Vigneshvara and is still incomplete.  This one also might remain incomplete for a while, but I do want to start posting today, starting with a photo that Kamakshi created for her Balabhavan class

Now on to taatha's thoughts on this topic.

 Tantrika sAdhakA-s and shrIvidyA upAsakA-s consider Devi to be the Ultimate Principle of the universe. None is beside or beyond Her. She is both saguNa and nirguNa brahman. She is the Creator, Perserver, and Destroyer of everything in this universe. She is all powerful and omnipresent. She is sat-chit-AnandamayI. She is the personification of all auspicious qualities. She is compassionate, merciful, and all-loving. She is the sole refuge of all beings. Only by propitiating Her can we obtain wordly prosperity and even liberation. She is jaganmAtA. This does not presuppose jagat-pitA. Therefore She has no spouse. She is the supreme personality. This fact has to be borne in mind by all worshippers of this school of thought*. If on the contrary, Shiva is considered Her husband, he becomes superior to Her, since, according to the sanAtana dharama tradition, the wife becomes subordinate to Him and She has to serve Him with all devotion.

Note: See paramAchAryAl's saundaryalaharI discourses where He says

There is a branch of Kaula called uttara-kaula. They interpret ‘shiva-yuvati’  as follows. ‘Shiva-yuvati’ does not mean ‘the consort of Shiva’. It is Shivam itself that  encompasses the Shiva-tattva within itself and manifests as the ‘yuvati’, the feminine consort. The SahasranAmam also has ‘svAdhIna-vallabhA’ which means ‘She who has her husband in her control’. A little stretching of that meaning will indicate that She has Him within Herself. And this will help us to be confirmed of  the Acharya’s words ‘na hi paraM’ (there is nothing other than Herself) in this shloka. 

Mother worship is the greatest gift of sanAtana dharma to the world. God is neither male nor female. God is beyond conception, but we try to worship in terms of human relationship only. The concept of Mother worship has many advantages over other forms of saguNOpAsanA. Let us illustarte by an example.

(to be contd. later)