Guest guest Posted June 19, 2009 Report Share Posted June 19, 2009 Namaste Visti and others, > Firstly, Narasimha, you equate Mahavidya with: 'she who which helps > overcome duality'. I didn't like this explanation yet I took it to > myself to ask some Sadhakas who have practised Mahavidya mantras for the > last couple of years. None of them agreed to this and they pointed out > that if God is both dual and non-dual then it is only that the Mahavidya > is overcoming our concept of duality or non-duality, whichever is > stronger in us. Yes, god is both dual and non-dual, but that is besides the point. Whether one is viewing god as dual or non-dual, it is the dense duality that one is stuck in, which blocks one from reaching god. A normal person sees some things as desirable, some as undesirable, some as pleasurable, some as painful, some as attractive, some as repulsive etc. This dense duality that the mind is deeply immersed in stops one from realizing and reaching god, whether you are talking about dual god or non-dual god. When a dwaiti (dualist) overcomes this dense duality and reaches god, all things and people start to seem as reflections of god. In dwaita, the actual god is 'distinct' from all these people, but all people are reflections of that same god. If god is like Sun, all people are like mirrors reflecting Sun. Before god realization, one sees so many good and bad things in all those people and feels various emotions such as attraction, repulsion, love, hatred, pride, anger, admiration, resentment, frustration, lust, jealosy etc. After god realization, one sees god in all those people and experiences great bliss. When an adwaiti (non-dualist) overcomes this dense duality and reaches his concept of god, he and all beings merge in the non-dual god and he too reaches a different state of bliss. In *either* case, before realizing god, one has to first overcome the dense duality of one's mental conditioning and overcome the difference between pleasure and pain, attraction and repulsion etc (refer to Krishna's words in Bhagavad Gita - " duHkheShvanudvignamanaaH sukheShu vigataspRhaH vIta raaga bhaya krodhaH sthitadhIrmunirucyate " ). In either case, one does not overcome any " concept of non-duality " as you say. One overcomes the grosser dimensions of duality to reach either a sublime and subtle state of duality or non-duality. Knowledge that makes one realize god (irrespective of whether " god " means the dual god or the non-dual Self for one) is the supreme knowledge and others inferior. Each Mahavidya take one to that supreme knowledge in a different route. * * * > Lets take something simple, i.e. Why is Sun equated to > Shiva? Really Sun is not Shiva Planets are mapped to many deities for various purposes. But they are not " equated " . But Parasara specifically *equated* planets to Vishnu's avataras. And tantra has specifically equated avataras to mahavidyas, by using the word " saakshaat " (literally). There is further credence to this from saints like Ramakrishna who explicitly claimed based on direct experience that Krishna and Kaali were essentially non-different, just as sun and sunlight or gold and its goldness aren't different. Thus, the link between planets, Vishnu's dasaavataras and dasa mahavidyas are different from all other planetary mappings we may encounter in astrology. * * * > Maharishi Vashishta, father of Shakta and grandfather of Maharishi > Parashara, worshipped Sri Tarini Devi for thousands of years, as > described in the Tara Tantra, to attain the fruit of good children. Does Tara Tantra say that Vasishtha worshipped Tara specifically " to attain the fruit of good children " ? > He had suffered on account of the demise of his son Shakta, and the > direct lineage was broken. It was because of Tara's blessing that he > attained an illustrious progeny (1) The part " it was because of Tara's blessing that " is someone's interpretation/extrapolation and not necessarily a fact. Yes, Vasishtha got a prolific grandson (Parasara). But the fact is that he lost all his hundred sons. He was so disheartened, as per Mahabharata, that he tried to kill himself when Shakti and all his brothers were killed. But divine forces stopped him. Later he found out that his daughter-in-law was pregnant and lived on to raise and guide grandson Parasara. If Tara is Jupiter and Tara's blessings give children, why did a great sadhaka of Tara lose all his 100 children? (2) A lot of Hindus worship Lord Krishna, among all Vishnu avataras, to get progeny. Shall we say that putrakaraka Jupiter shows Krishna and not Vaamana as Parasara said when equating planets to Vishnu's avataras? BTW, one can note that Vasishtha who is associated with Taaraa as one of Her greatest sadhakas is also associated with Lord Raama. Raama is also known as Taaraka Raama and his mantra is called a " Taaraka mantra " . And tantra equates Raama (and not Vaamana) with Taaraa. * * * If you go to a great astrologer like Pt Sanjay Rath or Sri KN Rao, there are specific advanced things in astrology that you can learn from them. Of course, if you only want to learn how to add 2 and 3 or how to count the 4th house from Moon, they will be able to teach you that also. But that will be a waste and you are not really taking advantage of the " great astrologer " in them. If one learns how to add 2 and 3 or how to count the 4th house from Moon from them, one cannot really claim " I learnt astrology from a great astrologer " . Similarly, mahavidyas are for supreme knowledge. If people with material problems ask them for a child or money or victory in litigation etc, that will be a waste. If one is praying to Kaali or Tripura or Bhuvaneshwari or Lakshmi for some specific material thing, one is not really propitiating a Mahavidya. One is essentially trying to propitiate a limited aspect of a goddess who can *also* be propitiated *as* a Mahavidya. Mahavidya worship used to be secretive sand limited to sadhakas who overcame most of the weaknesses and are somewhat ready for realizing god. It is not for everyone. The tendency among some astrologers these days to use some horoscopic thumbrules to suggest a specific mahavidya mantra to anyone and everyone is troublesome. There are many deities, mantras and sadhanas that are appropriate for people stuck in (and sensitive to) material problems. When one becomes less interested in those things and develops a strong desire to realize god is one ready for a Mahavidya. But Mahavidyas are being prescribed indiscriminately by some astrologers today. Best regards, Narasimha Do a Short Homam Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/homam