Just as Visnu ... Devi, too, promises to return if needed.

[Guest guest]

Dear devotees of the Devi,

 

Namaste - i bow to the Great Mother who resides in you!

 

i accidentally left out a most priceless paragraph in my previous

post of " The Metaphysical Goddess of the Devi-Mahatmya and Devi-

Bhagavatam Purana " . i have no idea how it was missed but today i have

found it.

 

The missing paragraph holds the promise made by the Devi, one that

has been fulfilled by Her at http://adishakti.org. i stand by this

Truth, and am most willing to fully bear the Devi's wrath should i

transgress Her protocol in proclaiming so. i again declare that the

Great Goddess has fulfilled Her promise to return if needed, on this

auspicious Tuesday. This proclamation of the Vidya Maya that

liberates by revealing Her manifestation will never ever be

challenged. It is verily the End of Sacred Knowledge.

 

" I am Nirguna. And when I am united with my Sakti, Maya, I become

saguna, the Great Cause of this world. This Maya is divided into two,

Vidya and Avidya. Avidya Maya hides me; whereas Vidya Maya does not.

Avidya creates whereas Vidya Maya liberates. "

 

Devi-Bhagavatam 7. 32. 7-8

 

For the first time ever i have evidence that the Devi promised to

return. All these years i was thinking that it was Shri Vishnu who

reincarnates, and that His last and final incarnation will be as Shri

Kalki. But only now i have found out that that is not the case. That

is so, so, so comforting. Now the Divine Play of Shri Lalita Devi,

perfect and flawless as it already was, makes all the more sense and

awe. i again want to be quiet for a few days.

 

Jai Shri Ganapathy,

 

jagbir

 

 

 

-

 

The Metaphysical Goddess

The Devi-Mahatmya

 

Two texts in particular have been most influential in establishing

the all-inclusive nature of feminine power. The first and most

popular goddess-centred text is the Devi-Mahatmya, originally a

section of the Markandeya Purana. The importance of this text, and

its uniqueness, are apparent in its independence from the parent

text. Thomas Coburn comments that while there are very few complete

manuscripts of the Markandya Purana, those of the Devi-Mahatmya are

countless. The recitation of the text is still an integral part of

goddess worship, where, according to Coburn, it forms a part

of " daily liturgy in temples of Durga " and " a central place during

the ... festival of Durga Puja " .

 

It is here, in the Devi-Mahatmya, that the concept of an all-

inclusive Goddess is fully elucidated. Within a mythical framework of

the Goddess's martial deeds, is the assertion that she is the

Ultimate Reality, an idea transmitted by inference rather than in

direct terms. Mythically, in order to conquer the asuras (demons)

that threatened the very existence of the devas (gods), a supremely

powerful goddess was created from the combined anger of the gods.

 

Then from Visnu's face, which was filled with rage, came forth a

great fiery splendor (tejas), (and also from the faces) of Brahma and

Siva.

And from the bodies of the other gods, Indra and the others, came

forth a fiery splendor, and it became unified in one place.

An exceedingly fiery mass like a flaming mountain did the gods see

there, filling the firmament with flames.

That peerless splendour, born from the bodies of all the gods,

unified and pervading the triple world with its lustre, became a

woman.

 

Devi Mahatya 2. 9-12

 

The vital power that emanated from the gods took shape in the

feminine form, and from there on was accepted as the Mahadevi, a

supreme Goddess in her own right. She is entirely separate from the

gods, the embodiment of sakti, and able to produce further powers of

her own. When her work is done, she disappears; she does not return

to her source, the gods. The text reinforces the conceptual notion of

a Great Goddess, Mahadevi, the embodiment of power…

 

One of the most interesting facets of Devi`s character in the Devi-

Matahmya is her independence and her challenge to the stereotypes of

goddesses previously presented. The Goddess here does not depend on a

male consort, and successful manages male roles herself. In battle,

for instance, she does not fight with male allies; if she needs

assistance, she tends to create female helpers, like Kali, from

herself. Her role as Sakti also differs from that of the puranic

goddesses as she does not empower the male deities. " Unlike the

normal female, Durga does not lend her powers or sakti to a male

consort but rather takes power from the male gods in order to perform

her own heroic exploits. They give up their inner strength, fire, and

heat to create her and in so doing surrender their potency to her.``

 

The Devi-Mahatmya makes clear that the conceptual goddess cannot be

easily categorized. The " Goddess " so carefully outlined in the text

leaves the reader in no doubt of the fluidity of her character. She

is the personification of all aspects of energy, being simultaneously

creative, preservative and destructive.

