Preface to the Ninth Edition 2024
Chandi Path App
by Swami Satyananda Saraswati
Price=$12.99
Namaste! What a trip this Chandi sadhana has been! It is currently the year 2024, and once again, we got a team together to help update and upgrade our literary offerings, especially our new materials, insights, and studies of the Chandi Path, our apps, and our website!
It has been 50 years since our first officially registered edition of the Chandi was published in 1974. I had been chanting, studying, and translating the Chandi since the late 1960s, and even published a few local iterations in India before we got personal computers in the 1980s. One edition was published in Birbhum, West Bengal, and the other in Rishikesh, in Northern India. I had performed Sahasra Chandi Yajnas in both locations while I was translating, six years of chanting the Chandi every day, three years in each location. In total, I have done it seven times or 21 years of chanting and studying Chandi in various ways through many resources.
I made some additions and corrections to these publications in 1981. I added some more new material in 2001, when we first began digital publications, and again in 2019, when we submitted our books for print-on-demand.
Then we started working on the Samasti Chandi Bijamantratmaka and the Tantra Durga Saptashati Guhyabijavali, and spent the next few years sitting for 16 to 18 hours a day, chanting the entire book in one asana, sometimes backward and forwards (Siddha-Ulta path). Many of you can attest to the glorious feeling that comes from what is called “Long Asana Sadhana,” where we sit in one asana and continue chanting with pranayama throughout the day and as much as we can in the night. We posted articles, videos, and interviews about several of those experiences on our website at https://shreemaa.org/long-asana-sadhana.
As a result of this focus of my attention, our website and many of our apps failed to keep up with system upgrades and current standards. The apps didn’t work properly with newer tablets, and we could not post properly on the website.
A few months ago, Nanda and Pallavi reconstituted a new team. While Abhyuday worked on the apps, Siddhartha and Munmun headed up the web development, and Kumari and Paramananda worked on the server issues. Rudra helped type and translate the Sanskrit, and our first new publication is this 1384-page collection of so many things related to Chandi in Devanagari, Roman, with an English translation.
What’s new in this particular book contains:
- Chandi Path in Sanskrit Roman English
- Sanskrit Only Chandi Path
- Chandi Yajna Paddhoti in Sanskrit Roman English –
- How to Perform the Sacred Fire Ceremony
- Samasti Chandi Bijamantratmaka
- Sanskrit Tantra Durgā Saptashati
- Tantra Bijamantratmaka
- Tantra Durgā Roman Transliteration
- Tantra Durgā English Translation
- Bīja Mantras – by Chapter
- Bīja Mantras – Alphabetical Order
- śrīcaṇḍikā Navākṣarī Triśatī Stotram and Namavali Sanskrit Roman English
śrīcaṇḍikā Navākṣarī Triśatī Stotram and Namavali Sanskrit Only
The book highlights several different ways we can chant the Chandi Path along with their translations in English, and I am sure that in the future, devotees will come along to help us put these into other languages as well. Our website already has Bengali, Devanagari, Dutch, Hindi, Portuguese, Roman, Spanish, Tamil, and Telugu, available for free download at: https://www.shreemaa.org/books-in-other-languages-draffft/.
Those are the administrative issues I wanted to cover, along with a short history of the evolution of our Chandi studies, how we moved from sitting in worship for fifteen minutes a day to rising up to 16–18 hours a day as our sadhana grew.
Now, I wish to describe what these works do, how they work, and, most importantly, how we feel after making this the core teaching of our lifestyle.
Many of you already know the story of the Chandi. We call her “She Who Tears Apart Thoughts.” In brief, I will share Her story again.
Chandi Path
The Great Ego performed a tremendous tapasya, a strong spiritual discipline, and when Brahma came and asked what he wanted, he replied, “I want to be immortal.”
Brahma said, “That’s impossible! By nature, whatever comes into manifestation will go out from manifestation; it will become unmanifest. Choose another boon.”
