Mother Divine and Grahas

[yajvan]

Hari Om
~~~~~~

Namaste,

Many in their sādhanā find Śrī Devī, Śakti, or Śiva's consort at the core of their practice. Śrī Devī is Śiva's own energy and is not apart from His nature. This some call Rudra yāmala or the pair. Yet to think there is two is to think light is separate from a flame. If we were talking of kaśmir śaivism, Abninavagupta also calls this Rudra-yāmala visarga ( or the two bindu-s that resemble a colon mark : and is the aspirated ḥ ).

In Jyotish, Śrī Devī is also reflected in the graha-s. We recognize 9 graha-s and also the lagna¹ (or the ascendant) and hence we have 10 forms of Mother Divine in the planets.


I thought there would be interest in the 10 forms of Mother Divine, or the daśa mahāvidyā-s or the 10 great ( Maha) forms of power or knowledge (vidyā). I have outlined in other posts¹ the 10 graha's as they relate to Śrī Viṣṇu, Śrī Rām, etc.

I would like to cover this subject in 3 ways ( trika) in the next few posts:

• The grahas associated with the daśa mahāvidyā
• What are some of the qualities and groupings of the daśa mahāvidyā?
• Other interesting observations and insights

The graha-s associated with the daśa mahāvidyā

• Kālī (Saturn)
• Tara (Jupiter)
• Tripurasundari (Mercury)
• Bhuvaneshvari (Moon)
• Tripura Bhairavi (Lagna¹ or one's ascendant)
• Chinnamasta (Rahu)
• Dhumavati (Ketu)
• Bagalamukhi ( Mars)
• Matangi (Sun)
• Kamalatmika (Venus)

When the Supreme , Śivabhaṭṭāraka, (anuttara) chooses to play, to make things manifest, He subjects Himself to boundaries. These first two boundaries are time and space - kāla & ākāśa This is why Kālī (Saturn) & Tara (Jupiter) are first on the list.
Yet we will find in a future post that Bhuvaneshvarī (associated with the Moon) plays the key alignment position with ākāśa.

Lets talk a bit about Kālī. She is associated with time and with death yet in a very positive way ( to me). Death, and Saturn are known by the name yama, or restraint.

What does time do? It's a 'restraint' on the Infinity of Now, of eternity. Time is a method to demarcate the Infinite to a place-point i.e. past, present or future. So this time has the ability to restrain or terminate.

Kālī who is unbounded by any condition has this ability; Her energy, this kāla śakti, can restrain to any point, including termination. The ultimate constraint to the expansion of life is death. Hence a most appropriate name give to Her, as Kālī. We will talk of this death in a second. Lets take a look at Kālī as a word.

Kālī we know as black, dark in color ( same as śani or Saturn). Yet if we look at Her name it is made up of Kā + lī . Kā is to seek , desire , yearn, love and also to like , enjoy , to please. And lī is to dissolve , to melt away, disappear , vanish. So we have Kālī , the one that is dark which has the desire ( and to enjoy) the notion of vanquishing.

Yet one may think that Kālī is only associated with the death of the individual and viewed somewhat negatively. This is the beauty of this knowledge - Kālī can be viewed and experienced as Dakṣiṇa Kālī and as Bhadra Kālī.
Dakṣiṇa is defined as the right ,straightforward , candid , sincere , pleasing , i.e. right action or right facing. So Dakṣiṇa Kālī is that śakti that brings the delight of vanquishing that is right action, straight forward.
Mother Divine's actions here are uplifting, evolutionary in nature, upholding ( dharma) for the individual or society. One can see the 'death' of bad habits, the ending of negative attributes, the removal of obstacles. She is seen as the might of the Supreme no doubt, but this might is done with discernment - right action , skill.
Without something being destroyed, consumed, there is no room for creation or advancement to occur. Even during ones meditation, one comes back from turiya anew, fresh. Something was given up, destroyed - fatigue, stress, etc.

And what of Bhadra Kālī ? Bhadra is defined as blessed , auspicious , fortunate , prosperous , happy. She , the one that is dark, that destroys in order to create to bring prosperity and happiness. She is the transformer due to owning time. She owns and wields kāla śakti. With time all things are transformed.

How many lives has one gone through in the measurement of eternity? Kālī as the orchestrator can tell, yet we cannot. Her time is based in eternity, ours is measured and metered out one life at a time.
Since she owns and wields time, She can see the evolutionary progress as the individual unfolds the SELF. Hence Her power in us is that of transformation. The same as śani as he provides the restraints of yama¹.
So we have Kālī who brings forth dakṣiṇa and bhadra. She is adored by vīra ( the brave, the chief, the strong); the weak are in awe of Her might and power.

praṇām

posted on Saturday, 9th tithi, navami, Krsna pakśa
(dark half of the month); tithi is owned Durgā ;
Saturday is owned by śani , hence owned by Kālī
and forming a favorable siddha yoga


words and references

• Graha avatarā and iśtadevatā can be found in the following HDF Posts: http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=746
  http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=748
  http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=609&highlight=maha+vidya
• Śiva-bhaṭṭāra Śivabhaṭṭāraka - Bhaṭṭāra - the great lord , venerable or worshipful; bhaṭ भट् - nourish , maintain
• kāla काल - time or the measure of time
• yama यम - act of checking or curbing, suppression, restraint; a twin, one of a pair or couple; one who presides and rules the spirits of the dead
  More on yama at this HDF post: http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2949 - there are 4 to 5 posts on yama and niyama.
• dakṣiṇa दक् Kālī काली the right ;straightforward , candid , sincere, pleasing + right action; right or southern, black colour
• bhadra भद्र Kālī काली blessed , auspicious , fortunate , prosperous , happy + right action ; right or southern,- black colour
• lagna or lagnam - attached to - that is the rising sign is attached to the horizon, attached to the native
  from lag लग् - cling or attach one's self ; to meet , come in contact ; to take affect on + nam नम् to bow to , subject or submit , one's self