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6 7 Chamunda
MAHA MERU
from
2 Maheshwari
DEVIPURAM
by
Sri AMRITANANDA NATHA
Vaishnavi 4
¹ Abhishekam is the ritual bathing of a murthi (temple or shrine image), yantra, guru or other human recipient.
² Panchamrita generally refers to a ritual mixture used in Hindu worship services. As its name implies, it is made of five
ingredients, usually milk, ghee, curd (yogurt), honey, and jaggery. Each of these ‘nectars’ has an origin in Hindu tradition.
The milk is that of Kamadhenu (the divine wish-fulfilling cow); the curd represents the white, smooth and cool luster of the
moon; the ghee is the food of the gods themselves, with a long Vedic past; honey, the extract of all herbs, is the essence of
Sri Vidya Trust
life with herbal healing powers; and jaggery, the extract of sugarcane, is both the representation and the epitome of sweetness. Devipuram,
³ Sankalpa is a conception or idea formed in one’s mind or heart; it is a thought, an ideal, an intention. The Vedas say that Anakapalle 531 001
the whole universe is evolved through sankalpa – the ceaselessly acting impulses of karma, driven by cosmic kama – and
hence it is only through sankalpa that the universe retains its karmic structure, appearance, and continuity.
Andhra Pradesh
34
Mantras to the Eight Matrukas
Governing Beeja Avarana Name of The Mother I Bow to
First Edition January 2007 Direction Mantras Mantra Goddess Who Removes, Her
Second Edition September 2007 or Helps Us
to Overcome …
Published by Sri Vidya Trust, East Om aim am aam Brahmi maatre kama (lust) namaha
Devipuram hreem sreem souh sanjeevanyai
Ammulapalem Post (Via)
South Om aim am aam Maheshwari maatre krodha namaha
ANAKAPALLE 531 001 hreem sreem souh (anger) naashinyai
Andhra Pradesh
India West Om aim am aam Kaumaari maatre lobha namaha
hreem sreem souh (delusion) naashinyai
Tel: +91 8924 207652
Email: seva@devipuram.com North Om aim am aam Vaishnavi maatre moha (pride) namaha
Web: http://www.devipuram.com hreem sreem souh naashinyai
Southeast Om aim am aam Varaahi maatre mada namaha
hreem sreem souh (jealousy) naashinyai
Edited by Michael Bowden Southwest Om aim am aam Mahendri Maatre maatsarya namaha
hreem sreem souh (envy) naashinyai
Designed by: Imagic Creatives Pvt. Ltd. Northwest Om aim am aam Chamunda maatre papa (negative namaha
Bangalore 71 hreem sreem souh actions) naashinyai
Tel: +91 80 25356310/1/2
Northeast Om aim am aam Maha- maatre aishwarya namaha
Email: imagiccreatives@gmail.com hreem souh Lakshmi (attachment to
sreem wealth) keertyai
33
7 Chamunda is the War Goddess, a form of Chandi; “Chamunda Shava Vahana”
– She who lives in cemeteries, riding upon a revivified corpse. Propitiating
Chamunda will enable you to absolutely control all evils done to you and to
Maha Meru
eliminate those evils.
Only a limited number of these special Devipuram-inspired Maha Merus will be created.
Abhishekam to the Eight Matrukas
Please send a query to merus@devipuram.com to obtain further details about the Maha
Merus and how they may be obtained; or contact us at +91-8924-207652. Also please The Bhupura – the square, outermost enclosure of Sri Meru, as described above – is
be sure to spread the word about these extraordinary Maha Merus to your friends, relatives comprised of three walls which are, in turn, graced by the 28 Devis or yoginis known
and fellow seekers! respectively as the Ten Mudra Shaktis, the Eight Matruka and the Ten Siddhis.
In this puja we focus upon the Ashta Matruka, who govern the second or middle
Bhupura wall, in each of its cardinal and intermediate directions; thus it is to the eight
corners of the Sri Meru’s square enclosure that we shall direct our worship. The
names and associations of the Devis residing at each location tell us how and why they
are useful as intermediaries in helping us to obtain the grace of Para Shakti.
