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Motivational · Mythological · Spiritual

Devi Bhairavi

Chanchal Chandra BhattacharyyaLeave a comment

Devi Bhairavi is the fifth great power of Das Mahavidya and is one of the supreme controllers of the eternal cosmic function of this universe.

Devi Bhairavi is a fierce and popular Goddess and is the Goddess of Decay. Bhairavi means ’Terrifying’. Mata Bhairavi is also known as Tripura Bhairavi and her consort is Bhairav the fierce form of Lord Siva. Devi Bhairavi is the supreme terror of the three worlds- Swarga, Martya, Patal. According to Parasurama’s ‘Kalpasutra’, the name Bhairavi is originated from the combination of three root words – ‘bha’,‘ra’ ,‘va’. In this ‘bha’ means preservation, ‘ra’ denotes Ramana means divine activities of creation, ‘va’ derived from Vamana means relaxation in certain activities.

Devi Bhairavi has many qualities like Goddess Kali. She is the Goddess of transformation, and the power connected to destruction of evil forces.

She is the goddess of destruction. Destruction here is not considered a negative force, but essential to maintain continuity in the great cycle of death and birth in the world. Mata Bhairavi is also popularly known as ‘Tripura Bhairavi’ where ‘tri ’means three, ‘pura’ means castles and cities. Hence Tripura Bhairavi indicates three levels of consciousness active-dream-sleep.

Mata Bhairavi in images and idols are found to be seated on a Lotus with four hands- with book in one hand, rosary bead in another, in another one Abhaya mudra and in the other hand displaying Varada mudra. She is wearing red clothes and a garland of severed heads on her neck. She has three eyes (Trinayan) and a crescent moon on her crown. In tantric form of the Devi, we find her sitting on Lord Siva, her one hand with a sword and a cup of blood in another one, her other two hands are with Abhaya and Varada mudras, respectively.

It is stated that Devi Tripura Bhairavi resides in Muladhar Chakra, and her mantra consists of three alphabets (letter) forming an inverted triangle in the centre of Muladhar chakra as ‘kamrupa’, representing the Universe. Devi Bhairavi is the creator of this Muladhar Chakra.

In Tantra, a female adept in Kundalini system is also known as Bhairavi, yogini. Sometimes she prefers to be with her Bhairav, the male partner, at the time of meditation and devotion, called yoga. In Tantra, Bhairavi has been defined as the divine queen closely associated with Devi Rajarajeswari or Tripura Sundari. Hope you loved reading. To share your thoughts, please email at contactareaderscorner@gmail.com

Motivational · Mythological · Spiritual · Stories

Devi Bhuvaneshwari

Chanchal Chandra BhattacharyyaLeave a comment

Devi Bhuvaneshwari Is the fourth Shakti form of the Das Mahavidya after Kali, Tara and Shodashi. She is also known as Adi Shakti Parvati or Parashakti.  Mahadev Tryambak is her consort. The name Bhuvaneshwari is originated of the two words Bhuvana (universe/world) and Ishwari (Goddess/Devi/ protector/Queen) that means Queen of the World or Queen of the Universe. She is the Mother of the Earth, the Atmosphere, and the Heavens.

Based on legend, all the three regions earth, atmosphere, and heavens, are created by Devi Bhuvaneshwari. After creation of world Maa Bhuvaneshwari made all the living creatures. She has given them eternal shape. To maintain and nourish her creations, she created Brahma, Vishnu, and Rudra. There after she distributed her energy and supreme power, and as Saraswati joined Brahma, as Laxmi partnered Vishnu, and as Kali partnered Rudra, These three devas were entitled the task to create, to sustain and protect, and to destroy respectively.

Brahma with the help of Devi Saraswati has created all living beings. Vishnu with Laxmi is engaged to sustain a portion of the creation and Rudra with Kali is in a process to annihilate other portion of the creation to maintain balance in the universe. Thus, there is a continuous cycle of birth and death.

Devi Bhuvaneshwari and Mahadev Bhuvaneshwar in images and idols are found seated on Panchapretashana where Sadashiva, Ishwar, Vishnu, Rudra, and Brahma are shown as five legs and several yoginis are seen busy in serving them.

Goddess Bhuvaneshwari controls this universe. She is the Almighty. She considers all the living beings as her children and protects them always. She loves each of her creation and is a part of every creature. She fulfils the desire of every individual coming to her refuge.

