Sublime

Devipuram—“The Goddess’s Abode”—the temple complex that Guruji had spent more than three decades building up from almost nothing in the rural wilds of eastern India.

The Śrīvidyā Mantra Traditionally, the Śrīvidyā lineages, rituals and texts were distinguished by three matas12—kādi, hādi, and sādi.13 They are named so based on the root of the Pañcadaśi, where the mantra begins with the syllables ka, ha, or sa.

Hādividya was precepted by Lopāmudrā, Agastya’s illustrious wife. The Yoginīhṛdaya and the Khadgamāla Stotra are examples of Hādividya texts.

The first forty one are dealing with the Mantra, Yantra, and the other partly philosophical and partly ritualistic ideologies of the Śākta cult as also with the mysteries of Kuṇḍalinī Yoga. This portion is called Ānandalaharī, the Flood of Bliss. The fifty-nine verses that follow give a description of the form of the Devī utilising most of the

The writings of Sri Aurobindo and his followers have also contributed to a better understanding of the subject. Kāvyakanṭha Gaṇapati Śāstri, a disciple of Sri Ramaṇa Maharṣi, has written a book of Sūtras called Daśa-Mahā-Vidyā or the worship of Kālī, Tārā, Sundarī, Bhuvaneśvarī, Bhairavī, Chinnamastā. Dhūmavatī, Bagalā, Mātaṅgī and Kamalā’tmikā.

Kali sprang forth from pre-Vedic (before 1500 BCE) rural traditions that were wild and shamanic before migrating slowly into Indian tradition. She was perhaps the ancient goddess worshipped by the inhabitants of the Vindhya mountain range, which separates north from south in the center of India. According to Sir John Woodroffe (Arthur Avalon),