The Great Ego replied, “If I must die, then let my death come at the hands of a woman.”
Brahma looked at him quizzically and asked, “Why would you want a boon such as that?”
And the Great Ego replied, “I am so strong and such a valiant warrior; if I don’t have to worry about any man defeating me, then what woman could cause my demise?”
Brahma immediately said, “Tatha’stu! I give you that boon.”
Then, the Great Ego conquered the earth and made everyone on earth a servant of the Great Ego. In fact, there was no one who did anything without saying, “I did that!”
After conquering the earth, he marched right up to heaven and disrespectfully threw all the Gods and Goddesses out from heaven. Then he sat down on the throne of Indra, the King of the Gods. Since the Gods and Goddesses had no place to stay, they moved into the bodies of men and women. As all men and women were servants of the Great Ego, the Gods also forgot their divinity and became oppressed by a life of fulfilling responsibilities rather than enjoying privileges.
Some of the Gods and Goddesses got together and said, “This is a drag! Instead of enjoying life, we are tolerating life! Let us put down our burdens, pick up our opportunities, and figure out how to cause the demise or at least the surrender of the Great Ego.
We sat down to meditate, to be still, quiet, and free our minds from the constant chatter, and when we began to recite our mantras and perform our disciplines, a demon named Too Little attacked and said, “You can’t sit still! You don’t have enough! Get up and get some more!” Dutifully we went back to work, and tried to sit quietly again, and his brother, Too Much, came and said, “You can’t sit still! You have too much! Get up and get rid of the excess!”
When we finally got the right amount so that we could sit, we closed our eyes and we went to the movies! Some of us called it “meditation.” We watched all the events of our lives, both positive and negative, and the Asuras attacked again and said, “That was a good movie! Didn’t you do that well! And that one was a bad movie! Boy, did you mess up on that one!” Self-conceit and Self-deprecation took over our minds as the judges of all the experiences of our lives, and we were powerless to stay with the mantra or enjoy communion with God.
Then they brought their friends, so many other Asuras, who had names like Devoid of Clear Understanding, Want of Resolution, Wandering to Fro, Foul Mouth, Irresistible Temptation, and the Seed of Desire. We tried everything we could to free ourselves from the dominion of the Great Ego and his hordes, but it was to no avail.
Then we remembered the boon that the Divine Mother gave to all of creation: “Any time you remember Me as the Energy within all, anytime you pray to Me or sing to Me with one-pointed devotion, with so much devotion that you can’t pay attention to anything else, then and there I will withdraw all of my Energy from duality, and allow you to focus on divinity.”
We cultivate an ultimate love affair with the Goddess of the Universe by chanting Her mantras and singing Her songs. We love Her so much that we can’t think of anything else; we love Her to the exclusion of delusion.
After the seven hundred verses, She asked the King, whose name was Good Thoughts, and who was listening to the story, “What do you want?”
The King replied, “I want an eternal kingdom of Good Thoughts, and I don’t want any bad thought to ever enter into my kingdom.”
And the Goddess replied, “Tatha’stu! I give you that boon! Just think of Me with everything you do!”
Then She asked the Businessman, whose name was Pure Intuitive Perception, and who also heard the story, “What do you want?”
And the Businessman replied, “I have You! What else could I want?”
So the Goddess said, “Stay with Me always. Wherever you go, you will chant the Chandi Path, establish temples for the Goddess Chandi, and share the teachings of the Chandi.”
In brief, this is the story of the Chandi. We have forgotten our divinity, and to remember, we must put down our burdens and obligations, pick up our privileges and opportunities, and perform every action in life as a service to Her because it is a privilege to demonstrate the sincerity of our love! We must remember Her mantras and SING the name of God!
Chandi Yajna Paddhoti in Sanskrit Roman English –
How to Perform the Sacred Fire Ceremony
Yajna comes from the Sanskrit root yuj – to unite. Inside the Ajnya Chakra in the third eye, is a light. We enkindle that light outside in the howan kunda, and the union between the two lights is the yajna. Outside in the physical fire, we can see how brightly our inner light is glowing. This is the yajna.