 

By you is everything supported, by you is the world created; by you

is it protected,

O Goddess, and you always consume (it) at the end (of time).

At (its) emanation you have the form of creation, in (its) protection

(you have) the form of steadiness; likewise at the end of this world

(you have) the form of destruction. O you who consist of this world!

You are the great knowledge (mahavidya), the great illusion

(mahamaya), the great insight (mahamedha), the great memory, and the

great delusion, the great Goddess (mahadevi), the great demoness

(mahasuri).

 

Devi-Mahatmya 1. 56-8

 

This verse makes it clear that the all-encompassing Goddess in this

text represents all aspects of power and energy, both positive and

negative, as she is described as devi (goddess) and asuri (demoness).

The Devi of the Devi-Mahatmya is fully equated with Ultimate Reality,

presented as the power behind the functions of the trimurti, the

triad of deities – Visnu, Siva and Brahma – who are responsible of

the preservation, dissolution and creation of the universe

respectively:

 

You are the primordial material (praktri) of everything, manifesting

the triad of constituent strands, the night of destruction (periodic

dissolution), the great night (final dissolution), and the terrible

night of delusion.

 

Devi-Mahatmya 1. 59

 

Devi originated at a time of cosmic crisis and, consequently, her

role seems very similar to that of Visnu in his many avataras

(incarnations). Just as Visnu promised to manifest himself in order

to protect the cosmic balance, Devi, too, promises to return if

needed.

 

The Devi-Bhagavatam Purana

 

The Devi-Mahatmya is not the only text to offer an all-inclusive

concept of female divinity, equated with the principle of Ultimate

Reality. The later Devi-Bhagavatam presents a Sakta response to a

variety of puranic strands of thought. According to Cheever Mackenzie

Brown, its original parts were written in response to the Bhagavata

Purana. The Devi Gita, which comprises skanda (book) 7, chapters 30-

40 of the Devi-Bhagavatam, is based on the style of the Bhagavad

Gita, but is presented from a Sakta perspective. The ninth skanda,

according to Brown, is almost a verbatim copy of the " Praktri Khanda "

of the Brahmaraivarta Purana, which Brown describes as " a kind of

encyclopedia of goddesses " , associating them with praktri. The Devi-

Bhagavatam also encompasses a version of the Devi-Mahatmya and

retells a number of puranic myths. The text is more consistently

metaphysically oriented than the earlier Devi-Mahatmya, frequently

eulogizing the conceptual goddess who is the power behind all other

deities.

 

That Goddess is Eternal and Ever Constant Primordial Force…

She is the source of Brahma, Visnu and the others and all of these

living beings

Without Her force, no body would be able even to more their limbs.

That Supreme Auspicious Goddess is the preserving energy of Visnu, is

the

Creative power of Brahma, and is the destroying force of Siva.

 

Devi-Mahatmya 3. 30. 28-30

 

It is also significant that in the Devi-Bhagavatam, the Great Goddess

is explicitly shown to be independent of any male authority and

control. Indeed in the previous verses it is the gods that are

completely subject to her will, being totally reliant on her power.

The goddess/ses of Devi-Bhagavatam are repeatedly portrayed as

eternal, the basis of everything, identical with Brahman.

 

When everything melts away i.e. there comes the Pralaya or general

dissolution, then, I am not female, I am not male, nor am I

hermaphrodite. I then remain as Brahma with Maya.

 

Devi-Bhagavatam 3. 6. 2

 

The Adya or Primordial Sakti is explicitly shown to be the source of

all goddesses, from the highest to the lowest forms.

 

Maha Laksmi is Her sattvaki Sakti, Sarasvaati is Her Rajasik Sakti

and Maha Kali is Her tamasik Sakti, these are all feminine forms.

