Category: Trika

During our online satsang session with Dr. Mark Dyczkowski last Sunday (March 9th 2014), we were given some fantastic meditative practices around Sauh and SoHam Mantras. He also stressed on the importance of breath and how and why we must bring attention to the breath. When he mentioned this, I couldn’t help but recall that we cannot speak while we inhale. Just try saying something while inhaling – it is impossible. This connects to the deep Trika concept of breadth and the flow of Prana and Apana.

Markji also highlighted the concept of chief Goddesses of Trika – Para, Parapara and Apara. A discussion ensued in Facebook. There were also several pictures floating on the net which are primarily sourced (or inspired) from Prof. Sanderson’s original work. So I conferred with Markji and he was very kind to send me his short electronic reply which ( I shared in FB ) is provided at the bottom of this thread. I asked him if it was OK for me to share the goddess pictures from his big book on this site to which he kindly agreed. I felt deeply and was moved by his audacity and love for the scriptures. So with his blessings and kindness, I am sharing the pictures of the goddesses according to SYM, along with a short extract (MBT, KuKh Vol 2.). Please treat and tread with respect and appreciation.

MBT, KuKh Vol 2 – Dr. Mark Dyczkowski

“The Three Goddesses described in the following passages from the Siddhayogeśvarīmata, seated on the prongs of Śiva’s Trident are white, red and yellow-black. They represent, as their colours suggest, the three qualities (guNa) of Nature (prakti) which the one goddess, Mālinī, embodies. Mālinī sits on the middle prong of the Trika Trident. Above her, in her topknot, is an eight-petalled lotus within which is seated the goddess Parā. She is beautiful and brilliant white, ‘like the best crystal and she pours nectar everywhere . . . (She) promotes welfare and bestows success.

The SYM describes Parā as follows:

One should visualize Parā with her own form, sitting on a lotus in the air, with the book of all knowledge in her left hand, O Beautiful One, and holding a beautiful, heavenly rosary of crystal in her right hand. One is to visualize a garland on her neck, a garland of heavenly beauty, made up with beads which are round like the buds of the Kadamba tree and which shine forth like fire. This garland reaches down to her feet and is as spotless as crystal all over. One should then visualize her as pouring out the divine nectar of immortality1 in the middle of the Kadamba grove. One should see her pouring forth the nectar of all knowledge in great floods and one should see this nectar enter one’s own mouth, and that one’s Self has the same form. After this, the best of sādhakas should visualize that this nectar comes out of his mouth as the flow of Śāstras. If one has done this visualization, he will be able to produce fascinating ornate poetry within a month. He will be a teacher of all doctrines; and after six months, he will produce Śāstras himself.2

According to the SYM Parāparā is worshipped on the right prong of the Trident. There we read that she is red

. . . as blazing fire, wearing a garland of skulls glowing with three eyes. She sits with trident and skull-staff in her hands on [Sadāśiva] the ‘Great Transcended’. Her tongue [flickers in and out] like lightning. She is gross-bodied and is adorned with great serpents. Her mouth yawns wide and has huge fangs. Ferocious, with her brows knitted in rage, wearing a sacred thread in the form of a huge snake, adorned with a string of human corpses round her neck, with the [severed] lotus hands of a human corpse as beautiful ear-rings, her voice like the thunder of the clouds at the world’s end, she seems to swallow space itself.3

Aparā, ‘the destroyer of the pains of the humble’ is seated on the left prong of the Trident. She looks the same as Parāparā except that she is yellow- black.”

—–

Orignal post from Dr. Mark Dyczkowski

“Prof.Sanderson has published a detailed study of the numerous variant forms of Paraa both in the Trika tradition and outside. The reference is: Sanderson 1986 : Mandala and the Aagamic Identity in the Trika of Kashmir. In Mantras et Diagrammes Rituels dans l”Hinduisme. Éditions du CNRS Paris. pp. 169-214

You will find all of Sanderson’s publications on his site (search Alexis Sanderson). It was my very great good fortune to study for over 10 years with Prof.Sanderson.

The name Paraa means ‘Supreme’. In a broad sense all Great Goddesses, such as Durgaa, can be considered to be Paraa. But it is a name / epithet applied to Kaula (i.e. Tantric “Saakta) Godddess. Kaalii, Kubjikaa, Tripuraa are all Paraa. She also appears in her own right in several Kaula traditions. There are two basic forms. One she has two arms and the other she has four. In both cases she is radiant white and is clearly remaniscent of Sarasvatii. Not much is known about the history of Sarasvatii and, given her widespread popularity, she appears surprisingly little in the texts (whether Tantric or Paura.nic). She clearly has Vedic roots as the goddesss of speech (or ‘language’). Her secondary Tantric associations are through Paraa, who is also Speech. But note that the appearance of Paraa in the Tantras much precedes that of Sarasvatii in the public domain.”