Devi Bhuvaneshwari is red complexioned and three eyed (Trinayan). She has four hands, has braided hair, and found wearing red ornaments. As weapon she holds a goad and a noose in left hands, in right hands she is with Abhaya and Baroda. She is ornamented with crescent moon on her head.

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Motivational · Mythological · Spiritual · Stories

Devi Shodashi

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In Hinduism, Devi Shodashi, also known as Tripura Sundari, is the third form of power among the Das Mahavidya after Goddess Kali and Goddess Tara. The word ‘Tripura’ in Sanskrit is combination of two words ‘tri’ or traya meaning three and ‘pura’ means city. Tripura thus refers to three cities built of gold, silver, and iron in the sky, air and earth by Maya and burnt by Shiva. Goddess Shodashi is also popularly known as Lalita (‘she who plays) and Rajarajeswari (‘Queen of the Queens’). She is also worshipped as Shri Yantra.

Goddess Shodashi is the most beautiful form in the three worlds (swargaloka, bhuloka and patalaloka). In Mahavidya she is defined as Goddess Parvati and as Tantric Parvati. Mata Shodashi is worshipped in the form of a sixteen-year-old girl and is believed that she fulfils sixteen types of desire of her devotees. She is worshiped by chanting a mantra of sixteen syllables. It is said that she has the collective powers of Brahma, Vishnu, and Rudra expressed as Brahmani, Vaishnabi And Rudrani. She has the charm of Goddess Durga and determination of Goddess Kali.

A devotee who completely surrenders to mother Shodashi is always blessed beyond expectation by the mother. The divine Mother appears calm and looks bold and charming as an innocent and a sweet sixteen-year-old girl and she is dressed in bright red costume and ornaments. Goddess Shodashi is the Goddess of love and family welfare.

Goddess Shodashi is red or golden complexioned and seated on a lotus placed on a golden throne. The idols and images of Maa Shodashi, is found to appear on a lotus on supine body of Lord Shiva lying in a peaceful position on a plank which is upheld by Brahma, Vishnu, Rudra, Ishana and Sadashiva. Goddess Shodashi has a third eye on her forehead. Her four hands carry a noose, a goad, a sugarcane as a bow, and five arrows in each, respectively. Here, noose represents attachment or to bind, goad represents repulsion or to drive away, bow indicates mind and desires, and arrows indicates five senses.

In connection to Goddess Shodashi there is a beautiful story. Once Lord Shiva referred his consort as Kali by name, in the presence of some beautiful and fair complexioned Apsaras of Heaven. Kali means black and unattractive. Goddess Kali was shocked and angered at Lord Shiva’s behaviour and felt disappointed with her own dark complexion. Feeling insulted she left Shiva and started meditation to get rid of her black complexion at an unknown place. When Devarshi Narad visited Lord Shiva he found the Lord alone. When he got to know from Lord Shiva about Goddess Kali’s exit, then Narad being a great sage could locate the Devi through meditation. Lord Brahma, by that time, being pleased with her meditation granted Lord Kali a boon to be fair complexioned. Devarshi Narad met Goddess Kali in the north of Sumeru Parvat and requested her to go back home. He played a trick and told her that Lord Siva had decided to marry someone else. Goddess Kali, however, was not aware that her complexion was changed.

Goddess Kali returned Kailash, the abode of Lord Siva. She could see the image of a fair complexioned beautiful young girl in his heart. The Devi did not realize that it was the reflexion of the Devi herself and this enraged her.

Lord Siva smiled and told her to look back at the image. At this she could realize that it was the reflection of herself. Her happiness knew no bound. She felt overjoyed to see her new look. Lord Siva named her ‘Shodashi’ respecting her new appearance and announced that Goddess Shodashi would be worshipped by all the three worlds with devotion.

Hope you loved the story. This is just a narration based on legend and I would prefer to derive from the story that outward appearance has nothing to do in our life. When through meditation and through spiritual practices, our mind comes to control, we get rid of all the disappointments and anger and we calm down, get determined, become strong internally and feel uplifted. This however reflects on our face and gives a positive appearance.

