Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji – Tripura Rahasya Day 9 – January 12, 2022 – Mysore
Compiled by Parimala Eshwarla
Chapter 9
After a long thought, Indra concluded that he had to conquer Mother Goddess. He who was conceited, mounted his vehicle called the clouds and holding the Vajrayudha weapon approached her.
Indra has a very delicate body that glows like the lotus filament. With his handsomeness, he outshines a crore Manmathas (god of love). Such Indra was totally dazzled by Her effulgence and remained at a distance.
He asked, “O lotus-eyed one! Who are you, who, with your divine splendour are conquering the entire world? Whose daughter are you? Why have you arrived here? Your form is very delightful. The limb-formation in your body is immaculate.
Even to me, you appear worshipful. In my city are Rambha and many other beautiful women. Nowhere in heaven or earth or in Patala have a seen a woman, more beautiful than you, who shines with 18 arms. Quickly answer my questions”.
Hearing Indra’s words, the Divine Mother said, “Who are you? Why have you come here? What is your power? What are your duties? If you answer these questions correctly, I shall answer your questions”.
Indra then widened his thousand eyes and said, “Listen to my words carefully. I am the ruler of Swarga, the abode of the Devatas. I am Devendra. Having performed 100 supreme Yagas, enjoying the prosperity of the three worlds, I am extremely powerful.
I have come here to know who you are. In this creation, none equals me in physical strength, fame, prosperity, valour, prowess and wealth. I eternally rule all the worlds. All the Devatas are under my control. This Vajrayudha weapon of mine is unfailing. No one who has been hit by it ever survives.
With a single blow from my Vajrayudha weapon, many extremely mighty danavas and rakshasas (demons) have simultaneously reached the abode of death. Bala, Pāka, Namuci, Vrtta, Tvastra, Taraka and other demons who had conquered all the worlds have been defeated by the Vajrayudha.
Why waste so many words? In a nutshell, none matches me in valour. Know that I, who am extremely powerful and valourous, have attained renown as Mahendra”.
Parashakti then replied, “O Indra! I am aware that you are Kashyapa’s son Indra. I have placed this straw before you. Even you are aware that it is very light and dry. Now show your might and the power of your Vajrayudha on it. If you fail, I will see you running away just like Agni and other Devatas who tried in the past and failed”.
Infuriated with her words, Indra bit his lips. He wanted to lift his Vajrayudha and smash her. The moment Indra lifted his Vajrayudha, all the directions started burning.
Seeing Indra, who, in intense fury, was holding his Vajrayudha, the Divine Mother, whose smile puts to shame the moonlight from crore moons, smiled gently.
With her smile, Indra’s hand that was holding the Vajrayudha froze. Even his legs, hands, tongue, eyes and all other limbs were rendered immobile like a statue. Indra could no longer move his limbs freely. He remained like a painted picture. He could not even speak.
Seeing Indra immobile, all the Devatas were petrified. Totally aggrieved that they had lost their leader, they bemoaned saying, “Alas! Bad times have come”.
Indra realized that this was the outcome of his mistake. Immediately he thought of his Guru Brihaspati who was competent in dispelling his difficulty. Immediately on being remembered by Indra, Guru Brihaspati, with his transcendental vision saw the entire plan devised by Mother Goddess to subdue Indra’s pride.
Brihaspati, the best among the Yogis, immediately came there. Indra and the Devatas were delighted with his arrival. With his arrival, they calmed down.
Brihaspati, who is far-visioned and who is supremely intelligent, was ecstatic on seeing that Mother, who was the wife of Lord Vishweshwara. His body horripilated. While shedding tears of joy, with his hands raised over his head he fell flat in prostration and in a faltering voice prayed. With his hands raised over his head, he sang the glories and qualities of the Supreme Mother. His prayer was filled with many in-depth meanings. In great delight, he worshipped her with the flowers known as his prayers,
“O Shānkari! You are the one who protects (abhaya) the worlds. Brahma and all are your mere servants. You are extolled by the Vedas. For the protection of dharma, you instill fear in the extremely wicked. You protect the pious. You have retained everyone under Your control. With compassion, protect the Devatas.
Brahma, Vishnu, Maheshwara and the Devatas serve Your lotus feet and with a speck of Your compassion attain competence in executing the tasks of creation, sustenance and dissolution.
O Mother! Deprived of Your compassion, Indra, the Lord of the Devatas, has met this fate. Hence I am realizing that even Parameshwara cannot protect the being who opposes You. Nothing is surprising in this.
Even Brahma, Vishnu and others fail to describe Your glory. O Mother! Under such circumstances, how can I attain the competence to describe the ocean known as Your glories?
The Vedas, which are extremely ancient, are Your breath. Only due to Your attributes, Brahma, Vishnu and others were born. The entire creation emerged from Your sport. Lowly people can never know your true form, O Mother of the Universe!
