Aum Kamakshyai Namaha!

9

Kameswari

Ya Devi sarvabhuteshu, kshanti rupena samsthita,

Namasthasyai, namasthasyai, namasthasyai namo namaha!

O Goddess who resides in all creatures in the form of patience,

Hail to thee, hail to thee, all hail to thee!

During the time of the Brahmanda Purana, the goddess was worshipped by most people in the form of Lalitha. The principal centers of her worship were Srinagar in Kashmir and Kanchipuram in Tamilnadu.

The work of building her city of Srinagar, which exists even today in the Himalayas, was entrusted to Vishvakarma, the architect of the gods, and Mayan, his principal engineer. The city was also known as Kameswaripuri or the city of Kameswari, the queen of love, one of Lalitha’s incarnations. The city was designed similarly to Mani Dwipa, the Island of Jewels, except that Srinagar is placed in the midst of nine mountains while the island was in the middle of the ocean. Srinagar was also made of multiple enclosures in the shapes of yantras and mandalas intersecting at various points, thus producing many types of mathematical figures filled with the ability to concentrate the mind. Here also was the chintamani griha, the sanctum sanctorum of Maha Devi made of the sacred, wish-fulfilling gem chintamani. The Lalitha Sahasranama names this enclosure the Mahapadmatavi, and it is the place where the goddess’s sacred chariots, Chakraraja, Geyachakra, and Kirichakra, were kept. In the southeast, which is the direction of Agni, the fire god, was the big pit known as the chidagnikunda in which a fire blazed for all eternity, for this was the cremation pyre of all creatures. This whole town was lit by bejeweled lamps and in the center was the splendid throne of Kameswari, which had miraculous powers.

The ninth enclosure of the city was known as the Bindu Peetha. Bindu means “point,” and this is the place from which all creation emanates. Here is the sacred cot, the four legs of which are Brahma, Vishnu, Maheswara (Shiva), and Iswara (the Supreme who has taken on form). On this cot lies Kameswara, the lord of desire, the ever-youthful consort of Kameswari. Lalitha as Tripurasundari reclines on his lap. The twenty-five tattvas form the steps to the cot.

Esoterically speaking, the city of Srinagar is the human body. The human body is a huge yantra, and the many palaces and abodes are the mysterious places through which the mind of the meditating yogi has to pass before reaching Bindu Peetha, where the union of the jivatman and the Paramatman (the supreme self or Brahman) takes place.

The different enclosures in the city represent the different chakras of the body. The many enclosures are the petals of the sahasrara chakra, the thousand-petaled lotus, which is the vortex of psychic energy established in the roof of the brain. Kameswari herself is kundalini, the psychic power coiled at the base of the spine that must be unwound and taken up to the thousand-petaled lotus on the crown of the head before this blissful union can take place. The Brahmanda Purana gives the esoteric puja (ritual) devoted to the goddess that will bring about this union and eventual liberation from mortal coils: Getting up early in the morning, the sadhaka should bathe, put on clean clothes, and worship the sun. Then she should enter the puja room. Remaining in silence for the duration of the rite, she should meditate on the city of Srinagar within her heart chakra and do the puja as prescribed in the Agama Shastras. After this she should undertake japa, or repetition of the sacred mantra of Lalitha, thirty-six lakhs (hundred thousands) of times. One who does this daily can gain many extraordinary siddhis or supernormal powers.

The city of Kanchipuram is in the state of Tamilnadu in southern India. The author’s guru is the Shankaracharya (the chief pontiff) of this place. Here Kameswari is known as Kamakshi, or the one with eyes filled with love. Here the navel of Sati, wife of Shiva, is supposed to have fallen (see chapters 14 and 15), and hence it is a Shakti Peetha (place where divine energy is felt) of great importance, since the navel is the place of the manipura chakra, a seat of enormous spiritual potential.

It was in Kanchipuram that Brahma performed tapas in order to propitiate the Maha Devi. At last there appeared before him Lakshmi, accompanied by Lord Vishnu. Seeing her eyes brimming with love for humanity, Brahma addressed her as Kamakshi. He begged her to permeate that holy spot with her presence in order to bless all people for eternity. She agreed, provided her brother, Vishnu, would also establish himself there. The Sri Chakra (supreme yantra of the goddess or Rajarajeshwari) was established in this spot, and Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva are supposed to have worshipped it and gained glory. The priests of the Kamakshi temple perform daily worship of the Sri Chakra.

The Brahmanda Purana describes the mode of making these Sri Chakras and people buy these chakras and install them in their homes. The chakras should be worshipped only according to the advice of the guru, however. The Devi Suktam and the Lalitha Sahasranama are normally chanted at the end of the puja. Everybody, irrespective of caste or sex, can adore the goddess in this way.

The worship of Lalitha is the sweetest and most effective form of the adoration of the Divine Mother. Those who cannot do daily puja can still worship effectively by practicing puja on full-moon days.

He heard the far and touched the intangible,

He gazed into the future and the unseen.

He used the powers earth instruments cannot use,

A pastime made of the impossible.

He caught fragments of the Omniscient’s thought,

He scattered formulas of omnipotence,

Thus man in his little house made of earth’s dust,

Grew towards an unseen heaven of thought and dream,

Looking into the vast vistas of the mind,

On a small globe, dotting infinity,

At last climbing a long and narrow stair,

He stood alone on a high roof of things,

And saw the light of a spiritual sun.

—SAVITRI BY SRI AUROBINDO

Thus ends the ninth chapter of Shakti, known as “Kameswari,” describing Srinagar, the abode of the goddess, Kanchipuram, and her method of worship.

Aum Aim Hreem Kleem