2 Maheshwari is the Goddess of Shiva; She brings Mahat Tattva (i.e., the first
transformation of primordial nature, containing all other elements in their
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addition. The Bindu is the true form of Shiva and Shakti since it is One, and naturally
the whole chakra is within it. Everything is contained in the Bindu.”
This Maha-Bindu is also identified with the body’s uppermost yogic center, the
Sahasrara Chakra – the Thousand-Petaled Wheel at the crown of the skull. It
further corresponds to the seat or throne (peetha) of the Maha-Devi Sri Lalita,
located in the city of Tripura atop Mount Meru at the center of the Universe. As
the great sage Bhaskararaya wrote in Saubhagyabhaskara, his authoritative
commentary on the Sri Lalita Sahasranama: “Outside and beyond the countless
myriads of world systems, in the center of the Ocean of Nectar, upon the Isle of
Gems (Ratna-Dvipa), more than a thousand crores [i.e. tens of millions of miles] in
extent, there rises the supreme city of Srividya […] which is called Sri Chakra”.
Those who know how to perform a proper Sri Chakra puja (formal devotional Sri Amritananda Natha Saraswati (Dr. N. Prahalada Sastry), affectionately known as
worship) using the Meru can accrue unlimited benefits – but this is a complicated “Guruji,” was born in Vishakapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India, the first child of Sri
and lengthy procedure, and not very easy to learn, requiring much time and effort Narasimha Rao and Srimati Lakshminarasamma. Blessed with divine experiences early
under the instruction and guidance of a qualified Guru. However, Guruji has in his childhood, he developed a spiritual inclination that was to intensify later in life.
28 5
Having graduated from Andhra University with a Master’s degree in Nuclear Physics, center and hold it in a spherical shape. Thus, the concept of Bindu encompasses not
he received his doctorate from the University of Bombay while working at the only the center but also that which surrounds the center. Maha means Great or
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Guruji spent 23 years involved in defense Eternal. Thus the term Maha-Bindu indicates the Great or Eternal Point; the Seed
projects at TIFR, but over time grew uncomfortable with the destructive nature of his of all Creation, as yet unmanifest.
research. In 1977, he received his first initiation – from Sri Bala Tripurasundari
The sage Punyananda explained in his Kamakalavilasa that the supreme nature of the
herself – at the Balaji Temple in Hyderabad. It proved to be a major turning point in his
Sri Chakra is fully contained in the Bindu – that it is the cause of the nine successive
life: Delving more deeply into spiritual practices, he soon thereafter received Sri Vidya
avaranas and the source of the initial phonic emanations of Shakti as Brahman. One
Poorna Diksha from Sri Swaprakashananda Natha Thirtha Avadhutha of Anakapalli,
modern adept states it thus: “The Bindu alone is the Sri Chakra. All the rest is just an
at which time he was given the diksha name of Amrita. After a two-year sabbatical as
a professor of physics at Lusaka University in Zambia, Guruji returned to India in
1981, resigned from TIFR and settled at Vishakapatnam to concentrate upon Sri Vidya
upasana and worship of the Devi, while also gradually developing means to help
improve quality of life for humankind as a whole. During a Devi yagna in 1983, Guruji
was approached about building a temple to the Divine Mother on the parcel of land that
would eventually become home to Devipuram. With Her blessings, he built the
Kamakhya Peetam on a hillock there and a Siva temple on the peak in 1984. Construction
of the Devipuram’s Sri Meru Nilaya temple began in 1985 and was completed in 1994,
whereupon the kumbhabhishekam (consecration) was celebrated with great pomp and
piety. The temple is unique in allowing devotees to perform puja to the Devi themselves,
without distinction of caste or creed. With numerous loving disciples all over the world,
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• The Sarvasa Paripuraka Chakra or “Wheel Fulfilling All Desires,” consisting Guruji and his wife, Srimati Annapoornamba (lovingly known as Guruji Amma) have
of Sixteen Lotus Petals; dedicated their lives to the service of humanity, establishing the Sri Vidya Trust for this
• The Sarva Sanksobhana Chakra or “Wheel Agitating/Churning All,” purpose. (For a full biography, please visit http://www.devipuram.com)
consisting of Eight Lotus Petals;
Interviewer: What is the origin of the Devipuram Maha Meru?
