The Consorts of the Three Gods

[Guest guest]

dear ompremji, once again our humble thanks for a very heart warming

post. i loved every word of all the passages from the bhagwati

tattwa. (> from The Gods of India: Hindu Polytheism by Alain Danielou)

 

if db were to read these passages , his shakta heart would rejoice

and sing and go into raptures!

 

ALSO, THIS IS TRUE ..

 

Everyone has a spiritual path. The main task in one's life is to

identify that path and follow it with humility, sincerity, faith,

devotion and vigilance.

 

ONCE AGAIN, A TIMELY REMINDER.

 

 

here, i would like to again quote my favorite verse from kaula

upanishads...

 

Antah-shaktah

bahih-shaivah

sabhayam vaishnava matah

Nana-rupadharah

Kaulah vicaranti mahitale.

 

at heart a Shakta,

outwardly a Shaiva,

in gatherings a Vaishnava (who are wont to

gather together for worship in praise of Hari

in thus many a guise the Kaulas wander on

earth.

 

Iwould like to share with all the members here the story of Sri

Arunagirinathar, A GREAT SAINT. He is regarded as a as a Kaumara,

because he has written many books on lord muruga expressing his

admiration for this deity.

 

there are lot of similarities between adi shankara and shri

arunagirinathar...

 

"Sri Adi Sankara had established the Shanmatas, i.e. the six cults of

Hindu worship. He named those who worship Lord Ganesa as Ganapatyas;

the worshippers of Lord Muruga as Kaumaras; of Shakti as Shaktas; of

Lord Siva as Saivites; of Lord Vishnu as Vaishnavas and of Sun God as

Sauras. Sri Sankara did not only sanction the Shanmata for the

external worship of God, but also propounded the philosophy of

Advaita (non-dualism) or the One without a Second. He made a

wonderful blend of both internal and external forms of worship. "

 

Though Sri Sankara performed external worship to the Gods like Shiva

and Vishnu, he was always worshipping internally Goddess Shakti, and

was really a Shakta."

 

this is obvious from the many works of adi shankara espeacially his

monumental work- the "saundarya lahari"

 

LIKE adi shankara, Arunagirinathar adopted the philosophy of Advaita.

 

 

"Sri Arunagirinatha explains that the One Supreme Brahman became

manifested as so many different deities. He makes it clear that those

who worship Lord Muruga externally worship only the Para Brahman. Of

the six principal deities of the six systems of worship founded by

Sri Sankara, five of them are male gods and only one is a female. If

we make a deep study of the itihasas and puranas, we will find that

the female aspect of God -- Para Shakti -- is the source of energy to

all male gods. Therefore, whichever god we worship, we worship Shakti

in addition and it is this Shakti who is the principal deity of the

Shakta cult. She is called by many names, as Ambika, Devi, etc. This

self-same Shakti manifests as various forms of Gods in all different

forms of worship. But whenever we worship the female aspect of any

god, we worship Her only. Abhirama Bhattar worshipped Shakti as the

All-pervading Force in the universe. It is She who performs the tasks

of creation, protection and destruction."

 

"Without that energy or Shakti, even the great deities like Brahma,

Vishnu and Shiva are powerless as stated in the Lalita Sahasranama.

Not only the Trinity, but the other gods an devas also like Lord

Ganesha, Lord Muruga, Sun, Moon, Indra, Manmatha, and Kubera and

sages like Agastya and Durvasa are stated to be worshippers of

Shakti. From this it is clear that all the deities worship Para

Shakti and derive their energy from Her to perform their respective

tasks. Therefore, when devotees worship gods, they worship only Para

Shakti in truth. In this sense, all the devotees of different cults

may be called Shaktas and it is no surprise if we call Arunagirinatha

as a Shakta. "

 

"By the grace bestowed by Devi, Shaktas claim the ultimate experience

of Nirguna Brahman by their worship of Para Shakti in its external

form or Saguna Upasana. This is the greatness inherent in Shakti

worship. It is not necessary that one who worships Shakti internally

should worship Her in the external form as well. Similarly, there is

no bar on those who worship other deities in the external form from

worshipping Her internally."

 

so most of the saints although first start with external worship of

other deities like Lord muruga, lord ganesha, lord krishna etc but

ultimately end up being devi upasakas...

 

So what is so special about the divine mother?

 

SHE IS THE VERY EMBODIMENT OF THE VEDAS!! THAT IS WHY GAYATRI IS

CALLED VEDAMATA !

 

sO, " Every jnani or comprehensor, therefore, becomes a Shakta in the

end when he tries to understand the manifestation of the universe as

the play or sport of Devi. "

 

so, we all start out on our spiritual path either as a shavite,

vaishnavite or whatever and then finally end up as Devi upasakas

because as the sree lalita sahasaranama so eloquently decribes her

SHE IS SAT-CHIT-ANANDA RUPIN!...

 

****STORY OF ARUNAGIRINATHAT BORROWED FROM MURUGAN BHAKTI,COM

 

let us salute the divine feminine!

 

love