Gnowly

• What the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is to the Vaiṣṇavas, the Śrīmad Devī Bhāgavatam is to the Śāktas.

• Though classified as an upa-purāṇa it is the only Purāṇa Vedavyāsa called Mahā-Purāṇa, meaning great Purāṇa

• The choice of words by the great ṛṣi obviously indicates its importance, as Divine Mother is described in all major śāstras as the One Supreme beyond and above the trinities and all Gods.

• Śaunaka ṛṣi: senior president of the assembly of sages at Naimiṣāraṇya

• viśvasan-kṣetra: trusted or reliable place

• Naimiṣāraṇya-vāna: sacred forest free from influence of Kaliyuga

• Sūta Gosvāmī: disciple of Vedavyāsa, son of Romaharṣana-Sūta, who was killed with a blade of grass for offending Balarāma

• Saumya: moonlike (Soma), placid, gentle, mild: "O gentle Sir!" "O good Sir!" "O excellent man!" as the proper mode of addressing a Brāhmaṇa

• three guṇas: sāttvik, rājasik and tāmasik, described in detail in Bhagavad-gita chapters 13, 14, 17 & 18

• transcendental sentiments (rasas): ecstatic emotional flavors of relationship with the Supreme in any form—neutrality, servitorship, friendship, parenthood and conjugal love. See Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, Part 2:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/94owo1ouwj8ls3i/Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu-Part2.pdf/file

Namaste! Welcome to Śrīmad Devī Bhāgavatam. The Sanskrit verse in the beginning is the ṣoḍaśī mantra, the most powerful and beneficial Vedic prayer. It invokes the śakti of Goddess Lalithā, Also known as Tripurasundarī, Mahā-Māyā, Durgā, and many other names. Who is Goddess Lalithā? This Śrīmad Devī Bhāgavatam is Her story. Listen, and you will gain immense spiritual benefit.

The full text of this episode is here:

https://wordpress.com/view/srimaddevibhagavatam.wordpress.com

Watch the video version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8izdMX06jcw&feature=youtu.be

Śrī Bhagavān said: ‘Salutation to the Devī Prakṛti, the Creatrix; I bow down again and again to Thee. Thou art all-auspicious and grantest the desires of Thy devotees; Thou art of the nature of siddhi (spiritual success) and vṛddhi (increase). I bow down again and again to Thee. I bow down to the World Mother, Who is of the nature of Everlasting Existence, Intelligence and Bliss.

O Devī! Thou createst, preservest and destroyest this Universe; Thou doest the pralaya (the great Dissolution) and showest favor to the created beings. Thus Thou art the Authoress of the above five-fold things that are done; so, O Bhuvaneśvarī, I bow down to Thee! Thou art the great efficient and material cause of the changeful. Thou art the Unchangeable, Immoveable Consciousness; Thou art the half-letter (ardhamātrā), hrillekhā (the consciousness that ever pervades both inside and outside the Universe, denoted by the bīja-mantra hṛīṁ); Thou art the Supreme Soul and the individual soul. Salutation again and again to Thee!

O Mother! I now realize fully well that this whole Universe rests on Thee; it rises from Thee and again melts away in Thee. The creation of this Universe shews Thy infinite force. Verily, Thou art become Thyself all these lokas (planetary regions). During the time of creation Thou createst the two formless elements akāsā and vāyu and the three elements with form—fire, water, and earth—then with these Thou createst the whole Universe and shewest this to the Enjoyer Puruṣa, who is of the nature of consciousness, for His satisfaction. Thou again dost become the material cause of the twenty-three tattvas: mahat, etc., as enumerated in the Sāṅkhya system and appearest to us like a mirage.

32. O Mother! Were it not for Thee, no object would be visible, Thou pervadest the whole Universe. It is for this reason that those persons that are wise declare that even the Highest Puruṣa can do no work without Thy aid.

33-34. O Devī! Thou createst and art giving satisfaction to the whole Universe by Thy power; again at the time of pralaya Thou swallowest forcibly all these that are seen. So, O Devī! Who can fathom Thy powers? O Mother! Thou didst save us from the hands of Madhu and Kaitabha. Then Thou hast brought us to this Maṇi-Dvīpa and shewed us Thy own form, all the extended regions and immense powers and given us exquisite delight and joy. This is the highest place of happiness.