 

Devi-Bhagavatam 1. 1. 20

 

The highest forms represent the major facets of her power or energy,

the three gunas, encompassing both positive and negative energies. In

the Devi-Bhagavatam, the essential character of the Mahadevi

encompasses both praktri (material nature), in its unmanifest and

manifest forms, and purusa (pure consciousness) – the dual realities

of Sankhya philosophy. Unlike Sankhya and other schools of thought,

particularly Advaita, the Devi-Bhagavatam portrays praktri in a more

positive light; as an integral feature of the Goddess's power.

Similarly, the concept of maya (illusion) is also presented

positively rather than negatively, as an integral energy inherent in

the act of creation.

 

I am Nirguna. And when I am united with my Sakti, Maya, I become

saguna, the Great Cause of this world. This Maya is divided into two,

Vidya and Avidya. Avidya Maya hides me; whereas Vidya Maya does not.

Avidya creates whereas Vidya Maya liberates.

 

Devi-Bhagavatam 7. 32. 7-8

 

Brown points out an interesting and important difference between the

conception of maya in the Bhagavata Purana, in which Visnu is the

supreme deity, and that in the Devi-Bhagavatam. Whereas in the

Bhagavata Purana, Visnu is the " controller and possessor of maya " ,

the Goddess of the Devi-Bhagavatam, as well as wielding the power of

maya, actually is maya. There appears to be a much more intimate

relationship in the Devi-Bhagavatam between the Goddess and the

workings of the cosmos, for as Visnu and Siva resort to their

respective saktis for assistance, Devi resorts to no one but herself.

 

Lynn Foulston, At the Feet of the Goddess: Divine Feminine in Local

Hindu Religion

Pages 11-15, Sussex Academic Press 1999

ISBN: 1902210441

EAN: 9781902210445

[Guest guest]

Dear Jagbir,

 

You really have revealed something here that is most touching.

 

Thank you,

 

violet

 

 

 

, " jagbir singh " <adishakti_org

wrote:

>

> Dear devotees of the Devi,

>

> Namaste - i bow to the Great Mother who resides in you!

>

> i accidentally left out a most priceless paragraph in my previous

> post of " The Metaphysical Goddess of the Devi-Mahatmya and Devi-

> Bhagavatam Purana " . i have no idea how it was missed but today i have

> found it.

>

> The missing paragraph holds the promise made by the Devi, one that

> has been fulfilled by Her at http://adishakti.org. i stand by this

> Truth, and am most willing to fully bear the Devi's wrath should i

> transgress Her protocol in proclaiming so. i again declare that the

> Great Goddess has fulfilled Her promise to return if needed, on this

> auspicious Tuesday. This proclamation of the Vidya Maya that

> liberates by revealing Her manifestation will never ever be

> challenged. It is verily the End of Sacred Knowledge.

>

> " I am Nirguna. And when I am united with my Sakti, Maya, I become

> saguna, the Great Cause of this world. This Maya is divided into two,

> Vidya and Avidya. Avidya Maya hides me; whereas Vidya Maya does not.

> Avidya creates whereas Vidya Maya liberates. "

>

> Devi-Bhagavatam 7. 32. 7-8

>

> For the first time ever i have evidence that the Devi promised to

> return. All these years i was thinking that it was Shri Vishnu who

> reincarnates, and that His last and final incarnation will be as Shri

> Kalki. But only now i have found out that that is not the case. That

> is so, so, so comforting. Now the Divine Play of Shri Lalita Devi,

> perfect and flawless as it already was, makes all the more sense and

> awe. i again want to be quiet for a few days.

>

> Jai Shri Ganapathy,

>

> jagbir

>

>

>

> -

>

> The Metaphysical Goddess

> The Devi-Mahatmya

>

> Two texts in particular have been most influential in establishing

> the all-inclusive nature of feminine power. The first and most

> popular goddess-centred text is the Devi-Mahatmya, originally a

> section of the Markandeya Purana. The importance of this text, and

> its uniqueness, are apparent in its independence from the parent

> text. Thomas Coburn comments that while there are very few complete

> manuscripts of the Markandya Purana, those of the Devi-Mahatmya are

> countless. The recitation of the text is still an integral part of

> goddess worship, where, according to Coburn, it forms a part

> of " daily liturgy in temples of Durga " and " a central place during

> the ... festival of Durga Puja " .