Do Pitri Tarpanas Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/tarpana Spirituality: Free Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro.home.comcast.net Free Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAstrologer.org Sri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagannath.org sohamsa , Visti Larsen <visti wrote: > > Dear Narasimha, Sarbani, Arpad et. al, Namaskar. > In the entire discussion on Mahavidya and Grahas, I wished to point out > that the simplicity with which Narasimha pointed out the Mahavidya and > their equivalents was lacking proper comprehension of the concept of > Graha and Devata. > > Two points I saw were mainly lacking. One philosophical and one Jyotish > point. > > Firstly, Narasimha, you equate Mahavidya with: 'she who which helps > overcome duality'. I didn't like this explanation yet I took it to > myself to ask some Sadhakas who have practised Mahavidya mantras for the > last couple of years. None of them agreed to this and they pointed out > that if God is both dual and non-dual then it is only that the Mahavidya > is overcoming our concept of duality or non-duality, whichever is > stronger in us. This made me understand that your statement is solely in > the eyes of the beholder... in this case you or the one who told you this. > My next point is linked to this. > > Secondly, Narasimha, the means through which you linked the Mahavidya to > the Graha is very far away from any way that I have seen Grahas and > Devata linked. Lets take something simple, i.e. Why is Sun equated to > Shiva? Really Sun is not Shiva, how can we say that the cooling and > soothing Shiva mantras are like that hot hot Sun? Impossible really. At > most you can say that Agni is the closest equivalent to the Sun or > Suryadeva himself. In truth we are all taught that in the Pancha Devata > puja that Shiva purifies and balances the Vayu Tattva and therefore also > symbolises the strength of the Maruts which he is always so closely > linked to in the Puranas. Because of this some astrologers TEND to > equate Shiva with Shani as he is able to overcome the worst > Vaata-disturbances, calm the mind and also remove all fears and sorrow, > but that doesn't mean that Shiva is Shani but does have the power to > overcome the Tattva that Shani represents. This by no means implies that > we can prescribe Shiva mantras for all Shani problems, not at all. Nor > does it mean that Rudraksha is advised by the Rishis for all Devata > represented by Surya, far from it. > So again, how did Shiva get equated with Surya when we came to the Graha > level? It is because Shiva is able to enlighten the self of its true > identity and since the Sun represents this self or Atma as an individual > (vayu causes separation), Shiva SHOULD be worshipped to correct this > main issue with the self. Its good for you to worship Shiva to overcome > these issues with (non)duality. > You know this, so why didn't you think in similar terms with the > Mahavidya? i.e. What is the purpose of the Mahavidya and what is the > Mother really doing to us? > > You could have stuck to iconography (sva/lagna-approach) of the > Mahavidya and then surely gone wrong but at least come to something > useful. I.e. Rahu represents the female widower and hence Dhumavati > SHOULD be represented by Rahu, whilst Ketu represents the one depicted > without a head one and therefore SHOULD at a very base level be > represented by Ketu. Again note that we are sticking to iconography here. > But, we are not looking for Graha-representation as this cannot be > within the concept of Mahavidya. Mahavidya implies at its root that > there is some vidya and some a-vidya and the Mahavidya is giving > complete knowledge of all of these and also correcting wrong vidya > (another way of looking at a-vidya). > In the first year of Jaimini Sutras (feel free to listen to it online) > we are taught that the concept of Avidya is linked to Badhaka, a > principle enforced by the words of Harihara, author of Prasna Marga. > Using this understanding, principally Ketu is corrected by the Mahavidya > whose iconography resembles Rahu, and therefore only Dhumavati is > worshipped to overcome the A-vidya of Ketu. This concept was revealed to > a select few of us in Vineland, New Jersey in the summer of 2003. > Similarly, you will hear statements such as, the worship of Tarini makes > one the best student (Mercury), and the worship of Tripurasundari makes > one able to continue the Sampradaya (Jupiter), and therefore ALL > traditions of India stay alive due to the worship of Sri Tripurasundari. > Yet, in practice Tripurasundari is advised to correct the faults of > Mercury and Tarini is worshipped to correct the faults of Jupiter, and > thereby enable the relationship of the teacher and student to be the > best... again see that Mercury and Jupiter are natural Badhaka's to each > other in the charts. > This implies that Mahavidya is really a means of removing the natural > Badhaka of the Graha as that is the place of A-vidya of that Graha. We > affectionately say that Tarini is the Mother of Jupiter and that Tripura > is the Mother if Mercury... but is not Mercury. > > Maharishi Vashishta, father of Shakta and grandfather of Maharishi > Parashara, worshipped Sri Tarini Devi for thousands of years, as > described in the Tara Tantra, to attain the fruit of good children. He > had suffered on account of the demise of his son Shakta, and the direct > lineage was broken. It was because of Tara's blessing that he attained > an illustrious progeny which we today consider the fountain head of all > knowledge of spirituality. So, should one question the age and practice > of the Mahavidya's, we can go very very far back. This further confirms > that Sri Tarini is worshipped to correct the flaws in Jupiter and is > therefore appropriately praised as Sri Kuleshvari by many. Further, in > practice ladies and men with great blockages and doshas with respect to > children have seen all such problems removed through the worship of Sri > Tarini confirming this. > > Should we then go into how the Grahas are linked to Jyotirlingas or even > Avataras? Point is that simple justification will not suffice to > describe the Devata's and brings the lists given without such > consideration to much question. > > I hope my points will bring clarity to teachers and students alike. > Yours sincerely, Visti Larsen > ---------- > Jyotish Guru (Vedic Astrologer) > www: http://srigaruda.com > @: visti Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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