Dasha Maha Vidhyas

Om Gurave Namah --------------------------------------------------------Dear Sarabani, I am delighted to see such intelligent and enlightened students at SJVC. This is the great blessing of Sri Rama in my life that i shall have the best students without bothering to advertise! (Mantrapada with the Guru -Mangala dharma karmadhipati Yoga). You are right about Narasimha & Visti. they have surrendered to the teaching and hence they soaked in all the knowledge like a dry sponge drinking the Ganga jala. You seem more thirsty than any student I have met so far in that your desire is for the th e highest flame of Jyotish and will not compromise in this. Good. Since you have taken some steps, I am onliged to walk  along....do read my views under yours.

> Dear Sanjayji, > > Thank you for taking the time and commenting on the post and giving your > guidance. I have noted all that you have directed and will try to learn > further and follow f ollow those leads. Specifically, I would be very v ery interested > to learn l earn about the correlation of the dasamahavidy dasamahavidyas as with the navagrahas n avagrahas > and the vimshottari dasha system. Rath: Not getting into the philosophy as yet, the thumb rule to use Shakti mantra is that the planet p lanet dasa/Vimsottari dasa should be causing great pain and suffering. Pain and suffering are related to the consciousness of the mind and hence hot/cold and all such relative terms come into being at this level. It is at this point that we remember the Mother. All babies cry for the Mother when they suffer. To alleviate the suffering, the Mother takes various forms of which the most potent are the Dasa mahavidya. mahavidya. For example if a person is having Sun (Antardasa - note Not dasa) and is suffering, then we advise the use of the

Matangi Mantra and worship of Matangi as She is the Mother of the Sun. Sun - Matangi Moon - Bhubaneswari Mars - Bagalamukhi Mercury - Tripurasundari  Jupiter - Ugratara Venus - Kamalatmika Saturn - Mahakali Rahu - Chinnamasta Ketu - Dhoomavati Lagna - Bhairavi Whereas the Shakti of the Grahas are worshipped at the begining of the antardasa to remove blemish and for protection during the antardasa, the Shakti os Lagna i.e. Bhairavi is worshipped at all times for ensuring that the path is right. Again, bhairavi does not have an independant existance and blends with the Shakti of the Lagna lord.  Just as there cannot be antardasa without a dasa, Kali cannot come into being without Shiva (your explanation was good, what I wanted to see was the Jyotish correlation). Thus the Dasa themselves represnt the different forms of Shiva. Remember my basic foundationof the tripod of life - [Paradigm-1] Sun, Moon &  Lagna or [Paradigm-2] Atmakaraka, Arudha Lagna & Lagna Thakurs Tapasya has a lot to teach us. Correlate his life events with the dasa and the effect of poojas he performed. This will help you to learn more. The more you study the life of Thakur (Rama Krishna Pramhamsa) the better you will understand the dasa mahavidya. In tantra, you can compel a graha to give good results. What are the implications of this keeping in view that Graha represent people coming into one's life.

This is a part of jyotish which > fascinates me and I would like to delve into this direction. I was > totally unaware of the correlation between the planets and the gods till > I joined the sjvc/va circuit and when I read Visti and Narasimha hold > forth on these topics at length. The fact that planets can indicate > ishta devatas, was a novel concept for me and I have just bought your > VRIA, though of course have not read it yet. I got the hint about the > Shodasi and the moon link from one of Swami Pragyanananda's (RKM) books. Rath: The learned Swami ji - excellent. You must bear in mind that these references are more allegorical than scientific reality. they are meant to stress a point and are not to be taken literally. be careful in what you absorb and the point stressed by him would mean that that the strength of phases of  Tripura are based on the kala's of the Moon. > And it kind of clicked on me. Maybe both the akshara and the moon > linkages are true. I will do some home work on it and let you know. Rath: Fine I will look forward to this. Can > the dasamahavidyas be linked to the dasavatars be linked to the > navagrahas be linked to the kalas of the moon? Rath: Leave the kalas of Moon alone till you are in a position to discuss the Chandra kala nadi. There is a definite link between the Das Avatar, Das mahavidya, Ekadasa Rudra, Dwadas aditya, etc. I am unaware of any specific link  to the Chandra kala. Krishna ashtami, Ram > navami, Narayan as amavasya, the nirguna consciousness and Lakshmi as > the full moon? So will both the dasamahavidya and dasavatars teach us > about the evolution of the soul (Thank you Dasguptaji) and we can map it

