Aum Chandikayai Namaha!

11

Chandika

Ya Devi sarvabhuteshu, lajja rupena samsthita,

Namasthasyai, namasthasyai, namasthasyai namo namaha!

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

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

The Devi Mahatmyam is a part of one of the early Puranas known as the Markandeya Purana. It is more commonly known in northern India as the Durga Saptashati, since it contains seven hundred verses to Durga. It is also frequently called the “Chandi,” since the goddess is often referred to in the text as Chandika. The Devi Mahatmyam is one of the most famous of the Shakta and Tantric literatures. Though it is part of the Markandeya Purana, it has always had a separate life of its own. This is because of the pristine quality and exquisite beauty of its hymns. Every verse is a mantra by itself. The very first line of the book, “Listen to the story of King Suratha, who was the eighth Manu,” which gives the outward meaning, also holds the esoteric meaning, “Now I shall describe to you the glory of the mantra hreem.” This is the bija or seed mantra of the Divine Mother. Similarly, every line contains some esoteric meaning, which only Tantric initiates can decipher. It is truly a majestic poem that describes to us the epic march of the human soul to its destination, which is liberation from the cycle of births and deaths. Countless devotees through the ages have chanted the verses sung by the rishis in this book.

The manuscript describes the different battles fought by Durga with demons who were tyrannizing the world. This is in keeping with the purpose of her advent. She herself says in verse fifty-five of the eleventh chapter, “Whenever troubles arise from the fall of religion, I shall incarnate myself and destroy the enemy.”

Some people complain that the Chandi is full of battles and cannot generate a feeling of devotion. This is only a superficial understanding of the book, because all its battles have esoteric meanings. It is an allegorical representation of the life of the human being, which is beset with battles of opposing interests. Life itself is a struggle against opposing forces. The fight between good and evil is an eternal one, on both a cosmic and an individual level. The story of the Devi Mahatmyam is that of the combat between the higher and the lower self in the evolved human mind.

For example, the demon Mahisha, whom Durga destroys, is symbolic of the conditioned ego, which projects its own distorted view of the universe. Everything is defined within the narrow limits of its own selfish interests. Everything has meaning only if it is connected with these interests in some way. The higher self has no other recourse than to embody all its spiritual qualities in the form of the Divine Mother of the world, who alone has the power to kill this bloated ego. She will come to our aid only if we importune her to do so. We have to admit that we are lost in the forest of samsara (worldly life), beguiled by our narrow vision of the world, abandoned by those whom we consider dear because they happen to have been born from our loins. If we have the courage to give up everything and beg her to save us, Durga will most definitely do so. This is the esoteric meaning of the story of this battle in the Durga Saptashati (Devi Mahatmyam).

The book is grouped into three sections, each devoted to a different goddess and describing one of the three aspects of the march of the soul to freedom. During our ascent up the ladder of evolution we come to three major stopping places where we experience a complete transformation of outlook and attitude. These three transformations are presided over by the deities Maha Kaali, Maha Lakshmi, and Maha Saraswati. We invoke Maha Kaali to destroy our negativity, then we pray to Maha Lakshmi to plant the seeds of positivity in our minds, and finally we beg Maha Saraswati to give us liberation. In the first section Adi Shakti awakens Maha Vishnu so that he may destroy the original demonic forces (see chapter 5). In the second stage Durga manifests as Maha Lakshmi and overcomes the demon Mahisha (see chapter 12). In the third stage, Durga takes on the incarnation of Maha Saraswati and destroys the demons Raktabija, Shumbha, and Nishumbha (see chapter 13). These three divine forces represent the powers of the spirit manifesting within us and urging us onward to freedom. They tell us that when we walk along the spiritual path, we do not walk alone. The forces of the Divine Mother walk beside us.

