Mantra Sphota and other ruminative replies

July 13, 2009

Two e-mails I received:

Dear Shreeram Balijepalli Garu,

Your messages are nothing but wisdom.Every day I keep wondering who this person is? And look forward the first thing when I login for guidance from your lucid messages on a day-to-day basis.I have visited many websites and online sites but many have just intellectual or Shastras quoted there to frighten people but in you I see the love of Divine Mother,the authenticity of an upasaka,brilliance of true knowledge and the sincerity of an Athmabandhu.You mince no words to explain or put someone on the right path.Truly, you are a blessed soul.My life changed after fllowing your advices though given to someone else.

If possible,if I have the bhagya, I would like to meet you.Though from your emails, I have come to know that you are a very private person.

I have just one small query: Is Srividya Tantra a Vedic path?

SK.

Pranaamam Sreeramagaru,

All your mails come with detailed explanations and it is a wonder to read it all!

You try to clear everyones doubts with utmost interest! You belong to them in their needs! You are knowledgeable and so full of divinity! You are rightly "Para Anuloma"!

Yet my mind wanders in search of a Guru, in search of that realisation, in search of that "miracle"!

Athyantha Bhakti.......you have quoted thing in the very correct perspective. Yeah, the things manifest the way around you because you have knowingly or unknowingly have asked for it. But Athyantha Bhakti needs to spring out from ones conscience.

I am so full of doubts and seek answers, I am never relaxed with myself, may be my past rinas or my pithru doshas in my jaathakam holds me back. But I make every possible steps to uplift myself, I work hard! But my doubts and dridatha always fail, I get up again to fight it up! Again I fal!

Doubts! - How far does it need to be settled, before one realises the futility of pursuing it as a journey of knowing oneself (yes, you have given me a mail on it, but I am still to get convinced!)

Japas! - How does one realise that the japa is done correctly, the mana - danda of doing so?

Doubts = weakning the mind. But when a person is steadfast in doing the Japa, negativity surfaces and at times flows with the negativity, only to realise at a later period of his waste of time. So a mana-danda where he can hold o to buld the positive side of it, naturally he needs to have the positive experiences in doing so.

May Amma Bless you with Her Affection!

V

Reply to the above e-mails in one-go:

Dear SK Garu,

Thankyou for the kind and elevated words directed at this ignoramus.All Guru and Amba's daya.

Sri Devi,Sri Chakra and Panchadasakshari are all identical and Srividhya stands for all these three.

Manu Rishi(not to be confused with laterday King Manu who got written the Mnau smrithi),Kubera,Chandra,Lopamudra,Manmatha,Agasthya,Nandikesvara,Surya,Vishnu,Shanmukha,

Siva and Durvasa Krodha-Bhattaraka have all specialized in this Vidhya.

Aadi Shankara was also an exponent of Srividya and his Soundarya Lahiri contains the quintessence of Samaya worship.

Sri Devi worship is the Upasana of the Supreme Brahman in its Feminine aspect of Sakti,the creative energy of the universe.Brahman and Sakti are identical,different only by name, the former being the Prakasa aspect and the later the Vimarsa aspect.

That the worship of Devi is Vedic has been established by Bhaskararaya who interprets the Rig Vedic passage "Chatwaaram eem bibhrathi kshamayanthah:" as referring to Panchadasakshari.

The same idea finds expression in Natanananda's commentary on Shloka 17 Kamakalavilasam.In Varivasya Rahasyam,Bhaskararaya refers to the Vedic origin of Srividhya as follows:

"Kaamo yonihi kamaletyevam samkethithaihi shabdaha:

Vyavaharathi nathu prakatam yaam Vidhyaam Vedapurushopi"

Lakshmidhara commenting on the Arunopanishad,a part of Taittiriya Aranyaka,explains the word "Arunopanishad" as "Arunaayaaha: Bhagavathyaah: Prathipaadhikaa Upanishat"

Appaya Dikshiatha begins his commentary on Bahvrichopanishad belonging to the RigVeda with the following shloka:

"Yasyaam Devee Mahaavaakyaihi Chathurbhirbhaashyathe' Paraa

Bahvrichaakhyopanishadam Vyaakhyaasye' dwilingikaam"

It is the source of eternal delight and mudita that the "Lalitha Sahasranama", the best of all Sahasranamas, includes the name of "Brahmanapriya" which can mean among many things "One who loves Brahman(and those who follow the path set for it)".This itself is a cue to the Vedic stance of Srividya Tantra.

The point of contention comes when some Srividya traditionalists,hold that explicit forms of Vedic revelations, are not suitable for the expeditious and previliledged Tantreeka sadhana.

The Tantreeka interpretations of Veda are kept secretive and revealed only to the initiated for fear of misuse.Rameshvara explains that Vedic learning can be got for a price but Srividya knowledge is Guru's gift and Devi's Ahethuki Kripa.

Advaitavedanta is the whole day and life of the Shakta Sadhaka. On waking at dawn (Brahmamuhurta) he sits on his bed and meditates "I am the Devi and none other. I am Brahman who is beyond all grief. I am a form of Saccidananda whose true nature is eternal Liberation."

