vAmakeSvarI

[Guest guest]

a) "vamanti jagatsR^ijantIti vA vAmakA dakShAdyasteShaNAmISvarI"

 

vamana means ejecting, bringing forth, drawing out, etc. In this

context it means creation, that is bringing forth the world. Hence,

vAmakA means prajapatI-s, dakSha and others. She is their Lord.

 

b) vAmekeSvaratantrarUpA vAmakasya tantrasya pratipAdyA vA

 

c) vAmakAH - Those who follow the vAma mArga. She is the diety adored

by even those who follow that path.

 

(The following item #d is my take, above three are bhAskararAya's)

 

d) vAmaka means left. Left of what? Left of our Lord. Since She rules

his Left part, She is called vAmakeshvarI.

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What exactly constitutes vAmamArga is taken in very detailed way under

the name savya-apasavya-mArgasthA. My tamil commentary runs to 8

pages. It takes up at length what constitutes vAma mArga.

 

To a large extent, more than the actual action, the attitude behind

the action is very important. This attitude could be a deciding factor

in the classification. Just to give an example, if an yaj~nA requires

an animal sacrifice, but the person who performs does not like to kill

an animal, he makes an animal out of flour, then does praNapratiShTa

and then kills that flour. But through the very act of praNapratiShTa,

he is indeed killing (even though he is not in the eyes of the

oridinary).

 

Typically people have a iShTa devata, to whom they are attached. It is

also denoted as upAsya devata. One of the meaning given there is:

those who follow vAmamArga, give precedence to their upAsya devata

over the actual devAta specified in the karma. Hence they will attach

either the name of the iShTa devatA or mentally think of that devatA

and perform the oblation. Hence, they do not fulfil the obligations

as it always goes to their upAsya devAta. [This is different from

thinking brahman is the substratum of all, etc] In this manner, they

give precedence to the tantra-s that adore their devatA, with

disregard to the vaidIka karma. They will even say that performance of

vaidIka karma is not necessary or important etc. But even if they

perform, they make it as anga to their upAsana of their deity. This is

fraught with problems.

 

[source of the above discussion as quoted in my book is kALikA purANa.

As you see this is pretty complex and way some of this goes, many

many of us who do not observe vaidika karma in the spirit of veda-s

will be vAmAchAri-s!]

 

I will keeps the discussion of savya-apasavya for next week, if time

permits

 

Ravi