Guruji and GuruAmma in front of Devipuram

VĀGVĀDINĪ

Upāṅga Devata of Rāja Śyāmalā

Goddess Vāgvādinī confers, inspiration, wisdom and learning. She’s depicted as holding a pen and a book, in a very Sarasvati like manner. Her attributes point to her representing contemplative and reflective processes taking place in the Madhyama stage of sound. She contains within her the entire alphabet, however it’s not yet broken down by varnas; this is done at a later stage in the viṣuddhi cakra. Her mantra describes the practitioner asking her to manifest the ideas expressly. All of which is done through Nakulī. She is the power through which knowledge expresses itself in action. In the Vedas she’s described as a river, which is lauded for for the nourishing and purifying powers of its waters.

VĀHANA/VEHICLE:

Lotus

BODY LOCATION:

Heart. The aim of Devi Vāgvādinī is to take the devotee deeper into the meditation state which allows him to hear the “unstruck” sound of the heart.

LEVEL OF SPEECH:

Madhyama. This stage is called the Intermediate, Madhyamā because it is in an intermediate position between the subtle and still undifferentiated Word, paśyantī, and the manifest and articulated "gross" speech, Vaikharī.

Madhyamā represents only a mental state, which reveals the duality of the expressing and the expressed, object and subject.

Madhyamā consists of the power of cognition, insofar as the knowledge of objectivity or of the action to be accomplished is experienced, and since this objectivity or action are discursively formulated in consciousness or in the intellect. But it may also be regarded as consisting of the power of action, since the articulate language, which is action, already appears.

It’s associated with the power of ideation.

Vāgvādinī Meditation

amalakamala samsthā lekhinī pustakodyat
karayugala sarojā kunda mandāragaurā
dhṛta sasadhara khaṇdollasi koṭīrapīṭhā
bhavatu bhava bhayānām bhaṅginī bhāratī naḥ

The above is meditation verse (dhyāna śloka) of Śrī Vāgvādini Devī, who is the upāṅga devata, secondary attendant, of Śrī Rāja Mātaṅgī. Vāk is the spoken word; vādana is its delivery, or constant interactions through spoken words. In sādhana an aspirant in initial level will have lots of doubts and misgivings. These have to be cleared with Śrī Guru only. Bhārgavarāma also says ‘guru vākya śāstradau sarvatra asamśayaḥ’ - don’t doubt the words of Śrī Guru or the scriptures. In this order Guru’s words have a preference over scriptures, thus if his words are contrary to the scriptures, they have to be obeyed to the letter and in spirit, which will only lead the seeker in the sure path of self realization. Vagvadini takes part in the war of Śrī Devī Lalitā with Bhandasura, riding on a swan and slays Drughaṇa, on the third day.

Her mantra in Nityotsava is “aiṃ klīṃ sauḥ vada vada vāgvādini svāhā”

This is an attempt to find the mantra in the dhyāna śloka.

amalakamala samsthā lekhinī pustaka: seated on a White lotus holding a pen (which is like a iron needle) and a palm leaf book. This is the vāgbhava bīja ‘aiṃ’ which bestows all knowledge, the book represents śāstras.

udyatkarayugala sarojā kunda mandāra gaurā: The above are held in brilliant lotus like hands, which have a whitish jasmines flower like brilliance. This can be meditated as ‘klīṃ’, which is the kamarāja bīja bestowing all worldly comforts and pleasures. The lotus born in muddy clay water (pṛthvi tattva) and its smell (gandha tattva) will represent the worldly comforts. Jasmine will represent pleasures by its intoxicating perfume.

dhṛta sasadhara khaṇdollāsi koṭīrapīṭhā: wearing a crescent moon on her crown is meditated here, the same svarupa meaning is seen in Parā’s meditative verse as ‘candra kalāvatī’. Hence the parā bīja ‘sauḥ’ can be meditated here.

bhāratī: This means one who shines forth, seen in the mantra as ‘vāgvādini’

bhavatu bhava bhayānām bhaṅginī naḥ: Let our fear of the worldly activities be destroyed is the purport of this verse. The dispelling of the fear of samsāra is by constant awareness and realization of the universal consciousness. This can be achieved by the grace of Śrī Guru. The aspirant has to tread the path of sādhana as instructed by him, any doubts on the path shall be asked and cleared repeatedly, till the sādhaka is sure that he is on the right path and have the final realization. The repeated clearance is denoted by ‘vada vada’ and the final realization is by ‘svāhā’

Let us now see philosophical import of the slaying of asura “Drughaṇa”. This asura’s name means ‘iron hammer of a blacksmith’. This will be the hardest one, and shall break or dent other any metal pieces or things. Thus we can infer the deepest misgivings and doubts of an aspirant personified as this asura, Śrī Vagvadini Devī being the personification of the repeated clearance of doubts and constant vigil in the sādhana by Śrī Guru, which will remove these hindrance, in turn this is slaying of this asura.

Source: Yogamba Sahita Atmanandantha - "Meditative Texts - Revised Thoughts"

Noise - Removing the Veil to Subtle Sound

In Chapter 28 of Lalitopakhyana - “Slaying of Viśukra and Viṣaṅg” Devi Vāgvādinī defeats demon Drughaṇa (or Drughaṇa).

His name means ‘iron hammer of a blacksmith’. This represents the external loud sound. It gives a metaphor to the external gross or “struck” sound which is made by a hammer.

By killing this demon, we are being shown that this Devi is bringing us deeper - into the next milestone, next level of sound - to “Madhyama” or the “unstruck” internal sound of Anahata.

She is described as holding a pen and a book, with points to the fact that her upasana is done by meditation and contemplation on the scriptures and Guru’s words. These practices bring about a more pure truth which is obscured by the gross manifestation of sound. It’s subtle and refined, it’s the sound of the Divine nature, of the presence of Devi in our hearts.

Write a Reply...
© 2021 Amritananda Śrī Vidyā Online Forum. All rights reserved.