There is a shrine to Shankara at the Sri Vidya temple down in
Kanchipuram peeth, wherein lies the Sri Cakra or Sri Yantra. And, Swami
Rama recounted in his book,'Living With the Himalayan Masters', a
direct, first hand account of Guru Dev having a Sri Yantra in his
possession.
Apparently the 33rd Shankaracharya of the Sringeri Matha died before he
could give all the initiations to the 34th, his successor. However, the
33rd is reputed to have said: "Worship of Sri Yantra is a must for the
Swamis of the peetha."
According to an authority on the subject, normally the Sri Vidya
mantropadesa would be done by the guru, but Narasimha Bharati had passed
away before his disciple arrived at Sringeri. Hence the mantropadesa was
done by Srikanta Sastri. He had been initiated into it by Narasimha
Bharati Mahaswami the34th. The Pontiff's rein was from 1912 to 1953, so
he was a contemporary of SBS. The 33rd. was Sri Narasimha Bharati
Mahaswami, making him a contemporary of SBS's guru, Swami Krishananda
Saraswati.
So, let's go figure.
It's a fact that the principal deity, Saradambal, the Goddess of
Learning, is a focus of a mighty spiritual force. According to my
informant, Saradamba, by all legendary accounts, is a deity of Kashmir
who was literally brought down to the south of India by Adi Shankara -
he installed the idol made of sandalwood on a Sri Yantra drawn by himself.
So, here we have Shankara installing an IDOL of a Kashmiri Goddess on a
Sri Yantra as the MAIN DEITY of the matha!
On 10/7/2013 3:58 PM, s3raph...@yahoo.com wrote:
So if I'm following your post correctly that means Guru Dev's own
initiation into meditation was essentially an initiation into
"transcendental meditation" (before it had that name obviously) - just
like you and me! Would that have been just a beginner's technique
which he would later have abandoned? And, if so, are there details of
what his later practice was?
Are you saying then that Guru Dev was also in the Sri Vidya sect?
Do you remember that paranoid story fed to Earl Kaplan: "It is
believed that Mahesh had Guru Dev poisoned. During the funeral he then
went back to Jyotir Math and stole the most powerful spiritual
artifact Guru Dev had created, a gold and jeweled Shri Yantra." If
Guru Dev was linked to a Sri Vidya sect it's quite likely he would
have had a Sri Yantra isn't it? And that he would have been conversant
with Tantric weirdness?
---In fairfieldlife@yahoogroups.com, <punditster@...> wrote:
So, where did the meditation of SBS come from?
Meditation is a technique that is common all over India, especially in
the sect of the Sri Vidya. In that tradition they meditate on the bija
mantra of Saraswati. It's the same bija mantra given out in TM
initiation. It's the same technique - it's a meditation using a bija
mantra of Saraswati.
Let's review what we know about SBS.
Rajaram Mishra, later to become Swami Bramhananda Saraswati, was born on
Thursday, 21 December, 1868 in village Gana, which is close to the city
of Ayodhya, in North India. Rajaram was enrolled at the Sanskrit
Institute at Kashi at the age of eight and later became a student of
Swami Krishnananda Saraswati of Utter Kashi.
http://www.paulmason.info/gurudev/parampara.html
Are we agreed so far?
So, we can assume that the SBS learned meditation from SKS who was
initiated by his guru. All the gurus in the Saraswati lineage meditate
on the bija of Saraswati. Their headquarters is at Sringeri. According
to the Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath, the meditation technique used in TM
originated with the Vedic sage Naryana. It's the same meditation that is
used by all the Shankaracharyas in that lineage.
So, the TM bija mantras came from SBS, who was a member of the dasanami
order of the Saraswati dandi sannyasins, founded by the Adi Shankara.
So, what do we know about the Saraswati Dasanamis?
In addition to twice daily meditation on the bija mantra of Saraswati,
the dasnamis of the Saraswati Order perform the Saraswati Puja on the
5th day of month of Magha month, known as Basant Panchami. The Dandi
sannyasins of the Saraswati Order in the Shankaracharya tradition are
termed Gyan Yogis, and they all worship the Goddess of Knowledge and
Learning, Sri Saraswati.
All of the Saraswati dasanamis are adherents of the Sri Vidya sect and
they follow the teachings contained in the Sound Arya Lahari which was
composed by the Adi Shankara, containing the fifteen bija mantras.
According to Vedanta, Saraswati is considered to be the feminine energy,
or Adi Shakti of Brahman. Sri Vidya - Auspicious Knowledge. In Advaita
Vedanta, Sri Vidya is considered the symbol of the Transcendental
Absolute.
Let's now review what we know about Saraswati:
Saraswati is enthroned at the Sringeri Matha in Karnataka, South India,
founded by the Adi Shankara in the ninth century AD. At Sringeri,
Shankara placed the image of Saraswati, which he had brought from
Kashmere. She is seated on top of the Sri Yantra in a meditative posture
and depicted as having four arms. In each hand respectively she holds
the book of Knowledge (Yajur Veda), the mala, symbolising deep
meditation, a pot, and a vina. Go figure.
"During the same period, the dominant Saiva doctrine in Kashmere was the
Saiva Siddhanta, whose particular dualistic of the SvT was countered by
later Trika nondualism, in the form of a (later authoritative)
commentary on the text by Abhinavagupta's pupil Ksemaraja (fk. A.D.
1000-50). The new nondualism also entered the Srividya's Kaula cult of
the goddess Tripurasundari, which became popular in Kashmir during the
eleventh century. By the twelth century, this cult has spread to the
Tamil country, where it continues to thrive" (178-79)."
Work cited:
'The Alchemical Body'
Siddha Tradtions in Medieval India
By David Gordon White
University of Chicago Press, 1996
