HPI

KAUAI, HI, US, May 6, 2011 (HPI): Bangalore’s famed Sri Kailash Ashrama has released the first English translation of a key section, the Mahatmya Khandam, of the famed Tripurarahasyam. Literally, the title means “Secret of the Three Worlds,” but here it is in the sense of secrets of the Divine Mother who presides over the physical and spiritual universes. In the forward, Jagadguru Acharya Mahamandaleshwara Sri Jayendrapuri Mahaswamiji, present head of Kailash Ashrama, calls the text “an exhaustive and highly analytical treatise on the glory of the Divine Mother and Her unity with the “Self” of all.”

The original Sanskrit has been translated by Sri T.B. Kakshman Rao, and edited and reviewed by E.K. Das and D.N. Anand. Tirupurarahasyam is a text of the Sakta tradition originally told to Lord Vishnu by Lord Siva and thence passed on through the Gods and sages until written down by Sage Sumedha.

Tirupurarahasyam was composed in three sections: the Mahatmya Khandam, of this translation; the Jnanakhandam; previously published by Ramana Ashrama (and others); and the Charyakhandam, which is lost. The entire text, the translator explains in the introduction to our text, “brings home through anecdotes and allusions the uniqueness of the transcendental Cosmic Consciousness which is not different from the consciousness of the individual being.”

The 750 page book by Kailash Ashrama is comprised of 80 chapters, most of them recounting traditional stories about Devi, such as the marriage of Siva and Parvati, the killing of various demons by the Goddess, and the churning of the ocean. Of particular importance, according to Sri Jayendra Puri, are chapters 55 to 58 and 79 and 80. The first set describe the mystical origins of the Sri Chakra yantra and how the various powers of the Goddess came to reside in each part of the complex diagram. Chapters 79 and 80 describe the importance of proper initiation from the guru in Sri Vidya, the system of personal worship of the Goddess in which the Sri Chakra in its three dimensional form as Meru Chakra is central. It is an essential text for devotees of the Goddess in general and followers of the Sri Vidya system in particular.

Tripurarahasyam, Mahatmyakhandam, Sanskrit text with English translations, 750 pages, is published by Sri Kailasamanidweepa Trust, Sri Kailash Ashrama Mahasamsthana, Rajarajeshwarinagar, Bengalura 560 098, India.

E-mail: srikailashmanidweepa@gmail.com