>

> It is here, in the Devi-Mahatmya, that the concept of an all-

> inclusive Goddess is fully elucidated. Within a mythical framework of

> the Goddess's martial deeds, is the assertion that she is the

> Ultimate Reality, an idea transmitted by inference rather than in

> direct terms. Mythically, in order to conquer the asuras (demons)

> that threatened the very existence of the devas (gods), a supremely

> powerful goddess was created from the combined anger of the gods.

>

> Then from Visnu's face, which was filled with rage, came forth a

> great fiery splendor (tejas), (and also from the faces) of Brahma and

> Siva.

> And from the bodies of the other gods, Indra and the others, came

> forth a fiery splendor, and it became unified in one place.

> An exceedingly fiery mass like a flaming mountain did the gods see

> there, filling the firmament with flames.

> That peerless splendour, born from the bodies of all the gods,

> unified and pervading the triple world with its lustre, became a

> woman.

>

> Devi Mahatya 2. 9-12

>

> The vital power that emanated from the gods took shape in the

> feminine form, and from there on was accepted as the Mahadevi, a

> supreme Goddess in her own right. She is entirely separate from the

> gods, the embodiment of sakti, and able to produce further powers of

> her own. When her work is done, she disappears; she does not return

> to her source, the gods. The text reinforces the conceptual notion of

> a Great Goddess, Mahadevi, the embodiment of power…

>

> One of the most interesting facets of Devi`s character in the Devi-

> Matahmya is her independence and her challenge to the stereotypes of

> goddesses previously presented. The Goddess here does not depend on a

> male consort, and successful manages male roles herself. In battle,

> for instance, she does not fight with male allies; if she needs

> assistance, she tends to create female helpers, like Kali, from

> herself. Her role as Sakti also differs from that of the puranic

> goddesses as she does not empower the male deities. " Unlike the

> normal female, Durga does not lend her powers or sakti to a male

> consort but rather takes power from the male gods in order to perform

> her own heroic exploits. They give up their inner strength, fire, and

> heat to create her and in so doing surrender their potency to her.``

>

> The Devi-Mahatmya makes clear that the conceptual goddess cannot be

> easily categorized. The " Goddess " so carefully outlined in the text

> leaves the reader in no doubt of the fluidity of her character. She

> is the personification of all aspects of energy, being simultaneously

> creative, preservative and destructive.

>

> By you is everything supported, by you is the world created; by you

> is it protected,

> O Goddess, and you always consume (it) at the end (of time).

> At (its) emanation you have the form of creation, in (its) protection

> (you have) the form of steadiness; likewise at the end of this world

> (you have) the form of destruction. O you who consist of this world!

> You are the great knowledge (mahavidya), the great illusion

> (mahamaya), the great insight (mahamedha), the great memory, and the

> great delusion, the great Goddess (mahadevi), the great demoness

> (mahasuri).

>

> Devi-Mahatmya 1. 56-8

>

> This verse makes it clear that the all-encompassing Goddess in this

> text represents all aspects of power and energy, both positive and

> negative, as she is described as devi (goddess) and asuri (demoness).

> The Devi of the Devi-Mahatmya is fully equated with Ultimate Reality,

> presented as the power behind the functions of the trimurti, the

> triad of deities – Visnu, Siva and Brahma – who are responsible of

> the preservation, dissolution and creation of the universe

> respectively:

>

> You are the primordial material (praktri) of everything, manifesting

> the triad of constituent strands, the night of destruction (periodic

> dissolution), the great night (final dissolution), and the terrible

> night of delusion.

>

> Devi-Mahatmya 1. 59

>

> Devi originated at a time of cosmic crisis and, consequently, her

> role seems very similar to that of Visnu in his many avataras

> (incarnations). Just as Visnu promised to manifest himself in order

> to protect the cosmic balance, Devi, too, promises to return if

> needed.

