Uni God principle first originated in the Vedas

Many people make fun of Hinduism for worshipping many Devataas. And I have also been ridiculed at for saying that we have 33 crores of Devataas. Indeed we have affluence in the aspect of deities also. We have millions of deities but God is one and only one.In fact God pervades the entire Universe whereas Devataas do not mean God(Eeshwara). There is a root word ‘div’ which means that which illumines itself, or illuminates something else. So whatever illumines itself, or illuminates something else are all Devataas. Then a doubt may arise in our mind as to how come God is only one? God is like electricity. What is the nature of electricity? Everyone knows that electricity has no form or shape. Where does one find electricity?It is available everywhere. Now let us presume that God is like electricity. So what are the different ways through which God works? On the T.V, it helps us view the cinema, through the tape recorder, it helps you to listen to music, through the fan, it gets you wind, through the A.C, it makes you cool. But are these the different forms of electricity? You can either answer positively or negatively.

Sword

Like this, another weapon in the hands of the Bhadrakali is the sword. The sword can be seen in many temples. In fact in some temples, there is a custom of taking the sword in procession. What in fact, is the sword ? Today, what many people generally lack is self confidence. The reason for the alarming increase in the number of suicides is this lack of self confidence. People are not confident of saying that they are capable of doing such and such job. Lack of self confidence means that they are incapable of facing the realities of life. In short they are fearful and anxious about their future. The sword is a symbolic representation of annihilating this fear-this ignorance called ‘ lack of self confidence’. Also to get rid of all the obstacles in the path of life. A person who worships this Goddess who has a sword in Her hands , never has to face the element called fear in life. Another weapon is the leather shield . One’s life is not to be wasted by making it a failure when confronted with problems of day to day life.
We need the efficiency to resist them. And this leather shield is the weapon to resist them .So the
sword is to annihilate the obstacles in life and the
leather shield is to resist them

In short, it means that the weapons of this deity are the symbols of success made in life by the Keralites. The trident which symbolizes will power, power of knowledge and the power to act or create. Kapalam which contains knowledge the ‘somam’ which contains the knowledge, the sword capable of annihilating the obstacles and the shield which helps to resist them. These are the weapons of the family deity or Kuladevata of Kerala. According to the entomology of the word Kuladevata, it originated from the word ‘kaulam’ Those who follow the Kaula practice belong to the ‘Kulams’. The state in which Siva and Parvathy are in separable. Thus the Kuladevata is the inspiration to achieve success in life by awakening the innate creative potential in oneself. This fact is mentioned in the text called ‘Sivasukta’. The interpretation ‘Vimarsini’ by Kshemarajan on the Sivasukta also states this fact clearly.

However, the strong propaganda that no Aacharanam is necessary has indeed made a deep impact on us . We generally say that God dwells at the bosom of each and everyone. But without grasping the deeper inner meaning, the propaganda spread like wildfire that if God is dwelling in our hearts then there is no need of lighting the lamp., no need of doing pooja and so on .If God dwells in our hearts, then what is the problem of visualizing him everywhere? If God dwells in our hearts, then you can see Him wherever you look for Him. One who cannot take the trouble of looking for Him goes on saying that God need only dwell in the heart , because of the fact that he cannot do anything except sit idle.
To experience God anywhere and everywhere, one should experience Him in one’s own heart. How can you see Him there? There is only one answer. You have to spend at least a few minutes a day to identify Him. The Vedas proclaim that God is omnipotent or that God is everywhere.
“ Sarvam khallwatham Brahma
Ekam satvipraha bahudhavadanthi
Ekam santham bahudha kallayami ”
One can see many declarations as mentioned above .Brahman is everywhere. The very one is named in a variety of ways by the rational minds. In short we can say that God is visualized in many ways and forms.

Trishulam - The Trident

There is a usage “Devadeva Trisulanga”, in the ‘ Vynanabhairava Tatra’ . Trident is described as the weapon of Bhairavam( sloka – 22 ). One who produces the terrible ‘ravam’/ sound is Bhairavam. In Vedic context, the meaning
of Bhira is ‘ Rudra’ . The trident has three prongs. This text
clearly staes that the trident represents these three
qualities namely- will power, the power of knowledge
and the power to perform .

