Sri Gurubhyoh namah Harih Om Tat Sat
SriSri TaraSaranam
Bodhan
Pravachan vol 3: 149. Haimavati, Shillong, 22.9.63.
Satya,
Let me say a few words today about Bodhan.
Immediately the question arises, How could there be the Bodhan or Awakening of the Devi [Durga]? Is She sleeping? She is the Consciousness of all beings, so what can this "sleep" and "awakening" mean?
We have to analyze the issue from our point of view, i.e. from the position of the sadhaka, the spiritual seeker. Rupa Goswami had said, "Nityasiddhasya bhAvasya prAkatyam hrdi sAdhyatA"----- To make the timeless ever-perfect, Pure Consciousness clearly manifest in the seeker's heart is the goal to be achieved.
Therefore, 'She *[G1] is indeed always awake, but I am the one who cannot understand': the very attempt to grasp this concept is Bodhan. Really, then, it is not the Bodhan or Awakening of Devi but that of my own heart!
The concept of Bodhan comes to us from yet another context [the Vedic worship of internal and external luminosity, my note]. During the period of uttarAyana or the Sun's movement towards its longest day, the gods remain awake, this period being their "day." And during the DakshinAyana, [when the Sun traverses the path to its 'death', the solsticial point] the gods sleep, this period being their "night." This alternation of 'day' and 'night', this too is from the perspective of my consciousness.
The Vedas hold the worship of the Adityas paramount.** The Aditya visible to us we recognize as the Supreme Radiance, paramajyoti. I make (him, That) one with my own consciousness. We see a waxing and waning of that radiance during the Uttarayana and Dakshinayana. Actually, the Supreme Radiance is beyond such. But it is true that on the relative plane, we observe such an ebb and flow. When the radiance waxes ever stronger, Nature herself aids my spiritual efforts. In the waning phase, nature is not clement ay more but hostile.
Within that decay, through sheer valor, solely through one's own strength one has to keep the Light alive in one's heart. The ceremony of Bodhan is a strong suggestion to us, all spiritual seekers, to arouse this strength and courage from OUR side.
Why Bodhan on Sashthi tithi, the 6th day of the waxing lunar phase?
The 15 tithis or lunar "days" comprising each half of the lunar cycle are divided into thirds comprising pentads named sequentially: nandA, bhadrA, jayA, riktA, and pUrNA. The three stages or bhumi-s of consciousness map to this tripartite arrangement of pentads.
At the first, our consciousness of self is not awake, but She remains ever so and the work cyclic existence goes on without a hitch. This is Her activity beyond our ken--such as that in our infancy. In the second bhumi or stage, or consciousness of self awakens. Only then can sadhana, effective spiritual striving, begin, becoming self-conscious. Therefore, Bodhan, a rite of awakening, only now becomes relevant.
Sashthi, the 6th lunar day [when Bodhan takes place] is known as the NandA tithi, signifying Devi NandA. NandA Devi means She who is Joyous, Anandamayi. Her form is that of bAlikA, a little girl 4-5 years old [spontaneously joyous]. In the BhadrA tithi, She is Devi Sumangala, her aspect a kishori, less than 9 years old. In JayA, She emanates Her form of Power, Shakti, and appears as a taruNI, prepubescent teen. In RiktA She is Yogini, a pubescent teen, in PUrNA, a fully developed young woman.
One should meditate on the inherent perpetuity of time, or the inherent continuity of cyclic existence in this way*** From Sashthi to Dashami, Her [Devi Durga] worship is carried out in this mode.
Why Bodhan under a Bilva/Bael-fruit tree?
The shastras peak of the sanctity of certain species of trees. The "purusa-dominant" among this fall into the class of brahmavrksas whiles the "prakrti" or "shakti" dominant species are known as kulavrksas. The Bale belongs to both classes but is a special kulvrksa. Here is its rahasya, subtle and esoteric mysteries:
The Devi's iconic Form as Yantra is created by merging two triangles, one with its vertex pointing up, the second with the vertex down. For the first, imagine Her face [at the apex] and her two breasts [one each at the base] forming the three points of the triangle. This upward facing triangle is known a Her Agni form. The downward facing triangle represents her yoni and is Her Soma form. The Bael leaf is composed of three leaflets just like the Durva grass [Cynodon dactylon] and the trident or Trishul. So the Bael leaf is a symbolic representation of the Mother's yoni, the fruit Her breasts. Her Face must be imagined located somewhere in the tree's crown. The Bael tree holds within itself the complete representation of the Mother's Yantra, the union of the upper and lower triangles.