> on the planets and as they appear on our respective horoscopes, thereby  > teaching us our own evolution in our karmic path on the way to moksha? > At another level will this divine correlation of the planets tell us > more about the nature of the Divine. Rath: Yes. There is a great depth to the concept of the path, knowledge and  goal. start with the path. Look for the various linkages to the 12th from karakamsa (aspects also count here as these are paths). These are the paths that can take us to the Ista devata. In the bhagavatam, this becomes clearer as the forms and their fruits are clearly stated. Vishnu (avatar) are the granters of  Moksha, Shiva gives the knowledge and so on. Some years back I had to read the > Caraka Samhita for a paper I was writing on medicinal plants and there I > came across the linkage of how the human body was a microcosm of the > earth and the cosmic elements. Now I found the missing part: how the > human being is a microcosm of the cosmos, nay Kalpurusha himself. Rath: Good. SJVC has proved to be the best forum for learning. To > your question about the path and the goal, for me moksha is the goal but > followed in the correct path. By correct I mean that which is true for > me. I can write at length to Dasguptaji about Chhinnamasta (and she is > very crucial for our understanding of Brahmagyan), but I can never pray  > to her. I have never prayed to Kali (only occasionally during visits to > peethasthans). Rath: Why can you not pray to Chinnamasta or to kali? What prevents you from accepting the truth that this world is not a bed of roses. What tells you that by closig your eyes, the truth that some women become prostitutes and others become impure by hurting their spouses/guru's will change? Kali's tongue is red from the blood oozing out as she bit it when she unwittingly stepped on

Maheswara and to say that this is the pose She will prefer to be in, amounts to distorting the truth. We all make mistakes and Kali represnts those mistalkes we have made that are as terrible as stepping on the chest of Shiva. That is the real truth behind the particular pose that kali occupies and in remember Her in that form, we should realise that we deserve to be punished like those beheaded ones adorning Her garland. In her mercy, She shall help us to get over these sins represented by saturn and rise. This is the correct attitude (you will agree that the right attitude is very vital in this worship). As regards Chinnamasta, tell me one person in this world who at some point of time has not lost his/her head on some foolish matter. This is the meaning of Chinnamasta and we atone for it when we lose our Ahamkara (symbolised by the head). Thus, there is a DEEP SATWIK, RAJASIK OR TAMASIK ATTITUDE that can be attached to each worship of the Mother. What matters is the attitude of the Guru and how  he teaches these subjects. If the worship is right then like a lotus it shall help us to spring out of the quagmire of the filth of past karma. You are too intelligent for anyone to give you stories.So read and keep reading. Remember you Ista mantra and keep reading and then the knowledge will be  yours, pure and clear and Satwik right through.  Just a last point to help clear all doubts - Kali Krishna swaroopa..the worship of Kali in Her satwik manners/attitude will surely give you Krishna consciousness very quickly. For example Kali refers to any lady who has been wronged and called Kalankini even when She is attached to Krishna. One such fine Satwik example is Radhika or Radha. Radha is a perfect example of Kali. She suffered atrocities, anger and what not all, but struck to the right goal. Hence those who shall worship Radha automaticalle end up worshipping Kali. another example is Meera bai.

But I have always been taught to pray to the devi who is > 'sarva mangala', who is saumya never rudra. This is a bit difficult for > me to write as I am speaking of something very personal in a public > space. Yes, I pray to her as the Bhavani you speak of Sanjayji: na > janaami daanang na cha dhyanayogang, na janaami tantrang na cha > stotramantram, na janaami pujang na cha nyasayogang, gatisvam gatisvam > tvameka bhavani. This is what she means to me. I pray to her as > Bhabatarini, Karunamayee, Mangalmayee, Brahmamayee. As mother. I have > been taught to abnegate myself at her lotus feet and that She will take > care of everything. That is what the Devi means to us. The Kali songs of  > Bengal are songs of extreme bhakti and love, capable of bringing tears > to one's eyes. So this is the rup that we have before us. I think  > Dasguptaji can vouch for it. She is Siddhidhatri, Jagadishwari, > Jagganmata. In my thoughts and consciousness, this is how she appears, > this is how she has been handed down through generations of a living > tradition. Similarly with Shiv, my ishta devata (I discovered a week ago > he is so astrologically too, 12th from karakamsha etc.! Quite amazing). Rath: Imagine the difference now that you have the knowledge that Ista is very  clear in any chart...What is the specific form of Shiva in your chart? > I have been taught that he is sat-cit-ananda and that I should remind > myself over and over again 'chidanandarupam shivohang shivoham'. Rath:..Yes, the great Viveka.. As you > rightly say, 'nityaya, shuddhaya', and may I add 'shaswatam', > 'shantam', 'nirakaram'. 'Namaste, namaste vibho vishwamurte, namaste > namaste chidanandamurte, namaste namaste tapoyogyagamya, namaste namaste > shrutigyanagamya' - this is the way I perceive him, pray to him, as he > appears before me. It's interesting how shiva tandava stotra never

> formed a part of my cosmos. Its only now that I foray into all this much > more, that I have learnt of Ravana's great stuti. Its not prachalita in > Bengal. It may also be that my father's father was a follower of  > Chaitnaya Mahaprabhu and a ghor Vaishnav (my father's family hails from > Nadia) and such influences have seeped into me, though I have never met > him. How does one fit all this into the complete picture? Rath: Start with the Dwadasamsa, then move to the Vimsamsa along with the Rasi &  Navamsa fixed in your mind. The picture will become even clearer.