On Karunamayi Ma, from Deities and Devotees in _The Graceful Guru_

[Guest guest]

Ma Karunamayi, aka Bhagavati Sri Sri Sri Vijayeswari

Devi

 

[Karunamayi Ma comes up occasionally in this e-group,

most recently in reference to her CDs. This essay

indicates that she is not known to be an initiate in a

Tantric lineage, but her teachings have a shaktic vibe (as

DB would say), and she includes tantric elements.]

 

I've excerpted the following from a rather long essay

that discusses a number of female gurus, which accounts

for its disjointedness, especially near the end. In the

excerpts, 'I' refers to the author, not me.]

 

" As [Karunamayi Ma] descended from the car, local

devotees fell at her feet in veneration. [....] She came

into the temple, spent a few minutes in quiet worship in

front of the shrine dedicated to the goddess Durga, and

eventually sat in a special chair right outside its door.

Men and women of all castes and ages bowed before her

as she prepared to give a talk and lead [...] a worship

ritual. [....] [A]bout fifty men and women, some of them

of Euro-Americans, some of Indian origin, who settled

down to hear her and worship the goddess Lalita [....].

She spoke in Telugu and her chief disciple, Swami,

translated in English. [....] After the worship ritual, Ma

Karunamayi [....] took the red kumkum powder that

women put on their forehead, and put the marks on all

who stood in line. "

 

Excerpted from the essay _Deities and Devotees_

by Vasudha Narayanan

 

In: The Graceful Guru

Hindu Female Gurus in India and the United States

Edited by Karen Pechilis

Oxford University Press, 2004

ISBN: 0-19-514537-2

 

Part 1

 

Karunamayi Ma ( " one who is permeated with

compassion " ), also known as Bhagavati Sri Sri Sri

Vijayeswari Devi (the goddess of victory), lives in India

and visits the United States every year. Vijayeswari is

her given name; the triple Sri (sacred, venerable,

auspicious) before her name is an honorific prefix of

respect. She has the title of Karunamayi. The home page

introduces her thus: " Bhagavati Sri Sri Sri Vijayeswari

Devi, revered as the incarnation of Sarasvati, Goddess of

Knowledge, Music and the Arts, resides at Her ashram

in India. " I [V. Narayanan] met her in the Hindu Temple

of Atlanta [Georgia, U.S.] in May 1999. A pleasant-

looking lady in her forties, she was draped in a red sari,

with simple jewelry. (Her pictures usually depict her in a

red or, occasionally, a white sari). As she descended

from the car, local devotees fell at her feet in veneration.

One prostrates before deities, teachers, and all elders in

most Hindu communities. She came into the temple,

spent a few minutes in quiet worship in front of the

shrine dedicated to the goddess Durga, and eventually

sat in a special chair right outside its door. Men and

women of all castes and ages bowed before her as she

prepared to give a talk and lead everyone in a worship

ritual. It was a weekday and the crowd was limited-

about fifty men and women, some of them of Euro-

Americans, some of Indian origin, who settled down to

hear her and worship the goddess Lalita (a beneficent

form of the goddess Parvati) with a thousand names. She

spoke in Telugu and her chief disciple, Swami,

translated in English. Her talk was interspersed with a

lot of singing, in which the audience joined

occasionally. After the worship ritual, Ma Karunamayi

(referred to as " Amma " or " Mother " by her disciples)

gave fruits and raisins to those who had gathered there.

She took the red kumkum powder that women put on

their forehead, and put the marks on all who stood in

line. She was touring the United States, and during her

time in Atlanta met devotees and fiends in at the Hindu

Temple of Atlanta, which functioned as a community

hall.

 

In the last several years-2000 to 2003-Ma

Karunamayi has been tour--Europe and through the

summer criss-crossed the United States from Alaska to

Atlanta. Her popularity has grown dramatically: in 1999,

a few people were at hand in the Atlanta temple to greet

her with reverence; on April 11, 2003, there were

hundreds of devotees. The priests from the Hindu

Temple f Atlanta received her with the full formal

honors that one greets a deity, a member of the royal

household, or a very revered member of society. Men

and women held a jar brimming with water (purna

kumbham), a sign of reverential welcome. A woman

devotee held a huge cloth umbrella-again one used

ordinarily for deities-over her head. Male priests

recited the Vedas as she was escorted into the temple.

During the evening program she spoke for more than

one hour, in English, to several hundred people in the

temple auditorium in the basement.