• The Sarva Saubhagyadayaka Chakra or “Wheel Granting All
Guruji: In 1984, before the Sri Meru temple was built at Devipuram, there was a
Auspiciousness,” consisting of Fourteen Triangles (Chaturdasa Kona);
small hillock where I would often spend time in meditation. On the slopes of this
• The Sarvartha Sadhaka Chakra or “Wheel Accomplishing All Purposes,” hillock, I noticed a formation very similar to that of the Kamakhya Peetam in
consisting of Ten Triangles (the so-called Outer Dasara); Assam. One day while in meditation, I had the experience of lying on this peetam
• The Sarva Raksakara Chakra or “Wheel Granting All Protection,” while four others performed a homam, with flames emanating from my body. During
consisting of Ten Triangles (the so-called Inner Dasara); purnahuti, I felt a heavy object being placed on my heart. Awakening from my
meditative state, I was prompted to dig at that very spot, where I unearthed a
• The Sarva Rogahara Chakra or “Wheel Removing All Diseases,” consisting
yantra resembling a Maha Meru, but of a unique design like none I had seen before.
of Eight Triangles (the Ashta Kona);
It had some significant differences from the typical Sri Chakra Meru.
• The Sarva Siddhiprada Chakra or “Wheel Granting All Powers,” consisting
I later discovered, through meditations and circumstances, that a magnificent
of the Inverted Primary Triangle (the Trikona); and finally
yagna had been performed at that very location more than 250 years earlier. This
• The Sarvanandamaya Chakra or “Wheel of Complete Bliss,” which is the Maha Meru became my inspiration for building the Sri Meru temple, which – at
peak (koota) of the Universe – or the yantra’s Maha-Bindu. 108 feet wide and 54 feet high – remains the largest Maha Meru in the world.
Bindu in Sanskrit means point or center; it also means seed or drop. A drop Q: Is Maha Meru primarily a Hindu Yantra?
contains forces, the interplay of gravity and surface tension, which emanate from its A: I would prefer to say that it’s a universal yantra, belonging to all religions –
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yantras resembling this one include the Sri Chakra of Hinduism, and the Mahayana
Mandala of Buddhism. Chinese feng shui employs similar yantras. The Egyptian
Pyramids are yet another form of this yantra; the Greek Eleusinian Mysteries
involved still another.
So if you can do pooja to the Meru, well and good. If you can’t, you just play some
soft music to it. It will absorb the vibrations and emit divine music that protects
and heals, that wards off evil and brings prosperity. And not merely currency, but
all forms of divine blessings of peace – love, truth, non-violence; principles that
empower everyone.
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“But be careful; don’t bring the wrong organizing principles into your life. If your Q: Many people are fond of keeping a Maha Meru in their homes as a
kind of protection for their families. Why is that?
compass is wrong, you will reach an unwanted destination. So the geometry and
A: The Maha Meru represents the Cosmic Power as it manifests itself through
accuracy of Sri Chakra are important. Also be careful about from whom you are
human beings. Life itself is derived from this yantra, and when it is kept in the home
taking it, because it is their life and thoughts that you are also invoking into it enhances the quality of life for all the people living there. Actually the temples
yourself. That Guru must genuinely desire your well being from the core of his/her made by human beings are constructed of rocks, cement, steel and things like that
heart. Don’t get a chakra with faulty geometry, because geometry is a statement of – whereas the temple that the Goddess has made, is simply the body of human
the principles organizing the Universe. beings, ourselves. In a sense, your body is itself a Sri Chakra, a yantra in which the
Awareness, the Goddess, lives. If you can live in your body, if your awareness can
“Do I harm if pujas are not done properly to me? Do I harm myself? I am the whole live in your body, then why can’t it live in your home?