We draw the yantra of Chandi in the Howan Kunda, and then invite all the Gods and Goddesses, the Rishis and Munis, the entourage of the Divine Mother, to witness the offering of our loving devotion. Lastly, we invite the Divine Mother Chandi to join in the center of our worship, and we offer to Her oblations for every mantra we sing from the Chandi Path.
We recite the entire Chandi Path, and for every verse, we make an oblation to the fire. This enhances the energy for the mantra, the fire, and the divine light of meditation in the Ajnya Chakra are all One. The Bhavana continues to grow.
Tantra Durga Bijamantratmaka
Every verse of the Chandi conveys a specific energy, and all energy creates vibrations, and every vibration is expressible by a Bija Mantra. These Bija Mantras of the verses of the Chandi are the natural names of the vibrations we wish to feel as we recite the story of the text.
The Tantra Bijamantratmaka is a list of these vibrations in the order of the text, an esoteric expression of the vibrations of the Chandi verse by verse, both in the order as they appear in the text and in alphabetical order if you wish to look up any bija for the purposes of study and gaining control over your own inner processes.
By reciting the Bijamantratmaka, we become conductors of the vibrations of divinity. By filling our being with that positive energy, we reduce the space allocated for negativity. We assume the character of the vibrations we radiate, and we become members of the entourage of divinity. Our thoughts, words, and actions join in the eternal celebration of Divinity as She takes over more and more of our lives.
Samasti Chandi Bijamantratmaka is the placement of these bijas throughout the text of the Chandi, where we recite the full mantras of the story interspersed with the vibrations they are evoking. Weaving a tapestry of mantras, the bijas empower the mantras to enliven the story until the Goddess becomes our living reality.
Combining the Chandi Path with the bijas raises the level of our sadhana in time, character, and intensity. The vibrations take over our being, and the text concludes with a number of Stotrams, songs explaining and expressing the divine love affair.
There are three ways to recite the bijas: one, as a list of vibrations that we will encounter as we enhance our relationship with the Divine Mother; secondly, interspersed within the text of Chandi; and third, as a glossary of vibrations expressed by bijas, which illuminate the path of surrender. Therefore, Samasti Chandi Bijamantratmaka, Sanskrit Tantra Durgā Saptashati, and Tantra Bijamantratmaka are presented as separate books, so we can read them through in their entirety without requiring to skip around in the book.
In the individual introductions, I have discussed some of the history and various names by which these texts are known: Saptaśatya Guhyabījanāmāvali, Tantra Durgā Saptashati, and Samasti Chandi Bijamantratmaka all refer to these texts which include the bija Mantras from the Chandi Path.
Srīcaṇḍikā Navākṣarī Triśatī Stotram and Namavali
The Navarna Mantra or navākṣarī, nine lettered mantra, is the mula mantra, the root of the Chandi Path. The Siddha Kunjika Stotram of the Chandi is a chapter dedicated to the exposition of the inner meanings of this mantra.
These three hundred names are very much like the Lalita Trishati, the Three Hundred Names of the Goddess Lalita, and use each letter of the mantra as the starting letter of each name, and together spell out the esoteric meaning, applications, and examples of the nine letters in the order of their appearance in the text. There are 33 names that begin with each of the nine letters, which equals 297 names, plus aim hrim klim chamundayai vicche, Mahakali, Mahalakshmi, Mahasaraswati and śrīdurgāparameśvari, equaling 300 names defining the nine letters in a perfect mathematical symmetry.
These nine letters stand for the nine forms of Durga, and then all the nines: the nine strings of the sacred thread, the nine planets, the nine angles within the circle of creation in the Chandi Yantra…
Each of these works is a book in itself. But also, these are limbs of the Chandi Path and much of its esoteric knowledge, which is why I wanted to combine them all into one book about Chandi and Her sadhana. Now, we want to describe how it feels to do this sadhana, and what it feels like after doing it.
