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.
Introduction
Parasurāma Kalpa Sūtra is one of the major guides in the practical saparyā – worship of Śrī Vidyā, others being various tantras like Tantrarāja, Nityā Śodaśikārnava, Paramānanda, Gynānāranava etc. Bhagavan Rāma having got initiation from Śrī Dattatreya on the tenets of Śrī Vidyā, proposed them in the form of small aphorisms, called sūtras. This must have been his condensation of the voluminous Datta Samhita.
Initially Bhagavan Rāma spells out dīkṣā khānda. The first quality he recognizes in an aspirant is ‘mati’- ‘sarvatra matimān dīkṣeta’. The person whose intellect is awake, or rather one who has an intuitive intellect, has to obtain this dīkṣā. This is possible by the recitation of the vedic gāyatri, which prays ‘dhiyah pracodayāt’ – let the intellect wake up and shine. Thus he places the same gāyatri mantra as the first to be chanted in the rasmimala, the early morning bed side ritual. Then he points to the mantra to be initiated as Bālā – tatra bālām upanishet - pascāt iśta mantram dadyāt. He identifies the root mantra as Bālā and says the pañcadaśi or sodaśi in a coded way only.
The next chapter is on worship of Lord Gaṇeśa, the obstacle remover in the path of sadhana. The sankalpa will be ‘Śrī Vidyā upastau nirvighnatayā siddhyartham’. For this a strong background on finance and health is required. Mainly the mind tends to reach out of uncomfortable positions, be it wants of money or ill health or mind torturing circumstances. It will not go searching on the philosophy and its aspects. Thus we find the phala śruti of the caturāvartti tarpanam as –
āyur ārogyam aiśvaryaṃ balaṃpuṣṭirmahād-yaśaḥ
kavitvaṃ bhukti -muktī ca catur-āvṛtti-tarpaṇāt
Long life, health, riches, strength, robust, great fame, poetry, all worldly pleasures and liberation. Thus the wants for life and a health are got by the worship of Lord Gaṇeśa.
Next is the upasana of Vārāhi and Śyāmālā. Bhagavan Rāma says- ‘pradhāna-dvārā rājaprasādanaṃ hi nyāyyam’ - the justification is same to seeing the royalty.
Vārāhi
Vārāhi mantra has 112 syllable, the Devi has emerged from the five flowery arrows of Śrī Lalitāmbika. The five arrows represent the pañca tanmātrā - the sound, feel, form, taste and smell, which are the aspects of the five basic elements - space, air, fire, water and earth. These are intermingled – the process is called pancikarana - and the visible universe is created.
Bhavanopanishat says –‘vārāhi pitru rūpā’- Vārāhi is verily the father, masculine form. As per astrology the body is from the father. The body is also made up of the five elements. The universe is also made up of these elements. Thus came the saying whatever is there in the body is there in the universe and whatever is there in the universe is there in this body. The Visible universe is a product of the primordial creative urge called Śakti. Thus this upsana is to understand that the whole seen world is the deity who is the Consciousness.
The ritual manual defines a two syllable bījā for this Vārāhi Devi upasana. They are the vak and the bhu bījā - aiṁ and glauṁ. ‘Aiṁ’ as seen earlier will point to the origin of the sound form - śabda sṛṣti and in turn the Vedas. ‘glauṁ’ – ‘g’ is Iśvara tattva indicative of Lordship , ‘l’ is pṛthvi tattva indicative of all five elements and the universe. Thus the creation visible universe and its Lordship are established in these bījās, this as seen in the above enquiries too.
Vārāha is the tusked boar, which lifts the world in the deluge or saving from the demon, who hid it under waters. Thus the clear image of the realization of the highest by the aspirant in this body itself (kaulopanoshat says - where there is creation – the body there itself is liberation: pindāt jananam tatraiva mokṣah).