Tantrāloka is a dream come true, a cave of gems, a wish-fulfilling cow.  For a thirsty seeker after truth who is mad with love for Lord Shiva and his magnificent Śakti shining as this world, this is Lake Manassarovar.  How foolish not to take a dip, to drink deeply of this draught that has been proffered by one of the greatest spiritual minds of all time.  This exquisite palace of gems, illuminating every corner of Hindu philosophy with overwhelming light, dripping with the rasa of the bliss of full awareness, and pulsating with radiant love, has been hidden for a thousand years.  Somehow at this moment, after decades of toil and devotion by a great and humble soul, we have the amazing good fortune to hear and try to understand the sublime Ācārya Abhinavagupta’s teachings in our own language, conveniently in our own home, any time we wish, simply by pushing a few buttons on a screen.  What miracle is this!

Tantrāloka in 37 comprehensive chapters teaches the entire path of true devotion, recognition, and self-knowledge.  It instructs in the highest truth and offers direct guidance on how to attain self-realization through a multitude of paths, from which one can choose the most suitable.  From the structure of the universe to esoteric breathing practices, elaborate explanations of the Wheel of Time (Kālacakra), rapturous eulogies of the Divine Mother, profound and secret practices of visualization and meditation, complete instructions regarding initiations and ritual, the entire corpus of tantric mantras, enlightened reworking of Vedanta, Samkhya, and Shaiva Siddhanta philosophical schemes, married to the wild view of the Bhairava tantras; masterful explanations of kundalini, nadis, cakras, and all the magical path of “piercing,” to the truly thrilling mystical emanation of the cosmos through the energies of the Sanskrit alphabet; this is a work beyond any ever written in the field of yoga, tantra, and spirituality.

After 35 years and countless lifetimes of wandering and searching, like a scorched traveler in the desert of samsara, I arrive weeping tears of gratitude for the amrita of Abhinava’s profound teaching.  I touch the feet of Sadaashaya, Dr. Mark Dyckzowski, by whose selfless, uncompromising sacrifice this cup is now offered to the world.  I invite everyone who shares this thirst to join the Anuttara Trika Kula and enjoy the fruit of this toil.  This gift is being offered to each and every one of you as Lord Shiva and Śri Parā Devī, so that you may enjoy the marvelous play of awakening to your own unbounded, perfect, blissful nature.  Won’t you join us for this feast?

For more on how to participate in the Tantrāloka Home Study Program, please visit http://www.anuttaratrikakula.org/tantralokaoverview/.   To preregister for the first FREE lesson on Verse One, the opening of Tantrāloka, please email us at anuttaratrikakula12@gmail.com.  We look forward to sharing this adventure together with you.

 

OM SAUḤ PARĀYAI NAMAḤ

The release of the first modules of guided teachings on the philosophies of Kashmir Śaivism signals a new beginning for our Kula.  New beginnings are times when it is important to recall fundamentals and reaffirm commitments.  This is especially true, perhaps, for the worlds of the Tantras, in which– as Mark reminds us in the first lecture– immense dimensions of tremendous beauty and profound inspiration are to be realized.  It can be tempting to lose oneself amid such splendors and to forget that both the purpose and fundamental teaching of the Tradition are actually very simple.  But, as someone once said in another context, the simplest things are always the most difficult.

 The purpose of the Tradition is to achieve liberation.  “Liberation from what?” you may ask. The best answer to that question is another one: “Well, what have you got? What is it that seems to limit or constrain you?”  Whatever that is, liberation means liberation from that. Do you feel constrained by the round of birth and death?  Then liberation is liberation from the round of birth and death.  Do you feel constrained by poverty or illness? Then liberation is liberation from poverty or illness.  Do you feel constrained by grief over suffering or by fear for the future of humanity on this planet? Then liberation is liberation from these things. Do you feel constrained by the Lord Śiva? Then liberation is liberation from the Lord Śiva. For in point of fact the Lord Śiva is Himself constantly seeking to free Himself from Himself.  And since He is the Lord Śiva He is constantly succeeding.  The means of his success is his power, that is, the absolute freedom and autonomy of the Goddess, his Consort.  And you yourself – you living your individual life — are the result of His success, along with everything else that does or can exist.  For every element and aspect of the entire manifest universe is nothing more or less than the expression of the Lord’s absolute freedom—even and perhaps especially his freedom from Himself.  That, after all, is what “absolute freedom” means: that, or nothing.

The Masters of the Tradition began with a single simple insight:  no matter what the object of their awareness, it is always accompanied by that awareness itself.  Awareness is always self-aware.  But then they noticed something else, something equally simple and obvious.  The objects of their awareness, whether internal to themselves or external in the world, did not seem to share in this self-awareness.  But this is rather puzzling.  Because whenever we become aware of anything, we become one with it in the very act of knowing it.  But how is it possible for two things of such fundamentally different nature to become so unified?  How is it possible for awareness to become one with lack of awareness in the act of knowing? Pondering deeply, the Masters came to their remarkable, even stunning, conclusion: it is simply not possible for this to occur.  Therefore that must not be what in fact does occur.  Rather, what must occur in the act of knowing is that self-awareness becomes one with self-awareness.  Everything must be self-aware.  Everything must be Consciousness.  Moreover, there must be only one such Consciousness, because if there were really two, each of them would be separate from the other’s awareness in the act of knowing and that is just what has been shown to be impossible.  But this is perhaps even more puzzling.  For if everything is in fact one Consciousness, how is it that it appears as many and insentient?  Working out the answer to this question and actually experiencing that answer –along with all of its quite extraordinary ramifications–is the essence of the Tradition itself.