MahaPadmataviSamstha-Kamadayini

शुक्लाम्बरधरम् विष्णुम् शशिवर्णम् चतुर्भुजम्|

प्रसन्नवदनम् ध्यायेत् सर्व विघ्नोपशान्तये||

श्रीगुरुभ्योनमः

ब्रह्माण्डानामनेकानाम् बहिरूर्ध्वे सुधाम्बुधौ।

मणिद्वीपे नीपवने चिंतामणिसुमंदिरे।

पञ्च्ब्रह्ममये मञ्चे रूपम् त्रैपुरसुन्दरम्।।

अनादिमिथुनम् यत्तदपराख्यमृषीश्वराः।

तथा सदाशिवेशानौ विधिविष्णुत्रिलोचनाः।।

(त्रिपुरारहस्यम्-ज्ञानखण्डम्-20.36-28)

The above verses are from the Vidya Gita, the teachings of Devi to Sanaka, Sananda and other seers.  Here Amma describes Her form and abode. She says ‘My form is the Maha-Tripura-Sundari, the Primordial couple in unison who is beyond the comprehension of sense organs.  I am seated on the Pancha-Brahma-asana in the Chithamani gruha/house.  This house is in the middle of the island Manidweepa, filled with Kadamba trees. Manidweepa is in turn located in the middle of the Maha-Padma-atavi filled ocean of nectar on the Sumeru mountain that is placed above all the uncountable cosmic eggs. 

The sequence of the narration here is the Sumeru mountain, ocean of nectar, Maha-Padma-atavi, Manidweepa with Kadamba forest, Chinthamani house and finally the Pancha-Brahmasana.

But Vagdevatas have already described Sumeru, Srimannagaram, Chinthamani house and Pancha-Brahmasana.  Having described the innermost aasana, in earlier namas, in what follows, (namely, Maha-Padmatavi-samstha, Kadamba-vana-vasini, Sudha-sagara-madhyastha, Kamakshi and Kamadayini), they are describing the outer Maha-Padma-atavi, Kadamba-vana and the ocean of nectar.

So, the intention seems to be to describe the divine descent of Amma in gross form, from the celestial world to the Bhu-mandala as Kamakshi Devi, in these namas. Thus, these are to be interpreted in the descending order with reference to the earthly sphere.

महापद्माटवीसंस्थायै नमः

Pranams to Amma residing in the forest of great lotuses.

The forest of great lotuses referred to here is the innumerable cosmic eggs.  While discussing the nama Sumeru-Madhya-Srungastha, we learnt that the scriptures refer to the higher worlds-earthly sphere in a cosmic egg, put together as a lotus.  But there are myriads of such cosmic eggs, in other words, there are several countless lotuses, forming a forest.

Among several synonyms for the word forest (अटव्यरण्यम् विपिनम् गहनम् काननम् वनम् – अमरकोशम्), Vagdevatas used अटवि.  Let us try to understand this.

अटन्तस्याम् मृगयार्धमित्यटवी – Atavi is a place used to hunt for beasts/animals.

What are the beasts to be hunted in a cosmic egg?

इन्द्रतुभ्यमिदद्रिवोऽनुत्तम् वज्रिन्वीर्यम् यद्ध त्यम् मायिनम् मृगम् तमु त्वम् मायया अवधीः अर्चन्ननुस्वराज्यम्

(RigVeda 1.80.7)

The animals/beasts to be hunted pertain to Maya. Paramatma unravelled the entire creation due to His desire of becoming many, with His inner Maya sakthi.  All creatures in this universe, chase the beasts of Maya namely, the six enemies/ari-shat-vargas. That is why it is called an atavi.

कदम्बवनवासिन्यै नमः

Pranams to Amma residing in the Kadamba forest.

वन्यते सेव्यत इति वनम् – That which is sought for shelter by people

Aryabhatta in the scripture Aryabhatiya, compares Kadamba flower buds to earth.

यद्वत् कदम्ब पुष्पग्रन्थिः प्रचितः समन्ततः कूसुमैः।

तद्विद्धि सर्वसत्वैर्जलजैः स्थलजैश्च भूगोळः।। (गोळखण्डम्-7)

As a spherical Kadamba bud has florets on all sides, the earthly sphere is filled with various creatures living both on the land as well as in water, on the entire surface.

Vagdevatas seem to have summed up all the earthly spheres in the numerous cosmic eggs and referred to it as a forest of Kadamba trees.  The Kadamba here refers to the Bhu-loka.

सुधासागरमध्यस्थायै नमः

Pranams to Amma residing in the middle of the ocean of nectar.

Lalitha Maha-Tripura-Sundari resides on the ocean of nectar on top of all the worlds. But this nama, in the descending order seems to be connected to the Bhu-loka.

