Ksham Ksham Ksham!! = Bliss! Bliss! Bliss!!

January 7, 2006

Dear DeviTanayas, I would like to share some information about the lesser known Divine mother Prathyangira Devi.It is high time I give an elaborate and decent post on it. I had mentioned in

one earlier posting on the woefully inadequate knowledge of one member about this Divine Mother to the extent of quoting texts and 'authorities' wrongly. In the e-mail he wrote that the Devi's name means 'Hot fire'. I would like to refute this by saying that this is not true. No doubt 'Angira' means a coal ember(but it refers to the Rishi Angiras) Without knowing anything about something and yet to say an 'ill-thing' which means nothing is a 'foolish-thing'! Prathyangira is the combination of the names of two great sages Prathyagiras and Angiras who meditated on this Shakthi and got the first vision meditatively of this puissant and dynamic Divine force. In their meditation, through the Mantra-Akasha, they heard Her Moola Mantra. The beejaksharam (seed letter) of the Mantra isksham (bliss).Since they hold the first Mantra siddhi for the deity the deity is called Prathyangira popularly. She is also known as Atharvana Bhadrakali as She is regarded as the saraamsam of Atharvana. To speak ill of this deity is to

insult the very Veda and Atharvana Maharishi who gave us the Fourth veda filled with rituals and magical and mantric-alchemical(spiritual alchemy) thoughts. Let us not err here and incur the displeasure of bening forces.This is not true Vaishnava my dear friend! Prathyangiras and Angiras at Her Divine feet! This deity is an 'Ugra amsa' of Shakthi. This deity came into being when Sharabheshwara was formed.The eternal mother is all powerful and she is said to be the core of Atharvana Mantras.The main Beejakshara (cosmic seed letter) in her Moola Mantra is “KSHAM”. The eka-veeja mantra of this Divine mother is 'Hraam'. (Narasimha Shaligrama found in Varanasi) She is also worshipped in the form of a Narasimha Shaligrama, which the jealous 'Vaishnavite' did not know for sure.He conviniently forgets that even Vaishnava sampradaya has such 'Ugra deities' like Narasimha, Mahasudarshana and Ugra Anjaneya. Shree Umapati Shivam was one of the greatest devotees of this deity in modern times. The following are the famous temples for this deity: 1.Ayyavadi(Aivar Padi) near Kumbakonam(South India). Here Deity is lion faced with 18 hands. 2.Vedian Enthal a small village near Manamadurai(South India) Here she is five faced and seated on a lotus. 3.In the corridor of the Karumariamman Temple(Chennai) 4. A private Temple in Solinga Nallur(Chennai) Sri Maha Pratyangira Devi, is depicted as a ferocious half lion and half human. The lion head is that of a male and the body is that of a female, representing the union of Shiva and Shakti. In her full form, She is humongous, with 1008 heads (symbolically representing the 1008-petalled Sahasrara Chakra, the universal chakra of the cosmic energy) and 2016 hands, riding majestically on a chariot pulled by 4 lions (representing the 4 Vedas). Sri Maha

Pratyangira Devi is all powerful and leads Her devotees along the right path and protects them from all obstacles. She is always by the side of Her devotees. She is within each and every being in all planes of existence and is the God within. The legend and existence of Sri Maha Pratyangira Devi has not been widely known.I regret this but nevertheless let me take some

stepsin the promulgation of this knowledge. There are many mantras of Prathyangira-vedic and Tantric. However two are very popular.Many saints have done tapas on the deity and reaped lot of benfits from the Gupta-devi(secretive devi) Sri Maha Pratyangira Devi is a powerful Devi who is said to havedestroyed Sarabheswara's arrogance. Sarabheswara isan ugra avatar of Siva. She is also known as Naarasimhikaa( in Kali sahasranama Stotram) : Om Kreem Naarasimhikaayai Namaha! 'She who is the Ferocious Half Human Half Lion of Courage'-- the male energy of

Narasimha(This is not be confused as the consort of Narasimha!)It is said that when Prathyangira Devi shook herLion's Mane, she threw the stars into disarray!She is enveloped as bliss in the letter "Ksham". Sri Pratyangira Devi is also associated with Sri Cakra.She is considered to be a powerful repellent of theinfluences generated by witch-craft. In Sri Cakra worship, she protects the devotees against all odds and guides him/her along the rightpath. The

