Regarding Dhumavati Devi

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Dear Saktha Bandhus,

 

This short piece of information is regarding the Dhumavathi Tattva which is

one of the vidyas among dasa (10) mahavidyas.

 

Dhuma means " smoke. " Dhumavati is the Devi who is composed of smoke. She is

the personification of Avidya. By her nature, she is obscurity and not

illumination. She obscures the TRUE SELF by a VIEL of AVIDYA and MAYA from the

common person. However, to obscure one thing is to reveal another. To the

ordinary common man, she obscures the TRUE SELF by the veil of AVIDYA and to the

Upasaka reveals the TRUE SELF by removing the veil of AVIDYA. Thus, her

functions are Tirodhana and Anugraha. She is also called “JYESHTA DEVI” or the

elderly lady. She is thus named because at the time of dissolution, when the

entire cosmos is dissolved, she is still present as the Seed of Cosmos with Chit

Kala. She is the first born Tamogunaatmaka Shakti and hence called JYESTHA.

Dhumavati is portrayed as a widow. She is the feminine principle without Siva

Tattva. She is Shakti without Shiva as a pure potential energy.

 

Dhumavati shows the principle of negation in all aspects. On an outer level

she represents poverty, destitution, and suffering, the great misfortunes that

we all fear in life. Hence she is said to be crooked. Yet on an inner level this

same negativity causes us to seek a greater fulfillment that can be achieved in

the limited realms of the manifest creation. Avidya or the Ignorance is the

springboard for the Sadhaka to know his TRUE SELF. After all, only frustration

in our outer life causes us to seek the inner reality. Dhumavati is whatever

obstructs us in life, but what obstructs us in one area can release a new

potential to grow in a different direction. Thus she is the good fortune that

comes to us in the form of misfortune.

 

Dhumavati represents the darkness on the face of the deep, the original chaos

and obscurity which underlies creation. She is the darkness of primordial

ignorance, Mulavidya. In veda, the Dhumavati is proclaimed as the RATRI DEVATA.

She is YOGANIDRA and BHRANTI. (Please refer 5th chapter of Chandii : Yaa devi

sarva bhuteshu Nidra / Bhranti rupena Samsthitah…….). She is the obscuring

power that covers the Supreme Light with her veil. When, the Yogi dissolves

all his mind and his senses, at this point, Dhumavati obscures his TRUE SELF in

the form of NIDRA which is the TAMO MAYA AVASTHA. It is she who uncovers this

veil and reveals herself. The 1st chapter of Chandi Sapthasathi is the Divine

Sport of DHUMAVATI.

 

Dhumavati represents the power of ignorance or that aspect of the creative

force which causes the obscuration of the underlying light of consciousness.

This ignorance is a form of darkness which prevents us from seeing the

underlying reality.

 

Dhumavati is the Sunya / Voidness, wherein all forms have been dissolved and

nothing can any longer be differentiated. Yet this void is not mere darkness. It

is a self-illumining reality free of the ordinary duality of subject and object.

Dhumavati represents the negative powers of life: disappointment, frustration,

humiliation, defeat, loss, sorrow and loneliness. Such experiences overpower the

ordinary mind, but to the yogi they are special doors of opportunity to contact

the reality which transcends desire.

 

Though the mantra “Dhoom Dhoom……” is the tantikopasana of Dhumavati, the

Shuddopasana is the “BHUMA VIDYA” which is very elaborately referred in the

CHANDOGYA UPANISHAD. This Vidya was revealed to the Narada by the Sage

Sanatkumara. This secret Bhuma Vidya is the essence of Dhumavati Upasana. BHUMA

is the Completeness or the ABSOLUTE TRUE SELF.

 

With regards,

sriram

 

Namah Savitre.

 

 

 

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