Also we find reference as Yajña Vārāha in puranas, which is an indicative of the Vedas and the rituals connected with it, the sacrifices. The tusk is a direct reference to the teeth which are required for exact pronunciation. The elevation of the earth by the tusk will now point to the level of higher experience by the deity with the help of Vedic rituals and sacrifices. The Śrīvidyā saparya is termed and a yagna, makha, the entrance is called yaga mandira pravesha. Thus this sadhana karma is Vedic and helps us to attain the highest level of consciousness.
The injunction of Bharagava rāma is ‘na diva smaret vartālim’- don’t remember her in the daytime. Considering another injunction of Bhagavan Rāma - ‘prakatyam na kuryāt’- don’t reveal to the non initiates, the first direction becomes clear. Since this Devi is out of the five flowery arrows, the panca bhūtas, they are the five ‘m’, which manifest the ananda in this body, being a secretive upsana method is referred as ‘not in daylight’.
Unique is the āvarana of this Devi, wherein we find the seven dhatu devatas in the six cornered hexagon. We are amazed to note that the seventh dhatu nathā, hākini is in the central point, where Śrī Vārāhi is there.
Also we find the two major weapons ascribed to this Devi, the plough and pestle present as deities in the enclosure wearing the form of these weapons as a crown. We find their functions as attraction - ākasrśana and paralyzing - stambhana respectively. This will point to the sowing of the past deeds (karma) and removal of husk reaping (the husk being the doer sense is removed and all actions are envisaged as performed by the deity), thus leading the final realization of the self. These attributes are also expressed in the mula mantra – ‘stambhanam kuru kuru sheeghram vashyam’.
Also we find two whisks fanners on either side in the ritual manual, which is unique. They are the two lungs in the physical body; the fanning is like the inhaling and exhaling action.
In the next enclosure we find a multitude of devatas. Indra with his court dancers, apsaras.
Here Indra will represent the indrya dasaka adhipati, the ruler of the 10 sensory organs, the individual ego.
The apsarasas will represent the subtle art manifestations in each person.
Agni, is the subtle heat inside our body. This manifests for digestion, study and procreation - jataragni, bhaudhagni and kāmagni.
Sadhyas and siddhas, the creative intellect and accomplishing feat in the body.
The viśve devata and pitrus - they are the representative of the cause of this body.
Next we find rudras and rudra paricarakas - servants. Also we find Dhanvantari and Aśvini devatas:
The rudras have destructive aspects and their servants perform action of destruction. Unless old cells die, new ones can’t be created.
Dhanvantari is the god of physicians and Aśvini are physician deities in the enclosure. They will represent the white blood cells which are ‘natural physicians of the body’ and the lymph system which is ‘the natural protector of the body’.
Thus the deities in the enclosures - āvaranas will indicate the gross physical body.
Bhūta suddhi
In the Kalpasūtras Vārāhi karma we find the complete procedure for the Bhūta suddhi. Though all of the Śrīvidyā upāsakas are regularly doing this as a part of the saparya, this is found in this krama alone. The Bhūta shuddhi clearly talks about the sankoca sariram – gross physical body, its metamorphosis into the śambhava śariram – the Eternal youthful auspicious form, which is now eligible to perform the saparya ritual. Here again we find a direct reference on the gross body and its transformation.
Yantra
The yantra of this Devi is described as ‘trayara, pañcara, ṣadara, dalāśtaka, shatapatra, sahasrapadmāsanāya namaḥ.’ The triangle, five pointed star, hexagon, eight petals, hundred petals, thousand petals are the mystical diagram for this Devi. Again we find an inherent intrinsic reference to the gross body:
the triangle will represent the initial creative urge,
the five pointed star to the five elements,
hexagon to the six adharas of the physical body (dhatu devatas);
the eight petals to the puryaṣṭaka [Prāṇa, Apāna, Samāna, Udāna and Vyāna or five vital airs, the ten organs, manas, and the buddhi (intellect)]
the hundred petals to the total number of petals in all adharas,
the thousand petal to the crown – Sahasrāra.
