11. BRAHMI: The Khadgamala Devis Series

[Guest guest]

The outermost layer of the wall is white in color, and is – as we have

explored over the past ten weeks – guarded by the ten Siddhis, or

Powers. Having paid homage to the tenth and last of the Siddhis,

Sarvakama, we may progress inward to the second layer of the enclosure

wall, which is colored as the red of the rising sun.

 

There are eight devatas guarding this layer – they are the famous

Seven Mothers (saptamatrka), plus one added – Mahalaskmi. To learn

more about the Saptamatrikas, see our homepage:

 

http://www.shaktisadhana.org/Photo%20Gallery/Matrikas/Saptamarkas.html

 

The first of the Eight Mothers (and the 11th of the Khadgamala Devis)

is Brahmi, who is considered to be the Female Principle of Creation

(as consort of Brahma, the Male Principle of Creation); and a form of

Saraswati. In the scheme of the Khadgamala, each of these Eight

Mothers represent a human passion that must be overcome and controlled

before we can enter further into Sri Chakra. We worship each passion

as an aspect of Devi, then internalize it; and when we internalize

each deity, we *become* Her, so that She is not separate from us. In

that way, we "conquer" each passion, just as – in the first enclosure

wall – we conquered each siddhi.

 

Brahmi here represents Her subtle aspect as LUST. Now, it may seem

strange to associate Brahmi with lust; especially in Her aspect as

Saraswati, She is typically envisioned as pure, virginal, almost

childlike. But remember, She is the creator's Shakti – the Power of

Brahma – and there cannot be creation without lust.

 

Brahmi's mantra is:

 

aim hrim shrim brAhmI matru devi shrI pAdukAM poojayaami

 

She sits immediate inside the gate of the wall closest to you, to your

left as you enter the second layer.

 

Into Brahmi, the ten Siddhis are absorbed. In turn, Brahmi shall be

absorbed into Maaheshwari, and so on, till we reach Mahaalakshmi – at

which point, Mahaalakshmi will include all of the Siddhis and the

Seven Mothers.

 

We have not exhausted all there is to say about Brahmi, of course. But

this is enough for purposes of the Khadgamala. We are not writing full

essays on all the aspects and all the mantras of Braahmi. 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

Passions 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 and the

Passions before we can enter the Sriyantra (the higher benefits of

sadhana) and reach Devi (the goal of Sadhana; even though each of

these Siddhis and Passions 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