35-37. O Mother! When I Myself, Śaṅkara and Brahmā or anyone of us is unable to fathom Thy inconceivable glory, who else can then ascertain Thee? O Bhavānī! Who knows how many more than the several regions that we saw reflected in thy nails of Thy feet, exist in Thy creation? O One endowed with infinitely great powers! O Devī! we saw another Viṣṇu, another Hara, another Brahmā, all of great celebrity in the Universe exhibited by Thee; who knows how many other such Brahmās, etc., exist in Thy other Universes? Thy glory is infinite. O Mother! I bow down again and again to Thy lotus feet and pray to Thee that this Thy form may exist always in my mind. May my mouth always utter Thy name, and may my two eyes see always Thy lotus feet.

38-43. O Revered One! May I remember Thee as my Goddess and may Thou constantly look on myself as Thy humble servant. O Mother! What more shall I say than this: May this relation as mother and son always exist between Thee and me. O World-Mother! There is nothing in this world that is not known to Thee, for Thou art omniscient. So O Bhavānī! What more shall my humble self declare to Thee? Now dost Thou do whatever Thou desirest. O Devī! The rumour goes that Brahmā is the Creator, Viṣṇu is the Preserver, and Maheśvara is the Destroyer! Is this true? O Eternal One! It is only through Thy will power, through Thy force, that we create, preserve and destroy.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1e9ZIkVW2Bi_4wIGerj8WymyOQ-qdSW_K/view?usp=drivesdk

From Śrī Tripurārahasya, Mahātmyakhaṇḍam Chapter 28

“O Paraśurāma! Listen to the enchanting, wish-fulfilling and sin-absolving prayer of the names of Gaurī. The ṛṣi of this prayer is Aṅgirasa. The meter is anuṣṭup. The presiding Devī is Gaurī. This should be recited to overcome difficulties.

“The six bījas—(āūṁ) hṛāṁ śrīṁ hṛīṁ klīṁ aiṁ sauḥ—are to be installed in one’s body by nyāsa; and this prayer is to be recited after meditating on Her form.

Dhyānam

“She is seated on a Lion; Her hue is dark green; She is shining, with a silk garment; She wields a sword, shield, trident and club in Her four hands; Her head is decorated with the crescent moon; She is the granter of wishes. Such a form of Gaurī is to meditated upon.”

Then Devī Tripurasundarī again said thus:

“All of you hear Me. I am really Gāyatrī, Who is never different from Me. Pleased as I am with all of you, I will show you My divine form as Gāyatrī, the embodiment of the aggregate manifestation of speech.”

Saying thus, the Divine Mother gave them the divine vision, and all the gods saw Goddess Tripurāmbikā in the form of Devī Gāyatrī. (45-47)

The great Devī Gāyatrī pervaded the universe as its space. Her body constituted the 50 letters of the Sanskrit alphabet. She was the Supreme Ambrosial Bliss.The vowels (a to aḥ) were Her face; the five groups of consonants were Her arms, legs and stomach; the semivowels and the sibilants, Her head, heart and the base.

The levels of speech—paśyantī, madhyamā and vaikharī—were Her navel, heart and mouth respectively. She was associated with cognizable nāda in madhyamā; Her heart was associated with the paśyantī sound; Her speech was the audible vaikharī. Her face was the letters of the alphabet; Her heart, the words; Her stomach, the sentences.

She was both the audible and subtle forms of sound. Her head was the Vedas, Her eyes the luminous stars, Her mouth the science of grammar, Her voice the Vedic prosody, Her neck the science of euphony, Her ears the science of law; Her heart the Sāma-veda; Her breasts the Ṛg and Yajur-vedas; Her stomach the Atharvaṇa-veda.