Aham Devi na canpo'smi, Brahmaivaham na sokabhak,

Saccidanandarupo'ham nitpamuktasvabhavavan.

At noon again seated in Pujasana at time of Bhutasuddhi he meditates on the dissolution of the Tattvas in Paramatma. Seeing no difference between Paramatma and Jivatma he affirms Sa'ham "I am She". Again in the evening after ritual duties he affirms himself to be the Akhilatma and Saccidananda, and having so thought he sleeps.

Srividya is verily a Vedic path and even much beyond the explicit Vedic mantras, one need not entertain any doubts in this regard.

Bhavathu Bhadram Bhavany!

Dear V,

You say getting a Guru is a "miracle".If you believe that statement then you must also realize in the same vein that miracles come on their own accord.One can never force a miracle to come!When the "miracle-receiver" is ready, the "miracle" falls onto his/her lap.

I had clearly stated in my earlier email, I can teach you rituals, I can show you the correct path,etc but to "teach bhakthi" is very foolish.Even it evades those who read or try to practice "Narada Bhakthi Sutras" or "Manasa Bhakthi Sutram"(which is not a text to induce "Bhakthi" but a text on how a Bhaktha behaves, what the traits of a Bhaktha would be,etc).It has to come from heart, emnate from the spiritual heart."Conscience" is a very fragile word.It is man-made and can sometimes be cheated by the all-pervading mayavic mind to think that one's conscience is good,when in reality it is not.

Doubts come for a mind which is not clear.A mind which is not clear is a mind which has no Shraddha(faith+concentration).Shraddha comes from "Athyantha Bhakthi" again!"Dridhatha" comes only when the mind is really clear, then all these become mere words and you will succeed.The very fact that you are falling and yet again trying is good.Nothing wrong in it perse.That is how one learns.

Listen to this carefully: "The fact that you do not know/aware that you are doing the Japa is the true mark of success of doing the Japa correctly!" I know this sounds very paradoxical but that is how it is.Ask some good player how he/she shoots the ball towards the Goal, how he bats or bowls, maybe he or she cannot say or express properly like an Academician.They just do it! In the doing they have seen a kind of Zen.Maybe you should study with a meditative mind the small book "Zen in the Art of Archery" written by Eugene Herrigel. Herrigel describes Zen in archery as follows: "The archer ceases to be conscious of himself as the one who is engaged in hitting the bull's-eye which confronts him. This state of unconscious is realized only when, completely empty and rid of the self, he becomes one with the perfecting of his technical skill, though there is in it something of a quite different order which cannot be attained by any progressive

study of the art...".Japa too is something like this.There is no "correct state" as it is and no one can define it for you.You will experience it yourself, but then experience itself mars the Japa and then you go ahead and few more experiences occur,then you again feel the marring of the process,etc...actually it is beautiful if you understand what this "marring" and "going ahead" is all about.

"Manah: danda"(crutch to hold in mind) is a fabrication of the "Mana", nothing like that exists.Too much thinking on this aspect has made your mind febrile and intellecualizing at every step(with or without words).You have forge ahead content with the fact that many many people have faced many such problems and yet have come out successful.What if the "Danda" breaks in the mind? will you go in search of or create another "Manah: Danda"?The only "Manah: Danda" is your "Athyantha Bhakthi", propped by Shraddha, Gurubhakthi,Ambavishwasa,Sampradaya and Saampradahana(immolating yourself inside for the path, which is higher that Saampradaya)

Theory of sphota postulates that the meaning of Vedic mantras is conveyed through sphota.Sphota is that from which meaning shines forth.According to this theory the different letters of a "word" reveal the latent symbol of the mind.The utterance of the symbols in succession one after the another is perceived to form the word.The word is a symbol conveying the meaning and it is known as sphota.

When under expressive impulses(krathu) one starts to speak there are the words and phrases(sabda) and he objective meaning(artha) which the person seeks to communicate.Both the sabda and artha together constitute sphota.

Cymatic scientistss, (Cymatics= The science of sound and the visual forms of sound) have recently found that in a cymatic spectrometer,when OM was sounded, Srichakra came into being! Also when Kalabhairavaashtakam was chanted in the sophisticated instrument, then a figure of a man and dog emerged! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymatics; http://www.cymaticsource.com/;

When this be so for an instrument, hw much more powerful is your mind,chethana,athma,etc????? So, take heart,be positive and continue with your sadhana and the light will dawn the sphota will happen!The more you keep asking doubts, the more they would appear like "Rakthabeejaasuras",this is because of the "monkey-mind" which keeps playing these games and not being satisfied with one answer and keeps seeking intellectual reasonings and explanations more and more, in all this rigmarole, sadhana takes a backseat.

When you do what you know, slowly you will know what to do, yourself, the light will shine from within.This is the Dharma of Sadhana.

Kaaranaparachid-rupinyai Namah:

Shreeram Balijepalli

Hreem Rajarajeshwari Paradevatha!

Purity, Powers, Parabrahmam...