O Mother! You are the foremost in the creation. This entire creation comprising of movable and immobile entities is Your form only. This entire creation seeks refuge only in You. But there is no force that protects You. You are the only one who protects everything.
You are glowing with the greatness of Your unsurpassed energies. O Tripura Sundari! Like the thread in the cloth, like the gold in the ornaments, this entire universe is permeated by Your Kala (aspect).
The 6 types of varnas, the 9 types of time, firmness and the other 5 kalas are manifestations of Your Consciousness. Barring it, there is nothing. With Your form as the most Supreme Knowledge, You, the form of Shiva alone exist before everything.
All objects that are seen, heard or spoken are Your forms alone. You alone exist. Who can ever describe such a form of Yours? Just as hordes of rays emerge from the Sun, from You the entire creation emerged.
The entire world which is visible or invisible to the senses has emerged solely from You. Barring you, there is no creator.
O Empress who rules all the Devatas! How can these Devatas, whose vision is blurred due to Your impenetrable power ever understand Your supreme form?
Hence O Mother! With compassion, please protect these Devatas. Unable to comprehend Your true form, Indra has been rendered immobile near Your feet. Hence O Mother! Show compassion upon Indra, the leader of the Devatas and protect him”.
In this way, Brihaspati, the Guru for the Devatas, extolled Her in many ways, appeased Her and ensured that She blessed Indra.
Thereafter Indra grasped the greatness of the Mother of the Universe. At the command of Guru Brihaspati, with utmost devotion and as per the Shastras, he bowed again and again to the Supreme Mother who is the primordial cause for the entire creation, who is the supreme energy (parashakti), and who is the form of the Pure Consciousness.
He joined his palms and sweetly extolled Her. His head was bent a little due to shyness. Due to Her compassionate glance, the veil called ignorance that enveloped him was shred. Even as all the Devatas were listening, with nectareous, wonderous words he extolled the mother of the universe saying,
“O Mother Tripura! O Mother of the Universe! Salutations to You. You are the primordial cause of the universe. You have sought shelter in Parashiva and are the form of sacchidananda (eternity-knowledge-bliss). O Mother of the Universe! Obeisance to You.
You are the cause for all real and unreal objects. The entire creation has stemmed from You. In You, the entire creation sustains. In You, the entire creation gets absorbed. You are the form of truth. Just as the mud pervades pot and all earthen utensils, just as gold pervades all the golden ornaments, You alone pervade all existences.
Fools who do not understand this, abandon serving You and wastefully worship other Devatas. Humans who are trapped in the bondage called repeated rebirths do not get any respite from bondage even after worshipping other Devatas extensively. They obtain respite only when they worship You.
Without worshipping You, the worldly people who are tightly bound due to the illusionary energy of Maheshwara, cannot obtain liberation by worshipping the Devatas who have little prosperity.
Bound by Your timeless energy called illusion, the humans forget devotion to You, the form of the Self and the Supreme Goddess, and instead of realizing that the Devatas, who are Your manifestations, are You alone, bow to them considering them to be different existences.
You are the primordial energy. You are the transcendental existence. Due to emerging from You, the Devatas have obtained that name. Just as golden ornaments cannot be different from gold, although the Devatas are addressed by different names, they are Your manifestations alone.
With due thought, it will be clearly stated that Shiva and other Gods have obtained those powers only due to Your grace.
If the humans who are being burnt in the fiery fire called samsara, abandon You and instead seek recourse under other Devatas for their Self-upliftment, then, they are like the ignorant who, abandoning the scope of obtaining total purity by bathing in the clear waters of the nearby Ganga seek recourse in a dirty pond.
Instead of realizing this supreme form of Yours, I developed I-ness with this body that is prone to death and falsely prided that I was the Lord of all. With this, I was deluded.
O Mother! Barring You, no one is competent to wipe away my sins and uplift me. You have manifested in this extremely auspicious form. I request You, who have conquered the world, to destroy my sins.
You are the mother of all the universes. I am your son. Hence, I believe that I do not have to plead more about this. This is because in You, the quality of kindness that exists in a mother exists naturally.
Due to Your anger, I have been rendered immobile. I believe this to be Your blessings towards me. This is because with Your anger all my sins have vanished. However wicked a son may be, with mother’s slight anger all his sins get burnt down”.
In this way, with many nectareous words and with utmost devotion Indra prayed to Mother Goddess and begged forgiveness. Hearing Indra praying to Her for forgiveness, Agni and other Devatas recognized Her as the mother of the universes. Trembling with fear, with many prayerful verses they extolled Her. Bowing at Her feet, they begged forgiveness.