of the Cosmos. Out of the billions of galaxies, if in one of them – in a medium-sized
Q: But what do you say to people who are afraid to bring a Meru into
galaxy, around an average star you call the Sun, on the tiniest speck you call Earth, their home (or other environment)? After all, there are those pundits
in one life form out of billions, in one miniscule slot of time you call a day out of the who say a Meru should never be kept in the home.
infinite cycles of time called kalpas – if one person does or does not remember me, A: These fears are mainly induced by certain members of the orthodox Brahmin
community, who insist that the power should be kept with them only. We’ve got
is it going to affect me in any way? What an idea, that I should harm you if you don’t
to get over this barrier of fear. We want to give, to share the power with everyone.
do puja! I could not be less bothered!
So I would tell these people to please not succumb to the misinformed, thoughtless
“So go tell the doubters these things that I have told you. If they don’t listen, don’t statements being made by these so-called pundits, and thus miss the chance to
worry. I won’t be – I can’t be – angry with them, because I tolerate partial truths obtain the power than can alter your destiny in every way.
also. That is the nature of my Maya.” The Vedas say Matru Devo bhava: “There is no duty higher than worship of the
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Mother” – and the Mother is available to everyone as the Meru, Her highest form; answer: I will not harm. I have already initiated all living beings by my presence
other forms being icons or women empowered as the Goddess. So keep a Meru in within them. It is because I am within them that their eyes see, their ears hear, their
your home; give it as a gift; think of it as a long-term investment – like having a skins touch, their tongues taste, their noses smell, their minds think, their hormones
good spouse! Don’t compromise on quality. Pay any price, because it is priceless. create desires, their limbs move. All this is part of initiation, for what does initiation
The Meru is a symbol of our power to overcome evil, and to create unlimited mean? It means invoking divine life. That has already been done by me for every
wealth, health and happiness. The Meru is Gayatri, who protects those who utter being, living and non-living alike.
Her name; it is Savitri, who conceives all good karmas for Her worshipers.
“If a guru initiates, it is just a gateway to me, because – just as you can’t unlock a
Q. Just to clarify, does this statement apply to everyone? Can the lock that is already open – you can’t put life into an already living being. If some
uninitiated also keep Sri Chakra Merus in their homes without incurring qualities of your life are reduced or missing, you can improve them by healing. If
the wrath of the Goddess? certain qualities are not existing or living in you now, they need to be invoked:
A. Yes, absolutely. How can nectar become poison? It is not in its nature to harm. Compassion, kindness; being loving, truthful, indifferent to insult, serving all, and
It is in its nature to bless. The hand that blesses does not strike. the like.
Whether we know it or not, whether we acknowledge it or not, Adi Para Shakti is “If one form of me is already within you, then where is the harm in bringing another,
already in our homes, in our bodies, in our minds, in our notions of I and mine, in which is merely a different way of looking at me? Hayagriva told Agastya of the
our families, in all that we see – because She is the All-Pervading Awareness. We immense benefits that accrue if Sri Chakra is brought into the home. Healing,
cannot lose Her without losing our life, because She is verily the life within us.
riches, happiness abounds; negativities are removed at the source. There is no
Does the fact that we breathe require initiation? She has already initiated us into higher blessing than keeping my highest form – the seed of the Cosmos; the organizing
life as the Mother who gave us SRI, which means everything. She extracted the principle of the Cosmos – in your home, to help you in improving every good
seed from our father, giving ecstasy to him; She assembled us from life-giving quality around you. It will organize your life along the most excellent lines!
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substances of Her own body, gave us our hormones and endocrine system, our
bones, flesh, skin, blood and all; She made us atom by atom, molecule by molecule;
and most importantly, She put Her awareness into us.