Now let us take a quick look at the different chapters before going into a detailed study. The goddess is given a number of names in this text, with the most common being simply Devi (devi translates as “goddess”). Each name is a mantra on its own. The book is charged with the power of Shakti and is capable of giving bhakti and mukti—devotion as well as liberation. It is also supposed to fulfill the desires of anyone who reads it with faith and devotion. The normal way to read it is to complete the text in seven days. It is also usually recited daily during the nine-day festival in October known as Navaratri or Durga Puja. In fact, many Devi devotees recite the Chandi every day. Every verse in this text is pregnant with the shakti of the Divine Mother. As mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, the first verse of the text implies that the whole book is an explanation of the seed mantra of the goddess—hreem. The book has had many commentaries, some giving mystical explanations and some giving a straightforward account of the battles, but whatever the manner in which we read it, we cannot fail to be amazed by the power of the hymns, which are charged with great spiritual potential. This book is capable of averting both individual and universal calamities. A regular daily recital of this amazing scripture can avert wars and epidemics and help us destroy our inner psychological enemies.

The name Chandika, meaning the violent and impetuous one, is applied to the goddess twenty-nine times in the Devi Mahatmyam; hence its nickname Chandi. In the poem Chandikashtaka, a composition of the seventeenth-century poet Bana, Chandika is described thus:

Spoil not thy coquetry, O brow;

O lower lip, why this distress?

O face, banish thy flushing;

O hand, this Mahisha is not living;

Why dost thou brandish a trident, with desire for combat?

Caused by these words as it were, the Devi Chandi

Caused the parts of her body that displayed signs of rising anger,

To resume their normal state.

Her foe, which took away the life of Mahisha

Foe of the gods was set down upon his head.

May the foot of Devi, Chandi, destroy your sins!

Since the Devi Mahatmyam is a Shakta text, its main aim is to postulate the ultimate reality as feminine. It also aims to prove that the reality of the goddess is both transcendent and immanent. Her transcendent character is established at the very outset of the text. But she is also immanent, operative both as the material world and in the material world. As Prakriti, she is nature, or the whole of the material world, in its multifarious forms. She is also the one who protects and the one who responds instantly to the cries of her devotees.

By characterizing the goddess as Maha Maya and Yoga Nidra, under whose influence Lord Vishnu lies in yoga nidra or the mystic sleep, the Devi Mahatmyam shows that it only by her withdrawal that Vishnu can act at all. The transcendental state that is normally ascribed to Lord Vishnu seems to apply equally to the goddess. She is also shown as being an interior and inward phenomenon. She is nitya, the eternal, and sraddha, the movement of the heart with faith. Over and above all she is Shakti, the universal expression of power, regardless of how she is projected in the external form of its manifestation. The devotee of Shakti sees both sides of the Divine Mother. She is both gentle and terrible. She is soft and mellow with devotees, but when dealing with evil forces she is forceful and even violent. In her gentle forms she is surpassingly beautiful, and in her fearful forms she is exceedingly terrible. Devotees have to see her in both forms. They must steel themselves against all weaknesses. They must give up all fears, hesitation, and selfishness and be prepared to overcome all obstacles. They must have the courage of the lion on which the Divine Mother is seated. They must brandish the sword of faith and fearlessness and fight against all types of negativity.

The Markandeya Purana is set in the eighth manvantara, known as Savarnika, or the epoch of the Manu Savarni. The first chapter starts with the story, told by the sage Markandeya, about how Devi had promised King Suratha that he would be born as Savarni, the son of Surya, the sun god, and would become the Manu of the eighth manvantara. The frame of the text is very simple: it deals with the deep sorrow of the kshatriya (warrior) Suratha and the vaisya (merchant) Samadhi, with their families and with life in general, and how they turn to the sage Medhas for comfort.

Suratha, a king of the illustrious Surya Vamsa (lineage of the sun), was defeated by his enemies and had to flee the country. Deprived of his wealth and retinue, he took shelter in the forest. He wandered about dejected and forlorn, and all the time his mind kept returning to the very people who had deprived him of everything: his family, his countrymen, and his ministers. Lost and helpless, he stumbled upon the hermitage of the sage Medhas. It was a beautiful ashrama (sanctuary) filled with trees and flowers, full of peace and tranquility. He decided to stay there. While at this place he met a vaisya (merchant) called Samadhi, whose story was very similar to the king’s. He had lost all his wealth and had been thrown out of his house by his own relations and family. He too was forced to wander in the forest and had at last taken shelter at the feet of the sage Medhas.

