CHINNAMASTA DEVI
Chinnamasta- which literally means " severed head"-is perhaps the most
frightening or disturbing form of goddess.She has cut off her own head, holding it in her right hand,with it drinks the blood
flowing from her own severed neck.Yet her face is not frightening but happ even blissful.What she presents is the joy of transcending
THE BODY,NOT THE PAIN OF LOSING IT.SHE IS ALSO MOST ENERGETIC FORM OF THE GODDESS & shows the power of transformation
in action.
Hence the severed head is not dead but in fact more alive.Consciousness is not
limited to the body.It is sphere of perception that dwells in the head but can function on its own apart from the body.Only
when separated from the body consciousness does awareness attain its real life & freedom.compared to which body consciousness
has always been symbolized as a cage or tomb.In the body, consciousness is confined to the limited realm of the senses &
their outward grasp.Liberated from the body consciousness has the vision of infinity which includes the entireuniverse as
itself.
When the idea of going beyond body consciousness can be frightening to us, the
idea of remaining bound to body consciousness--& hence to time of death--should be more frightening.As it is we are all
trapped in the dense realm of physical matter,limited to the windows of the senses for whatever restricted & often misleading
information we get. We only experience that portion of the infinite light of reality which can be refracted through the narrow
openings of our senses.The pleasure of body can bring us is much less than the pain,sorrow & disease.And we are condemned
to repeated birth & death until we work our way out of the body cocoon.
From this state of entrapment in the limited sensitivity of the gross flesh,
the goddess Chinnamasta appears as the great liberator & savioress.In her ecstasy as the eternal she can drink all the
blood,all the joys & sorrows of embodied life.She can absorb all the experiences of time.though fierce in form she
represents the most beneficent of energies of the universe.
PRACHANDA CHANDIKA
Chinnamasta is called prachanda chandika or the fiercest form of kali.she is
closely related to kali but is the specific application of kali's energy directed toward the actual moment of transformation.She
is also related to Bhairavi & to the dynamic forces of the atmosphere. while chandi destroys the demons, prachanda chandi
destroys the ultimate demon or negative entity, "THE EGO" .When this is destroyed all negativity is forever eliminated.
Chinnamasta is vidyut or lightning, the electrical energy of transformation
working in the cosmos on all the levels.The electricity in the material world & space is only one form of this.In
the mind it functions as the power of instantaneous enlightenment. while kali rules over this force generally, chinnamasta
represents the same force directed as the weapon of the supreme for the immediate transformation,she is the lightening bolt
of insight which destroys the powers of the ignorance & lift us beyond the skies.As lightning, chinnamasta represents
direct perception,pure seeing which cuts through everything & reveals the infinite beyond all forms. She represents the
atman-yajna or self sacrifice where in we offer ourselves to the divine through the sacrifice of the mind.
CHINNAMASTA & KUNDALINI
According to the yogic science there are three knots or granthis which prevent
the movement of energy from flowing up the sushumna of the subtle body.these three Brahman-Granthi in the root chakra which
represents our bondage to speech,The Vishnu -Granthi in the heat chakra showing our bondage to emotions & the rudra Granthi
in the third showing the bondage to the thought processes.chinnamasta represents the piercing of the Rudra-granthi or
the knot in the head,allowing us to transcend thought, the mind & body consciousness altogether.
Chinnamasta thus represents he free flow of energy through the sushumna.she
s the kundalini shakti flowing upward from the base of the spine to burst open the crown chakra & stream out into
the infinite & thus bringing the transformation in the individual.
Meditating on Chinnamasta we can raise the kundalini directly from the third
eye.chinnamasta is thus sacred to the siddhas who have rent asunder the veil of the mind.the way to the realms or lokas of
the siddhas is through her.those seeking to contact the siddhas in the siddhaloka should worship her. chinnamasta is
the great yogini.she is the yoga shakti or the power of yoga, hence known as vajra yogini,para dakini, the supreme or foremost
of the Dakinis the attendant goddesses on the yogis path.As she is worshipped by those seeking yogis & occult powers.
LOCATION IN THE BODY
Chinnamasta relates to the third eye (Ajna Chakra) which is her chief place
of action.She represents the third eye from which comes the lightning of direct that destroys all duality & negativity.As
the upward movement of the vital vayus or airs which the yogis seek to develop she is Udana vayu.
MEDIATION FORM
CHINNAMASTA HAS THE NAKED HEADLESS BODY & IN HER TWO HANDS HOLDS HER
OWN SEVERED HEAD & A SWORD.With her severed head via a long & stretched tongue, she ecstatically drinks the central
stream of blood which flows from her headless trunk.the severed head is located in her right hand,often portrayed as placed
inside a skull cap.Her body is that of a girl of 16 years of age adorned with a garland of severed heads & neckless
of bones.She wears a serpent as sacred thread on her upper torso & she has large breasts which are covered by lotus
flowers.Her hairs are spread out in the strands like lightning & adorned with various flowers with a single gem tied by
a serpent as a cord at the top.she has two companions called Dakini & Varian to her left & right.she dances on the
bodies of kama,the god of love & his consort RAti,who are in sexual embrace.
The central spurt of blood represents the flow of divine energy through the
central channel or sushumna.The right & left flows show the solar & lunar channels, the pingala & ida.chinnanmasta,
personifying the sushumna, drinks the central system( as done by advanced yogis)Varini personifying the pingala, drinks the
right stream.Dakini personifying the Ida drinks the left stream.the couple below her in a sexual embrace shows the inner union
of the male & female energies in the psyche.Her cut off head is the liberated consciousness.
MANTRA
Chinnamasta has an extended mantra of 15 syllables.It is based on her Vajra
Vairochani,the effulgent lightning bolt of direct perception.Its prime seed is HRIM.
"OM SRIM HRIM HRIM AIM VAJRA-VAIROCANIYAI HUM HUM PHAT SVAHA"
MEDITATION APPROACHES
She is the main form of goddess for those who practice yoga of knowledge (Gyana
Yoga) as she represents the state of seeing. Chinnamasta as Yogini aids us in all yogic practices,particularly those which
require mastering the Kundalini Shakti. The best worship of chinnamasta, is one should meditate upon the seer & withdraw
one's attention from the objects seen.
PRACHANDA CHANDI MODERN SEER IS "GANAPATI MUNI" WHO EXPERIENCED IN HIS OWN LIFE
THE BREAKING OF SKULL . AFTER THIS EVENT A COLOUMS OF VAPOR OR ELECTRICAL ENERGY WAS OBSERVED COMING FROM HIS HEAD WHICH THE
DISCIPLES & YOGIS NOTICED.
