Bhuvaneshwari

[Guest guest]

" ...Bhuvaneshwari is very much in the worlds. She is the Space containing and

sustaining

the worlds. She is also like Sundari, effulgent like the rising sun, with four

hands and three

eyes. Like Sundari, he wields the noose and the goad. As she is not

transcending the

triple world, as he is not acting from high, above the mind, he does not,

like Sundari

have in her other two hands the sugarcane bow and the arrows, signifying mind

and its

faculties. Instead one hand is raised to allay fear and the other extended to

grant boons to

the devotees. "

From The Ten Great Cosmic Powers; S. Shankaranarayanan

Notes: effulgent means brilliant. The noose is to control or rein in the energy

of the

devotee and the goad is the discipline to drive the devotee forward. Other

sources suggest

that the goad keeps negative forces at bay (such as anger and obsession) and the

noose

binds the soul (to what?).

To me the image of Bhuvaneshwari is the image of the Mother in a very incarnate

form,

very accessible and also comforting. The allaying of fear and the granting of

boons is very

comforting and maternal. It allows me to approach Her when I am most uncentered

and in

fear. The goad reminds me that She will direct my path in the right way.

Namaste,

pr