[Advaita-l] Fw: CHANDI NAVAKSHARI - DURGA SAPTHASATI

[Vaidya Sundaram]

To the best of my knowledge, it is Sapta *Shati* - 700 - as the 13 chapters
together are 700 verses.
Not disputing it has the other sati's being worshipped, the actual textual
details bear out these names without a doubt.

bhava shankara desikame sharaNam
Vaidya.

On Sun, Sep 29, 2019 at 7:28 PM KAMESWARARAO MULA via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Dear Members,
> CHANDI SAPTHASATHI RAHASYA:
>
> The Devi Mahatmyam or Sri Chandi Sapthasathi,which forms the core text in
> Markandeya Purana which is revered by most of theShaktas or Worshippers of
> Divine Mother as Durga. Essentially Sri Chandireflects on 3 cycles. It is
> an allegory. It represents the evolution ofspiritual aspirant towards the
> self realization, an internal struggle for thecommunion with his Soul, the
> Mother Divine. During this process of perfection,he encounters several
> barriers and bottlenecks in the form of his Vasanas(mental tendencies) that
> come his way and make the path obscure and quitedifficult. Falling prey to
> these pleasures, he gets snared and entangled in thephenomenal and mundane
> existence. He gets tired, dejected and depressed. Andduring this hard
> times, that Mother comes in the form of Guru and imparts thesupreme
> knowledge and makes him aware of his divine self, and infuses him
> withrevitalized energy, stays beside him in his hardships, holds his hand
> in thetortuous, thorny
> path and makes him realize his true Self which is non-different from Her.
>
> The three charitas of this Chandi Sapthasathi represent the gross,
> subtle,causal bodies or the physical, mental and psychic bodies of the
> individualaspirant who accompany him till he reaches the supreme goal.
>
> The Chandika Parameshwari, who is non different from Supreme Brahman, is
> alsothe Maha Maya / Adya Sakti/ Agni / Vaak that manifests itself in 3
> forms as 3Vyahritis. They are Bhu, Bhuvah and Suvah which represent
> Prathama, Madhyamaand Uttama Charitras respectively. Agni, Vaayu and Surya
> are the deities thatrepresent these 3 cycles. The Chandi Sapthasathi,
> otherwise called “The Battleof Life” is a chronicle of the battles fought
> between the Devi and the DivineForces on one side and Asuric, Anti-Divine
> Forces on the other. It is a greatsadhana shastra. On the poetic side of
> it, it has all the nava (9) rasas withwonderful characters. The poet uses
> certain phrases to infuse fear and reverencefor the Divine Power like
> “Chandika Chandavikrama” , “Durga Durgartinasini” ,“Kali Karaalavadana” ,
> “Humkarenaiva Bhasma”, “Utthaya cha Mahasim Hum DevimChandamadhavath” etc.
> These words and vibrations have terrific impact on theperson who chants the
> sapthasathi.
>
> Chandi denotes the sovereign queen of the supreme Brahman. The word is
> derivedfrom the root ‘Chad’ means anger, which actually denote a sense
> ofextra-ordinary quality not limited by any standard or measure; “whom even
> theGods fear when he gets angry in battles”, “through the fear of him the
> windblows, the sun rises, Indra, Agni, Death hasten their courses”. So, the
> commandof this Sovereign Queen instills fear in all the Gods and makes them
> performtheir respective duties. It is in this sense that the root ‘Cad’ is
> used.Hence, the sruti says “Mahat Bhayam Vajramudyatam. .”. Here “Vajra”
> denotesBrahma.
>
> The word “Sapthasati” denotes theparable of 7 satis or matrikas. The
> Prathama Charitra extols 1) Kali 2) Tara 3)Chinnamasta 4) Sumukhi 5)
> Bhuvaneshwari 6) Bala 7) Kubja respectively. TheMadhyama Charitra extols 1)
> Lakshmi 2) Lalitha 3) Kali 4) Durga 5) Gayatri 6)Arundhati 7) Saraswati
> respectively. The Uttama Charitra extols 1) Brahmi 2)Maheshwari 3) Kaumari
> 4) Vaishnavi 5) Varahi 6) Mahendri 7) Chamundarespectively.
>
> If we take these 21 devi as a whole in samasti rupa, 1) Nanda 2) Satakshi
> 3)Sakambari 4) Bhima 5) Rakthadantika 6) Durga 7) Brahamari Devis are
> euologizedrespectively. These 7 samasti devis are called Saptha-Sathis.
>
>  Note: This information was collected from different source & compiled in
> my understandings and not intended to show any highness / or show up.
> Learned may contradict/ or contribute their views with their logics.
> Sri Guru Padaravindarpana Mastu
> Kameswara
>
>
>
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