Samudra or ocean in general refers to water.  But Bhuvarloka, the celestial sky connecting the Svarloka and the Bhuloka, has been referred to as Samudra, an ocean of air, in Rigveda.  With reference to the Yaskacharya’s definition सागरः समुद्रः इति अंतरिक्षासु (ऋग्वेद संहित -शायणाचर्य भाष्यम् – 1.30.18), the celestial sky has been spoken of as an ocean, several times in the RigVeda.

The Savitr (Sun) lighting the entire heavenly sky is the presiding deity for the mid region, namely Bhuvarloka. A pole that is used to hold an object so as to prevent it from falling is known as a skambha.  Savitr is holding the earth in the sky keeping it connected with the Svarloka, without falling.  But He does not use any skambha for this.  He is achieving this with the help of ropes like rays. (RigVeda -10.149.1)

In order to learn about the nature of these Sun’s rays, we need to seek the help of Chandogyopanishad.

The way honey-bees collect the sugary liquid from flowers, convert it to honey and store in the beehive, in a similar way, the Veda mantras collect the havya-kavya fire offerings of Vedic ordained yajna/sacrifice rituals, convert them into somarasa/nectar like yajna phala and place them in the Sun’s rays.  Since the ultimate objective of performing Vedic sacrifices is immortality, the yajna phala is called nectar.

असौ वा आदित्यो देवमधु-तस्य द्यौरेव तिरश्चीनवंशः-अंतरिक्षम् अपूपःमरीचय पुत्राः।।(छान्दोग्योपनिषद् -3.1.1)

That Sun is the very nectar for Gods.  Svarloka is the horizontal pole. Bhuvarloka is the beehive and the Sun’s rays, the eggs of the bees.

Vedas are the inaudible subtle sound frequencies in the Sun’s rays. This is the secret behind saying the Vedas to be anaadi/eternal, anatham/unending and apaurusheyam/impersonal.  Indian seers with their utmost austerity had the vision of these sound frequencies and blessed the mankind with these Veda mantras.

तस्य यॆ प्राञ्चॊ रश्मयस्ता ऎवास्य प्राच्यॊ मधुनाड्यः। ऋच ऎव मधुकृत ऋग्वॆद ऎव पुष्पम् ता अमृता आपस्ता वा ऎता ऋचः । (ibid 3.1.2)

The Sun’s rays are the cells in the beehive, namely the celestial sky.  The bees residing in these cells called Veda mantras collect nectar from the flowers, namely the fire offerings of yajnas/sacrifices and store them in the Sun’s rays as somarasa/honey. These are the flowers offered to the deity (पुष्पम्परिकल्पयामि नमः) during lamityadi panchapujas for the Akasa tattva.

In Bhagavad Gita sloka 3.4 अन्नाद्भ्वन्ति भूतानि Sri Krishna says, “only when one conducts himself according to the Vedic ordinance, he will get to do the sacrifices.  It is the propiation of Gods by means of performance of sacrifices that brings rains and rains in turn beget food.  Food when consumed, becomes blood and semen.  Semen is the seed from which a human body is created.  This is the cycle of creation”.

Five types of sacrifices are decreed by the scriptures according to one’s lineage. Brahma yajna – Vedic chanting, Deva yajna – performance of fire sacrifices, Manushya yajna – serving people, Pitru yajna – rituals to ancestors and last but not the least Bhuta yajna – universal benovelence.

Sacrifices are the path to salvation for mankind and Vedas are like manuals for conducting sacrifices.  The RigVedic ocean, namely the celestial sky, showers nectar to the mankind by receiving the fire offerings through the Sun’s rays.  Thus, the Vagdevatas are describing in this nama, Amma in the celestial sky, the ocean of nectar, connecting Bhuloka and Svarloka.

***

In RigVeda mantras 9.33.6 and 10.47.2, there is a reference to four seas in the celestial sky.  To understand what these four seas are, Chandogya Upanishad comes to our rescue, yet again.

Chandogya Upanishad (3^rd chapter) refers to the Sun’s rays on eastern, southern, western and northern skies as the source of the Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva Vedas, respectively.  Since all lumniscent sky lit by the Sun’s rays is referred to as an ocean, these four Vedas from the Sun’s rays are the four seas that are represented in the RigVedic mantras above. 

In the gothra, rishis, sakha, lineage/pravara चतुस्सागरपर्यंतं गोब्राह्मणेभ्यो… there is a reference to four seas.  This is the Vedic lineage.  So, the seas mentioned in that mantra are obviously not any physical oceans but are representative of the Sun’s rays in the celestial sky, the abode of four Vedas. The go here refers to the Sun’s rays.

कामाक्ष्यै नमः

Pranams to Devi Kamakshi.

