The Journey of Shakti: A Voyage from Human Form to Cosmos Expanding the Sri Devi Khadgamala Sotram Ritual

[Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju]

                                                                       The Journey of Shakti

                                                          A Voyage from Human Form to Cosmos

                                                      Expanding the Sri Devi Khadgamala Sotram Ritual 

                                                                  A Book by Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju

                                                                                                     

                                                 

           

No system of knowledge equals Hindu Tantra in unifying body, mind and spirit.

Tantra is a body of philosophies and practices originating in Hinduism and centred in the unity of all aspects of existence, of the material and the spiritual, of erotic force activating humanity  and cosmic force permeating existence,  of the human being and the creator of the cosmos, of the beauty of the world and  beauty beyond the world.

One of the richest demonstrations of this unification is the Sri Devi Khadgamala Stotram ritual dedicated to the Goddess Tripurasundari.

The ritual is a journey from the outskirts of the intricately beautiful combination of squares, circles, lotus petals and triangles known as the Sri Yantra, to its centre.

The yantra is understood as a form of the Goddess, like her human form and her  sacred sounds, mantras,  are also her forms.

The Goddess is described in the ritual as the most beautiful embodiment of the cosmos. To navigate the yantra is therefore to navigate the cosmos, a navigation integrating Goddess as cosmic source and expression and the human being as an expression of that cosmic unity, a miniature cosmos.

One thereby journeys from the world of space and time, represented by the square exterior of the yantra, to the source of the cosmos beyond time and space, depicted  by the dot at the centre of the yantra.

                                                                                     

                                                     

                                                                                          The Sri Yantra 

At each point of the journey through the yantra, you invoke an expression of the Goddess, corresponding to an aspect of the human being and an aspect of the cosmos, till you reach the centre, where you call upon the ultimate expression of the Goddess.

You recognize your unity with her, that unity being your true nature as a human being who shares the same essential identity with the creator  of the cosmos, Tripurasundari, embodiment of the cosmos as a seed and of the cosmos blossoming from that  seed, in the words of the Khadgamala.

You thereby begin from the "Mistress of the Three Worlds of Waking, Dreaming and Sleeping, whose expresses Herself openly and without inhibitions" as manifest in the sensual glory of the visible world,  the expression of the Goddess represented by the material universe of space and time.

Your journey culminates in invoking the "Transcendental Secret Yogini, the joint form of the worshipper and the worshipped, the Ultimate Unity that is the Cosmos" as described of the Goddess as cosmic source beyond time and space.

The ritual achieves a  combination of concision and expansiveness through the symbolic power of visual form that makes it one  of humanity's greatest achievements, a monument in  the architectonics of ideas, at the intersection  of visual and verbal imagery dramatizing philosophical conceptions  in relation to spiritual practices.

This book, The Journey of Shakti, is the first presentation known to me  of this sublime ritual in a manner readily appreciable by anyone outside the imaginative world represented by Tantra, in general, and in particular, by Sri Vidya, the school of Tantra dedicated to Tripurasundari.

Drawing on various sources on Sri Vidya, on the Khadgamala, on Tantra, on Hinduism, in conjunction with  a broad intercontinental  range of religious and non-religious literature, The Journey of Shakti develops the Khadgamala ritual in terms of Tantric ideas dramatized through a journey by the feminine personality Shakti, representing the creative force that animates the cosmos, of which all Hindu goddesses and all women are a privileged expression.

In this poem, Shakti journeys  in search of her consort, the male deity Shiva, the foundation of existence  that needs to be activated by Shakti if the cosmos  is to come into being, as declared in the first stanza of the great poem the Soundaryalahari, the Billowing Waves of the Ocean of Beauty.

A  translation of the Khadgamala that skillfully bridges the  imaginative uniqueness of Tantra and how people think generally,  with a rich introduction and helpful commentary, is provided by the Shakti Sadhana group. Appreciating even this, however, requires significant sensitivity to the style of thinking of Tantra generally and of female or Shakta centred Tantra in particular.

The Journey of Shakti   builds upon the magnificent rendition by the Shakti Sadhana group, highlighting its poetic force and  its imaginative drive by reworking it in terms of the journey of Shakti in search of her beloved, Shiva, thereby further personalizing even the Khagamala's visualization of the myriad humanized expressions of the Goddess.

Also, by using texts that further develop the same ideas, the symbolism of the ritual is expanded beyond the level depicted within its traditional textual presentations. 

                                                               

                                                            

           A statue of the goddess Parvarti, a form of Shakti, as all Hindu Goddesses and all women are expressions of Shakti.

          The sensous power of this sculpture dramatizes the correlation of the sensous, the divine and the cosmic that 

          animates a good part of classical Indian art,  a quality  central to Tantra.

         A magnificent stanza from the Soundaryalahari projects this orientation, incidentally complementing the visual rhythm 

        created in this Parvarti sculpture through the thread running from the Goddesses' shoulder, between her breasts to her 

        waist:

                                             That [ line of abdominal hair] O spouse of Shiva, which looks

                                                        here like a tiny ripple on the [blue] Yamuna,

                                             a slight thing at your slender waist, O mother, appears to those of 

                                                       pure insight

                                            as if, caught between your jar like breasts as they rub against

                                                      each other,

                                             the wide sky, squeezed thin, were entering your cavernous navel.

                                             

                                             (From Norman Brown translation)

The  sheer wealth  of philosophical conceptions and spiritual practices actualized by  The Journey of Shakti    is seamlessly woven into the poetic account of the quest, making each reference luminous, easily understandable without any background in the subject.

The poem is beautifully illustrated with diagrams of the Sri Yantra indicating each stage of the journey.

In its cosmic scope unifying every aspect of existence through broad categories correlating human being and cosmos in  a voyage  through the wonderful beauty of  the Sri Yantra,  the poem is comparable to those ultimate literary expressions of female centred spirituality, the New Life and the Divine Comedy by Italian poet Dante Alighieri, in which the poet, drawing upon the broadest range of knowledge known to medieval Europe of his time,  journeys from a dread forest across cosmic realms to the source of existence.

The poem is also comparable with the magnificent Interpreter  of Desires by the Andalusian poet Ibn Arabi, which enthuses over the beauty of a girl ln in terms of a quest for ultimate values, a journey visualized through exquisite imagery of camel caravans  in motion, of birds in flight, of dazzling eyes that enthrall and transform through the longing they inspire.

The Journey of Shakti is also comparable  to the fervent beauty of the work of Spanish poet St. John of the Cross, in between periods of turture in his prison cell  creating poetry of his search for his loved one,  ''On a dark and secret night, starving for love and deep in flame,'' in such poems as Dark Night of the Soul and Living Flame of Love.

To be mentioned in the same breath as those magnificent  masters is an honour for the author of The Journey of Shakti. To be compared with them, even as a candle to their solar illumination, is a blessing. May the author so compared be worthy of their inspiration.

The book is currently available through  contacting the author by email on toyin....@gmail.com, by text or  WhatsApp on 002348051439554 or on Facebook Messenger.

It will soon be accessible through  such booksellers as Amazon.