Chinnamasta

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>From a desxcription of the Mahavidya Chinnamasta, by Sri Amritananda

Natha Saraswati (Guruji):

 

CHINNAMASTA

 

A flash. Thunder, rain, rivers, green fields, flowers, fruits.

 

The seed of God thrives on the fertility of Mother Earth, and life

springs in the eternal bosom of Prakriti for the vision of God.

 

The flash separates the head from the body and three streams of

blood sprout forth. The central stream is drunk by the head of the

Goddess held in Her hand, the remaining two streams are drunk by her

aides.

 

The Goddess is standing on Rati and Manmatha in maithuna. Stark

naked, Her nudity does not strike the eye as She is robed in

dazzling light. She has no head: a headless trunk with two arms held

aloft. From Her headless neck, three streams of blood gush forth.

The middle stream is drunk by Her mouth in the severed head held in

Her hand while the other two streams are drunk by two attendants

standing on either side.

 

This is Prachanda Chandika or Chinnamasta. She is an invitation for

lightning, for a thunderbolt, to strike the body from head to foot.

She gives kapâla moksha, yet She is living after death.

 

Prakâsha (Light) and NAda (Sound) are the precursors of creation.

When Prakâsha is delimited as Âkâsha, it is Buhvaneshwari. When the

delimitation takes the form of duration, Time, it is KAli. When

Prakâsha gets involved in creation and at the same time transcends

it, it is Sundari. The unexpressed, unmanifest Sound in concentrated

consciousness is Bhairavi, while the Sound preceiving itself is

TAra. The interaction of Prakâsha and NAda to precipitate creation

is Chinnamastha.

 

The interaction produces such force and violence that the creation

is almost cut asunder from the creator. The whole purpose of

creation is for the One to delight in separate existences as Many.

This is why Chinnamasta is represented as cutting off the head

(i.e., the source).

 

In the world of phenomena, the interaction of Light and Sound

results in thunder and lightning. Chinnamasta is the thunder

destroying all the anti-Divine forces. She is the hidden radiance in

the heart of the cloud. Ruling over the cosmic mind, She acts

through the human mind as the sense behind the senses. The most

powerful activity of the senses is sex. The great Goddess is

depicted as trampling with Her feet Rati and Manmatha joined in

amorous union. Worship of Chinnamasta grants complete mastery over

the sex impulse.

 

Chinnmasta is the indomitable force, the striking power of the

Supreme. What is the difference between Her action and the action of

KAli. When KAli is fierce and terrible, She is Chandi. Chinnamasta

is more terrible than the terrible KAli, hence the name Prachanda

Chandika. KAli works with the aid of KAla (Time). Chinnamasta

destroys instantaneously. KAli is the prâna shakti (vital force)

while Chinnamasta is vidyut shakti (electric force). She has Her

seat between the eyebrows (ajna chakra) and commands the power of

will and vision.

 

Chinnamasta is the power of lightning (Vajra Vairochani), and

spreads Herself along myriads of channels enveloping the whole

cosmos. When a being is created, this energy enters into the being

through the Bramharandhra. Bramharandhram is the only apperture that

connects the flow of energy in the body with that of the cosmos. The

energy then spreads throughout the psychic body by means of nâdis¹.

Of all the nâdis, the three important ones are Ida, Pingala, and

Sushumna. Sushumna is the central nâdi that terminates in the

Bramharandhram.

 

Chinnamasta is in Her concentrated form at the ajna chakra. However,

Her activity is in the Sushumna, where She traverses up and down as

the sustaining current of electric energy and power. The flow is

restricted by the granthis. The knots have to be cut by the scissors

which She holds in Her hand. Prachanda Chandika is the current

through the Sushumna, while the charming Varini and the terrific

DAkini are the currents through the Ida and Pingala.

 

Chinnamasta manifested as the mother of parashurâma, the sixth

avatâr of Vishnu. The story goes that, at the behest of his irate

father Jamadagni, who was displeased with the misdemeanour of his

wife Renuka, Parashurâma cut the head of his mother with an axe.

Then by the virtue of a boon from his father who was pleased with

his unquestioning obedience, Parashrâma got his mother alive.

 

The mantrâ of the Goddess is the seed-sound Hum, also known as the

Dhenu beeja. The mantrâ gives mastery over the senses and annhilates

the mind completely. One effective way of sâdhana is to imagine a

constant downpour of lightning from the high skies and submit the

whole body, mind, and self to it in absolute dedication and

surrender.

 

URL: http://www.srividya.org/Dasamahavidya/chandi.html