As we have been performing certain spiritual sadhanas (techniques) sincerely, these divine seeds that we have sown have already begun to sprout. All these days, Devi Adiparashakti revealed the aspect of Mahakali and She was also resplendent as Mahalakshmi. Now begins the avatar of Mahasaraswati. Through sadhana we must convert Her energy from Saraswati, which symbolizes wisdom to Devi Chandika which symbolizes transformation through wisdom. Today, Devi takes on the form of Chandika. Most of us associate Goddess Saraswati with knowledge. In today’s system of education, knowledge means filling the mind with information. This is not enough. Life is not meant to simply collect information. Life is a process of growth, reformation and transformation. Life is meant to bring out all the potential with which we are born.
Devi says - “All of you are entitled to intelligence and wisdom (Vidya and Buddhi). I have given you a wonderful tool to acquire this. This tool is your intellect. When you use your intellect to discriminate between right and wrong (Dharma and adharma), you automatically gather wisdom. If you don’t use it for this, the intellect loses its sharpness. This initially manifests itself in your life as lack of awareness, and a poor memory.” We have more than ten billion cells in our brain! In spite of this if somebody asks us to describe everything that we did two weeks ago, most of us will be unable to remember. This is happening because we lack awareness. Memory and observation are only offshoots of awareness. When we have constant awareness, our brain is able to register and recall information effortlessly.
Devi Chandika says - “Always be aware of your inner state of being. Learn to be fair and honest with others all the time. Turn the search light of your intellect inwards and observe the way your mind works. You will be able to identify many chronic tendencies. They can’t be corrected completely through the thinking process. I will give you some powerful mantras to rectify them.” When we begin this process of increasing our awareness, we must remember one very important thing. We are doing this to purify our mind and sharpen our intellect. We are judging our own thinking process. We are not trying to judge others. It is not our job to point out their mistakes unless we are professionally bound to do so. If we waste the energy of our intellect in unnecessarily evaluating or commenting upon other people’s behaviuor or life style our awareness and memory will decline further. We will also lose our peace of mind. If we do happen to notice such shortcomings, we should simply pray for them. This will bring divine grace into their lives and our lives as well.
Our Dharma in life defines our duties and responsibilities. A student’s responsibility is to gain knowledge. A householder’s responsibility is to provide for his family. A doctor’s duty is to cure his or her patients. So all of us have duties and responsibilities in so many arenas. As time passes these keep getting re-defined. So we require a high degree of awareness if we want to structure our lives within the framework of Dharma. When we follow Dharma completely, the energy in our brain implodes to bring out our full potential. We are totally transformed.We often think that our wisdom depends upon our educational qualifications and experience. However, there is something much more important than this - our alignment with our inner Self. The degree to which we have aligned ourselves to the inner Self decides the quality of our life.
Complete alignment brings a spontaneous flow of intuitive wisdom and a state of constant awareness. This awareness encompasses our past, present and future. So our future will no longer be a mystery to us. To tune ourselves to the vibrations of Devi Chandika who is the very fount of awareness, today let us chant - “OM NAMO CHANDIKAYEI NAMAHA.” May Her Grace flow to us in all its abundance bringing a complete alignment with our own Self.
The article has been taken from the book ‘The book of direct truths, subtle truths and the mystical truths of Devi Mahatmyam’ by Shri Shri Nimishananda