Matangi: A Conclusion

[Guest guest]

I am posting this installment of my Matangi posts last, so that

readers will see it first! I wish to point out that Matangi Devi is

my Ishtadevata, and therefore I have studied, contemplated and

researched upon Her more than I have on other Goddess forms. The

volume of material I've presented (which really only scrapes the

surface) is not an intended to exhault Matangi as the "best" Goddess

form. As is always the case in Shaktism, Devi's "best" form depends

entirely upon the personality, needs, spiritual development, etc., of

Her individual devotees. Each devotee will find the form most suited

to her/his Sadhana.

 

My posts are, rather, a small token of devotion and appreciation to

Maatangi Devi. I hope some of you will find it interesting.

 

Some sources see the Ten Mahavidyas as merely aspects of Kali - not

as complete goddesses in and of themselves. Each lesser goddess (in

ascending order from ten to one), they say, removes a little more

ignorance than the one before; each opens the devotee's eyes wider to

Kali Herself -- the very expression of Supreme Reality.

 

In that view, then, the 10th Mahavidya (Kamala/Lakshmi) is only the

bottom step of a ladder up to Kali; She means nothing much on Her

own. Matangi, as the 9th Mahavidya, would be only slightly higher in

importance. Sources with this view (one such is the "Mahanirvana

Tantra") say that worship of the lower Mahavidyas is useful only for

gaining siddhis - limited occult powers. They certainly won't get you

enlightenment/moksha/nirvana/supreme knowledge, etc.

 

But that view seems inaccurate to me. The mythology of the Mahavidyas

is of two main varieties -- either they are all manifestations of Sri

Parvati or they are all manifestations of Sri Kali. In the case of

Matangi individually, two origin myths (from outside Mahavidya lore)

call Her a form of Parvati. And in mainstream Hinduism, Matangi is

listed as one of the 108 names of Durga, and the first of Meenakshi's

names as well.

 

That is in line with the basic Hindu theory of the ishtadevi -- i.e,

that any avatar whom the devotee chooses to worship is ultimately and

will ultimately lead her/him to the Supreme Devi.

 

The modern Tantric master Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni (1878-1936) --

whose sadhana centered on the Mahavidyas -- taught that Matangi was

the Goddess presiding over Manifestation. Through Her, thought

becomes word, unmanifest sound is struck into music, ideas unfold

into expression, potential becomes being -- Divine Consciousness

becomes the created Universe.

 

According to Muni, "Matangi is the highest of the Goddesses in that

She allows all their powers and principles to be realized."

 

Other manifestations of Devi are "the highest" in other ways. To me,

that sounds like the very definition of Shakti.

 

Aum Maatangyai Namahe