Thoughts on Mantras: Gaurī mimāya
gaurīr mimāyā salilāni takṣtyekapadī dvipadī sā catuṣpadī |
aṣṭāpadī navapadī babhūviṣī sahasrākṣarā parame vyoman ||
--Ṛgveda 1.164.41
This important, and enigmatic, Vedic mantra often serves as an addendum in recitations of the Durgā sūktam, especially during abhiṣekam. While much has been written about the role of Vāk Devī in the Vedas, as well as many articles exploring this complicated verse alone, the fact that it is recited so often in pūjās begs for an explanation oriented towards practitioners of Śrī Vidyā. This brief synopsis is indebted to the work of V.S. Agrawal whose research was invaluable to a deeper understanding this mantra.
In a sentence, this Vedic mantra elevates akṣara, the imperishable, indivisible unit of sound (here equated with Vāk Devī, the supreme Goddess of the Vedas) to the highest principle of reality. Such subtle expositions on the nature of language, sound, and cosmology are no stranger to the Vedas, nor to their subsequent advanced development throughout Śaivāgama and Śrī Vidyā.
Gaurī is the female buffalo-cow associated with Varuṇa (not to be confused with the cow associated with Indra) and here clearly refers to Vāk Devī. The connections between Vāk and the cow are numerous and well known. However, several implications can be drawn from gaurī such as her primordial waters (notice the buffalo loves water) and the close relationship of Vāk with ākāśa (the first and foremost of the pañca mahābhūtas).
Mimāya means the uttering of sound, specifically the bellowing noise of cows, and suggests Her voice brings forth cosmic emanation as well as delineates the spatio-temporal limits of speech, simultaneously "measuring" [as "śrī mātre"] and expanding-resounding throughout the cosmos.
Salilāni is the primordial ocean that contains within it the seed of all the manifestations yet to be born. It is the ocean of potential, undifferentiated, sound-meaning. The ocean is not only thought to be representative of infinity, but is the source of reality, meaning, and life.
Takṣatī refers to how She creates (literally "cuts" into existence) all the forms out of the primordial waters and establishes the line that separates two things in both vāk (language) and artha (meaning) and, by extension, vācya (words) and vācaka (objects).
Ekapadī means one-footed and refers to the prāṇava mantra oṃ and sthiti, or cosmic balance.
Dvipadī means two-footed and is taken to be the first movement of emanation (sṛṣṭhi), or the move from Paramaśiva to Śiva-Śakti.
Catuṣpadī means four-footed and refers to Her four feet, but more importantly the four levels (a play on the word pada) of language of which three remain hidden and the fourth manifests as articulate human speech.
Aṣṭapadī means the eight-footed and refers to the Devī as the protector of the eight Vāsus, as well as the eight directions that encompass everything and expand everywhere.
Navapadī means nine-footed and refers to nine as the highest possible number, as well as to the zenith point above the eight directions, showing how Vāk becomes everything, in every-way, and yet is above them all. References to the Navāvaraṇa pūjā and the Śrī Cakra can be easily inferred as well.
Sahasrākṣarā means a thousand syllables and refers to Parā Vāk, the supreme level of undifferentiated reality-speech that is beyond being and non-being, duality and non-duality, and yet, is the ultimate source from which all being and manifestation is born. This state of supreme nonduality is equated to parame vyoman, the unsurpassable space and highest principle from which all akṣaras, meaning, and reality emerges. Just as all sound manifests from ākāśa, parama vyoman is the supreme 'space' of all reality, here identified with both the supreme goddess and language.
Śrīvidyā upāsana ritually completes this idea by revealing a 1,000 syllabled mantra that is a condensed form of the entire cosmos, invoked as the Śrī Cakra, or the very body of the Devī Herself. śrī gurubhyo namaḥ
