[Advaita-l] ANAGHA DEVI VRATA KALPAM/PUJA VIDHI

[KAMESWARARAO MULA]

Dear Friends,                       Anagha Laxmi is a combined swaroop of Goddess Mahasaraswati,Mahakali & Mahalaxami who are meant for knowledge, protection &prosperity which is required for life.By performing puja or vrata for above deities, one shall find himself asfull of love, peace, prosperity, children and success in life.Shree Datta Anagha Laxami Vratam:Inspiration of Sreepada Vallabha SwamiPerformance of Vrata:Margashi, Magh Astami day and every Krishna Astami day of every month pujato be performed by everybody in morning by children and preferably couples(Husband & Wife ) also called as Dampatya Couple. 
Who is Anagha Devi?: (By Sri Kuppa V. Krishna Murthy) Is God male or female? This question pops up inone's mind at one time or the other. Such a question is natural because, allthe differentiation and classification are man made except the differentiationof gender, for which alone nature is responsible The differentiation based ongender is not unique to mankind, but is seen in all living beings. Because Godis responsible for this, it is possible that even the Almighty falls inside thepurview of this classification. Thus, the above question seems quite natural.But, we will face a contradiction if we think theAlmighty to be either male or female. If the Almighty was to be male or femalejust like us humans, then it follows that the Almighty too should have parents.If the Almighty was to have a father, then who created the father? Thisquestion will remain unanswered. Thus, it is not possible for the Almighty tobe a male or a female. Many religions use masculine gender whilereferring to God. The Vedas, the oldest literature known to humankind has usedboth the genders while referring to the Almighty. At some places, they usedeven used the neuter gender. By this, our question becomes even more complicated.Therefore, it becomes inevitable for us to seekother means to find out the answer. If we can first understand who the Almightyis, then we can try to know if the Almighty is male or female. Let us try thispath. To understand completely about a substance, we need to know, in additionto its external form, its composition also. To find out the composition, wehave to disintegrate the substance into small particles and then analyze them.Because we believe that the whole creation came from the Almighty, it followsthat if we analyze the creation in detail, we will come to know about itsbasis, namely the Almighty. Creation is so vast that we can not analyze indetail each and every object. But there is a way out. There may be innumerableobjects in this creation. But every object is a combination of one or moreelements. Today a hundred and odd elements are known to us. There may be manymore. Be that as it may, if we analyze further, we will come to know that atomsof every element are made up of sub atomic particles such as electrons,protons, neutrons, etc. If we analyze even further, we will observe that whatremains in the end is only energy, which, unlike a solid object, does not haveform. After Albert Einstein, the greatest scientist ofour era, gave us the equation E=mc2, it was established that the omnipresentenergy, on account of some unknown reason, will transform itself into differentkinds of atoms. What then is energy? Is it Light? Sound? Heat?Electrical energy? All these are different forms of energy, but none of themcan be called the fundamental form of energy. It means that there is a kind offundamental energy, which we cannot see, but the manifestations of which can beseen in the form of light, sound etc. The same energy takes the form ofprotons, electrons, and other particles to form an element. Thus, however vastthe universe may be, we can say that all the objects have come from the samefundamental energy. This is the truth that modern science has established. The same truth has been narrated in our ancientscriptures. They have referred to this fundamental energy as Bhagavanta. Thefundamental cause for all the objects in this creation is the same energy - sayour scriptures. This is exactly what the modem science says! This concept has been expressed in an episode inChandi Saptashati, a famous treatise of ancient India.The situation is that of a demon wanting to fight against Goddess Saraswati,who is surrounded by different goddesses. The demon chides her saying,"what is so great about fighting with so many energies helping you?"The goddess smiles and says, "You are not capable of seeing the reality.So you are seeing so many energies, The fact is that only I am here." - sosaying, the Goddess drew all the energies represented by different goddessesinto herself, stood alone and killed the demon Does not this story make it amply clear to usthat though the