Varahi Amman, the boar-headed goddess, has been calling. And she is a force I can't ignore or avoid; she just doesn't permit that. Besides, it does not matter that I haven't directly invoked her.
It was on my yoga mat while moving from 1 asana to the next; she suddenly appeared in my head. I was startled because my sadhana has not directly included her.
This out is what Varahi Amman does. She seems to us in her mighty form, regardless of what our sadhana or life path. And when she does, we're educated and uprooted in each manner.
In the Devi Mahatmyam, she appears among those Saptha Matrikas (seven mom goddesses). These seven goddesses -- Brahmi, Maheshwari, Kaumari, Vaishnavi, Varahi, Mahendri, and Chamundi -- emanate in Devi's being, and they leap on to the battlefield in the great war against Shumbha and Nishumbha. Varahi moves powerfully throughout the asura armies, crushing them with the weapons she still wields in her many arms. The Matrikas function in cooperation, where each special force is amplified and synergistic with the others'.
This hymn includes the secrets of this world and our inner journey.
We can invoke Lalita Devi in various ways, among which she describes as the destroyer of the exceedingly wicked Bhandasura, a demonic being who chooses birth out of the ashes of Kamadeva (or the even Kama), a story that's inexorably entwined with that of Shiva and Shakti.
Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva are called the remarkable trinity, accountable for creating, destroying, and sustaining the universe. His absorption in meditation produced an excellent imbalance in the world.
Brahma and Vishnu encircle the fantastic Shakti and request her to help rouse Shiva out of his meditation. Shakti took birth as Sati, the immaculate daughter of Daksha, among Brahma's sons. Against Daksha's healthy wishes, Sati won the austere Shiva's core and married him, transforming him from a detached yogi to a husband. Shortly after the wedding, Daksha played an expansive fire ritual and invited luminaries from each of the worlds, except his daughter and son-in-law.
Despite Shiva's advice, Sati arrived at the ceremony, hoping that the absence of invitation was just an oversight on her father's part. Instead of inviting her, Daksha ashamed her marrying Shiva, the rogue yogi. Overcome with sadness, Sati stepped into the ritual fire also breathed her last after Shiva heard the information that he was beside himself with anger and despair.
In heavy mourning, Shiva wandered the world with Sati's body flung over his shoulder. Again out of balance by the withdrawal of Shiva's power, creation became chaotic. Wherever her flesh fell on Earth, a Shakti temple popped up (which stays intact to this day). Relieved at last of his burden and acute grief, Shiva returned to the Himalayas and immersed himself in meditation. The creation went farther out of balance.
To draw Shiva from his reverie and reestablish balance, Shakti took birth as Parvati, the Himalayas' beautiful daughter. Vishnu and the other deities billed the Kama with the job of arousing Shiva's desire. Kama's desire arrow found its mark -- Shiva opened his eyes to see the beautiful Parvati standing.
Even as his heart dissipates appetite, he switched around, looking for the origin of this disturbance. He spotted the Kama and incinerated him together with a single mad glimpse of his third eye. With the passing of appetite, production came to a whole standstill.
Parvati eventually won Shiva over, and compelled by her request, he consented to attract the Kama back to his first form. From the ashes of this handsome god appeared Bhandasura, a horrible demon. He terrorized the world by smothering desire out of it and making it impotent.
Once again, the gods invoked Shakti in a terrific fire ritual. She climbed from the flames as Lalitha Tripura Sundari and put out to destroy Bhandasura once and for everyone.
Bhandasura
Our Great Shadow Out of Devi's form appears a whole army of goddesses, including her prime minister, Matangi, and her commander-in-chief, Varahi Amman. Bhandasura's army is out strategically, and he's finally defeated. Devi, in her infinite compassion, absorbs him and the whole asura army into herself.
The Kama is attracted to existence in his original shape, much to the delight of his estranged spouse, Rati. Free at last, he inquires never to be away from Devi Lalitha along with the ever-compassionate Devi complies.
