Khadgamala
Khadga means a sword and mala means a garland. Sword cuts the head, separating body from mind. It can be interpreted also as wisdom, which separates, categorizes, and classifies. So it is a symbol of knowledge. Khadgamala is about imagining a garland of ideas, nourishing and protecting them and putting life into them.
The Divine mother Life imagined that there should be time, and time came to be. She chose to be the space, the womb, in which time can move. Time and space going in whirls make matter. Time and space also provided the ground for vibrations of energy in the form of light. Light preserves the present moment. The light was Sarasvati. Time - space - matter was classified by Her great will into life, sky, air, fire, water and earth and their properties in seed form. The Divine Mother imagined 14 stable worlds in an atom, and 14 worlds in cosmos. Then she felt this was enough and put a sphere around it.
So far the creation had all the richness of variety, forms of Lakshmi, but there was no action because time was like space refusing to move. Everything was light. She created a great movement to time. Then time began to flow making all motions possible. She made the earth to move around the sun making years and moon around earth making the lunar month. Only if Life is coupled to time any form of experience can occur. Two examples illustrate this. 1. We have life but we don't feel flowing time in sleep. 2. We have no life but time is flowing. In both these cases there is no experience. So life has to be in continuous union with flowing time in order to have any experience. Sometimes Life would separate from time and then there would be no experience but rest.
Then she limited the fields of cosmic awareness making an individual. The individual separated from cosmos and said," I am so and so and these are mine and these are not mine." There was fear and desire about what is not mine. If I did not get what I wanted, I felt helpless, angry and needed power. If I get the desired object I was greedy and would not let it go. I deluded into feeling I can’t live without it. I had the pride that I had it, and nobody else had it. I was jealous that others had things I did not have. I was worried what I had would go away. All these passions: fear, desire, anger, greed, attachment, delusion , pride, jealousy, spring from the original separation of myself from the world.
I was worried that I would die, and how can I go on after my life? I discovered food for extending my life. I discovered also that I could create new life forms through pleasure. So, sex was like hunger, nourishing my need to extend my self beyond death. The Divine Mother took the form of Kundalini and chose birth channel as her coiled abode ready to uncoil and strike to transcend life and realizing my potential to be a cosmic being in space and time, before creation of life.
The Khadgamala is the equation I=World=Beyond. Regular practice protects you, nourishes you, and takes you beyond. It fulfils all wishes, more than you desire, instantly. Therein lies its power.
How should you practice Khadgamala? As you are reciting each name, a portion of Sri Chakra should spring up in your imagination. The power comes from intensifying concentration to visualize the form, hear the sound, feel the touch, taste, and smell of the divine perfume of the goddess manifesting that part of the ever youthful Goddess. You can sit in front of each of the sculptures in Devipuram to get training into such visualizations. The Goddess loves fun. She is deeply in love with You, making You Siva.
So begin your journey to Goddess today, no matter how feebly. You can add power and depth as you move along. We are there to help you at Devipuram.
Amrita
Sri Devi Khadga Mala Stotram [ Note this link will take a few minutes to load .. intended for broadband users]