Moreover, covered with spines the bael tree is untouchable. In other words, the Devi here is the Unapproachable, Inviolable Kumari Virgin. This represents her BrahmabhAva, Brahman aspect. In this one tree, there has occurred the union of Agni-Soma and Brahma-Shakti. Therefore, meditating on one's own body as this tree, one must perform Devi's Bodhan at the root, i.e. the muUladhAra chakra. This is the rahasya of the Bodhan.
Swami Satyananda was a student of Sri Anirvan at S. Nigamananda's ashram near Jorhat, Assam. He became a trusted confidant of his former instructor after Sri Anirvan left the ashram and struck out on his own. Their friendship lasted all their lives.
bengali is a non-gendered language. The persona pronouns for the Absolute Consciousness, "God" etc. are left deliberatey vgue by Anirvan throughout hiswritings by the us of "tini" and "tanr", the honorific "That person." In this way, the bengali reader gets a snse of what he is trying to convey without being bogged down in the minutiae of the exact cosmogony, of exactly which particular level of Cosciousness i being indicated. All three levels are A's favored mode.
however, English andmny inia languages are genered and force once to make a choice, as if asking one to mae a dfinite staement about the sbject. The deliberate 'fzziness" is lost, and lss clarity is created in the process!! I sall try to translate this particulr letter fr itsgenera meaning and make it a "quick & dirty" job because today is the Bodhan. Fine detail can come later.
**"seven deities of the heavenly sphere RV. ix , 114 , 3 , &c. S3Br. iii , 1 , 3 , 3 (the chief is Varuna , to whom the name Aditya is especially applicable ; the succeeding five are Mitra , Aryaman , Bhaga , Daksha ; that of the seventh is probably Surya or Savitri ; Monier Wiliams
Sri Anirvan with Gauri & G autam Dharmapal : Evernew Vedic Wedding ; Saptarshi Prakashan, Kolkata; p.94:
Vishnu the Sun advances from the darkness below the horizon to midday....seven steps... seven gods... Twin Ashvins, i.e. riders, SavitA the Iimpeller, Usha the Dawn, Bhaga the breaker of horizon, PushA Nourisher, Surya the Propeller nd Vishnu the all-pervadingl light.
Pravachan vol 3: 228-229: TrisuparNAmantrAh (Taittiriya AraNyaka 38-40)
[G1] Swami Satyananda was a student of Sri Anirvan at S. Nigamananda's ashram near Jorhat, Assam. He became a trusted confidant of his former instructor after Sri Anirvan left the ashram and struck out on his own. Their friendship lasted all their lives.
bengali is a non-gendered language. The persona pronouns for the Absolute Consciousness, "God" etc. are left deliberatey vgue by Anirvan throughout hiswritings by the us of "tini" and "tanr", the honorific "That person." In this way, the bengali reader gets a snse of what he is trying to convey without being bogged down in the minutiae of the exact cosmogony, of exactly which particular level of Cosciousness i being indicated. All three levels are A's favored mode.
however, English andmny inia languages are genered and force once to make a choice, as if asking one to mae a dfinite staement about the sbject. The deliberate 'fzziness" is lost, and lss clarity is created in the process!! I sall try to translate this particulr letter fr itsgenera meaning and make it a "quick & dirty" job because today is the Bodhan. Fine detail can come later.
**"seven deities of the heavenly sphere RV. ix , 114 , 3 , &c. S3Br. iii , 1 , 3 , 3 (the chief is Varuna , to whom the name Aditya is especially applicable ; the succeeding five are Mitra , Aryaman , Bhaga , Daksha ; that of the seventh is probably Surya or Savitri ; Monier Wiliams
Sri Anirvan with Gauri & G autam Dharmapal : Evernew Vedic Wedding ; Saptarshi Prakashan, Kolkata; p.94:
Vishnu the Sun advances from the darkness below the horizon to midday....seven steps... seven gods... Twin Ashvins, i.e. riders, SavitA the Iimpeller, Usha the Dawn, Bhaga the breaker of horizon, PushA Nourisher, Surya the Propeller nd Vishnu the all-pervadingl light.
Pravachan vol 3: 228-229: TrisuparNAmantrAh (Taittiriya AraNyaka 38-40)
***Shaktas also divide each day and each night into these parts
