MAHĀKĀLI DHYANAM
Meditation on Mahākāli
From the Devī Mahātmyam [Mārkendeya Purana]
Om Namaś Chaṇḍikāyai.
Om khaḍgaṁ chakra-gadeṣu-chāpa-parighāñ
chūlaṃ bhuśuṇḍīṁ śiraḥ
śaṅkhaṁ saṃda-dhatīṁ karai-stri-nayanāṁ
sarvāṅga-bhūṣāvṛitām
Nīlāśma-dyutimāsya pāda-daśakāṁ
seve Mahākālikāṁ
yāmastaut-svapite harau kamalajo
hantuṁ madhuṁ kaiṭabham.
Om Namaś Chaṇḍikāyai.
Om, I bow to the Goddess Chaṇḍikā.
Om, holding a scimitar, disk, mace, arrows and bow, lance, club, a skull and a conch shell in Her ten hands. The three-eyed goddess, Her body covered with ornaments, Her countenance with the brilliance of blue diamonds, with ten limbs. We offer our service to Mahākāli, She who Brahma praised for protection from the demons Madhu and Kaitava, when Vishnu was in sleep.
Om, I bow to the Goddess Chaṇḍikā.
Book 4/Chapter 7/1:55
On Ahamkara
1. Vyâsa said :-- O king! The Dharma's son, of excellent prowess,
hearing thus, the words of these damsels, thought within himself, thus :-- what
shall I do under the above circumstances.
2. If I indulge now in sexual pleasures, I will
be an object of laughter amongst the
Munis. This
present trouble has, no doubt, arisen from my Ahamkâra (egoism). This Ahamkâra
is the first and foremost in ruining one's Dharma.
3-5. The wise sages have declared this Ahamkâra as
the root of this tree of world. I did not observe the vow of silence on seeing
those damsels come here; I have held much conversations with them; therefore I
have got into this troublesome anxiety and sorrow. I have
created these damsels at the expense of my Dharma and Tapasyâ. The
beautiful and lovely damsels sent by Indra are now full of lust; and are bent
on ruining my tapasayâ. Now if through Ahamkâra I had not created the
damsels, I would not have fallen into
this difficulty. Now I am caught firmly in the meshes of my own
creation like a spider; what am I to do next!
6-7. If I abandon these damsels, thinking that
there is no necessity to reconsider the matter, then these would be broken
hearted; and they would go away cursing me?
Yet I would be free from this present danger at least and then be able
to practice excellent tapasyâ in a lonely place. Therefore, now, I will get angry and tell
these damsels go away from me.
8. Vyâsa said :-- O King! The Muni Nârâyana thought that he would
become thus happy; but, at the next moment, he discussed in his mind thus :--
9. The second great enemy is anger; it is greater
than causing hurt to others; and it is greater than lust and avarice.
10. Out of anger people commit murder; this murder
is the source of hell and is giving pains to all.
11. As trees, rubbing against each other, generate
fire; and are themselves burnt up in this fire, so fire arising from this body
ultimately burns this body to death.
12. Vyâsa said :-- The younger brother Nara on
seeing his elder brother anxious and low-spirited, spoke out what is right, as
follows :--
13. O Nârâyana!
You are very intelligent and very good; therefore reliquish this feeling
of anger and betake to quietude and peace, and kill the dreadful anger.
14. Do you not remember that it is through this
Ahamkâra and anger that our tapasyâ was destroyed on a previous occasion; and
we had to fight severely with Prahlâda, the Lord of the Asuras for one full
divine thousand years.
15-16. O Lord of the Devas! We were put to much difficulties then;
therefore O Lord of the Munis! Get rid
of this anger; be quiet! The sages
declare the peace is the root cause and the only object of Tapasyâ.
17. Vyâsa said :-- On hearing
these words of his younger brother Nara, the Dharma's son Nârâyana took to
peace.
18. Janamejaya said :-- O Lord of the Munis! The high souled Prahlâda was a devotee of
Visnu and of a peace loving heart: how it was that, in the ancient days, the
battle took place between him and these Risis; how could the Risis fight? There
is this great doubt in my mind.
19-20. These two Dharma's sons were ascetics and
peace loving; how the fight could come to pass between these and the
Daityâsuras? How did these two Risis fight with the high souled Prahlâda?
21-22. Prahlâda was very religious, full of knowledge
and very much devoted to Visnu. Nara Nârâyana were Sattvik and ascetics;
therefore if there had occurred enmity between those, it appears that the
religion and asceticism, Tapasyâ and Dharma were matters in name only; and the
labour was spent in vain in the golden age even. What was
the value of asceticism and meditation and muttering silently the mantras! No one can make out.
23. Oh! Persons
like them could not conquer their hearts full of anger and egoism! Anger and jealousy cannot spring unless there
be at the bottom a feeling of egoism (Ahamkâra).
24. All the passions, lust, greed, anger, etc. , come out of Ahamkâra (egoism), there is no
doubt of it; one hundred lakh years of severe asceticism are rendered quite
useless by the cropping up afterwards of a bit of Ahamkâra.