Her ribs the Sāṅkhya-yoga, Her hands the (Vaidik) rites, Her thighs the science of logic, Her back the auxiliary Vedas (like Āyurveda, Dhanurveda and so on); Her glances, the Purāṇas; Her smile the science of rhetorics. Self-knowledge was Her embodiment, Her disposition; Her nails and hair were the Buddhist and Jain philosophy. She was auspicious and transcendent. (48-55)

Witnessing that wonderful form, the gods prostrated before Her and with folded hands, praised the Great Devī Gāyatrī. (56)

This SecretHeaven teaching is most powerful because it inclusively spans all other types and levels of spiritual teachings.

Say, O Lord of the distressed! in Thy mercy how men may obtain longevity, health, and energy, increase of strength and courage, learning, intelligence, and happiness without great pains; and how they may become great in strength and valor, pure of heart, obedient to parents, not seeking the love of others’ wives but devoted to their own, mindful of the good of their neighbor, reverent to the Devas and to their gurus, cherishers of their children and kinsmen (70-72),

possessing the knowledge of Brahman, learned in the lore of, and ever meditating on Brahman. Say, O Lord! for the good of the world, what men should or should not do according to their different castes and stages of life. For who but Thee is their Protector in all the three worlds? (73-74).

End of the First Joyful Message, entitled Questions Related to the Liberation of Beings.

Chapter 2

Introduction to the Worship of Brahman

Hearing the words of the Devī, Śaṅkara, Bestower of happiness on the world, great Ocean of mercy, thus spoke of the truth of things.

Sadāśiva said:

O Exalted and Holy One! Benefactress of the universe, well has it been asked by Thee. By none has such an auspicious question been asked aforetime (2).

Worthy of all thanks art Thou, Who knoweth all good, Benefactress of all born in this age, O Gentle One! Thou art Omniscient. Thou knowest the past, present and future, and dharma. What Thou hast said about the past, present, and future, and indeed all things, is in accordance with dharma, and is the truth, and is without a doubt accepted by Me. O Sureśvarī! I say unto You most truly and without all doubt that men, whether they be of the twice-born or other castes, afflicted as they are by this sinful Age, and unable to distinguish the pure from the impure, will not obtain purity or the success of their desired ends by the Vedic ritual, or that prescribed by the Saṅgītas and Smṛtis (3-6).

Verily, verily, and yet again verily, I say unto you that in this Age there is no way to liberation but that proclaimed by the Āgama (7) (a tantra or work inculcating the mystical worship of śiva-śakti).

I, O Blissful One, have already foretold in the Vedas, Smṛtis and Purāṇas that in this Age the wise shall worship after the doctrine of the Āgama (8).

Now the sinful Kali Age is upon them, when dharma is destroyed, an Age full of evil customs and deceit. Men pursue evil ways. The Vedas have lost their power, the smṛtis are forgotten, and many of the Purāṇas, which contain stories of the past, and show the many ways which lead to liberation, will, O Lord! be destroyed.

Men will become averse to religious rites, without restraint, maddened with pride, ever given over to sinful acts, lustful, gluttonous, cruel, heartless, harsh of speech, deceitful, short-lived, poverty-stricken, harassed by sickness and sorrow, ugly, feeble, low, stupid, mean, and addicted to mean habits, companions of the base, thievish, calumnious, malicious, quarrelsome, depraved, cowards, and ever-ailing, devoid of all sense of shame and sin and of fear to seduce the wives of others. Vipras will live like the Śudras, and whilst neglecting their own sandhyā will yet officiate at the sacrifices of the low.

They will be greedy, given over to wicked and sinful acts, liars, insolent, ignorant, deceitful, mere hangers-on of others, the sellers of their daughters, degraded, averse to all tapas and vrata. They will be heretics, impostors, and think themselves wise. They will be without faith or devotion, and will do japa and pūjā with no other end than to dupe the people. They will eat unclean food and follow evil customs, they will serve and eat the food of the Śudras and lust after low women, and will be wicked and ready to barter for money even their own wives to the low. In short, the only sign that they are brāhmaṇas will be the thread they wear. Observing no rule in eating or drinking or in other matters, scoffing at the dharma Scriptures, no thought of pious speech ever so much as entering their minds, they will be but bent upon the injury of the good (37-50).