He becomes her servant, working through her five flower arrows that portray the charm of their five senses that keeps us helplessly in her playful dance as creation.
Symbolically speaking, Bhandasura is the absence of creative energy that fuels our desire to live.
The Kama represents the sexual drive that perpetuates creation and the spurt of creative energy responsible for each of our endeavors, be it as mundane as preparing a meal or as extraordinary as an inspired piece of art or poetry that wins the highest accolades.
With this energy, we would not have the motivation to get out of bed in the afternoon!
On the spiritual path, Bhandasura signifies the shadow of becoming stuck in our deep grooves of conditioning. When we respond to life patterns based on anxiety and anxiety, we become paralyzed, losing our ability to react in imaginative, ever-fresh ways untainted by previous experience or future expectations.
FROM WHO YOU WILL GET HELP AS PER ASTROLOGY?
Devi Lalitha comes to our rescue to resist the spell of inertia that Bhandasura inflicts upon us. He's not just mighty but also exceptionally cunning and devises countless ways to keep us trapped inside our limitations.
The two Matangi's intellect and Varahi Amman's strength are both much needed in this great war. Even though Matangi deftly dismantles Bhandasura's elaborate army formations (think of many ways to justify our motives to become stuck at our old habits), Varahi cleverly and forcefully unearths the enemies which lie concealed beneath the battlefield.
Often, our psychological, mental, and emotional patterns stay invisible to us after prolonged sadhana. The heavy karmic patterns which induce us will be hidden beneath the top. These patterns are supposed to remain hidden from our conscious understanding -- that they are formed in early childhood to protect our self-image. Our identity or ego consists of all of the things we think about ourselves and the world.
If my youth experience creates the unworthiness narrative, this belief in the absence of worth becomes my identity. Alongside other such views, it becomes the engine that drives my ideas and activities in everyday life.
Varahi Amman's Fierce Grace
Since Matangi's program goes into effect, our apparent non-serving patterns start to dissolve. But at various points on our journey, we can begin to feel stuck -- even when we know there is a deeper issue we need to be studying, we just can't figure out what that may be.
Varahi Amman comes to our rescue, digging our core issues and limiting stories along with her mighty tusks.
Coming face-to-face with our deep-rooted problems is not enjoyable. We can go through phases (days or months ) of physical and psychological fatigue from the sheer energy necessary to analyze these crippling beliefs and tales. Sometimes, Varah Ammani's digging may result in drastic changes in our lives and associations as the threads that hold the self-image collectively are unraveled.
Our bodies may start to feel distinct as the intensely held traumas are introduced. Our life management can change when the concepts we had been wedded to quit making sense. Most of all, as the self-image begins to crack, we could feel rudderless as we drop into an endless free fall. The proverbial rug is pulled out from underneath our feet as Varahi Amman proceeds to work.
When Varahi Amman begins to manifest into our lives, we all understand Shakti sadhana isn't easy. Devi's greatest blessing is self-discovery, at which people realize that her essence is what we are. In the process, she strips us everything which obscures this vital truth. The method of self-discovery is one of heavy excavation;
Varahi Amman is the kind of Devi that facilitates this not-too-pleasant process.
Can it be at the type of dark emotions like jealousy, rage, or panic, the inexplicable desire to draw from family members, the swirl of dark ideas that come from nowhere, or even the inability to undermine in stuttering connections? Varahi Amman calls out everything that's slowing down our progress within sadhana.
The moment those (and other) problems are driven to the outside, Matangi's mild wisdom might incinerate them to allow for Kama's innovative power to grow again. Through profound contemplation and self-inquiry from the context of profound meditation, we stay strong against Bhandasura's military.
Lalitha, like beauty, overpowers our limits so the impotent Bhandasura can be put to rest. At the area of his thick, dark energy, we are gifted with her lively sweetness, where every moment is experienced as an eruption of scintillating aliveness.
As with the rest of the goddesses of the Sri Vidya tradition, Varahi educates us on the disposition of the spiritual path -- the most profound truths require the most significant surrender.