The king and the merchant found that they had a lot in common. Both had lost their wealth and been cheated by their own people. Both were puzzled by the nature of the mind, which despite the cruelty they had received from their kinsmen kept returning to the very people who had spurned them. They discussed the character of the mind, which keeps lingering on the very things that have caused it sorrow. Unable to discover the reason for this, they approached the rishi and begged him to instruct them. The question voiced by the king and the merchant is one that poses a burning problem for the whole of mankind. The entire Devi Mahatmyam is the reply of the rishi to this question. The seer expatiates on the relativity of knowledge and the folly of sensual attachment.

The word suratha means “attention”; samadhi is “a state of superconsciousness” in which the mind is not aware of the external world; and medhas is “intelligence infused with divine love.” The esoteric meaning of the simple story is that the jivatman that has lost its focus with the higher self (as both the king and the merchant have lost their wealth) must turn to the intelligence infused with love, which will redirect them to their essential wealth.

The sage told them:

O best of men! Human beings crave for offspring in the belief that they will reciprocate their feelings and help them when they are old. This is how they fall into the pit of delusion made by their own egos. This mysterious delusion forces them to cling to those very objects and persons who have subjected them to so much pain and suffering. All creatures have been given a certain amount of intelligence, yet they keep falling into the pits created by their own weaknesses. Their intelligence seems to be used mainly for filling their bellies and satisfying their animal wants. Moths are drawn to a blazing fire and keep hurling themselves into it, regardless of the fact that they will be consumed in the flames of their own attraction. Men fall into the fire of sensual objects. What difference is there between the two?

The blessed goddess Maha Maya, who is the cause of this cosmic delusion, forcibly seizes the mind of even the man of knowledge. All are deluded and controlled by that great power of Maha Maya. It is due to her power that this whole world functions. Because of her all are suffering. She drags down even great men of knowledge. She creates this whole universe of movables and immovables. It is due to her mysterious veiling power that the one seems to have become the many and the formless appears to have taken many forms. She is nothing but the power of Brahman, emanating from him and setting into motion the mighty cosmic drama of creation, preservation, and ultimate withdrawal into the transcendental state of pure being. It is her lila that binds, in order to release. She is the cause of both bondage and liberation. She is the supreme knowledge (Maha Vidya) that grants final liberation.

Naturally both the king and the merchant want to know more about this mysterious power. The sage expounds on the nature of the Divine Mother of the universe in the seven hundred verses of the Devi Mahatmyam. In the first chapter, before the rishi goes into the actual account of the goddess’s glories, he recounts the story of Yoga Nidra (see chapter 5). From this we can see that the asuras thought they could defeat the divine only because of Maha Maya’s mysterious powers of delusion. The implication is clear: she is the great deluder who entices human beings into believing that they are the greatest, thus perpetuating this wheel of existence (samsara chakra). But she is also Maha Vidya, knowledge supreme, who makes us finally realize that this ego, with its conflicting and constant demands and its total belief in the reality of this existence, is nothing but a myth.

The word maya comes from the Rig Veda, where it means “wile” or “magic power.” This meaning connects the word with the asuras, who are noted for their wiliness and magic powers. From this it follows that Maha Maya is herself the supreme asura. In fact, Brahma, in his hymn to the goddess before Vishnu kills the demons Madhu and Kaitabha, calls her Mahasuri, the great asura. In other words, one of the reasons the goddess has such power over the asuras is because she is one of them, just as she is also one of the devas.

The rishi Medhas goes on to explain the workings of Maha Maya to his questioners: “She is nitya (eternal), having the universe as her form. She spreads all this out. Even though eternal, she is said to be born when she becomes manifest for the sake of accomplishing the purpose of the gods. It is through the power of this Maha Maya that people impose solidity on this ephemeral universe.” From this we can understand that the goddess is both eternal and coexisting with the manifest universe at the same time. The text also tells us that at certain times she takes on a tangible form.

