Om Sri Saraswatyai Namah!
Om Namo Bhagavate Sivanandaya!
Om Namo Bhagavate Chidanandaya!
Om Namo Bhagavate Krishnanandaya!

Namaste!

Sakti Yoga Philosoophy - I
by Sri Swami Sivananda

The power or active aspect of the immanent God is Sakti. Sakti is the embodiment of power. She is the supporter of the vast universe. She is the supreme Power by which the world is upheld. She is the Universal Mother. She is Durga, Kali, Chandi, Chamundi, Tripurasundari, Rajarajesvari. There is no difference between God and His Sakti, just as there is no difference between fire and its burning power.

He who worships Sakti, that is God in Mother form, as the supreme Power which creates, sustains and withdraws the universe, is a Sakta. All women are the forms of Divine Mother.

Siva is the unchanging consciousness. Sakti is His changing Power which appears as mind and matter. Sakti-vada or Sakta-darshana is a form of monism or Advaita-vada.

A Sakta does Sadhana which helps the union of Siva and Sakti through the awakening of the forces within the body. He becomes a Siddha in the Sadhana when he is able to awaken Kundalini and pierce the six Chakras. This is to be done in a perfectly practical way under the guidance of a Guru who has become perfect. The Sakti must be awakened by Dhyana, Bhava, Japa and Mantra Sakti. The Mother, the embodiment of the fifty letters is present in the various letters in the different Chakras. When the chords of a musical instrument are struck harmoniously, fine music is produced. Even so, when the chords of the letters are struck in their order, the Mother who moves in the six Chakras and who is the very Self of the letters awakens Herself. The Sadhaka attains Siddhi easily when She is roused. It is difficult to say when and how She shows Herself and to what Sadhaka. Sadhana means unfolding, rousing up or awakening of power of Sakti. Mode of Sadhana depends upon the tendencies and capacities of the Sadhaka.

Sakti may be termed as that by which we live and have our being in this universe. In this world all the wants of the child are provided by the Mother. The child’s growth, development and sustenance are looked after by the Mother. Even so all the necessaries of life and its activities in this world and the energy needed for it depend upon Sakti or the universal Mother.

No one can free himself from the thraldom of mind and matter without Mother’s grace. The fetters of Maya are too hard to break. If you worship Her as the great Mother you can very easily go beyond Prakriti through Her benign grace and blessings. She will remove all obstacles in the path and lead you safely into the illimitable domain of eternal Bliss and make you absolutely free. When She is pleased and bestows Her blessings on you, then alone can you free yourself from the bondage of this formidable Samsara.

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A couple of articles by Sri Swami Krishnanandaji have been posted at Sri Swamiji's site. They are:

1. Waking Up from the Dream of this So-called Waking World
2. A Slow and Steady Religious Awakening

Yours in the service of Gurudev,

Pannirselvam

Book Synopsis

Tantra Yoga, Nada Yoga and Kriya Yoga
By Swami Sivananda

Tantra Sadhana includes the recitation of Mantras, performance of rituals through Yantras and an adjustment of oneself to the particular degree of reality, which is the specific meaning of Tantra. In this process, one has to learn many minor details directly from the Guru. The purification of the body, the mind and one's social relations, are all important preparations for the Sadhana. The usual Shodasopachara-Puja or the sixteen-limbed worship addressed to a Deity, is also the procedure applicable to anything and everything that one adores, regards or loves. By worship, one seeks union with the Deity through an abolition of the separation of oneself from the Deity. The mysterious processes called Nyasa (Anga-Nyasa and Kara-Nyasa) are, again, inward techniques of feeling the object in oneself, the Deity in one's own being. All this would make it abundantly clear that the Tantra Sadhana is as highly scientific and precise, as it is difficult and dangerous. This is its specialty.

For more information, please see: Tantra Yoga, Nada Yoga and Kriya Yoga

SEE HARI EVERYWHERE: Sri Manohar Desai, a Rajkot teacher, came to the Master and asked to be initiated into the Hari Om Mantra.

“Hari Om, Hari Om, Hari Om” - so saying, the Master rolled the beads and gave a rosary to the new disciple. “Keep Ekadasi Vrata,” he told him. “Take only fruit and milk at night on that day.” He then gave him a Gujarati book and advised him, “Daily you will have to do two hundred malas of Japa.”

Noticing the teacher bewildered at this suggestion, the Master quickly added, “Do at least fifteen malas or more. See Hari everywhere. Then you cannot have selfishness, you cannot have hatred, you cannot have dislike, you cannot exploit anybody. This will not come in a day. It will come gradually.”

"During the Navaratri or the Nine Nights, the whole of India adores the Mother and worships Her with great devotion. Dusserah, Durga Puja, and Navaratri are one and the same. On the first three nights, Durga or the Destructive Aspect of the Mother is worshipped. On the succeeding three nights, it is the Creative Aspect or Lakshmi that is adored. And on the last three nights, the Knowledge Aspect or Saraswati is invoked. The tenth is the Vijaya Dasami Day or the Day of Victory.

There is a special significance in this arrangement. When the Devi is worshipped by a devotee in this order, as Durga, She first destroys the evil propensities that lurk in his mind. Then, as Lakshmi, She implants therein, the Daivi Sampat or the divine qualities conducive to spiritual unfoldment. Then, as Saraswati, She bestows true knowledge on him.

The tenth day commemorates the victory of knowledge over nescience, goodness over evil. It is the day on which boys are put in the school. Aspirants are initiated on this day. On this memorable Vijaya Dasami Day, the carpenter, the tailor, the mason, the artist, the songster, the typist, and all technical workers do Puja for their instruments and implements. This is Ayudha Puja. They behold and recognise the Sakti or power behind these instruments, and worship the Devi for their success, prosperity, and peace." - Swami Sivananda

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