The names – ‘ ichchashakti’ , ‘jnanashakti’, ‘ kriyashakti swaroopini’, in the Lalithasahasranaamam, also makes this idea clear.
The will power or desire is very necessary to achieve success in life. Majority of people commit suicide just because they are not able to confront the minor problems in their life. One who has will power will never be affected by these problems, and will easily overcome them. Tremendous will power is needed to make life a joyful celebration.. Then, there will only be success in our life. Today, there are various classes on personality development conducted all over our country.But the basic lessons, regarding all this are learnt from the family deity. The first prong in the Kuladevata’s hand represents will power. The second prong denotes the power to perform. Nowadays we can see a procession of unemployed people all over the country. Those who do not have the will power or intense desire, will not have the power to perform or create also.It is with intense determination that we should enter our field of work and we should be determined to achieve success in life. The third prong of the trident represents the power of knowledge. Without knowledge, we cannot do anything with originality. Kuladevata advises us to be active and not to waste our time being inactive. The trident, which is the second aspect of Bhadrakali, thus helps the Sadhaka to ascend the ladder of success in life.

The mystery behind the skull-garland of Bhadrakali

There is much difference of opinion on the garland of human skulls worn around the neck of the Goddess Bhadrakali, not only among the people of the West ,but also among the Orientals. In fact these skulls represent the 52 letters of the Sanskrit language. The proclamation “Hari Sree Ganapathaye Namah”, is nothing but the vow to the effect that one is ready to study all the 52 letters of the language. This mysterious code is deciphered using the ‘ KAPATAYATI ’ method. In fact, the word ‘Kapalam’ does not mean the human skull at all. As per the ‘ Tantrakasa’, the letter ‘Ka’ means ‘Parashakthi’ and ‘Pala’ means to abide by or adhere to. So the meaning of the word ‘ kapalam’ can be understood as the merger or union of Shiva and Shakthi. No wonder that Kalidasan has said that the relation between the word and its meaning is like that of ‘Parvathi Parameshwara’ relationship. All the poets including even Kalidasa, knew well that the skull worn by Bhadrakali strewn in the form of a garland depicted the knowledge of the letters. Sir John Woodraff has authored a book ‘ The Garland of Letters’, which deals at length with the knowledge and intellectual understanding of alphabetic letters. He emphasizes that the skull-garland of Bhadrakali is a euphemism. Nandikeshwaran, who is credited with the interpretation of Panini’s ‘Vyakaranasutram’ makes it very clear that he is also of the same opinion. But it is a dramatic irony that many could not decipher this great and mysterious code. In fact , at a glance, the ‘Kapalam’ in the hands of Bhadrakali is a symbolic representation of the knowledge of the letters.
When Sadhana is performed with deep and true intensity, nectar starts exuding from the Brahmarantras situated in the brain. This flowing nectar is called ‘Somam’.There is a mention in the RigVeda about this.( Rig 10 – 5 – 3 ). It is generally believed that ‘Somam’ is the crushed juice of the raw herbs. This is drunk by the common man. But the somam known to Vedic exponents is beyond the reach of the common man. This somam is the causative factor for the origin of language. At another context in the Rig Veda ( Rig 10 -7 -14 ), which states as follows – One cannot understand the meaning of the word in spite of looking at the word, another cannot hear it , in spite of listening to it, but the one who has understood the true meaning is the blessed one. For him, the Goddess of learning throws open and offers Her Real Self. In other words, she offers her genious( pratibha), just like an exhilarated, devoted wife, who is longing to attain her beloved during the mating period. Those who worship Bhadrakali achieve such pratibha( genious). There is an excellent description about this Mahabharata ( Vanaparvam – 229 ). The word ‘pratibha’ means – light, that light which is produced in the intellect of the listener , by the word which travels from the producer of the word and enters the listener’s intellect.. This is the flower which is blossomed out of this Sadhana. Again at another context in the Rig Veda ( Rig -10 – 125 – 5 ), listen to the Goddess of words-“ It is me and me alone, who says this fact which is dear to human beings, and the Devas ; Listen; He whom I desire, I will make him brilliant and powerful, the knower of all Vedas, a Rishi and a genious.”
It was for acquiring this genious , that all the people of India performed Sadhana. When this practice deteriorated, our decline started.. The transformation Bhadrakali to the family deity, the kapalam in the hands of the Bhadrakali and the ‘somarasam’ contained in the kapalam-all these were nothing but a euphemism (beautiful, figurative usage of the language). It is because of the same reason that we have references in the Lalithasahasranaamam as follows-

Sarvajnayai Namah
Vaagwadinai Namah
Vidyayai Namah
Srividyayai Namah.