Again, the Sri Chakra Meru is but one of Her forms, the others being (2) our own
physical bodies; (3) the psychic chakras in our subtle bodies, from Muladhara to
Sahasrara, seven in number; (4) the world we live in; (5) Hamsa Gayatri, the breath
of life which goes in and out as long as we live; and (6) Siva Linga, symbol of union
of Shakti (the Yoni base) and Siva (the Linga characteristic of the Godhead). These
forms are not different; they are all one and the same, they all represent Sivayor
Vapuh. The moment any one of them is present, all others are present in them as
well.
So forget what people say. I asked Divine Mother Herself, in my meditation, this
question: “Will you harm some one if they take a Meru home without initiation?”
She said “I will not harm.” [A full account of Devi’s words to Guruji follows this
The Divine Mother Speaks conversation.]
When Guruji addressed the Goddess in his meditation, asking whether Her Meru The gifting of this Meru involves a gifting of Power. There is no need to fear,
could harm the uninitiated, She replied thus: provided that it is received from a well-intentioned Guru, because his life force
“I know you are not asking the question for yourself, for you already know the goes into it then, and provided that it is accurate.
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Q: Accurate in which way? it usually doesn’t happen. It’s usually a brass thing coated with gold, and merely
A: Well, to get the sorts of benefits we’ve discussed, three conditions must be called panchaloha – we are avoiding that.
satisfied: (1) The Meru must be perfect, having 28 marmas as points, not as triangles
When you use a zinc and tin mixture, which is brass, it oxidizes and reduces to the
(a marma is a joint of three straight lines); (2) it must come from a Guru who has the
color of zinc, which is black. When a bronze Meru is left unattended and gets
best of intentions towards you; and (3) it must be placed in the puja room, or else
oxidized, it looks silvery. What happens with the inauthentic so-called panchaloha
in a prominent, well-lighted place in the home with Vedic or mantric chants being
is that the outer gold layer eventually wears or washes off and becomes flat – that’s
played to it; or simply soft music. Light and sound are two higher forms of worship.
how you come to know that it is made out of brass. We avoid this problem by
Then the Meru will act like an antenna, first attracting the Supreme Power, and keeping it permanently as either gold or copper. For big temples and other places,
then retransmitting it all around your home, bringing good to all. we can go in for pure gold or gold and silver. The molds we’ve made allow us to
Q: Why is the Maha Meru hollow? manufacture to any specifications.
A: That’s a legitimate question. It was intentionally made hollow, because when
the Guru gives the Meru to a disciple, he traditionally fills it with various life-giving
substances, such as roots and herbs, energizes them, and then seals them off inside
and gives that to the disciple. That is why it is kept hollow.
But so many questions have been raised about the hollowness of the Sri Chakra!
Even when I was building the Sri Chakra temple here at Devipuram, people
complained that it was hollow. But it has to be hollow! There is no other way!
Why? It is hollow because it is supposed to represent a viyat chakra – a wheel
in space.
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Q: How are these Devipuram Maha Merus going to be produced and And by the way, even if you are determined to make it totally solid, even if you
distributed? think you’ve made it totally solid, still it is ultimately composed of atoms and
molecules. And atoms and molecules have nuclei at their centers, which are like
A: A limited number of copies of the Meru are being made by the Srividya Trust at
the Sun in the solar system – the electrons and neutrons orbit through relatively
Devipuram. It is like a collectible. It has a price tag on it. We’re making it in
vast spaces around the nucleus. Even if you go to the nucleus itself, it is still not
different sizes – 10” x 10” x 5” and 5” x 5” x 2.5”; and other smaller sizes will also
solid; it consists of stage particles. In fact, the whole nucleus is very hollow and
be available. We’re also making ceramic Merus, made out of earth and fired at high inside it there are only probability waves traveling through. Thus even the supposedly
temperatures, which will be available at lower cost and in larger quantities. “solid” atoms and molecules that make up the manifest world consist mostly of
empty space. So it is not true to say that the Meru has to be solid – because there
The “designer” type of Meru can be made in bronze, silver, gold, panchaloha
is nothing that is solid. Somehow this concept requiring solidity does not really
[a traditionally holy five-metal alloy] – all sorts of possibilities exist. The material
stand up in light of scientific views.