25. As darkness is dispelled entirely on sunrise,
so no trace of religious merit can exist on the rising of a bit of Ahamkâra.
26. When Prahlâda could fight with S'rî Bhagavân
Hari, then, Oh! all his merits in this world
are rendered of no use whatsoever.
27. Where is the religious merit and where is
peace when the quiet souled persons Nara Nârâyana, the two Risis began to
fight, without paying any heed to their highest end, the Tapasyâ?
28. When Ahamkâra became invincible by the two
Risis, then what can be expected from the weak trivial persons like us in the
matter of subjugating this Ahamkâra?
29. Who can be free from Ahamkâra in these three
worlds, when the high souled
persons like the
above were not free from it? I am now quite confident that, in this
Universe, nobody was
ever before free from Ahamkâra nor will there be any such in the distant future.
30. One can be free if bound by an iron or a
wooden chain; but when one is pierced by Ahamkâra, one can never become free
from it.
31. This whole Universe, moving and unmoving, is
rolling in this Samsâra (migration and transmigration) polluted by urine and
faeces, being covered by Ahamkâra.
32. Where is, then the Brahmâ Jñana? O Good One in
vows! The Karma theory,
according to the
Mimâmsakas, seems reasonable and true.
33. O Muni!
What can you expect from the weak-minded persons like me in this Kali yuga,
when the great persons are always overpowered with lust, anger, etc.
34-35. Vyâsa said :-- O Descendant of Bharata! How can the effect be different from its
cause? Gold and golden ear-rings though
different in form owing to upâdhis, are both similar to their original cause,
the metal gold. Thread is the cause of cloth; therefore as
cloth cannot be different from its thread, so this whole universe, moving and
unmoving, is sprung from Ahamkâra; then how can it be free from
Ahamkâra?
36. All this, moving and unmoving, including a
blade of grass, are fashioned out of the three qualities of Mâyâ; so if it be
formed of those qualities, what repentance can come to those who are wise and
know every phenomenon as unreal?
37. O Best of kings! Brahmâ, Visnu or Mahes'a, even these are all
rolling in this vast ocean of Samsâra, being bewildered and fascinated by
Ahamkâra.
38. The great sages like Vas'istha, Nârada and the
other Munis are frequently taking their births in this Samsâra.
39. In this Trilokî, there is not even one
embodied soul, who is entirely free from this Mâyâ and has become quiet and
immersed in the high bliss of the Supreme Self.
40. O Best of kings! Lust, anger, avarice, and fascination, all,
arise from Ahamkâra. These do not leave any embodied person.
41-42. Studying all the Vedas and Purânas, going to
all the sacred places pilgrimages, making charities, thinking on Paramâtman and
worshipping the gods, doing all these, the people still get attached to sensual
objects and act like a thief.
43. O Son of Kuru!
In the three yugas, the Satya, Tretâ, Dwâpara, Dharma had been pierced
and wounded very much; what to say of Dharma in this Kali Yuga!
44. You will find quarrels, avarice, anger raging
always in this Kali yuga. Therefore there is no wonder that you will not
find anyone thinking and doing what is worth thinking, and doing what is not
worth doing?
45. Free from envy, anger, and jealousy, such
persons are rare now-a-days in this Kali yuga.
Some peaceful persons exist here
and there to keep up the ideal.
46. The king said :-- O Muni! They are blessed and holy who are free from
this
fascination of Mâyâ,
self controlled, who have conquered their passions, and who
follow good conduct. They
have risen above the Trilokî.
47. O Best of Munis! My high minded father put a dead serpent
round the neck of an ascetic without any fault; I am very sorry to think of his
act.
48. Therefore, O Muni ! Kindly suggest any means by which I can now
redress that act. O Bhagavan! I do not know what will be the result of this
act, committed out of the bewildering of intellect.
49. Fools in search of honey see only honey before
them but not the falls, whence they might tumble down and die. So the
stupid men do disgraceful acts and do not get afraid of the tortures of hell.
50. Kindly describe, in detail, how the fight
incurred between Prahlâda and Nârâyana in ancient times.
51. How was it that Prahlâda went out of Pâtâla
(the nether regions) and went to the great holy place, the hermitage of
Badarikas'rama in the Sârasvata country, the great place for pilgrimage.
52. O Muni!
What was it that led the best of the Munis, the two ascetics to fight
with Prahlâda?
53. The enmity springs where there is wealth,
wife, or land. The two Maharsis were desireless, had nothing
of these; how, then, without any cause, they fought such a battle!
54. Prahlâda was also very religious and knew that
those two Risis were the Devas; knowing this, why did he fight with them?
55. So describe in detail the cause of all these.
Here ends the Seventh
Chapter in the 4th Book of S’rîmad Devî Bhâgavatam of 18,000 verses on Ahamkâra
by Maharsi Veda Vyâsa.
Source:
Translation of The Srimad Devi Bhagvatam by Swami Vijnanananda
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