Yogamba Sahita Atmanandantha (Ramesh Kutticad) is a Śrī Vidyā Guru from Chennai. He is associated with Guruji since 1996. Smt. and Sri Ramesh have painstakingly written the following scholarly, research. We're grateful to him for allowing us to make these articles available for the public.

The main central mantra chanted by a Śrī Vidyopasaka is the guru pādukā. Guru is the all causing force –‘Sri guruḥ sarvakāraṇabhūtā śaktiḥ’. His pāduka or sandals are impressed on the head of śiṣya during initiation (śāmbhavī dīkṣa). The word pādukā means that which sustains (pālana), removes ill effects (durita kṣālaṇa) of disciples. Thus this mantra is the first one to be chanted on waking up and last one to be chanted before retiring to bed.

The Mantra has a unique bīja called ānandabhairava-bhairavī bīja. The uddhāra according to parāśurāma kalpa sūtra for ānanda bhairava runs as : śiva śakti samvarta pupañcama purandhara varayūṁ. Decoding this śiva is ‘ha’; śakti is ‘sa’; samvarta – Final fire deluge, denotes last of alphabets ‘kṣa’; ‘pu-pañcama’ – fifth syllable of ‘pa’ series, which is ‘ma’; Purandhara is indra – his bīja ‘la’; va ra yūṁ as such. Thus we find this bīja as ह् स् क्ष् म् ल् व् र् य् ऊं hskṣmlvryūṁ, it is also called navātmeśvara bīja.

Ānandabhairavī uddhāra: śakti śivādi varayīṁ, decoding same bījas as said above, but ending with yīṁ, thus bīja is now स् ह् क्ष् म् ल् व् र् य् ईं shkṣmlvryīṁ, also called navātmeśvarī bīja.

Since utterance of all consonants without vowels will be difficult, sages have approved adding ‘a’ in all consonants. Thus we utter these bījas as हसक्षमलवरयऊं hasakṣamalavarayūṁ and सहक्षमलवरयीं sahakṣamalavarayīṁ.

Traditional meaning: ‘ha’ denotes śiva and ‘sa’ denotes śakti. ‘kṣa’ is the meru ( the akṣamāla japa will have kṣa as the meru- ‘ka’ is śakti tatava the cit śakti(movement) and ‘ṣa’ ṣaṇda is jada śakti(inertia), thus we find meru as a mixture of cit and jada śakti), denoting the vastness, huge centre point, which is also called māya – the differential knowledge. ‘ma’ is the jīva. ‘la’, ‘va’, ‘ra’, ‘ya’ are denoting the elements earth (Pṛthvi), water (jala), fire (agni) and air (vāyu) respectively. The first element –space is inferred. ‘ūṁ’ is the left ear in the mātṛkā nyāsa, signifying the śakti pradhāna knowledge as heard from the preceptor.

On the whole reading above interpretations in a single line; jīva denoted by ‘ma’ in the universe denoted by the elements ‘la va ra and ya’, aspires to realize the unity of śiva śakti ‘ha sa’ in the same universe seen by him, by crossing over the māya denoted by ‘kṣa’ with the help of scriptures heard by him from the preceptor, denoted by ‘ūṁ’. Another aspect: the nine sounds (nava nādas) abobe āgynā from bindu to unmani are also represented by the single syllables of this bīja. They are:

Haṁ unmanyākāśānandanātha

Saṁ samākāśānandanātha

Kṣaṁ vyāpakākāśānandanātha

Maṁ śaktyākāśānandanātha

Laṁ dhvanyākāśānandanātha

Vaṁ dhvani-mātrākāśānandanātha

Raṁ anāhatākāśānandanātha

Yaṁ indvākāśānandanātha

Ūṁ bindvākāśānandanātha

These are meditated above the ājñā cakra to brahmarandhra and while meditating aspirant will feel different sounds at each stage, these sounds are Guru in that they reenforce śraddhā of an aspirant to move further, that’s why they are found in anuttarāmnāya, which is the experience of sādhana path.

In the ānandabhairavī bīja: ‘sa’, ‘ha’, ‘kṣa’ and ‘ma’ are taken to mean as above. ‘la’,‘va’ ‘ra’ and ‘ya’ are the pañca tattvā or pañca makarās by which the elements are used by the aspirant with the meditation on the kāmakalā bīja ‘īm’. It is also the left eye in mātṛkā nyāsa, left denoting the śakti pradhāna and eye denoting the practical usage. Now putting it in a single line we find the aspirant denoted by ‘ma’ using the pañca tattva ‘la va ra and ya’ in the manner said by the kāmakalā ritual manual (īm) to cross over the māya (meru represented by kṣa) to realize the unity of śiva śakti in this universe represented by ‘sa-ha’. Here the śakti is said first since this upāsana though is śiva śakti sāmarasya develops an individual through rituals and meditations which are śakti aspect.

Reading through the kaṭapayādi code, we find both of them decipher to one, since it is a consonant syllable at the end is ‘ya’. Thus advaita, oneness of aspirant, guru and deity being established by chanting of both of these bīja mantras are denoted.

Thus we find an identity of ānandabhairava bīja with Guru; hence we find the same as the ṛṣi of this mantra and ānandabhairavī with the self full of bliss (sadānanda pūrṇa svātmaiva parādevatā lalitā), hence we find same as upāsya devatā Lalitā.

Source: "Thoughts on the Way" by Yogamba Sameta Atmanandanatha (Ramesh Kutticad)