भण्डासुर वधायैषा र्पादुर्भूता चिदग्नितः

महात्रिपुरसुन्दर्या मूर्तिस्तेजोविजृंभिता

कामाक्षीति विधात्रा तु पस्तुता ललितेश्वरी

 (ब्रह्माण्डपुराणम् -उत्तरभागम्-38.81,82)

In Brahmanda Purana, it is mentioned that Brahma eulogised Lalitha Parameswari who manifested from the chidagni kunda to kill the demon Bhandasura, as Kamakshi.

In Siva Purana, there is a different narration regarding the incarnation of Kamakshi Devi.  In a playful mood, when Goddess closed the eyes of Mahesvara from behind, there was an untimely dissolution.  In order to condone this, Amma descended to earth at Kanchipuram and did penance there.

In either case, Amma Lalitha-Maha-Tripura-Sundari incarnated as Kamakshi Devi in Kanchipuram, to shower grace on Her devotees.

The earthly Muladhara is indicative of the chidagni kunda.  With this symbolism, Kamakshi Devi is none other than the Kundalini sakthi stationed in the Muladhara.

***

In traditional vertical lamps lit in temples or houses, one may notice that the stem part has six chakras, including the one which is used to light the lamp.  On the top of the lamp, there will be usually either a conch/Shankhu and disc/chakra or Hamsas/swans or Jyothi/prabha, symbolic of the Paramatma.  The base is indicative of the Muladhara, the middle four chakras are Manipura, Swadhishtana, Anahatha and Vishuddha.  The chakra where we light the lamp is the place of Ajna chakra, place of knowledge.

Moreover, in Tamilnadu, a different type of lamp is also used.  This lamp has the images of Gaja-Lakshmi, Ashta-Lakshmi or Lakshmi-Ganapthi-Saraswathi and the like. However, it is referred to as Kamakshi vilakku. In Tamil, vilakku means deepam or lamp.  This lamp has the light lit on the the base of the lamp, the Muladhara place.  It seems to have got this name because the earthly Muladhara is the abode of Kamakshi Devi. 

***

But we have learnt that Siva and Sakthi are inseparable like Vak/word and its Artha/meaning.  Here, it has been said that Sakthi descended to the earth. Then where is Siva here?  Vagdevatas have hidden this secret in the next nama.

कामदायिन्यै नमः

काम- desire

दायिनि – one who bestows with

She is one who gives/generates the desires.

Ahamkara/Ego is necessary for a desire to arise.  This nama is suggesting that Amma is Ahankara rupini.

AdiSankaraBhagavatpada in Soundarya Lahari 7^th sloka क्वणत्काञ्चीदामा portrays Amma as the Purusha-ahankara of Tripura-Mathana and prays for the darshan of Her gross form.

Let us learn more about this Aham.

According to Kashmira Saivism Trika theory, the first letter of creation, अ-kara of Aham is symbolic of the ParamaSiva, the last letter of creation ह-kara of Aham that of (Kundalini) Sakthi.  The image of ParamaSiva in the mirror like inherent Sakthi results in the Siva-Sakthi union, the seed.  This is represented by the anusvara म्.  It is shown as a dot that is placed on top of any letter in the Sanskrit language.  Siva and Sakthi are always in unison.  The garland of letters from अ-kaara to ह-kaara results in the creation AHAM, while the gardland of letters from ह-kara to अ-kara results in the dissolution into MAHA; reversal of AHAM (Paramatma). (Abhinavagupta Para Trisika Vivarana)

According to this Trika theory, the triad, is comprised of the three main tattvas: Siva-Sakthi-Nara/Purusha, Siva/Sakthi(Unity)-Vidya(Unity in Diversity)-Atma(Diverse), Para-Parapara-Apara, respectively.

Kamakshi Devi is the gross form of the infinite consciousness, appeared when the inherent Sakthi of Paramatma expanded for manifesting the creation. Her subtle form is Kundalini sakthi.  She is the embodiment of Ahamkara in the entire creation.

Let us look at the Dhyana sloka अरुणाम् करुणातरङ्गिताक्षी of this stotram for knowing the name of this embodiment. Holding Dhanur-bana-pasa-ankusa in four hands, eyes billowing with compassion, enclosed in the radiance of Anima and other rays, and Aruna hued!! You are the embodiment of AHAM!! Oh!! Bhavani!

भवस्यपत्नीभवानि – भवति भवतेवा सर्वत्मिति भवः

Bhava is one with omnipresence and Bhavani is His wife.

Lalitha-Maha-Tripura-Sundari sitting on the Pancha-Brahma-Asana is known as Bhavani when manifested as ego filled creation with names and forms.

As an egg is transformed into a colourful butterfly, May Amma transform my solidified anaatma-ego so as to reach the ParamBrahma with sarva-varna lustre, at the earliest.

श्रीमात्रेनमः