Vettakkorumakan

All the spiritual texts proclaim that Shiva resides at the lotus of the Shasraara. This Shiva is nothing but pure Brahma. It has no colour, no form, no shape, no size nor any specific qualities attached to it. But to communicate with this Shiva, seated at the lotus at the Shasraara, there is no specific medium for the common man. Then, the only means possible is ,to bring the Shiva from the Shasraara to the Vishudhi chakram which is situated at the site of the heart. In other words, the bringing of Eeshwara (God) suited to one’s own needs, “ Hriddesha Pratishtikam”, so says the Geetha. In books like the
‘ Lalithasahasranaamam’, there is a usage- “Hridayavananthare”, which means , towards the interior of the forest of the heart. To be more specific, the heart is considered to be a wild forest. There are animal instincts lying hidden in every man, to some extent , what so ever. It gets transformed into selfishness, narrow-mindedness, cruelty and various other thoughts. The Sadhaka-the spiritual seeker, brings God into this forest, to share with Him, his visual flow of thoughts and feelings. To put it simply, the devotee sitting in this dense forest called heat, is actually a rustic, and one who is communicating with none other than the Eeshwara in rustic form. The Sadhana or meditation on this rustic form of Shiva has created the above said ‘Vettakkorumakan’ form.

The story of the Yakshi that dwells in the palm tree

We have already talked about the Yaksha who dwells at the thousand petalled lotus , called the Sahasraaram. It might appear surprising strange, when most of us say that the Yakshi dwells in the palm tree. How come that the Keralalites believed the palm tree to be the dwelling place of the Yakshi. To be on the palm tree , these Yakshis should have been either drunkards or toddy-tappers, which they were definitely not so. Then what inspired the Keralites to transfer the residence of this Yakshi to the palm tree? Here is the answer. ‘Yakshan’ means Paramaatman –God supreme. Just because God does the stupendous job of creation called Yajna, he gets the name Yaksham. To be more clear, one who does ‘yajna’ is called a ‘yaksham’. The female of a ‘yaksham’ is ‘yakshi’. In other words, the place where a yajna is performed is known as the ‘yakshi’. Perhaps, it was when the idea of ‘yajna’ eventually deteriorated to the level of an act ,of ‘sucking out human blood after making one do the maximum work’, that the heinous word ‘yakshi’ took the place of the word ‘yajna’. Later the planting of palm trees , the leaves of which were used for writing, became a regular feature. Hence, when the place where ‘yajna’ was performed became ‘yakshi’ and in that ‘yakshi’ palm trees thrived, eventually this transformation took place. That is the horror story of the blood sucking ‘yakshi’ which dwells in the palm tree. The story of ‘Vettakkorumakan’ is another story much more interesting than this.

Secret of harinama keerthanam:an ancient treatise in malayalam

That in which lies the eight chakras and nine ‘dwaaraas’ is the dwelling ,city or town of the Devas . The chamber that is lit up there ,is the brilliantly scintillating heaven. In that flood of light , there are three central axis, installed in three places. The Brahmajnanis experience the Yaksha ( God supreme) dwelling there. It is said that , that which has eight chakras and nine ‘dwaaraas’ is called Ayodhya. It means that Ayodhya .is a place where there is no enemity. The eight chakras are Mooladhaaram, Swadhishtanam, Manipoorakam, Suryachakram, Anahatha chakram, Vishudhi chakram and the Sahasraara chakram. This version of Atharva Veda is depicted by the great writer Ezhuthachan, in his ‘Harinamakeerthanam’ as follows

This Kundalini and the eight chakras finds a place in all the shastras, beginning from the great ocean of Vedas to the ‘Harinamakeerthanam’ chanted at dusk. These Brahmajnanis
were able to visualize God in various ways and at various realms. They were also able to bring down this endless divine grace and use it in the most simple ways to bring amazingly abundant prosperity in their daily lives, by overcoming the day to day obstacles that they confronted.