[Advaita-l] Anya Devata

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Sat, 31 Jul 2010, Bhaskar YR wrote:

> Just couple of doubts :
>
> (a) The fifth adhyAya in saptashati says yA devI sarvabhUteShu 'jAti'
> rupeNa saMsthita..what exactly does it mean prabhuji??
>

Jati means a class.  A set of entities sharing a common characteristic. 
>From this definition comes the usage meaning "caste" as a caste is a set 
of humans sharing a common ancestry.   Devi pervades even abstract notions 
such as jati.

> (b) In lalitaa sahasranAma we have the verse : karAnguli nakhOtpanna
> nArAyaNa dashAkrutiH, from this we can understand that Adi mAta sri lalita
> tripura sundari is the 'cause' for nArAyaNAdi dashAvatAra, but if you see
> again durga sapta shati 12th adhyAya (!!?? not sure), we have the verse
> like : nanda gOpa gruhe jAta yashOdA garbha saMbhava, devi says here she
> will take birth in nanda gOpa's house at stays at vindhyAchala to kill
> shumbha & nishumbha and in same sapta shati we have verses which address
> devi as lakshmi (who is born during samudra maNthana), lajje, svadhe etc.
> ..and in saptashati pArAyaNa we offer pooja to 'chandi' as mahAkAli,
> mahAlakshmi and mahAsarsvati svarUpiNi..How can we reconcile these purANa
> shloka-s with regards to relationship of devi to nArAyaNa??
>

Devi and Narayana are one.  The various relationships are expressed in 
different ways in different shastras (or even in the same shastra as you 
note) for the purposes of upasana by us limited mortals.

-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>