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Shri Vidya
What is Shri Vidya?
Shri Vidya is the Mantra, Shri Chakra is the Yantra, and Kalavahana is the Tantra, which give material benefits of (bhoga) as well as spiritual identity with the Universal Life (moksha).
Practitioners of Shri Vidya see material and spiritual life as two poles of the same thing; physical is but a single continuum with spiritual, God-Goddess indivisible pair. Individual life is same as cosmic life, like in a hologram; the part is same as a whole.
Shri Chakra is the symbol of the space-time, in union with the life-energy. It is worshiped in couples: Universe-God, Saraswati-Brahma, Lakshmi-Vishnu, Shakti-Shiva, Radha-Krishna, Woman-Man. Body of every person is also a temple enlivened by the goddess called life in it. The central idea of Shri Vidya is to reduce the separation, and unite all such pairs.
We don’t see life itself, except through a person who has it. So, when we worship a person, it is the life in it which experiences the worship. The best forms of Shri Yantras therefore are living persons. Women have the attributes (linga) of Shakti while Men have attributes of Siva. Symbols of Creation, Yoni and Linga are adored as Shakti and Shiva. Such external worship is the gateway to internal meditative form of worship.
Worship, chanting of mantras and remembering the myriad attributes of the Goddess are all means for the movement from darkness of ignorance to the light of unlimited awareness. The Guru is the gateway to surrender the individual’s pettiness into the largess of cosmic life. When all is one, the duality Disciple-Guru cannot exist; they are just one God. But they enjoy their separate roles in the drama of life. Guru worships the disciple as guru, because of the God in the disciple. In that very process, empowerment happens.
For most of you, meditations and rituals to expand our awareness beyond the limits of your body, mind and ego. The small becomes big by surrendering its smallness. What are the prerequisites? Your faith does not matter. Your current ideas of who you are don’t matter. But you should have an open mind to discover your true identity.