energy manifests differently, it is only one in its fundamentalform? Is this not what today's science has established? The basis for the wholecreation is that energy. That itself is called as Bhagavanta. It now becomesirrelevant to know the gender of that energy because it is meaningless toattribute gender to energy. If the fundamental energy does not have differentiationsuch as masculine or feminine or neuter, how then can the creation, which isits product, have beings with such a classification? A good question indeed.The fundamental energy has no form. When the fundamental energy has no form,how then did the atoms (which came from it) gain form? This is an importantquestion in Vedanta and is beyond the scope of this article. We do not know howit happened. But we know that it has happened. Similarly, from the fundamentalenergy which was asexual came the creation which consists of heterosexualbeings. The scheme by which the differentiation of genderentered creation is called as 'Eshwara Sankalpa' in the Shastras. It means thatit did not take place without the knowledge of the Almighty. It was on accountof conscious effort by Eshwara that gender was created. It means that thefactors responsible for the differentiation, namely the energy hidden in the Xand Y chromosomes, are inherent in that energy. Therefore, when that energywants to take a form, it can take the form of Anda (ovum) or Jeevakana (sperm).Therefore the Almighty manifests itself sometimes in masculine form andsometimes in feminine form. Irrespective of the manifestation, the originalform of the Almighty (i.e,, the fundamental energy) is beyond thedifferentiation of gender. Therefore the Vedas have referred to the Almighty inneuter gender in addition to masculine and feminine genders. The same concept is echoed in an episode in theDattatreya Purana. When Lord Dattatreya, the combined incarnation of theTrinity, was a child of five years, many old sages spotted His greatness andstarted insisting Him to show them the path of Yoga. The child Datta wanted totest them. He disappeared into a pond and remained there for one hundred years.Some of the sages waited for Him on the banks of the pond while the infantDatta was in a state of complete Samadhi for hundred years. Even after comingout of the pond he continued to test the sages. Dattatreya, who was 105 years old then, broughtout His Yogic energy through His Brahma Randhra (an astral orifice found in thecenter of the skull, through which Yogis can leave the body), and gave it theform of a woman. Because the energy came out from Him, He was its naturalowner. He declared her to be His consort. In order to test the sages, she drankwine and started dancing. Anagha.,She was born as a youthful woman. Seeing herdrink wine, some of the sages called her Madhumati. Others called her 'Nadee'becuase looking at her dance which resembled the dancing movements of a floodedriver. Still others realized that she was none other than the Yogic Energy ofLord and prayed to Him. Some others went away. Then Lord Dattatreya came out of Samadhi. She nowappeared as an ascetic. Lord Dattatreya named her as Anagha. Those who calledher as Madhumati and Nadee had identified her as one who possessed sin. But inreality she was sinless. Therefore Dattatreya had named her as Anagha (Sinless,Pure). Those who had recognized her to be the energy of Dattatreya, obtained thetrue vision of the Lord and could transcend all sorrows. In other words,because of her their sorrows (Agha or sin and sorrow) disappeared. This wasanother reason why Dattatreya named her as Anagha (one who removes sorrows). Etymologically, the word Agha means that whichcomes to the experience of the doer (kartaaram anghaati iti agham. Aghi gatow).He who thinks that he is the doer, will experience pain and pleasure. Accordingto vedantic view, even the worldly pleasure, is in fact pain. Thus, one whothinks oneself to be the doer is always suffering. That energy which removesthe feeling of doership is Anagha. According to another etymology, Agha means thatwhich causes sufferings to remain forever. (Na jahaati duhkham it agham. 0 haaktyaage) Sorrow is caused by poverty, disease, fear of enemies, greed, ignoranceetc. That which removes sorrow by bestowing prosperity, health, affection,contentment, wisdom, etc. is Anagha. With all these ideas in mind, Lord Dattatreyacalled her as Anagha. Those sages who could comprehend this could see her asthe manifestation of energy and could attain positive benefits. The demons whocould not comprehend the reality only saw her as a dancer and therefore wereannihilated. One can read about this in detail in Sri Datta Darshanamwritten by our Gurudeva, Avadhuta, Sri Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda Swamiji Maharaj.

with regardsKameswara Rao