Essay name: Devi Tantra, Mantra, Yantra (study)
Author:
Srider Basudevan Iyer
Affiliation: University of Mumbai / Sanskrit, University Department
This essay studies the history of Devi (the Goddess) in relation with worship using Tantra, Yantra and Mantra. The study explores the concept of the 'Female Principle' or Goddess, examining her role and significance in ancient Indian society.
Chapter 4 - Worship and The Worshipper
4 (of 95)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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Worship & worshipper 305 In the meditative form of worship the goddess is perceived to be
present and worship is offered to her. The goddess becomes real and
manifests before the mental eyes of the s盲dhaka. This type of worship
though is very easy to follow and practise needs a different state of mind.
One of the greatest exponents of this method is 艢r墨 艢a艅kar膩c膩rya. There are
abundant compositions of the 膩c膩rya which throw light on this point. The
ac膩rya has composed the following compositions on the goddesses鲁 which
echo the meditative form of worship -
i) Tripurasundar墨-m膩nasa-p奴ja-stotram.
ii) Dev墨catus峁峁ａ弓i-upac膩ra-p奴j膩-stotram.
iii) Mantra-mat峁沰膩-puspa-stavah.
In all these compositions, Sankar膩c膩rya has offered meditative
worship to the goddess. The Devi-catus峁峁i-upacara-stotram is a
composition which is both wonderful and unique. In this the 膩c膩rya has
offered worship to the goddesses right from the morning wakeup till the
goddess retires to sleep. All the sixtyfour services are merely contemplative
and not actual. The 膩c膩rya seems to be aware of the temple ritual services as
per
the 膧gama S膩stra and it has echoed in this composition of his.
ii) The actual process.
This type of worship can be referred to as the saguna up膩sana. In this
type of worship the sadhaka worships the goddess as present directly in the
concrete form of an idol. She is a living entity, one who breathes, walks,
talks and does every single act which any glorious living being would do in
3 Sri Sankaracarya Stotras, Devi stotras p. 186, 218, 246, 249 etc.. Samata Books Madras 1995
