Hinduism( Sanatan Dharma) is the most ancient religion of the world. It allows its followers to choose the form and qualities of the God he chooses to worship. One can choose to worship a formless God or he may give his God a particular form and attributes. The ancient enlightened seers of Hinduism wrote about their own experiences on seeing the Divine forms of God they worshiped. One such form is that of God as the Divine Mother. Even here, one particular form of Divine Mother is that of "Tripura Sundari" ( literally means the Divine Mistress of the 3 Worlds). Her other names are Lalita, Laliambika and Shodashi. There are 10 powerful forms of Mother Goddess which are referred to as "Dash Mahavidya" in Hinduism. These forms are extremely powerful with thunderous amounts of energy. Hence the spiritual aspirant must worship these forms of Mother through an expert Guru.
Tripura Sundari is one of the above 10 forms. Instead of worshiping Her through rituals, it is best to worship Her by pure love and devotion in the heart. She, along with her husband, Shiva is responsible for the Creation, Protection, Destruction of the Universe. She is best described through her thousand names in "Lalita Sahasranama", a hymn giving her thousand attributes. She is three-fold because she expresses Herself in Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva in Her roles as creator, maintainer, and destroyer of the Universe. She is a strong and dominating goddess within Tantric Hinduism (Occult branch of Hinduism) which has led to feminine theology based schools and cults.
She is the Supreme Goddess under whom all beings, Universe and Gods do their work. She is in fact more powerful than Her husband, the mighty Shiva. Tripura Sundari is often represented through Sri Chakra (a mystical intricate geometric pattern). Such geometrical patterns are very important in Tantric Hinduism to help concentrate on the topic of contemplation as a medium for worship the Divine. Tripura Sundari is said to have a complexion as red as the rising sun and she is wearing a crown upon her head with an image of a crescent shaped moon. She is associated with the moon, which symbolizes one of the three bodies, the mind. She is shown sitting on Siva on top of a cot wearing multiple adornments. The cot’s legs are composed of the gods Brahma, Visnu, Rudra, and Indra signifying her energy’s control. She is a young maiden of remarkable beauty, adorned in red silk, and having thick, dark, flower bedecked and flowing hair, a shining face, shimmering cheeks, fish shaped eyes, well laid out rows of teeth and a sweet smile. Such were her good looks that her consort Lord Shiva himself could not take away his eyes from her. She is also depicted as seated royally on a throne with her left foot on the sacred Sri Chakra, holding in her arms, among other weapons, the sugarcane bow and flower arrow, and with motherly compassion in her eyes.
Tripura Sundari is a personification of compassion and grace, as much as She is of beauty. Worshiping Her can get for the devotees, Her Divine blessings and bestow them with a plethora of benefits. Devotees should understand that God should be worshiped out of love alone. However, devotees can certainly seek material benefits from God if need be. The gracious, compassionate Mother Goddess blesses Her children with material and spiritual benefits much more easily than God as the Heavenly Father. As mentioned earlier, Tripura Sundari is an extremely powerful form of the Divine. To get Her grace through Tantric rituals without a qualified Guru is not advisable at all. Simply worship Her with love and devotion. You can place Her picture in your home altar and every morning offer Her flowers, incense, oil lamp and fruits with pure devotion. Call out to Her as She is your own Mother. She will come rushing to Her devotee's side and protect him from all calamities. Cling to Her as you would to your own mother as an infant. She responds unfailingly to Her "little infants" and pours Her unlimited blessings, giving them best of the material and spiritual worlds. Glory To The Mother ! Glory to Tripura Sundari !
No comments:
Post a Comment