Friday, January 9, 2015

Why is Sri Vidhya known as "Sri" Vidhya

Sri Vidhya is Tantric system of worshiping Goddess. It is well developed form of Shakt Tantra. We have discussed about Das Mahavidhya earlier. Before understanding what is Sri Vidhya, lets understand why is Sri Vidhya known so. Lalita, Rajrajeshwari, Maha Tripursundari, Bala, Panchdashi and Shodashi are various forms of Sri Vidhya. Although they are same in their core and origin but represent various states and indicate different forms of consciousness. In Das Mahavidhya "Shodhashi" Vidhya is a form of Sri Vidhya.

Goddess of Sri Vidhya- Maha Tripura Sundari

Generally for Bhakt, the god or goddess he worships is the only one praise worthy, glorious and superior to Brahm. If we understand by this point of view, Kali, Shodashi, Tara and other Goddesses of Das Mahavidhya are same. There would be no need to understand various forms and represent various qualities of them. In a way it is also right for a Bhakt (Devotee) to regard  his God as superior to all. Like for a Bhakt of Tara, Tara Goddess will be superior to all other goddess of Das Mahavidhya and it cannot be seen as disrespectful or inappropriate. But so cannot be said about Sri-Vidhya its glory and importance is real and not Bhakti induced.

In Das Mahavidhya, the first three Goddess that are 1. Kali 2. Tara and 3. Shodashi are principal Vidhyas. From them emerge Nine Vidhyas and one ancient Vidhya together are known as Das Mahavidhya. In the root, three vidhya emerge from one. So in real core there is only one Vidhya that is Sri Vidhya. 

It is also known as Brahm Vidhya or Brahmamayi. The word Brahm Vidhya is mentioned in the end of every chapter of Bhagwat Gita. When we use the word Brahm Vidhya we are talking about the imperishable force that is the support and foundation of this whole universe. I will discuss later about why is Brahm Vidhya known as support and foundation of the whole universe. The word Sri Vidhya is percipient to Mantra of Sri Tripura Sundari and its ruler goddess. The most known meaning of word "Sri" is "Laxmi" but in Harinayat sanghita, Brahmandpuranoterkhand and in other Puranas, the stories mainly implicate "Sri" as Maha Tripura Sundari. MahaLakshmi was blessed to be known as "Sri" by Maha Tripura Sundari after she did a very long Sadhana of Maha Tripura Sundari. Since then Sri Word became synonymous to Maha Lakshmi. So the word Sri is ancillary word for Maha Lakshmi. It makes very clear that the Vidhya given by MahaTripura Sundari is "Sri Vidhya" As there is no difference between speaker and  voice so the ruler of the Mantra is also known as Sri Vidhya. Sri word is synomymous to superiority. Even in Shastra it is found that according to various classes of superiority Sri is added in front of the name 3, 4, 5 or 6 times. Now-a-days we see people adding even 1008 times Sri in front of their names. Understandably Sri means superior and worshippable. Although the most superior is Brahm, and word "Sri" gives us the hint of presence of Brahm Kala. Brahm Kala is present in some measure where Sri is used before names like Sri Vishnu, Sri Shiva, Sri Kali, Sri Durga, and many more. The cause of everything, Maha Tripura Sundari is the form of Brahm so she only known by word "Sri"
                                                        

                                                         सा हि श्रीरमृता सताम्