[Advaita-l] Sarada Chatuh sati or Sarada Chatucchati

[Satish Arigela]

namaste,

>The dakshinaacara or samayaacaara sampradaaya that is called Sri Vidya
is firmly a part >of orthodox advaita;

Indeed. No one can deny this. As I mentioned in my other mail, the origins of shrIvidyA lie in vAma and kaula traditions. It is certainly not based on shrauta -smArta traditions. That said, one can say that the tAntrik traditions have their roots in the vaidika traditions. The two statements look contradictory on the face.. but I will deal with the subtle difference in those statements may be sometime later here or elsewhere.

At a later point the smArta-s(especially vedAntin-s from shankara's tradition) who took up these practices and cut out the objectionable portions of these rituals called it samayAchAra-dakShiNAchAra. This happened many centuries before which is why most South Indians feel that shrIvidyA is somehow related to adavita-vedAnta.

Do you find shrIchakra worship mentioned in shruti or smriti or in the purANa-s(the principal 18)?

lalitopakhyAna(Lup) which is appended to the brahmANDa purANa relatively recently will not count. As an aside, in some brAhmaNa families in the North(especially Himachal Pradesh) who strictly adhere to their shrauta smArta traditions and not affiliated to any shankara matha - do not consider the LuP as part of BP. There it is seen as part of another tAntrik text by name lalitArchana-chandrika. Does this atleast to an extent explain why the LuP comes in the end of BP after the final statements are all said?

You might also want to consider the fact that the devI bhAgavata either does not talk about lalitA-mahAtripura sundarI or anything related to shrIvidyA or even if it does it is only minimal.

Strange - isn't it for something considered as a foremost practice among vedAntins?

> I will go to the extent of saying
it is the foremost amongst specific-to-advaita-vedanta >vidyas (that is
excluding all Srauta and grihya karmas, japas like that of hayagreeva
japa >etc. which other vedantins also practice).

By the way one can obtain moxa that shankara talks about even if one did not hear the word shrIvidyA in his/her life.  It is not a requirement for moxa. The practice might help in achieving it..but still it is not a requirement. Of-course most people here know this

Regards
SA.