10. SARVAKAMA: The Khadgamala Devis Series

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The tenth Devi of the Khadgamala is called SARVAKAMA. "Sarvakama

Siddhe" (the recitation in the Khadgamala) means, "O Siddhi named

Sarvakama" (i.e. what Guruji identifies as the power of ATTAINING ALL

DESIRES). She is the tenth stop on our journey to the center of

Srichakra. She is also the last of the Ten Siddhis, and the final

Devi of the outer (white) enclosure wall of Srichakra. Having paid

homage to and assimilated SARVAKAMA into ourselves, we advance to

the second (red) enclosure wall.

 

[To catch up on the Khadgamala Devis Series, or to find the

resources to begin, simply click on the photo of SARVAKAMA. Our

archives is a work in progress, in which we are compiling all

Khadgamala Devis Series posts for easy reference. Please contribute

your thoughts, experiences, impressions, knowledge and questions on

the series to enhance its usefulness to others!]

 

Again, the power represented by SARVAKAMA is ATTAINMENT OF ALL

DESIRES. She is, in other words, the One who satisfies and exhausts

all of our desires -- with "exhaust" being the key term. It has

often been observed that life in this material plane is

characterized by an endless pursuit of transient desires. We want

that book, movie, CD, holiday/vacation, car, house, person; we want

to be respected as human beings, recognized for what we do well,

forgiven for what we do poorly; we want to be liked, we want to be

healthy, beautiful, influential, rich, loved, needed, heeded ... and

yet, and yet -- whenever we attain one of these desires, it is

almost immediately replaced by a new desire. And the cycle begins

again.

 

Nothing is ever enough -- not because we are inately greedy or

sinful or any such thing; but because we are, under the veil of

Maya, chasing after mere stand-ins for the perfect fulfillment and

bliss of Divine Realization. And no material stand-in will ever fill

our need completely, or forever. No earthly love or pleasure or

fulfillment will permanently alleviate the need to connect with

Divine Love; no object and material attainment or power will ever be

more than a minute partial reflection of Devi's infinite totality as

Shakti; as Power Itself.

 

Therefore, SARVAKAMA's gift to us, once we have assimilated and

become Her, is the exhaustion of those desires. She will give us

anything we want -- a power that the vast majority of humanity would

give almost anything to gain. And yet -- those who actually attain

SARVAKAMA also gain the realization that the only thing they really

desire, the only thing they really need ... is the feet of the

Mother. Devi is all that there is, all that matters. Everything

else, however grand and wonderful, is but a pale reflection.

 

But there is more: Sarvakama teaches that all of the diverse

goddesses and gods that humans worship and revere in the various

religious systems of the world -- while immensely powerful from the

human standpoint -- are also just peripheral reflections of the One

and All-Encompassing Power (SHAKTI) that we, within the Shakta

tradition, identify as Devi. Thus we have the meaning of the 95th

stanza of the great Shakta hymn, Saundaryalahari:

 

"The direct worship of Your feet is not possible for the fickle-

minded. Therefore even deities such as Indra are kept satisfied at

the gate by Your subordinate powers, like AnimA [the first of the

Siddhis in the Khadgamala]."

 

Think of in terms of earthly royalty: No matter how powerful, no

matter how influential, no matter how exalted one's titles, not just

anyone can enter the private, innermost chambers of the Queen.

Likewise, in sadhana, only sadhaks of the highest order can directly

worship Devi in the Sahasrara.

 

This is Shankaracharya's meaning in Soundaryalahari: Deities such as

Indra are, on account of their astonishing powers, considered as

gods by ordinary mortals -- but in the ultimate scheme of things,

they are just slightly more evolved energies. In fact, they have

accessed only the outermost gate of Devi's residence -- and are thus

but manifestations of the Siddhis. (The siddhis, as eternal aspects

of Devi Herself, are immortal and everlasting; whereas Indra and

other devas -- however almighty and praiseworthy they may appear to

us mortals -- are only temporary manifestations of these siddhis, to

be eventually re-absorbed into Devi and disappear into Her totality.)

 

As noted above, each Devi of the Khadgamala -- each Devi of the

Srichakra -- merges into the next as we progress toward the center.

Each Devi is internalized from Her place, and carried with us to the

next Devi, and merged with Her. So when we reach SARVAKAMA, we are

actually worshiping Her together with the powers of Her

predecessors, Anima, Laghima and Mahima, Isitva, Vasitva, Prakamya,

Bhukti, Iccha and Prapti.

