Guruji's teachings
Ten names, one goal. Guruji's own plain teaching on the Dasha Mahavidyas and the single choice that starts the path.
Written by Sri Amritananda Natha Saraswati (Guruji). Originally published at amritananda-natha-saraswati.blogspot.com.
Guruji: All powers of God are manifest in man, whether one realises it or not. If one realises God he becomes God. Otherwise, he countinues to believe that he is not God, and so, searches for Godhood, outside of him. And he will never reach, because the direction is wrong. As long as you are moving along the circle, you will never be the centre.
Path to God is that which makes one God.
Kali, Tara, Sundari, Bhuvana, Bhairavi, Chandi, Dhuma, Bagala, Matangi, Kamala are the names for the ten paths. The ultimate goal is the same in each case - integration of all forms into one Godhood, which is identical with Self.
All these names are feminine. All powers are feminine, and the one from whom all powers emanate is God oneself. God enjoys his powers. He owns them. You can own them too, by realizing the truth of the statement that you are God, through experience.
There are obstacles to this realization, whose prime nature consists of two types of ignorance. The first is not seeing your true nature as that of God identity. The second is the wrong assumption of manly nature to yourself which makes you See many things where there is in reality only one thing.
That one thing which exists is Consciousness, All forms, all space, all time, all materials, are merely forms of Consciousness. That is not light, but it lights up everything for God to see. By it objects like sun, moon, stars, fire etc. shine. It is your, my, everyone's Consciousness that is the Light of lights. Take away that light and the world ceases to be.
The ignorance which creates the illusion of many is a creation of the limited ego, a mental object. The structure of the ego can be analysed to have the following components - Pity, doubt, shame, aversion, class, distiaction, norms of behaviour. These are the eight bonds which bind the unbindable Consciousness, and their stuff is also Consciousness. Once this is seen to be the case, the bonds loose their capacity to bind, and one's true nature is realised.
So, the paths to realisation of one's true nature as the undifferentiated God manifesting in many forms and names as the apparently diverse universe, have to sever these bonds, which are the obstacles, which like the shells of an onion are creating an entity out of vacuum, trying to protect an ego which is not there.
Each of the paths listed here and discussed in sufficient depth a self-sufficient guide for each path, strikes at the very root of ego, destroys it, burns up all the karmas and their ability to bind one. Knowing that the karmas are just paper tigers, one becomes sinless, and leads others to that state.
If one sees God in oneself and all that one sees, then no matter what he sees, he is sinless. Sins are afraid of such a one. Karmas fall away from such a one.
God becomes sinful by thinking that he is sinful; in his total freedom, he chooses to be bound; in that state he is called man. Now, all that a man has to do to shake off the bondage and the misery which attachments causes is to choose not to remain bound. That choice must be exercised. That is the one step which man has to take towards God; God will do the rest. If you take one step to him, he will take ten steps to you.
If you sit and meditate, you will see God. If you sing to God, God will dance for you. If you dance to God, God will embrace you. If you embrace God, he will enter you. If you enter him, he becomes one with you. God has no choice in this natter, because you are the God, and your choice is his choice too.
So, do not offer your miseries to God, because he will do the same to you. Do not ask him to do things for you, because he will ask you to do that is ten times over. Instead, offer God your happiness, your song, your dance, your bliss, and he will do the same for you. Make efforts to eliminate your one bondage, he will come himself and remove them all.
God is a great amplifier. You whisper into the microphone, he blasts all over the place through a public address system. So God be with you in making a wise choice of your utterances!
1) Kali
2) Tara
3) Tripurasundari
4) Bhuvaneshwari
5) Bhairavi
6) Chinnamasta
7) Dhumavati
8) Bagalamukhi
9) Matangi
10) Kamala
Source: Sri Amritananda Natha Saraswati (Guruji), "Dasha Maha Vidyas", amritananda-natha-saraswati.blogspot.com. Spellings kept exactly as Guruji wrote them.
Guruji says you will never find God by looking outside, "as long as you are moving along the circle, you will never be the centre." This is close to why Kaula practice puts so much weight on inner worship, treating your own body and awareness as the place where the divine is met, instead of only in an object far away.
The ten Mahavidyas work like ten doorways into the same room. In daily Kaula life, a person is usually not asked to work with all ten at once. One path, one name, one way of approaching the divine is enough to start, and it can carry a person the whole way.
Guruji's line about offering joy instead of only your troubles fits how Kaula worship is meant to feel: not a place to unload problems, but a place to bring what is already good in you and let it grow. Practice, in this view, is less about fixing yourself and more about choosing, again and again, not to stay bound.
In Guruji's own list they are Kali, Tara, Tripurasundari, Bhuvaneshwari, Bhairavi, Chinnamasta, Dhumavati, Bagalamukhi, Matangi and Kamala. He calls these ten names for ten paths that all lead to the same one God.
Guruji says all power is feminine, and the one from whom all power comes is God. He says you can own that power too, by realizing through experience that you are God.
Two kinds of ignorance. First, not seeing your own true nature as God. Second, wrongly assuming a limited, separate self, which makes you see many things where there is really only one thing, Consciousness.
He names pity, doubt, shame, aversion, pride of class, the wish to stand apart, and rigid norms of behaviour. He calls these the bonds that bind the unbindable Consciousness.
Guruji says the one step is simply to choose not to remain bound. He says God will take care of the rest, comparing it to taking one step toward God and God taking ten steps toward you.
Read the original: Dasha Maha Vidyas, on Guruji's blog.
If something in this teaching landed for you, the best next step is a short private conversation.
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