Brahmā and Sarasvatī Mantra
(śruti dharani vidyā and mātṛkākṣarā) meditation
The fourteenth and fifteenth mantras are brahma and sarasvati mantras, to be meditated at brahmarandhra and dvādashāntā respectively.
The Brahmā mantra is Vedic; the effect of this mantra is said by Bhagavān Paraśurāma as śruti dhārini - one who helps in retaining (remembrance of) heard knowledge. The Sarasvatī mantra is the 51 mātṛkākṣarā. In the Śrī Nagara, both Brahmā and his consort Sarasvatī are found in the vidruma ratna prākāra (red coral fort enclosure).
The Brahmā mantra deciphered from Paraśurāma Kalpa Sūtra is:
tāraḥ namo brahmaṇe dhāraṇaṃ me astv anirā-karaṇaṃ dhārayitā
bhūyāsaṃ karṇayoḥ śrutaṃ mācyoḍhvaṃ mamāmuṣya oṃ
iti śruta- dhāriṇī vidyā | PKS 10.20 |
oṃ namo brahmaṇe dhāraṇaṃ me astvanirākaraṇaṃ dhārayitā
bhūyāsaṃ karṇayorśrutaṃ mācyodhvaṃ mamāmuṣya oṃ
The Sarasvati mantra is am.... kṣam (51 alphabets)
This Vedic mantra is found in the mahā nārāyaṇopaniṣat as its ninth chapter.
brahmaṇe - oh brahman namaḥ- prostrations; me - to me; dhāraṇaṃ - concentration of thought (or) powerful memory; astu - be; anirākaraṇaṃ - without distraction; dhārayitā - one who practices concentration of thoughts; bhūyāsaṃ - may I be; karṇayor śrutaṃ - whatever I have heard with my ears; amuṣya - of such and such; mama - mine; mā - not be; cyodhvaṃ- fail.
A free rendering of the above translation would be - My prayers to Brahmā for perfect hearing, intact memory, absorb the heard sound to a high degree, not to lose whatever is heard, let me be so.
The dhyana śloka of Brahmā according to Nityotsava / datta Samhita is
caturānanaṃ ambhoja niṣaṇṇaṃ bhāratī sakhaṃ
akṣamālāvarābhīti kamaṇḍaludharaṃ namaḥ
caturānanaṃ ambhoja niṣaṇṇaṃ: Having four faces and seated in a lotus. The unique form of Lord brahma, the creator has four faces and was born in lotus. Thus, this will point to ‘brahmane’ in the mantra.
bhāratī sakhaṃ: with his consort Bhāratī. ‘Bhā’ means light or splendour - here the inner light. The main aspect of hearing a sound is to recognize and keep it in memory. This is possible by inner intuitive intelligence only, which is figuratively said as inner light, ‘dhāraṇaṃ me astu’ in the mantra explicitly says this idea.
akṣamālā: The count beads (fifty-one in number). The main aspect of keeping in memory required a structured way of sounds, which are alphabets, here they are the fifty-one in the language spoken - Sanskrit. This idea is visualized in the ‘anirākaraṇaṃ”
varābhīti: Showing gestures of removing fear and granting boons. Here the best boon is the analysis of beauty in the above-structured response and fear is a lapse in holding this capacity, removal of this is said here. These ideas are in ‘dhārayitā bhūyāsaṃ’.
kamaṇḍaludharaṃ: Holding the ceremonial water pot. The ritual sacrificial pot points to the action, karma, wherein the continuous usage of the structured response is kept alive; the ear is an organ of cognition - karmendriya- thus ‘karṇayorśrutaṃ mācyodhvaṃ’, explains this perfectly.
namah: I bow. This is found in the mantra as ‘namo’ in the sense of salutation and ‘mamāmuṣya’ in the sense of the doer.
The most peculiar identity of this mantra is that it starts with praṇava ‘oṃ’ and ends in praṇava ‘oṃ’. The initial throb when manifested produced a sound is praṇava; hence this is befitting that all the alphabets which are an expansion of the primordial sound start and end in the same sound form, thus making this mantra very powerful in utility.
The dhyana śloka of Sarasvatī Devi is:
pañcāśata mātṛkārṇaiḥ ārabdhākhila dehayā
samastavidyārūpiṇīṃ dhyāyeham mātṛkāmbikāṃ
pañcāśata mātṛkārṇaiḥ ārabdhākhila dehayā: The body of the Devi is made of 51 letters - this explicitly points to all the mātṛkākṣarā ‘am to kṣam.’ The placement of them please see detailed explanation in the below (another) dhyana śloka.
samastavidyārūpiṇīṃ dhyāyeham mātṛkāmbikāṃ: She is in the form of all knowledge, I meditate on mātṛkādevi. This is the expression of the above alphabets which forms all fields of vidyā (knowledge).
