Sarvamangala Rajarajeshwari Story Part 15

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Dear Shaktha vasas, Jaya Mama Guru Parampara Jaya Mama Swaguru Pada! In the temple, devotees do not

circumabulate the deity keeping Her to the right, as is the sacred custom in all shrines and sacred places. (Idol rupa in Nanganallur) In Nanganallur temple we do it the opposite way,that is, we keep the deity to the left. Many years ago a great hullabaloo was raised in many shrines in Chennai that rewards were greater if God were worshipped during the Rahu period, known to be a maelevolent period on any day.That way the shrines drew lot of crowds to their shrines. May be some of you think this is also a similar gimmick-going around the deity anti-clockwise.Oh! Give me a

break! But if you observe carefully devotees do down anti-clockwise and up clockwise. Now the up portion is not always open. Now why this apradakshina? To understand this let me now explain some of the tradition of Srividya Tantra here. If one wants to receive and hold the spiritual presence of the Divine mother for the benefit of Her devotees, according to

Srividya, one of the three scripturally prescribed architectures, viz., Bhuprasthara, Kailashaprasthara and Meruprasthara, must be selected and the altar constructed entirely according to the rules, regulations, dimensions and design prescribed for the selected architecture. For example the powerful shakthi shrine of Sri Kamakshi Devi in Kanchipuram is known to have been built according to Bhuprasthara, laying out nine concentric structures of the Srichakra on the same plane. But in Nanganallur, the structures are elevated one above the other like a mountain according to Meruprasthara architecture exactly as ordered by Her Divine Majesty, Sarvamangala Rajarajeshwari. In this hill-like structure, Sri Rajagopala Swami installed the Mother-of-all at the

apex called bindu, and installed all the other goddesses in an eight-stepped descending structure. Divine mother can be compared to full moon. The fifteeen phases of the moon, also called lunar days(thithi), can then be compared to the fifteen eternally powerful(nithya) goddesses called Thithinithyas. The Nityas or Eternities of Rajarajeshwari Devi represent the fifteen lunar days or tithis of the waxing Moon. Each has her own yantra, mantra, tantra and prayogas or ritual applications. The full circle of the Nityas also represents the 21,600 breaths a human being takes in a full day and night. As such, the Nityas are the Kalachakra, or Wheel

of Time. The information in this section is drawn from a number of tantras including the Tantraraja, the Dakshinamurthy Samhita and the Jnanarnava Tantra, as well as the Kalpasutra, which seems to be the primary source. Readers will also find it useful to refer to Sir John Woodroffe's digest of the Tantraraja (Ganesh & Co, 1971), although here he fails to give sufficient idea of the number of prayogas (magical rites) associated with the Nityas. Yantras and mantras, where given, are drawn from Tantraraja, although it is necessary to point out that the Dakshinamurti Samhita gives somewhat different versions. The 15 Nityas are modifications of Lalita as red goddess with her three gunas and her five elements of aether, air, fire, water and earth. As the moon remains itself, though appearing differently according to phase, so too does Lalita. Each Nitya has her own vidya (that is mantra), yantra and group of energies (Shaktis). Their names appear in the first chapter of Vamakeshvara Tantra. Gopinath Kaviraj, a renowned scholar of tantra in the first half of this century, describes the Kalachakra and the Nityas succinctly in the introduction to the Sanskrit edition of Yogini Hridaya. Seated on the mountian-top is Sri Rajarajeshwari Devi. According to

Meru-prasthara architecture, the tithi nithyas are graciously resident on the Divine mountian in two different ways 1. Just below the Divine mother and around the eighth structure in the form of a triangle in an anti-clockwise sequence, five per side of the triangle. 2.In front of the Divine Mother on the fifteen ascending steps. Going up the steps is equivalent to the waxing phase of the moon, culminating in full

moon which is Rajarajeshwari Herself. Coming down it is the waning phase. Similarly,going round with Divine mother at the top in an anti-clockwise direction will correspond to the waxing phase. If the same direction is clockwise, the same circle will represent the waning phase. If it is said that the fullmoon, called pournamasya, is the Divine mother and its fifteen phases are the tithinityas, then what about amavasya, or the newmoon?That too is represented by Divine mother. If you complete the round anti-clockwise and

stand facing the Divinemother, She appears cool and bright like the fullmoon, as a beuty never seen in the three worlds, as an abode of joy and as the Empress, Sri Rajarajeshwari Devi.She grants happiness, welath and dominion to Her devotees. She is seated with Her left leg folded up and with Her right foot She seems to gesture to move to Her right. Shall we do that? Now shall we go around Her clockwise? Hey! we can see the moon waning! It is getting darker and darker. Well, we just managed to arrive in front of Her. But where is the Divine mother? It is all dark; we cannot see anything!I feel a powerful force drawing my heart to itself! Oh! no! I have a wife and a kid! I just got my promotion today; I haven't seen my salary raise yet! And eshwaree! from the darkness within I hear a raucous laughter!. My stomach is churning; throat choking; can't

move my hands or feet; my head is spinning. Suddenly, the great force that was tugging me pushes me to Her left and jerks me loose. I run like crazy in the anti-clockwise direction. Wow what a relief!the fifth, the sevent, the tenth, the moonlight increases. My heart beats steadily. I can catch my breath. Hesitatingly, I stand before Her and look up. Cool, gentle and smiling my dear Amba Rajarajeshwari sits atop the Mahameru. What ever happened to that pictch darkness? The moon-faced Rjarajeshwari is also Kali. Isn't the full moon totally dark on the other side? The Empress of Sri chakra who grants wealth and weal is also the Great Kali who can yank your soul out and thrust it into spiritual liberation. People do not like being pulled out of filth too fast. They cannot manage. Want to enjoy the world? Go around Her anti-clockwise. Desire union with Her leaving everything? Go clockwise. Want both? Go to Sarvamangala Sri Rajarajeshwari temple in Nanganallur, Chennai and do it both ways. With Swami Rajagopala's grace both Bhoga(dualistic enjoyment) and yoga(spiritual union) come to us easily. I shall dwell more upon what you can find inside the temple in the next part. (To be continued...) At His holy feet, Om ayeeim Hreem Shreem Sri Rajarajeshwari devi sripadukaam pujayami Tarpayami Namaha! Yours

yogically, Shreeram Balijepalli

 

 

 

Purity, Powers, Parabrahmam...

 

 

 

 

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