“Thou art svaaha (the word used when offering oblations into the fire), thou art swadha (the word used when offering oblations to the ancestors), and thou art vasatkara (special term in which a Sanskrit mantra is split in two). Speech is thy very soul. Thou art the nectar of the gods. Thou art imperishable and eternal, and thou art the one who abides in the threefold syllable. Thou art she, the goddess, the supreme mother—Savitri.” From this we can understand that wherever the spoken word is operative, the goddess is present. She is “the highest of all things, high and low—the highest queen.” She is the essence of the three deities Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.

The first chapter gives the goddess’s orientation as transcendent to the cosmos. The second chapter shows that she is identified with the universe and is a crystallization of the glories of all the deities. The third, which involves the killing of Mahisha, describes the goddess’s exuberant plunge into the mundane. It points out not only that she has an earthly career but also that she is the supreme ruler of the changing world. She is shown to be the ultimate agent of power in the universe. This is very necessary, for she is called upon to grapple with the forces of the mind as typified by Mahisha, Shumbha, and Nishumbha. Only one who wields ultimate power in the world’s own terms can cope with all these disturbing elements in the mind.

The fourth chapter describes the eulogy of the gods and the promise of the goddess to help them whenever they call her. The fifth chapter gives the story of the origin of the demons Shumbha and Nishumbha, in which once again the devas request Durga’s help; the famous hymns starting with “Ya Devi,” which are sung by the gods, come in this chapter. (Almost every chapter of the book you are holding begins with a couplet from these famous hymns.)

The sixth, seventh, and eighth chapters describe the fight between the goddess and the various agents of Shumbha, including Chanda, Munda, and Raktabija. The ninth and tenth chapters describe the battle between Durga and the brothers Shumbha and Nishumbha and the demons’ final annihilation. The eleventh contains the beautiful hymn Narayani Stotram, in which the gods praise her as the goddess Narayani and Devi foretells all the different incarnations she will take in the future to protect the universe. In the twelfth chapter, the goddess promises to look after and bless all those who read this book and all those who worship her with faith and devotion.

Medhas concludes his account of the goddess’s extraordinary manifestations thus: “O King! The goddess comes to manifest herself in the world from time to time for establishing righteousness and for protecting her devotees. She deludes the whole world as Maha Maya, yet protects it as the Divine Mother. All this is pervaded by her alone. That great power creates this whole universe of pleasure and pain. Thus, she herself is the cause of both sorrow and joy!”

The thirteenth chapter brings the tale of the king and the merchant to its happy conclusion. They are both deeply impressed by the tales of the goddess and decide to undertake severe austerities immediately. Both penetrate the thick forest and begin doing rigorous penance on the banks of the river. After three years of intense tapas, in which they deny themselves even the bare necessities for life, Devi appears to them separately and asks them what they want. King Suratha asks that he might be given back his kingdom.

Devi declares, “O King! In a few days you will regain your kingdom and possessions and become a mighty monarch and rule the land happily for many years. After death you will be born as the eighth Manu, called Savarni.”

When the goddess appears before Samadhi, his request is totally different. He asks for spiritual knowledge that removes sorrow and delusion forever. The Divine Mother is charmed with his request and grants it immediately. She says, “O wise one! Your desire shall be fulfilled. You will get both wisdom and liberation!”

O death thou lookest on an unfinished world,

Assailed by thee and of its road unsure.

Peopled by imperfect minds and ignorant lives,

And says God’s not and all is vain.

How shall the child be the man?

Because he is ignorant shall he never learn?

In a small fragile seed a giant tree lurks,

In a tiny gene a thinking being is shut.

A little element in a tiny sperm,

It grows and is a conqueror and a sage.

—SAVITRI BY SRI AUROBINDO

Thus ends the eleventh chapter of Shakti, known as “Chandika,” which outlines the story of the Devi Mahatmyam.

Aum Aim Hreem Kleem