In Chapter 5, verses 14-76 contain the refrain:

“Namastasyai Namastasyai Namatasyai Namo Namaha.”

We bow five times (with five organs of knowledge, five organs of action, five elements (tanmatras).

Questions and Answers:

1. The Divine Mother tells us in verse 6 that if we remember Her in times of adversity She will eradicate our every distress. How does she do this? In adverse situations that I encounter, I remember Her yet I am feeling the adversity and distress. Doesn’t the mind need to attain a level purity before the devotee can feel the presence of Mother in any situation, good or adverse?

When you are in distress, You are thinking two thoughts: Mother and distress. If you really remember her in devotion only Mother, the distress dissolves. With sincerity, with intensity, we bow to Mother exclusively.

2. What is the significance of the energy, the pin, the seeds, and the principles in the Viniyoga?

All of these will be explained more clearly when we discuss Murti Rahasya.

3. When we come out of Samadhi after chapter 4, does the ego return in chapter 5?

Swamiji asked the same questions of His Guru. All three battles (the three episodes in the Chandi) are happening simultaneously. All the asuras are constantly changing and interchanging their forms. Our battle with the ego does not follow the linear sequence of the chapters in the Chandi.

4. In verse 82, what does “Remember in a physical form” mean?

In a murti, in some symbol of divinity, saguna (with form). Remember Mother and focus on one form. Then concentration is acute, more intense so that all thoughts are literally consumed by your concentration. It does not matter what that form is so long as you postulate that the form is my form of divinity

5. What does it mean that the ego took divine qualities?

How can the sun be bright if it is covered by a cloud? Self conceit and self deprecation obscure our wisdom and throw us out of heaven. But we know what to do. Sing before the manifested form of divinity and bow and bow.