Hymns to the Goddess and Hymns to Kali: Karpuradi Stotra (Hymns to the Goddess a

Hymns to the Goddess and Hymns to Kali: Karpuradi Stotra (Hymns to the Goddess and Hymns to Kali: Karpuradi Stotra [The Selected Works of Sir Woodrofee]

Author : Arthur Avalon

The hymns to the Devi in this volume (introduced by a stotra to Her Spouse, the Kalabhairava) are taken from the Tantra, Purana, Mahabharata, and Sankaracarya, who was "the incarnation of devotion" (bhaktavatara) as well as a great philosopher; a fact which is sometimes ignored by those who do not wish to be reminded that he, whose speculative genius they extol, was also the protagonist of the so-called "idolatrous Hinduism." As his great example amongst many others of differing race and creed tell us, it is not, from the view of religion, the mark of discernment (even though it be the mode) to neglect or disparage the ritual practice that all orthodoxies have prescribed for their adherents.

Of the Hymns now published, those from the Mahabharata and Candi have already been translated; Adyakalisvarupastotra has also been previously published as part of a rendering of the Mahanirvana Tantra. It is necessary to study the Hindu commentators and to seek the oral aid of those who possess the traditional interpretation of the Sastra. Without this and an understanding of what Hindu worship is and means, absurd mistakes are likely to be made. The author has therefore availed himself of the Commentaries of Nilakantha on the Mahabharata, of Gopala Chakravarti and Nagogi Bhatta on Candi, and of Nilakantha on the Devibhagavata.

Preface

THE Goddess or Devi (as the Hindus call Her) is God (as the Western worshippers address Him) in Its Mother aspect. The latter not uncommonly deem such attribution of feminine quality to be " heathenish"; but this condemnation (for the criticism has, of course, this intendment) is itself singularly foolish in that it is thereby implied that of two sets of terms (neither of which is in its strict sense applicable to the Deity as the Author of forms), one is, in fact, a more correct description than the other. In the Navaratnesvara it is said: "That Devi, who is existence, consciousness, and bliss, should be thought of as a female or as a male, or as pure Brahman. In reality, however, She is neither male nor neuter (that is to say, that She is not bound to any particular form)." No one contends that the Brahma- tattva in the supreme abode beyond appearances is masculine as opposed to feminine, or the latter as contrasted with the former. Like all else in this matter, words are but the babbling endeavour of our plane to express that which is above it. It is not easy, then, to explain the condemnation except upon the assumption that those who pronounce it think their mother's sex to be inferior to their own and that thus Deity is un- worthily described by any other terms than those of masculine excellence. But Hindus, whoever places the name of the mother before that of the father, and to whom garbha dharanaposabhyam pitur mata gariyasi, have no partiality for such mistaken notions. On the other hand, it is possible that they might not understand the Christian expression" Mother of God," nor approve it even after they had learnt the limited and special sense that theology gives to this epithet. The Tantrika would least of all admit the insufficiency of the conception of God as Mother. For the Devi manifests in his own mother, in his prakrti (as he calls his wife), and in all women. As the Kubjika Tantra says: "Whosoever has seen the feet of woman let him worship them as those of his guru" (Strinam padatalam dristvaguruvad- bhavayet sada). Whilst male and female are both Her aspects, yet Sakti is, in a sense, said to be more revealed in the female than in the male form. And so the Mundamala Tantra says: "Wherever there is a sakti (female), there I am." On account of this greater manifestation, women are called Sakti. From this, however, it must not be supposed that Sakti is less present in such forms as Siva and Krsna and others. If, as the author of the Tantra Tattva says, a sadhaka who is a worshipper of the Krsnamurti desires to see Him as Kali, Bhagavan, who fulfils the desires of devotees, will assume that form. All forms come into existence upon the manifestation of consciousness In the play of Her whose substance is consciousness.

Though the Saktanandatarangint says: Devt is worshipped on account of Her soft heart (komalantah- karanam)