Śrī
Vidyā means auspicious knowledge. Everything concerned with Lalitāmbikā
is auspicious. Knowledge about Her is passed on from a guru to his disciple by
way of initiation. Guru initiates his
disciple into a mantra japa called Pañcadaśī mantra or any
other mantra of his choice.
Normally the first initiation is Her younger form called Bālā (will
be discussed next in this series). Based
upon the disciple’s progress, Pañcadaśī mantra and ṣodaśī
mantra are initiated. The supreme
mantra japa of Lalitāmbikā is known as mahā- ṣodaśī, mantra,
which leads the practitioner to emancipation.
The relationship between a master and his Guru continues until the
disciple is fully developed and becomes independent. There is a huge difference between “Guru” and
‘guru’. Upper case G refers to a Self realized person and the lower case g
refers to a person who has merely studied tantra śāstra-s and deeply involved
in rituals connected with it and stay with these rituals, thus proclaiming himself
as an authority on Śrī Vidyā. The
mantras thus initiated need to be recited a certain number of times. On completing such number of recitations, the
disciple has to perform certain other rituals like fire oblations. Once the entire procedure is completed, the
disciple should be able to establish commune with Her.
Apart
from mantra japa-s, the ritual worship of Śrī Cakra is
also taught by the guru to his disciple.
The disciple is expected to recite a prescribed number of mūla
mantra-s (like Pañcadaśī or ṣodaśī)
daily and this should be followed by ritual worship of Śrī Cakra. This should be followed by meditation. The importance of Śrī Vidyā is the
culture of guru-disciple relationship.
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