Thus a full, fit body of the sadhaka is described in this yantra - Kiri chakra.
Also we find many modes of transport for this Devi. The Kiri chakra is the main vehicle. Then in the enclosures we find the buffalo, the lion and the antelope.
The Kiri chakra is the skeleton in the body, the basic for the body to stand up; else all muscle will be just a loose pack.
The buffalo, traditionally, represents kāma or desire, which is accomplished through the body by actions. Only a person whose worldly wants are fulfilled will be a fit receptacle for this sadhana.
The lion being the king of all animals will point to the path, the royal path of raja yoga.
Finally, the antelope will point to the control of mind which is a result of continuous sadhana.
The mantra of the Devi also has five salutations to her different actions, they are also found in the enclosures - āvaranas as deities:
andhe andhini namaḥ: One who blinds, the blinding nature
runde rundhini namaḥ: One who obstructs, the obstructing nature
jambhe jambhini namaḥ: One who crushes, the crushing nature
mohe mohini namaḥ: One who deludes, the delusive nature
stambhe stambhini namaḥ: One who paralyses, the paralyzing nature.
On a whole we find a massive power house of energy intermingled with the Grace in the Devi, this will now point to another sūtra of Bhagavan Rāma as – nigrahanugraha kṣamaḥ - very skillful in destruction and grace. Destruction of the inner enemies and grace is development of the inner virtues helping in this path. So, we find two aṣṭakas to this Devi – the nigrahāṣṭakam and anugrahāṣṭakam.
Balidana
On a retrospection of the balidana in this krama, very rare and intrinsic thoughts arose, which are shared here. We are directed to mix: - blood mixed rice, yellow colored rice, buffalo flesh, rice powder - fried, honey, karana (alcohol), three pulses powder, urd dhal powder, triphala – powder of three medicinal plants, jaggery, curd, milk, and ghee in (pure) cooked rice.
Make ten egg sized balls and a wood apple sized (a bigger size) ball. The ten are kept in a square formation with the big one in the centre long with the first three ‘m’akāras. They are to be offered to the 10 Bhairavas from Hetuka and the middle one to Candocchanada.
As said earlier the gross form of the sadhaka is governed by this Devi and we also find the 7 dhatus in her āvarana, we are astonished to notice that the ingredients in the bali correspond to the seven dhatus with the gross body.
The main cooked food will represent the annāmaya kosha - the gross body. All the other ingredients will represent the 7 dhatus. Thus the:
milk will now point to the tvak - skin,
rudiranna (blood mixed rice and ghee) - blood,
jaggery and urd dhal powder - flesh (urd dhal being rich in proteins will be an pointer in this identity),
honey and curds – fats,
pulses powder – bones,
yellow rice – marrow.
fried rice powder – the semen.
triphala powder – the three doshas (vata, pitta and kapha),
buffalo flesh will represent the kāma desire.
karana dravya (alcohol) will point to the inherent bliss which is manifested.
the 10 small balls are the:
five karmendryas and
five jñanendryas,
the big one is the mind.
Refer, Lalitā Sahasranāma of the ṣaṭcakra deities:
viśuddhi – pāyasanna (milk pudding) = tvak samsthā (skin);
anāhata – snighaudhana (ghee rice) = rushira samsthita (blood);
maṇipūra – gudāna (jaggery rice) = mamsa (flesh);
svādhiṣṭhāna - madhu priya/dadhyanna (honey and curd rice) medhas (fats);
mulādhāra - mudganna (pulses mixed rice) = asthi (bones);
ājñā - haridrana (yellow colored rice) = majja (marrow).
‘Bali’ also means to give strength, thus appropriating these devatas and bringing down the grace of Vārāhi Devi in the gross body by this act of balidana.
Hence, going through the above thoughts, we find that the solid consciousness (the body) which is experienced as the universe is Vārāhi.