Let the blessings of the Devi enrich your life. To share your thoughts please email us at contactareaderscorner@gmail.com

Mythological · Spiritual

Goddess Tara, the second among the ten wisdom Goddesses (Das Mahavidya)

Chanchal Chandra BhattacharyyaLeave a comment
Goddess Tara of Tarapith
Goddess Tara of Tarapith, by Chanchal Chandra Bhattacharyya

In Hinduism Goddess Tara is the second deity of the Das Mahavidya , the ten great wisdom goddesses. They are the ten forms of Devi Mahamaya, the Mother of Universe. In our last post we spoke about the first deity Goddess Kali.

Maa Tara is Shakti (energy) and this feminine energy represents kindness. She is the Goddess of fulfilment and of liberation. The name Tara is derived from Sanskrit root ‘tr’ meaning to cross.

Maa Tara removes attachment from her devotees and help them to achieve what they want. She grants success. She strengthens inner qualities of ’karuna’ (compassions), metta (affection-charity), and sunyata (empty). She is worshipped by Hindus and Buddhists.

Goddess Tara is defined as protector of her every creation on earth. Tara means ‘saviour’, ‘brightness’ and ‘star’. She is also named as Tarini in Tantra Sastra. Goddess Tara is blue complexioned. She wears a tiger skin skirt, wears a garland made of severed human heads. She has four hands and a projected tongue. She is standing. Maa Tara has eight forms and are called ’Asta Tara’.

Tarapith, is a siddha pith located in Bengal, India. In Tarapith, the Goddess looks bright and majestic with a silver crown on her head, and a red vermilion on the parting of her beautiful hair. She is shown as the mother of Lord Siva in child form in Tarapith. She is the mother of all beings on earth.

In Tibetan Buddhism, Tara or Shayama Tara is also known as ‘Jetsun-Dolma’, a prime deity. In Mahayana Buddhism Tara is described as female Buddha. In Vajrayana Buddhism Devi Tara is known as the Mother of liberation and as deity of meditation (in Tibet). Goddess Tara is known as Mother of all Buddhists.

In Japan Devi Tara is known as ‘Tara Boatsu’.

Maa Tara destroys evils. She loves the blood of demons. On the other hand, she cares for all her children irrespective of religion and social status. Goddess Tara is the mother of all. She is the protector. She grants our wishes. Her blessing is always with us.

Jai Maa Tara

Hope you loved to read about Goddess Tara.

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Mythological · Spiritual

Das Mahavidya

Chanchal Chandra BhattacharyyaLeave a comment

Goddess Mahamaya, the creator of this Universe is beyond the cycle of death and birth. She is the mother of all the living beings. She rules and protects Trilok– Swarga, Marta, and Patal. Devi Mahamaya has taken birth on earth several times at different era to destroy evils and save her creation. This fact was described by Sage Medhos to king Surath.

In Tantra Sastra it is stated that Goddess Mahamaya has revealed her ten forms of power, representing female energy in the form of Mother and creator to destroyer. The entity of strength and truth. Again, ten Mahavidya (great wisdom) are ten forms of Devi Mahamaya representing the ‘divine spiritual wisdom’ and showing the path of liberation.

In Chamunda Tantra, the names of the ten forms of the Devi (bolded) can be found in the following stotra:

Kali Tara Mahavidya Shodashi Bhubaneswari,
Bhairavi Chhinnamasta cha Vidya Dhumavati tatha.
Vagala Sidhdhavidya cha Matangi Kamalatmika
Ete Dus Mahavidya Sidhdhavidya Prakirtita.

The story depicting the origin of Das Mahavidya as per legend

Prajapati Dakshya, one of the descendants of Lord Brahma, wanted to get Devi Mahamaya as his daughter and began a strong tapasya. Devi gave her consent with a condition that She would leave Her earthly body and return to Her abode if anybody misbehaved with Her. Following this, Devi took birth as the daughter of the queen Prasuti wife of King Dakshya and was named Sati. Sati married Lord Siva against the wishes of her father Dakshya, which made her father very angry. Prajapati Dakshya performed a great yajna. With an intension to insult Lord Siva, he invited all the Gods and Goddesses except Siva.

Lord Siva was aware of the event but ignored to maintain peace. However, knowing that her father is performing Yajna, Sati desired to visit the event and see her parents. She sought permission from her husband, Lord Siva, who denied granting her permission to meet her father and explained Dakshya’s prime intension. Lord Siva in turn, warned Devi Sati that she might get insulted there following which her father might be in danger. Sati became very furious at this and thought that Siva considered her an innocent lady and was not aware of the fact that she was an incarnation of the Mother of the universe. She was so angry that she wanted to teach her husband a good lesson by showing her original form of strength and eternity. She took the form of the Divine Mother, Devi Mahamaya.