Chapter 1

Questions About the Liberation of Beings

The enchanting summit of the Lord of Mountains, resplendent with all its various jewels, clad with many a tree and many a creeper, melodious with the song of many birds, scented with the fragrance of all the season’s flowers, most beautiful, fanned by soft, cool, and perfumed breezes, shadowed by the still shade of stately trees; where cool groves resound with the sweet-voiced songs of troops of Apsarā, and in the forest depths flocks of kokila maddened with passion sing; where Spring, the Lord of the Seasons with his followers ever abide (the Lord of Mountains, Kailāśa); peopled by (troops of) Siddha, Charana, Gandharva, and Ganapatya (1-5).

It was there that Pārvatī, finding Śiva, Her gracious Lord, in serene mood, bent low with obeisance. For the benefit of all the worlds She questioned Him, the Silent Deva, Lord of all things movable and immovable, the ever-Beneficent and ever-Blissful One, the nectar of Whose mercy abounds as a great ocean, Whose very essence is the pure sattva-guṇa, He Who is white as camphor and the Jasmine flower, the Omnipresent One, Whose raiment is space itself, Lord of the poor and the beloved Master of all yogīs, Whose coiled and matted hair is wet with the spray of Gaṅgā and (of Whose naked body) ashes are the only adornment; the passionless One, Whose neck is garlanded with snakes and skulls of men, the three-eyed One, Lord of the three worlds, one hand wielding the trident and with the other bestowing blessings; easily appeased, Whose very substance is unconditioned Knowledge; the Bestower of eternal emancipation, the Ever-existent, Fearless, Changeless, Stainless One without defect, the Benefactor of all, and the Deva of all Devas (5-10).

Śrī Pārvatī said:

O Deva of the Devas, Lord of the world, Jewel of Mercy, my Husband, Thou art my Lord, on Whom I am ever dependent and to Whom I am ever obedient. Nor can I say ought without Thy word. If Thou hast affection for me, I crave to lay before Thee that which passeth in my mind. Who else but Thee, O Great Lord, in the three worlds is able to solve these doubts of mine, Thou Who knowest all, and all the Scriptures (11-13).

The Indian Tantras, which are numerous, constitute the Scripture (Śāstra) of the Kaliyuga, and as such are the voluminous source of present and practical orthodox “Hinduism”. Whatever its historical origin, the Tantra-Śāstra is in fact a development of the Vaidik Karma-kaṇḍa, promulgated to meet the needs of this age. Śiva says:

“O Auspicious One! For the benefit of men of the Kali age, men bereft of energy and dependent for existence on the food they eat, the Kaula doctrine is given.” — Mahānirvāṇa Tantra 9.12

If we would properly understand ritual, yoga and sādhana of all kinds, and also the general principles of which these practices are but the objective expression, we must therefore look to the Tantra.

Yet of all the forms of Hindu Śāstra, the Tantra is least known and understood. This is due both to the difficulty of its subject matter and to the fact that the key to much of its terminology and method rest with the initiate.

The portion of the Indian public that favors ‘reformed’ Hinduism admire Mahānirvāṇa Tantra for its noble exposition of the worship of the Supreme Brahman, and in the belief that certain of its passages absolutely discountenance the orthodox ritual. Nothing can be more mistaken than such belief, even though “For him who has faith in the root, of what use are the branches and leaves?” Anyone who reads the text will discover this.

It is true that brahmajñāṇe samutpanne krityakrityang na vidyāte: “Knowledge of Brahman grows in the purified heart” — 7.94. The statement assumes the attainment of Brahma-jñāna, and the Śāstra says this can be attained, not by mere Vedāntik discussions nor prayer, but by the sādhana which is its main subject matter.

The section of Tāntrikās who think Mahānirvāṇa Tantra is too restrained are also in error. For the design of this Tantra appears intended to conserve well-recognized Tantrik principles while securing them from abuse. Pārvatī says:

Hitaya yane, karmani kathitani tvaya prabho Manyetani Mahādeva viparitani manave”O Lord, I fear that even that which Thou ordain for the good of men will, through them, turn out for evil.” — 1.67