The ancient Rishis were called “Kavis,” meaning poets, because they used poetry to express the intensity of their love affairs with God. I am reminded of Socrates in the Symposium, where he conducted an effort by the greatest Greek poets to praise Love. Everyone concluded that we can’t praise Her until we define Her. Ultimately, they understood that Love is the undefinable Energy that causes all beings to seek greater perfection.
Here again, we are speaking about an undefinable energy, which the Rishis described as “Neti Neti, not this and not that.” By the very nature of the infinite, as soon as we try to define it, it becomes limited, and therefore, it becomes something different from that intuitive experience that is beyond the mind.
To say it is “good” is to minimize or trivialize the experience. But it is “Good” and even better! It is so “Good” that we all seek to find Love in so many ways. Unfortunately, most of those experiences are transient. But can you imagine a Love affair that starts every day in the same intensity as we ended the previous day and keeps growing until we lose all capacity to communicate? It is unspeakable! Undefinable!
How I remember that time reciting the verses of the Chandi, when I went so deeply into the feeling that my body became too small to contain me. I rose up above and looked down at that meditating sadhu below, and thought, “That is only one form of me.” In fact, I looked over at other forms and thought, “Those are all forms of Me! Every form in existence is a form of Me! I am reciting these mantras and it is Me praising ME! I am the only One here in this existence! Every vibration, even sound, is Me praising Me, because I am in Love! I am Love!”
As I remember today, that feeling lasted for some months. In fact, I wanted it to last my entire lifetime, but alas, I was destined to return to duality. Then I heard a voice within me, saying, “No one stays on the top of the mountain. Either they don’t find what they are looking for and get hungry and tired, and by necessity come down to sustain their bodies, or they do find what they are looking for and come down because of the need to share it!”
I had to share it! It was just too good to keep only for myself! So, not only did I translate for myself so that I could understand, but I also took that extra step to find people to help me preserve, share, and distribute this understanding. I wrote it down to put in books, then I made classes of the books, posted them on our website, made apps, and then began touring to share with devotees worldwide.
Everywhere we went, we made a temple of the Divine Mother, and taught people the meaning and method of worship, and sang the Chandi Path, just like the King and the Businessman, the characters in the book. My sadhana breathed, and sometimes I would chant in one place for hours and years together; sometimes, I would chant for an hour or two and then type and translate the mantras of these ancient texts.
Now, we have friends all around the world enjoying the worship of the Divine Mother in their lives, and I feel like I can stay in Love forever!
Swami Satyananda Saraswati
Uvita, Costa Rica, 2024
Product Details
- iPad App: 1384 pages
- App Version: 4.7 for IOS
- Publisher: Devi Mandir
- ISBN-10: 1877795526
- ISBN-13: 978-1877795527
Reviews of Chandi Path iPad App
“Thank you so much for the Chandi Path and it’s beautiful translation. There are no words with which I can express my gratitude.
Chanting the Chandi Path has taken me straight to Devi’s feet where she constantly showers motherly love and grace. I have never felt more looked after and loved. Chandi has given me immense devotion, true freedom, and absolute trust that has enhanced the quality of my life and my relationships.
You have changed my life and I will be ever grateful to you for taking me to Chandi.Thank you so much for the Chandi Path and it’s beautiful translation. There are no words with which I can express my gratitude.”
~Ankita
“Thank you, Swamiji for your wonderful translation of the Chandi Path and for the online video class that teaches the deepest meanings and purpose of this sacred scripture.
Reciting this blessed scripture is teaching me to surrender all things to the Goddess. I know by your Grace that I am well guided and have the best of tools in my hand to walk the path.”
~ Chiasson
“Thank you so much for your books. I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced anything as vividly rewarding in my life as trying to recite the Chandi book. Life is increasingly Profound!
Thank you.
~Justin