Seeing the violent, strong, and immensely bright Divine Motherly aura of her original form, the nature started behaving unnaturally. The rivers, lakes and oceans became turbulent responding to violent thunder, storm, and heavy rain. It was dark everywhere unnaturally mixed with a fiery red light. Lord Siva was scared to see her and wanted to flee from her but found himself guarded on all ten sides by the ten forms of the Goddess. These ten forms are popularly recognized as ‘Das Mahavidya’.

When Sati met her parents on the day of the Yajna, she was welcomed by her mother but was insulted by her father. Her father used filthy words to insult her and Lord Siva. She could not tolerate this misconduct and left her mortal body, simply to say she lost her life.

Lord Siva through his third eye when saw the incident was furious. He created the strong Veerbhadra out of his own hair and sent him to Dakshya’s yajna bhumi with the task of killing Dakshya. Veerbhadra and the army of Lord Siva killed Dakshya and ransacked the yajna bhumi, and the palace.

Lord Siva started his ‘Tandab’ dance with Sati on one of his shoulders, as he took the form of the destroyer. Everyone was scared. The nature lost its balance. To calm Siva down, Lord Visnu used his famous Sudarshan Chakra and cut the lifeless body of Devi Sati into pieces which got grounded at different places. These places later came to be known as Sati pitha.

At present Das Mahavidya are worshipped among the Hindus. The 51 Sati pitha spread across different places of India and Nepal primarily are the auspicious places where the Devi is worshipped in different forms by Hindus and Buddhists.

I will speak in detail about the Das Mahavidya and about all Sati pitha in my future blogs.

Hope you liked to know the origin of Das Mahavidya.

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Spiritual

Sanatan Dharma explained through Bhagwat Gita

Chanchal Chandra BhattacharyyaLeave a comment

Are you a truth seeker?

Do you want to know what Sanatan Dharma is and how it evolved?

Sanatan Dharma is the oldest religion on earth, and all other religions which are prevailing now, are converted form of the same. It believes in worshiping icons (Pratima). Principle deities were Indra, Surya (Sun), Varun, Religion based on Veda was formulated by God Narayana who created Brahma. Brahma is said to be the Father of this universe. After formulation of Veda, that was first narrated to Surya and Surya told it to his son Manu and Manu made all these living beings. According to this religion, puja, prayer, yagna, were made to Agni, Varun, Indra, seeking personal gain like Son, Wealth, Kingdom, Victory, heaven and so on.

It was about five thousand years back, Lord Vasudeva Krishna explained Bhagwat Gita to his devotees and intimate friend Arjuna In the Great War field of Kurukshetra of Mahabharata. When Arjuna, the third Pandava gave up his weapons expressing his denial to war with relatives, friends, for the sake  of kingdom, Sri Krishna told it was his duty to fight against the Kaurava to establish religion-based kingdom, which is a must for one kshatriya otherwise he will deviate from his duty, which is unfair.

Krishna further said on the Kurukshetra battlefield to Arjuna, “If you do your duty properly you will deserve to settle in Heaven without having further birth. You must do your duty without seeking any personal gain. Remember in this war you are not killing any one as these all are pre-settled. Man is mortal, ours on earth is merely old body. After death there will be rebirth of this body having a new formation, and the soul with the body is immortal and it cannot be destroyed. Hence, none can kill the soul. As there is no birth and death of the soul, it exists till it returns to Almighty God. Look at me, I am the Almighty God, creator of each and everything in this Universe… I have no birth no death. I have already decided the fate of this war and all the persons who ought to die in this war, I have already killed them.

Those who work with no expectation, in the name of God, giving the result to God, and not for personal gain and for others only, he is my actual devotee. I will protect him from all the adverse results. After death he will get no further birth.”

Arjuna was satisfied with the advice and prepared to war with Kaurava.

Lord Krishna in this way opposed the concept of Veda in worshiping for personal gain/expectations. In Bhagwat Gita he advised to do work without any expectation and encouraged to work in the name of God.

The name of Hinduism started in early nineteenth century.