In Śrī Vidyā saparyā, during nyāsa, first is this mātṛkānyāsa. There we find another dhyāna śloka:
pañcā śat varṇa bhedaiḥ vihita vadana doḥ pādayuk kukṣi vakṣo deśāṃ
bhāsvat kapardākalita śaśi kalāṃ indu kundāvadātāṃ
ākṣarak kumbha cintā likhita vara karāṃ trīkṣanāṃābja samsthāṃ
acchākalpāṃ atuccha stana jaghana barāṃ bhāratīṃ tāṃ namāmi
pañcā śat varṇa bhedaiḥ: The variations of the fifty-one alphabets ‘am to kṣam’ .
vihita: Divided into vowels, ka ca ṭa ta pa ya vargas (series).
vadana: Placed on the face, vowels - a - top of the head, ā- circumference of the face; i and ī - right and left eye; u and ū- right and left ear; ṛ and ṝ - right and left nostril; lṛ and lṝ - right and left chin; e and ai- upper and lower lips; o and au- upper and lower teeth; aṃ - tongue tip and aḥ- top of the head (this is as per paramānanda tantra).
doḥ: hands, ‘ka’ and ‘ca’ series- shoulder joint, mid-arm, wrist, start and the tip of fingers in both right and left hands.
padayuk: both legs - ‘ ṭa’ and ‘ta’ series-hip, knee, heel, and start and a tip of fingers(feet).
kukṣi: The stomach- ‘pa’ series - both sides, back and front sides and navel.
vakṣo deśāṃ: The area of the chest-the ‘ya’ series-heart, right armpit, neck nape, left armpit, from the heart to extremes of arms, legs, bottom and top of the trunk.
bhāsvat kapardākalita śaśi kalāṃ: Lighting up with the crescent on Her braided, knotted, and matted hair. The anusvra is written like a crescent, which points to the involution of the mind to a point. The ‘kaparda’ shows the structured and systematic way of analysis of all the sounds to go deep into meditations and hence the source. This is akin to bhagavān śrī ramana’s introspection of ‘who am I?’
indu kundāvadātāṃ: of the hue of moon and jasmine-white. White denotes śuddha satva guna, which is a prerequisite for the above sādhana.
ākṣarak: The beads -fifty-one. They represent fifty-one alphabets from ‘am to kṣam’. The phonetic variations of expressed structured speech, which is used for communications
kumbha: The pot filled with nectar - amṛtā. Since the first element’s (space) aspect is sound, it is eternal. paraśurāma says- ‘varṇāh nityāh’- alphabets are eternal. This is envisaged as a nectar pot.
cintā likhita: The written down palm leaves. The above phonetic speech was written down for the transmission of acquired knowledge. Thus, cumulative knowledge is said here.
vara karāṃ: The highest boon is the awareness of the eternal self, this being the ultimate goal is experienced as the grace of this devi.
trīkṣanāṃ: Having three eyes. The normal usual vision of humans is with two eyes. The three eyesight will be different, this will show the trikāla gnāna, the past present, and future knowledge of this śakti, hence Her eternal nature is indicated
abja samsthāṃ: Seated on a lotus. Lotus opens to light and is also a personification of the heart, unconditioned love. The names of the lotus are ‘padma’ when seen through ka-ṭa-pa-yadi code is fifty-one, the mātṛkākṣarās - the varṇadhva, ‘abja’ will translate as eighty the padādhva and ‘kamala’ will be one, five and three, the sum is nine which is a mystical number in mantra śāstra- pointing mantrādhv adhvā. samsthām will mean placed on, thus seeing from the above will mean seated on this sūkṣma adhvā, which are varna, pada, and mantra, (sthūla adhvā are tattva, kalā, and bhuvana)
acchākalpāṃ: Bright attire-clothes and ornaments. The brightness will show the awareness that is got. This awareness is of both the light and darkness, which is termed as knowledge.
atuccha stana jaghana bharāṃ: Very prominent breast and hip. Breasts are two in number, showing the vowels and consonants and also the nutritive nature of Divine Mother. Jaghana is the base on which the body rests. Thus, we find the whole vidyā is in this form, nurtured and resting on the mātṛkākṣarās.
bhāratīṃ: The inner light, illuminating all. All the above description will suffice to name this deity as Illuminant.
tāṃ namāmi: I bow to Her.
The Deities are found in the red coral fortress, which represents the rudhira dhātu (blood constituent). Per Śaiva Śātras, mantra adhvā is personified as blood inside the body of the invoked deity. It is so apt that deities of mātṛkākṣarās and memory are residing (reflecting) in mantra adhvā.
'O, Lord Datta!!! These are flowers on your feet”
Source: "Meditative Texts - Revised Thoughts on the Way" by Yogamba Sameta Atmanandanatha (Ramesh Kutticad)
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.
