What is the name of Devi's stride?

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OM Shree Gurubhyo NamahaOm Shree Matre NamahaDear AnnaAm going thru your old postings,just completed reading Devi Maahaatmyam--Chapter-2, its AWESOME,simply beautiful and VERY visual.As silly as it may sound what is the name of HER stride the lion? honestly even am surprised why this NEVER even crossed my mind till now?Sorry to trouble you with such silly doubts.Please do bear with this imbecile!regards-R

 

 

 

 

Dear R,

 

"Stride" is a term used in all senses only to denote one's gait or how one walks.

(http://www.thefreedictionary.com/stride)

 

So, the proper word would be "Divine vehicle" or "Divine mount" or better still "divya-vAhanA"

 

Devi's vAhanA is is a parA-higher dimensional, sUkshmA-purushA, not an earthly feline as many think.Some even depict Devi with Tiger,which is not correct.Maybe Bengalis stared this Tiger thing because Sunderbans in the later days used to be a sanctuary to the Bengal white tiger and since people feared it and revered it; it automatically became a vAhanA for Devi.

 

durgA is an emanation from rAjarajes'varI and thus the mount does not differ.

 

Devi is 'astride'(mouted on) a white lion from the himAlayAs, with divine powers and a supernal glow.When this Divine Lion roars it strikes terror on dAnavAs 'on the stride'

towards de'vI.

 

 

(More majestic than this earthly feline!)

 

How can a mere earthly feline like say the Gir Moutain Gujarat Lion strike such a terror in the hearts of evil asurAs? Merely because, it is touched by ambA's aurA and had done enough tapascharyA in the himAlayAs to attain the divyathwA as a human being and now seeks ambA's sAngathyA as Her Divine Mount.

 

The divya-vAhanAs name is 'manasthalA' which means very obviously as you know telugu where many samskruthA padAs commingle; "the place of the mind".In English everything is called mind and brain interchangeably.This is the mle'cHA effect which has corrupted our pristine knowledge.

 

'manah:' is the place between the two eyebrows;'dhi' is something higher than that,'medhA' is the brain portion which synthesizes,retains and concentrates,etc.manasthalA metophorically also symbolizes the puissant context of ambA controlling the manaH portion in us by sitting there--manasthaLI.

 

 

 

Lion represents in us the egoism,tendency to boast,roar,get angry,etc and also to copulate.kAma-krOdhA and aham are to be subdued and they deter an aspirant from going beyond manah: region.ambA should sit on these,they exist and ambA exists too.The moment ambA dissappears alongwith the manasthalA it means the aspirant has gone beyond and merged into something greater.ambA with the manasthalA is the last deterrent.

 

The incident which comes to my mind here is the famous spiritual interaction between parivrAjakA tothApurI and rAmakrishna paramahamsA.

 

 

(A rare photo of tothApurIji said to have lived over 350 years and still roaming about in himAlayAs)

 

 

tothApurI approached Ramakrishna with the proposal that He(rAmakrishnA paramahamsA) receive initiation into Advaita Vedanta from Him(tothApurI).

 

 

 

Ramakrishna replied, "I must ask my Mother Kali." He entered the temple and received permission from the living divinity that he experienced pulsating through the stone image enshrined there. Sri Ramakrishna went to the Kali temple and heard Her command: 'Yes, my boy, go and learn of him. It is for this purpose he has come here."

 

That evening, Toatpuri began instructing him in nirgunA dhyAnA(formless meditation). But as Ramakrishna concentrated deeply, the radiant figure of the Goddess appeared to his inner eye.

 

tothApurI asked him to "cut kAli with a sword' into pieces.

rAmakrishnA paramahamsA was stunned and uncomfortable on the advice and was asking Him naively, "How can I use a physical sword in my meditation?"

 

tOthApurI is reported to have laughed at that query and then answered, "Cut Her with the sword of wisdom!"

 

When rAmakrishnA was aunable to do this. he reported this to Totapuri, the austere naked monk took a sharp stone and pressed it firmly against Ramakrishna's forehead, instructing him to concentrate on the pain and assuring him that he could transcend the divine form and merge into the infinite expanse of the absolute.

 

 

 

This is the rare photo of the cottage,where this incident took place and rAmkrishnA paramahamsA meditated upon tothApuriji's wisdom and guidance.

 

 

Once more, Ramakrishna meditated and, as he later expressed it, "with the sword of wisdom, I cut through the divine form of Kali." Her form dissolved, and his individuality completely disappeared into Her formless aspect. For three days Ramakrishna was completely lost to the world in a near state of suspended animation called nirOdhA, seated in the small meditation hut, motionless, all breathing and body functions slowed to a standstill.

 

 

rAmakrishnA remained silent for six days and finally, when He opened His eyes he thanked tothApurI saying "If you had not come, I would have lived my whole life with the hallucination. My last barrier has fallen away." He became Enlightened after He had cut the last barrier. But even the followers of rAmakrishnA don't mention the incident much because they feel it makes the whole effort of worshipping futile(which is not so, because all cannot suddenly go to formless meditation and the like according to me,one needs to go through effort to get into an effortless-state!) and makes their guru look beneath tothApurI(which isalso not true according to me because everyone needs a Guru and this incident was emphaisized here and this in no way steals the thunder from TAkUrjI(rAmakrishna paramahamsA).Also, they have twisted the story to make it look like thothApurI recieved

instructions from paramahamsA('The moment the person goes; the etablishment goes into a spiritual decay'--JK's words)

 

To sum-up and answer your question pointedly: ambA's Lion is white with a supernal glow and named manasthalA.

 

However, I do not believe in giving pointed answers as this is no entrance examination multiple choice question-answer session.This is the bane of today's competitive world.People rush, and go about their lives,without imbibing wisdom,true wisdom.They seem to be in a hurry to go their graveyards! Truth however is a multi-layered cake.

 

Every answer of mine,every posting of mine, should set fire in you something.So, this answer should make you think, why do deities need vAhanAs in the first place? Can't they roam about without it?.We will take this up another time.I had some time to address this intersting query,so did it.

 

jaya simhAsanes'varyAi namah:

 

 

 

 

 

Shreeram Balijepalli

Hreem Rajarajeshwari Paradevatha!