Last Updated on June 19, 2008 by
In Chapter 1, The King asks the Rishi how to make the mind sit still.
The Rishi says, if you let the mind flow, ego takes over. If you fix the mind in one place through prayer and worship, you can dissolve the ego. She will withdraw the energy from the asuras and give that energy to the Gods.
In verse 5, enjoyment means enjoyment of fruits of your karma. Heaven refers to the divine illumination of attitude toward life.
Liberation means freedom from debt to our Gurus, ancestors, and Devas.
In verses 12-13, they gave the offering sprinkled in blood taken from their own bodies. This means they offered with extreme passion.
Give us pure, full, uninterrupted, infinite devotion. Give us that sincerity so that we pray to you will fully concentrated attention. When You come to see us, I want to have the answer on tip of my tongue. Rehearse it regularly.
If you chant the Chandi with concentration, She will come. That’s her promise. Know what you want and have it on the tip of your tongue. If you ask for anything other than devotion, you are going to have to come back to this earth and ask her again. Because anything else will not give you sustained satisfaction.
Wisdom is bhava bhakti, the attitude of devotion. When we confront circumstances with an attitude of devotion, that is wisdom.
Sadhana is not a choice. It is incumbent on us to do sadhana.
Questions and Answers:
1. It appears that our concentration when we chant the Chandi depends on what we do the rest of the time. Is that correct?
We want to work for her more and more and for her children and less for us. We want to remove selfishness from our behavior. That will assist us in paying attention when chanting the Chandi.
2. Is grace/kripa always “to do and to get” or is there also unmerited grace? I’m thinking of the Kalpataru tree and Thakur’s blessing – all sorts of people were there receiving.
Everyone had prepared their karmas in previous births or in this birth. So it is always do and get. It takes very special individuals to receive that blessing. All of us are receiving the fruits of our prarabdha karma from this lifetime or previous lifetimes.
3. There are two verses for removing curses and two for removing pins. Are there two different pins or granthis?
In the Kilakam Stav, all 14 verses are used to remove the pin. Also the Brahmadi Sapa Vimochanam also removes the curse.
You have to have the right intention to perform this sadhana or you will go deeper into attachment. If we sell the blessings of the Goddess, this is a wrong understanding. Chanting the Chandi should not be a livelihood, it should be the substance of our lives.
4. Can you please speak more about our debt to the Guru? How do we create this debt? Is it specific to the Guru or is it debt that we accumulated in our life, from not acting wisely?
This is the debt accumulated by not acting according to the wisdom of our Gurus in many, many lives. We must follow their teachings and incorporate them into the fabric of our lives.
5. What exactly does it mean when you say that She will come to us. Literally? Figuratively?
Literally. That energy pops out of the Murti and speaks to us. You can physically see and feel her. You will be consumed by Her energy. It is not figurative. It is a literal darshan, complete intuitive vision.
6. Did the idea for Sahasra Chandi yagna originate from this chapter?
Sahasra Chandi comes from here. Three years they propitiated the Goddess.
7. Can you please describe what sadhana the King and the Businessman actually did? Verse 10 mentions the “Devi Suktam Param Japam.” So did they chant the Suktam all day long?
This entire Chandi Path is a Devi Suktam. They did the Cosmic Puja, chanted the Chandi Path, studied Devi Gita, Kirtan, and classes.
8. Why can we not ask Her to give us whatever She thinks fit and for us to be conscious and grateful for that fact? Why do we need to know what we want versus what She will give us. Can you please help me understand?
The objective is to put our desire in attunement with hers. If you say you have no desire you are lying. Desire is there in every atom. When you have no desire you go into samadhi. When you are doing sadhana and tapasya you desire something.
9. In verse 3 and others, the Goddess is spoken of as the “perceivable form of consciousness.” Is this referring to the gross universe, virat, as being Her form or is it a personal vision one may have in more subtle realms as a culmination of one’s sadhana?
She is both. You can perceive her as you choose. She is all.