[Advaita-l] chanDI yAga at Madhwa institutions

[V Subrahmanian]

Recently when I visited the PoorNaprajna vidyApITha for the
न्यायामृत-अद्वैतसिद्धकार्यशाला I noticed a banner announcing a 'chaNDI yAga'
presided by the junior Pejawar Swamiji.  I had not known till then that this
kind of yaga was performed by the madhwas too.  Later I came to know that
they too do the parayaNa of durgA saptashatI and use it for this yaga.

In the Bhagavatam, RukmiNi goes to the durgA temple just prior to her being
'abducted' by Krishna on the eve of the wedding with shishupAla.  Is durgA a
deity worshiped/worshipable by sattvika-s?  In the mitAkShara vyAkhyAna for
the yajnavalkya smRti, for the word देवान्-उग्रान्  examples of durgA and
Aditya are given. Gopi-s are said to have performed 'kAtyAyani vRata' for
getting good husbands.  The 'tiruppaavai' of AnDAl too records a similar
event.

At the end of the details of vinAyaka worship, the above smRti says that
vinAyaka would even bless one with mokSha by giving Atma jnAna.  Would
Shankara denounce the worship of 'such'  a vinAyaka?

Om Tat Sat