Sri Vidya 101

Ok, so it's probably time I explained once and for all how my Guru has three bodies. You see, I didn't really choose the path of Divine Mother, She chose me. The first time I saw Mother Meera's eyes, I was drawn. I KNEW that She KNEW, and I experienced an unexplainable but powerful force drawing me to Her. The second time I experienced this pull was when I saw the Sri Yantra.

I didn't know it when I saw this geometric image, but it represents the universe as Divine Mother Herself! It's composed of nine interlocking triangles: five triangles pointing downward representing shakti the divine female energy and the descension of Spirit into matter, and four pointing upward representing shiva the divine male stasis and the the individual soul's effort to ascend to Spirit. The result is forty two smaller triangles and one central triangle with a bindu, or dot, in the center representing the source of everything. Here She's shown as "PancapretAsanAsInA" Devi, or the "Goddess seated on five corpses" where SadaShiva, Her consort, is the plank on which She seats, and Brahman, Rudra, Vishnu, and Shiva are the corners of Her seat. Simply put, this represents that She alone is the master providing the energy for all the acts of creation, preservation, destruction, concealment, and revelation. Note the two Goddesses on Her side fanning Her.
It's important to understand that though there are more than three thousand deities (some sources say more than 300 hundred million!) in Hinduism that it is a MONOTHEISTIC religion. The different aspects of the One are given different names and reveal themselves differently. The fundamental play happens between Shiva, the immovable or static force, and Shakti, the irresistable or dynamic force. But these two forces are different aspects of One thing. This wonderful Supreme agitation gives birth to a universe consisting of many pieces of One thing seeking to ever know the One again through this Divine play. When creation happens, it happens in threes. Creation, preservation, destruction; causal, subtle, and gross; the trinities are endless. In the Sri Yantra, the most important are Sun (male), Moon (female) and Fire (change). Ok, time I got to my Gurus right?

The central triangle in the Sri Yantra is very important as the first manifestation from the central bindu, the three sides of the triangle represent the Goddesses MahaLaksmi, MahaSaraswati, and MahaKali. The Goddess Laksmi represets Light, the immeasurable beauty of form, the most beautiful Goddess who is the cause of all love and desire in the universe! She holds lotuses and is seated on a lotus because the lotus represents the energy centers in our body which register the flow of karma and our desires, She is the lone cause of it all! The Goddess Saraswati represents Sound. She is shown holding a vina (musical instrument) and holding the vedas because She is also the Goddess of all knowledge, education, and tantra (technique). She shows us how to extract the spiritual essence from all experience like a swan extracts milk from water. The Goddess Kali represents the primal Energy that is the cause of both light and sound. As the Supreme energy, She is the destroyer of time and holds our severed heads in Her hands representing our limited identification with the impermanent material world. Kali is the fierce aspect of Durga, Shiva's wife, who is said to manifest Laksmi and Saraswati from Her own body. Kali is the Supreme STRENGTH and power, only Shiva Her husband can calm Her by lying like a corpse and letting Her dance on His chest.

There are many names for Mother describing this three-fold nature of Hers. Some I've found to be ridiculously revealing: Iccha-Shakti-Jnana-Shakti-Kriya-Shakti-Svarupini, Mother is the embodiment of the force of Desire, the force of Knowledge, and the Force of Action. Also: Maha-Tantra, Maha-Yantra, and Maha-Mantra, Mother is the Supreme Divine Technique (tantra), the Supreme Divine Form (yantra) and the Supreme Divine energy (mantra).

So here it is: Mother Meera teaches only through the Her darshan (viewing). She answers questions on the phone sometimes, but She stresses the heart connection, and nobody comes to Mother Meera because they've heard of Her teachings, it's all because of Her eyes. When people see Her immortal form, there's something that just draws them. She describes Her work here as one simple thing: to bring down the LIGHT. What She does in darshan is place Her hands on your head and transmit the light of the Supreme soul to you. She is the force of desire Herself, MahaLaksmi in the very flesh! MahaLaksmi actually is another name for Durga, and so in this way one can consider Her to be the Supreme aspect of Mother.

Karunamayi Ma teaches the Vedas! Her discourses are the most profound teachings you will ever hear on the Vedas in your life, and She speaks the most eloquent English and has the most lovely singing voice you've ever heard! She was who initiated me in the tantra of Sri Vidya, which is Her principle teaching. Her followers long heralded Her as an incarnation of Saraswati Devi as Her mother met Ramana Maharshi and He prophecized/told her that she would give birth to Divine Mother. The devotees desire to glorify the guru of course grows, and so they praise Her as an incarnation of Lalitha Paramesvari (the Supreme Playful Goddess), but I've seen beautiful pictures of Her holding a vina and the resemblance is more than striking :). She also stresses education and states that students are very dear to Her. "OM" is the supreme sound of creation, so one can consider the Goddess of sound to be the supreme Godhead, Saraswati is also the supreme Guru or teacher, who is said to be one and the same as God.

Finally, Ammachi spent Her life chasing after Sri Krishna, the incarnation of Vishnu (the God of preservation) about five thousand years ago who plays the flute and is ever playful. After merging and becoming One with Krishna, Ammachi had a spontaneous vision of Devi (Mother) as the Supreme Goddess of all creation. "Krishna" and "Kali" actually mean the same thing in sanskrit- 'dark', and they are considered to be the same energy. Kali is the soul force, and when you see Amma in action, you realize that never has such a powerful force of love existed in human form-- 24 million people hugged! For Her 50th birthday celebration, which saw over 300,000 people from almost every country in the world, She hugged over fifty thousand people in one sitting non-stop! She gives simple yet profound discourses, but Her main practices She offers are 1.mantra and 2.kriya (called "IAM" meditation). The mantra is considered to be the fundamental energy of the deity Itself, and kriya techniques focus mainly on moving energy in the body. Her ashram temple has only an image of Kali in it, and ask any devotee and they'll tell you that She's KaliMa inthe flesh. (I got a wristwatch with Ammachi's picture on it for this reason, who better to have on a watchface than the destroyer of time? :) )Ammachi has it! She knows the problems of the world and knows how to solve them, and is doing it! If there's anyone on this planet worthy of learning from, anyone on this planet we can turn to for salvation, She is it! Pure selflessness, God's love in a human form.

So there it is, is this all just coincidence that these three beyond description women happen to fit so nicely into the traditional Vedic conception of the Divine Mother? Or is it that the Supreme Goddess has really descended on Earth in three bodies? In the Ramayana, Lord Vishnu descended to Earth to save humanity and took four bodies, Rama (Narayana), Lakshmana (Sheshnaga), Bharata (Sudarshan Chakra), and Satrughna (Shankha). Every system of mystical calculation points to these times as being significant. The Tibetan calendar prophecizes great change and an ensuing period of peace, the mayan calendar ENDS, the hopis have stopped doing their ceremonies because the new age is here. And what times these are if it's true that Mother has descended in human form! NEVER in the history of humankind has the Supreme Goddess Herself taken birth, usually it's Vishnu the God of preservation. We certainly need Her grace, this world has become so immersed in darkness that it's hard to tell what's right and wrong! In fact, this is why Mother has come because it's time to balance the male and female energies, this world is obviously been immersed in a patriarchal society.

I should like to share that the realizations and connections happened to me years after meeting these three Goddesses. I was inspired to learn about the Vedas when I met Amma Karunamayi, which was only three years ago, whereas Ammachi I've known for 5 and Mother Meera for 7. There are no coincidences, I truly believe and have experienced innummerable times. Well, if you read my other posts you probably surmised this already :)

JAI MA!!