That Mother, who is the embodiment of auspiciousness, was pleased with the devotion of Brahma and other Gods. She said, “O Brahma, Indra and all other Devatas! Listen to what I say. With dedication in executing My orders, complete your duties without transgressing My orders.
O Indra! You shall always be obedient to Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara. Agni and other Devatas will always be obedient to you. While always offering all your actions to Me, remain with the traits of purity (sattva). (By offering the results of the action to the Supreme Lord, sattva increases in the person. This is indicated here).
May Brahma and other Devatas execute the tasks of creation etc.! While meditating exclusively upon Me, the embodiment of knowledge, complete the duties allotted to you”.
Hearing Her words, Brahma and other Devatas bowed to Her reverentially, joined their palms and prayed, “O Māheshwari! O Mother! May we be eternally blessed with a chance to see Your lotus feet and with unflinching devotion towards You! If You, with Your compassion grant this to us, we will consider that all our desires are fulfilled, for, what can remain unobtained when one obtains the wish-fulfilling tree?
What necessity does a person, who has the prosperity called devotion in abundance, have for trivial objects? If even a pauper obtains the prosperity called devotion, he will not have the necessity to seek crores of wish-fulfilling gems (Chintamani gems).
O Devi! Irrespective of how many Chintamani gems a person has, irrespective of how beneficial they could be, they also increase the fear in the person. However, devotion to Your feet blesses the person with the result called fearlessness. Hence the person who seeks to be fearless should seek recourse in Your feet. O Mother! With compassion, bless us with strong devotion. There is nothing else that we seek”.
Hearing this prayer of Brahma and all other Devatas, the Supreme Mother who had playfully assumed a form, said, ‘So be it’ and vanished. After She vanished, Indra and other Devatas bowed to the Trinity and humbly prayed,
“O Trimurty! Please forgive us. Protect us. We seek to be freed from the terrible sins that we have committed. Please teach us the real form of that Supreme Mother. If we have the worthiness, explain this to us. Further, instruct us about our duties”.
Vishnu then laughed and said, “O Indra! She is the supreme power that everyone should meditate upon. She is the supreme energy called Vimarsha (analytical energy) of the Supreme Lord.
This energy (shakti) exists as the great space. In Her, the entire creation illumines. This Mother, who is the embodiment of energy, pervades the entire universe as a witness. Understand that the entire visible universe is Her form alone.
One must understand that all the visible objects are of two types based on place and time factors. Location (desha) has form. Time (Kāla) attains completeness due to action and sound.
Time has three components viz, varna, pada and mantra. Location (desha) has three components viz., kala, tattvam and bhuvana. This tattva (essence) that has these two divisions of three components each is thus the combination of six components.
The tree is inherently in the form of a seed. Similarly, all outcomes become causative factors. Understand this. Hence, varna etc. become the forms of time (kāla).
Kala and other principles are the forms of space. Due to illumining the causative and effectual factors, the principle that is to be known becomes the witness. Understand this. Hence everything inherently is the witness.
The Supreme Energy (Parashakti) who exists as the witness, as the Self in all beings and as the embodiment of the energy called Knowledge is different from body and other visible objects.
I have thus summarily explained to you the essence of the Supreme Energy who exists as the Self. The knowledge of the Supreme Energy of the Supreme Lord cannot be obtained by listening once.
Due to remaining sunk in the path of ignorance for innumerable births, listening to it once will not help in understanding it. Hence the living beings have to repeatedly listen to this and obtain complete knowledge.
Hence safeguard carefully in your mind this teaching given by me. Devotion towards Her feet will help you attain the ultimate state in Knowledge.
O Indra! Together with Agni and other Devatas, you rule heaven (swarga). Command that the Devatas should execute all their tasks diligently at the proper time.
While focussing upon the Supreme Mother, who is the supreme energy, in your minds, you must execute your duties. Do not forget that Mother. As said earlier, with vigilance tread the path of fearlessness”.
The Devatas then circumambulated Brahma and other primordial Gods, and with their permission returned to their respective abodes. Brahma and Hari duly worshipped Shiva, and as they were watching, Shiva vanished from there.
O Parashurama! Brahma, the creator of all the worlds, duly worshipped Vishnu, bowed to him and returned to his abode.
In this way, the glory of that Supreme Mother, who is the supreme power and the ultimate, is absolutely astonishing. She is the most supreme among the Devatas. She is the witness for everything. She enchants the entire creation. Understand this.
You have diligently heard this story of young maiden Tripurasundari. Manifesting in the form of a young maiden, this Supreme Goddess shred the ignorance of Indra and other Devatas in the manner I have explained.
This story dispels the inauspiciousness in those who listen to it. Further, it enhances the devotion towards Mother Tripura Sundari in them. It purifies the mind. Those who seek to obtain the love of Mother Goddess should eternally read this story and listen to it.
Sri mātre namah