of which it is made can have a say in what it promotes. Gold makes it a Meru,
Q: You said earlier that the Devipuram Meru design is significantly
because gold is supposed to be like Sun’s seed. It brings untold prosperity. Hiranya
different from that of a typical Meru. How so?
garbha garbhastham Hema bijam vibhavasoh. Silver is the seed of Siva. It promotes
A: This particular style of Meru was inspired by the design of the original that we
progeny and peace of mind, with fine arts and education. Copper destroys poverty unearthed here in 1984. It is embellished with the symbols of the Chatura Ayatana
and gives enough to survive above mere wants. Tin wards off and prevents evil (“Four Seats”) deities – Ganapathy at Nairuti (southwest), Vishnu at Ishanya
from happening. Thus we recommend bronze, an alloy of copper and tin as a good (northeast), Surya at Vayu (northwest) and Shiva at Agni (southeast). These four
choice for most. It can be plated with gold for better results. And in fact, Devipuram symbols, taken together with the Bindu (Devi), represent the Shakti Pancha Ayatanam
(“Five Seats of Shakti”). The Shakti Pancha Ayatanam are present right in the Meru
Merus are mostly available in this form.
itself, thus making it very unique. People doing Shakti Pancha Ayatana puja need not
We prefer bronze instead of panchaloha – where they say they put in some gold, but obtain each of the idols individually, as the Meru itself contains them all.
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Another unique feature is that the Meru I found had extra diamond-shaped plates making this a fault-free yantra, and moreover that it comes from the hands of a
above the star shapes having fourteen, ten, ten and eight corners. They served to Guru who received it directly from Kamakhya Devi at Devipuram.
demarcate the triangles from the undefined areas, which seemed so much more
Q: Have you personally found the Devipuram Maha Meru to be very
logical. This was unusual. In fact, it differs from most Sri Chakra Merus to the auspicious?
extent that I don’t know whether it can be called a conventional Sri Chakra Meru A: Yes indeed. When the first perfect sample came into my hands, the very next day
at all. But since I found it at the same place where I had darshan, I attach great I did a Chandi Yagna at Kalayarkovil near Madurai in a power factory, in the
significance to it. presence of a thousand people, and presided over by the Meru – demonstrating its
intention to supply power to the people. The next day it received puja at Madurai
And on the other hand there was the accuracy – three lines joined without forming
Meenakshi Amman Kovil, demonstrating Her powers of attraction to all beneficent
triangles – which was very good. This characteristic does qualify to make it a good
divinities. On the third day, it was taken to Kanya Kumari – showing Her potential
Sri Chakra. Finally, the Devipuram Meru is unique in the sense that a lot of care has to create oceans of beauty. And then it went ’round all the shakti kshetras made by
been taken to ensure that the yantra is accurate. That accuracy comes from the very Parashurama in God’s own land of Kerala, proof of the lineage it belongs to. Then
definition of the yantra found in the texts that define Sri Chakra in Hinduism and in Bangalore it witnessed a marriage of a computer professional. And finally it came
Vajrayana Buddhism. We spent a lot of time – about nine months – in checking to Devipuram for a Guru Puja Utsavams on Guru Poornami Day. Then Sringeri
out the precision of this yantra, which is manufactured in Bangalore with the help Peetha’s Vedic University received a second Meru for the Sharada Peetham at
of the former director (he has asked to remain anonymous) of a company known Sweta Srigachalam, on the banks of the Uttara Vahini Krishna River. What a
sequence of coincidences! I can only conclude that it was all planned by Her, not
for its accuracy and testing. This Meru has been made under his personal supervision,
me. All of these yagnas, and everywhere it went the highest good happened. I am
and with my guidance.
totally convinced about its nature and capacity to do good. I can, without the
So it can be said that a lot of technical time and effort have been invested into slightest doubt, recommend this Meru to everyone.
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