Devi Mahatmyam Glory of The Divine Mother Edited With Original Sanskrit Text and Commentaries and Meanings in English

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Thus, worship of Sakti is the life-breath of our great Dharma. Worshippers of the Divine Mother are spread everywhere in India, from Kashmir to Cape Comorin, from Bengal to Kerala. There are many sacred texts and many well- trodden paths which are Mother. Even so, there is a sacred text which occupies a special capable of bringing the grace of the place, a scripture of undying fame. Crowning all Tantric literature and tradition, it acts as a touchstone to all the doctrines established by them. It is a great Sadhana Sastra, practical science, teaching how to approach with special privilege and win the favour of the unique manifestation of the Mother, Durga whose name signifies that she is not easily approachable, dukhena gantum sakya. The text is Devi Mahatmya, Saptasati. Verily, this scripture can claim to be the repository of Mantras and this commands a very high position amongst the Tantric texts as in each chapter are mentioned covertly many Mantras.

As the text contains 700 slokas, the name Saptasati has become famous. They say that the name Saptasati is very apt as the categorisation of 700 applies to Parayana, japa, Homa, Tarpana, the sentences and the sense alike. At the end of the Mahatmya itself, we have a significant hint Devi-suktam param japan, doing the japa of the great Devi Sukta.

This exposition of Devi Miihatmyam has been under- taken primarily to share the spiritual gains derived from this sacred Text with like-minded seekers. At a very early age, my mother's father arranged for teaching me the Sanskrit lan- guage and securely laid in me the foundation for a spiritual life. After him, my uncle encouraged and initiated me into the japa of navakshari mantra and the recital of Devi Mahatmyam. As a member of family, wherein there was the daily worship of Meru (the Yantra of Devi) and on occasions the recital of the Candi, I was also in those days, knowingly or unknowingly, doing the worship and the parayana of the text with devotion of a sort. And these never went in vain. I refer to my good fortune of acquiring later on Sri Kapali Sastriar as my Guru.

I was groping in the blind alleys and fumbling in the planes of Spiritual Quest and he it was, who brought me to the Royal Road, paving for me the way for the hereafter. Grant- ing me refuge as a God in human form, he it was who, be- sides other things, graciously revealed to me the secrets of Devi Mahatmyam. Once I asked him: While the Devi Mahatmyam speaks of only three great Shaktis, Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati, how is it that Sri Aurobindo in his epoch-making work, The Mother, has spoken of an- other great Shakti, Maheshwari? Sastriar explained to me in detail the verse "medhasi devi viditakhila sastrasara", occuring in the fourth chapter of the Devi Mahatmyam, open- ing my eyes to the fact that the four great Shaktis, Maheshwari, Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati, are mentioned in the Devi, Mahatmyam itself. Through his writings as well as oral teachings, he favoured me, time and again, with ex- planations of the principles underlying this text and other spiri- tual subjects. Just as a son would, without compunction, use the wealth inherited from his father. I have largely drawn upon his works and his teachings to me in the course of this expo- sition.

**Contents and Sample Pages**