 

Thus we have, in essence, destroyed or overcome these nine previous

siddhis by merging Them into SARVAKAMA; and it will continue thus,

through the Siddhis and other Devis of the Khadgamala. Now let us

review the locations of the Khadgamala Devis as we complete our

circumambulations of the outermost enclosure wall of SriChakra:

 

1. ANIMA - Looking at Srichakra, Anima sits to the right side of the

gate closest to you on the square, outermost enclosure wall (i.e.,

the white line).

 

2. LAGHIMA - As you circumambulate counterclockwise around the

outermost square enclosure, Laghima sits to the right side of the

gate on the next wall.

 

3. MAHIMA - Continuing to circumambulate counterclockwise around the

corner, Mahima sits to the right side of the gate on the next wall.

 

4. ISITVA - Continuing to circumambulate counterclockwise around the

corner, Isitva sits to the right side of the gate on the next wall.

 

5. VASITVA - Continuing to circumambulate counterclockwise around the

corner, you return to the first wall (the one closest to you), move

past the gate, and find Vasitva sitting at the next corner (on a flat

yantra, the lower left corner of the outer enclosing wall).

 

6. PRAKAMYA - Continuing to circumambulate counterclockwise around

the corner, you move past the next gate, and find Prakamya sitting

at the next corner (on a flat yantra, the upper left corner of the

outer enclosing wall).

 

7. BHUKTI - Continuing to circumambulate counterclockwise around the

corner, you move past the next gate, and find Bhukti sitting at the

next corner (on a flat yantra, the upper right corner of the

outer enclosing wall).

 

8. ICCHA - Continuing to circumambulate counterclockwise around the

corner, you move past the next gate, and find Bhukti sitting at the

next corner (on a flat yantra, the lower right corner of the

outer enclosing wall).

 

9. PRAPTI - Continuing to circumambulate counterclockwise around the

corner, you immediately encounter Prapti, sitting on the righthand

side of the next gate (on a flat yantra, She sits to the right of the

gate of the outer enclosing wall closest to you).

 

10. SARVAKAMA - Continuing to circumambulate counterclockwise around

the corner, you pass the next gate and turn a second corner to find

Sarvakama (on a flat yantra, She sits to the right of the

gate of the outer enclosing wall furthest from you; close to the

upper lefthand corner).

 

SARVAKAMA's mantra is:

 

aIM hrIM shrIM savaKAma siddhi shrI pAdukAM poojayaami

 

But again, please note that the beauty of the Khadgamala Stotram is

that NOTHING is required for its recitation except for your time,

attention and concentration: You need simply sit and recite the

Stotram. The mantra given just above is not part of the stotram; it

is offered merely for informational purposes. The entire stotram is

self-contained, as explained in earlier posts. The full text can be

found by clicking the photo on the front page of this Group.

 

OTHER NOTES:

 

Again, the full pooja of these Devis takes hours, because at each

point we pause and do smaller, detailed poojas. Hence the sages of

yore created an ALTERNATIVE, SHORT-FORM recitation known as the

Khadgamala Stotram more suitable for the demands of modern life.

 

According to Sri Bhasurananda Natha, an accomplished Srividya upasak

as well as a member of and advisor to this group: "All of the sadhana

of Srividya can be achieved by the recitation of the Khadgamala.

Hours

of long ritual compressed to less than half an hour of intense

meditation that will give you a ticket on the same plane as the great

Srividya Upasakas. Whatever your developmental stage, this is IT."

Even those who have not been initiated into Srividya can benefit from

the Khadgamala, which is why we chose to offer it to our members

here.

 

Once again, it is important to note that the Devis representing the

Siddhis are *outside* the Sriyantra proper (i.e. the RED area in this

graphic: http://shaktisadhana.50megs.com/images/Khadgamala/first.jpg

). Metaphorically, this teaches that we must get past the Siddhis

(powerful and/or attractive side effects of Srividya sadhana) before

we can enter the Sriyantra (the higher benefits of sadhana) and reach

Devi (the goal of Sadhana; even though each of these Siddhis are

themselves aspects of Devi).

 

[With sincere thanks and appreciation to Sri Amritananda Natha and

Sri

Bhasurananda Natha, who kindly provided detailed and substantive

content for this commentary.]

 

Aum Maatangyai Namahe