About the Devi Mahatmyam

The Devi Mahatmya is variously known as Sri Durga Saptashati, Sri Chandi or Saptashati. Part myth and part philosophy, the text addresses some very important existential questions that have plagued mankind since time immemorial. Whilst its stories can be taken as metaphors relating to our own psycho-spiritual landscape as well as the challenges we face in life, there isn’t a single approach to the Devi Mahatmyam or the Chandi. The Devi Mahatmyam speaks to us at various levels- both rational and non-rational. What cannot be conveyed through mere philosophical discussions and logical debates can be transmitted more easily through myth and metaphor. Thus at one level the Devi mahatmyam chronicles the battle between the Devi and the asuras. At another level it deals with the battle of life. At yet another level it deals with the inner battle between the divine and the demoniac forces within the human psyche, between the positive and negative. The battlegrounds represent our own human consciousness, and its events symbolize our own experiences. The demons are symbolic of the psychic forces within the shadow. They represent all the evils in the external world that have been internalized. Whatever has been internalised in turn manifests again externally in our life. In the ultimate sense even the dichotomy between the bad and the good is also a false one. There is no duality. Both are part of one single paradoxical reality.

About this Series

After more than twelve years of an intense journey into Chandi, as part of my own sadhana I set myself to write some notes during the Sharad Navaratris of 2007. I ended up sharing the notes/commentary privately with other like-minded sadhakas. In 2009 a spiritual friend asked me if he could post it online for the benefit of others interested in Sri Sri Chandi. You can access a copy of the earlier version at http://www.vedicastrologer.org/mantras/chandi/chandi_inner_meaning.pdf

During the last twelve years or so more notes followed on other aspects of the beautiful journey into the inner Goddess. It is now a 300-page document. I will start posting more chapters/articles here for the benefit of sadhakas along with an updated version of the old notes.