>

> The Devi-Bhagavatam Purana

>

> The Devi-Mahatmya is not the only text to offer an all-inclusive

> concept of female divinity, equated with the principle of Ultimate

> Reality. The later Devi-Bhagavatam presents a Sakta response to a

> variety of puranic strands of thought. According to Cheever Mackenzie

> Brown, its original parts were written in response to the Bhagavata

> Purana. The Devi Gita, which comprises skanda (book) 7, chapters 30-

> 40 of the Devi-Bhagavatam, is based on the style of the Bhagavad

> Gita, but is presented from a Sakta perspective. The ninth skanda,

> according to Brown, is almost a verbatim copy of the " Praktri Khanda "

> of the Brahmaraivarta Purana, which Brown describes as " a kind of

> encyclopedia of goddesses " , associating them with praktri. The Devi-

> Bhagavatam also encompasses a version of the Devi-Mahatmya and

> retells a number of puranic myths. The text is more consistently

> metaphysically oriented than the earlier Devi-Mahatmya, frequently

> eulogizing the conceptual goddess who is the power behind all other

> deities.

>

> That Goddess is Eternal and Ever Constant Primordial Force…

> She is the source of Brahma, Visnu and the others and all of these

> living beings

> Without Her force, no body would be able even to more their limbs.

> That Supreme Auspicious Goddess is the preserving energy of Visnu, is

> the

> Creative power of Brahma, and is the destroying force of Siva.

>

> Devi-Mahatmya 3. 30. 28-30

>

> It is also significant that in the Devi-Bhagavatam, the Great Goddess

> is explicitly shown to be independent of any male authority and

> control. Indeed in the previous verses it is the gods that are

> completely subject to her will, being totally reliant on her power.

> The goddess/ses of Devi-Bhagavatam are repeatedly portrayed as

> eternal, the basis of everything, identical with Brahman.

>

> When everything melts away i.e. there comes the Pralaya or general

> dissolution, then, I am not female, I am not male, nor am I

> hermaphrodite. I then remain as Brahma with Maya.

>

> Devi-Bhagavatam 3. 6. 2

>

> The Adya or Primordial Sakti is explicitly shown to be the source of

> all goddesses, from the highest to the lowest forms.

>

> Maha Laksmi is Her sattvaki Sakti, Sarasvaati is Her Rajasik Sakti

> and Maha Kali is Her tamasik Sakti, these are all feminine forms.

>

> Devi-Bhagavatam 1. 1. 20

>

> The highest forms represent the major facets of her power or energy,

> the three gunas, encompassing both positive and negative energies. In

> the Devi-Bhagavatam, the essential character of the Mahadevi

> encompasses both praktri (material nature), in its unmanifest and

> manifest forms, and purusa (pure consciousness) – the dual realities

> of Sankhya philosophy. Unlike Sankhya and other schools of thought,

> particularly Advaita, the Devi-Bhagavatam portrays praktri in a more

> positive light; as an integral feature of the Goddess's power.

> Similarly, the concept of maya (illusion) is also presented

> positively rather than negatively, as an integral energy inherent in

> the act of creation.

>

> I am Nirguna. And when I am united with my Sakti, Maya, I become

> saguna, the Great Cause of this world. This Maya is divided into two,

> Vidya and Avidya. Avidya Maya hides me; whereas Vidya Maya does not.

> Avidya creates whereas Vidya Maya liberates.

>

> Devi-Bhagavatam 7. 32. 7-8

>

> Brown points out an interesting and important difference between the

> conception of maya in the Bhagavata Purana, in which Visnu is the

> supreme deity, and that in the Devi-Bhagavatam. Whereas in the

> Bhagavata Purana, Visnu is the " controller and possessor of maya " ,

> the Goddess of the Devi-Bhagavatam, as well as wielding the power of

> maya, actually is maya. There appears to be a much more intimate

> relationship in the Devi-Bhagavatam between the Goddess and the

> workings of the cosmos, for as Visnu and Siva resort to their

> respective saktis for assistance, Devi resorts to no one but herself.

>

> Lynn Foulston, At the Feet of the Goddess: Divine Feminine in Local

> Hindu Religion

> Pages 11-15, Sussex Academic Press 1999

> ISBN: 1902210441

> EAN: 9781902210445

>

[Guest guest]

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