Lalitha Sahasranama has the following words in the Phalashruti' Yo Vaabhichaaram Kuruthe Namasaahasra PaatakeNivartya Tat Kriyaam Hanyaattham vy prathyangiraa Swayam!'---One who does an Abhichaara Prayoga(an evil black magic ritual)on one who recites the Sahasranama, Prathyangira Devi goes Herself(orrather Rajarajeshwari devi assumes the ugra form of the Devi) and removesill-effects of the 'parikriya' and also annihilates the enemy tottally. Now, if the Devi was bad and asuric as the memberportrayed then why would She protect on Her own accord thechanters of Lalitha Sahasranama? Pray tell me? In some image she is shown as dark complexion, terrible in aspect, having a lion's face with reddened eyes and riding a lion, entirely nude or wearing black garments, she wears garland of human skulls; her hair strands on end, and she holds a trident, a serpent in the form of a noose,

a hand-drum and a skull in her four hands. She is also associates with Bhairava, and she has a variant form viz Atharvana-Bhadra-Kali. Even a 'saatwic' person like Muthuswami Deekshitar has composed a krithi on the mysteries of this deity in his famous Lalithopaakhyana based

krithis. Satva is not merely doing bhajans and eating saatvic food. It is an inherent quality of the mind,soul and heart which blissfully unite in coherence toacheive ascendency and unite with the Parabrahma in a parasatvic way.One has to go beyond Satwa too at one stage. Many Vaishnavites when seeing Shaktha forms of worship think they are Rajasic and that 'God' has to be 'saatvic' and 'soft' and all the niceand mushy things! And the conept of Goddesses they have is subserviant to the God. All these are not so correct attitudes but plays of Mother Maya. The rupa of Prathyangira Devi though Ugra has many symbolic meanings The lion face

---Power of ParashakthiThe nails--to gore evil(in oneself down mercilessly)The fire in the mouth---the power of Vaakshakthi and Mantra shakthiThe lion Vahana--to show that one's ego should be controlledThe Damaruka--to show to the world that everything emnated from Shabda Brahman Paasam--Noose to draw Her devotees to Herself and the right pathThe Khadga--to pierce Agnaana(ignorance)The trident---the dominion of the three gunasand

as a shiva shakthi deityThe severed head --the severence of one's ego which looms like an asurichead.Her leg on a skull - to indicate that intelligence in the head will one day become ashes under Her divine feet-Impermanence of everythingThe rundamala---to indicate the karmas which she wearsSnake

Yagnopaveetham-to show that Brahman is to be achieved withno adherence to mock rituals but to the Inner fire and spirit.(Brahmins wear the Yagnopaveetha with a sacred thread...the 'sacredness'loses its meaning when rituals are followed instead of seeking out 'Brahman These are thus the esoteric meanings of the iconology of

Prathyangira I have a book by 'Najan'(Late Natarajan ji who was a great Srividya Upasakand who wrote a book on the subject). This book is printed by 'Prathibha prasuram' and has many many mantras for this deity.Iam surprised to note that the Vaishnavite member though a Tamildoes not know

the existence of this and other popular books in Tamil and says that 'such evil deities donot have mantras' He further quotes that his Guru(a female Guru ironically!)has said that such deities are not good. After my first posting in this context. I got an e-mail from an 'unidentifiedVaishnavite' who is a 'non-member' of the group giving me an offer to propogandize Vaishnava sampradaya with the same 'passion'(to use his words). Let me tell him(whoever that might be) that I HAVE NO PASSION but COMPASSIONfor him and other unelightened Vaishnavites. I too was in the sway like that

aand brainwashed a bit but luckily came out of it with my head on shoulders!Iam not here to 'PROPOGANDIZE' or 'PROSELYTIZE' any cult or -ismIam here to express my love for Divine mother Rajarajeshwari and to share whatever little I know.And also to blast some misconceptions if I may add.Though everything is wrought by Divine Mother and my Gurunatha ultimately. I have the greatest respect and divine feelings for Lord Vishnu and pray toHim too in my daily prayers.I also share a special connection with Him.To call Eshwaree a Dustha Shakthi and that too quoting the name of Lord Vishnu for this is to betray ignorance and malice toward other paths.This is another sign of

'Kali' which corrupts minds and makes one very parochial. I rest my case at the beautiful lotus feet of Prathyangira and the Blue lotus feet of Padmaaksha(Lord Vishnu). Let them decide who is wrong! Let us not

deviate or digress into such distasteful diatribes in future. OM ATHARVANA VEDAAYA VIDMAHE' BHADRAKAALYAI CHA DHEEMAHI TANNO PRATHYANGIRAA PRACHODAYAATH Yours yogically as ever, Shreeram

Balijepalli

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