Devi Maa Chinnamastā 🕉🙏

Goddess Chinnamastā (She whose head is decapitated), also known as Prachandachandikā (The Fierce Chandi) is perhaps the Hindu deity with the most ghastly iconography ever known. But her iconography has a deep meaning.

1) The copulating couple at her feet is often identified with Kama, the deity of love & Rati, Kama’s wife & the deity presiding over sexual intercourse . Another important fact is that they are in viparita-rati i.e woman-on-top position. This position might mean that the Goddess, incarnated as female beings , binds up everyone to material pleasure(shown as sexual intercourse), in order to maintain the Universe. The aim of her aspirant or sadhaka is to find out the Divine Mother residing in every female (standing on Rati), who is the cause of creation. 

2 ) 2. On the same basis ,it can be said that the Goddess expresses her sovereignty over the Universe, as sexual intercourse leads to the birth of an individual, the birth symbolising creation, that is followed by preservation(growing from a child to an adult) & destruction (death of the individual) . 

3. Another interpretation states that one can conquer desires by her grace.Originally the Sanskrit word Kama means “To wish” but the association of the deity Kama with Rati transcends the meaning of the original word down to lust, which is also true to a small extent. In fact, we are always desiring for one thing or another throughout our entire life, be it money, happiness, pleasure, fame, knowledge, companion or God, & this drives us to live on, because as soon as one wish is fulfilled, another crops out in the mind. By standing over Desire personified Himself to engaged in sex(the desire which is most difficult to satisfy!!!!!!!!!), the Goddess states that she can enable her devotees to conquer desire I. E can grant anything desired by her devotees, including God-Realisation .

4 ) She has chopped off her own head & the severed head is drinking the stream of blood emerging out of the body, which is also being consumed by her companions, Dakini on the left & Varnini on her right . Science states that digested food & vital oxygen along with various hormones travel in the body through blood. By offering her blood to her companions to drink along with drinking it herself, the Goddess says that she provides nourishment to herself along with her devotees, but the devotees can't do so.The chopped off head of hers drinks the blood of her own body ,as if to mock those who think that God needs nourishment, so God should be worshipped. Another interpretation compares the 3 streams of blood with the 3 vital nadis (described in Yogic philosophy) Ida, Pingalā & Sushumna. The Goddess drinks the central steam representing Sushumna or the spinal canal signifying the arousal of the Kundalini. 

5 ) Goddess Chinnamastā is depicted you be shining like a thousand suns & to be glowing as a red hibiscus flower. The shine symbolises Divine knowledge or brahmavidyā (Knowledge of the Supreme Brahman, the main goal of human life as described in the Upanishads) while her red complexion represents the rising sun symbolising the dawn of brahmavidyā in the mind of her sadhaka. 

6 ) The act of chopping ones own head symbolises the noble act of self-sacrifice . But in the case of the Goddess, it symbolises to get free from kinds of identity. One derives ones identity from ones own head . Again identity is a product of ego, that binds us to this material world. Again, the head is the part that controls the body. By chopping off the head, the Goddess says us to get rid of identity & thoughts about the body in order to gain her. 

7 ) She is depicted as naked, wearing a garland of human skulls & a snake like the yagnopavita or the sacred thread worn by the Brahmins, which is the symbol of them being Brahmins . The nudity symbolises her boundlessness nature I. E she represents the Infinite Brahman described in the Upanishads. The garland of skulls represent identities of every one in this world. By wearing this garland, the Goddess symbolises that all identities can be traced back to her. Again each skull of the garland represents a word . Thus the garland of skulls signify knowledge. The snake represents Kundalini as described in the Tantric & Yogic philosophies. Thus the Goddess as if says that she can make the Kundalini arise by her grace. Another interpretation states that the Goddess displays her freedom from social rules & conventions by her nudity, which is again enforced by the snake yagnopavita .

8. The Goddess is shown to be standing in the pratyalidapada position I. E her left leg is placed forward. In Hindu tradition, it is considered auspicious for women to place their left foot forward while walking & inauspicious to do so with the right foot. And unlike Goddess Kali, who places her right foot forward, signifying that she isn't bound by man-made regulations, Goddess Chinnamasta places her left foot forward, thus signifying strict adherence to rules.

9 ) The Goddess holds a scimitar known as khadga , signifying the knowledge of discrimination that can separate what is eternal & what is temporary. 

10 ) Her companions Dakini & Varnini are also depicted nude, wearing a garland of skulls, armed with khadga signifying that her devotees should be free from illusions, full of knowledge & armed with discrimination between the Brahman & the illusionary material world in order to obtain the Goddess.

11 ) The entire frame of the Goddess is mounted on a lotus, signifying the mind that is unstained by wordly matters, just like the lotus, which is considered holy inspite of being born in mud. This means that the Goddess resides in the mind of those who always remain absorbed in spirituality inspite of being involved in wordly matters.

Some say that the Goddess Chinnamastā represents life with all good & dark truths but it seems to me that she personifies the entire system of Yoga. 

🕉💞💐🌹🙏

Santoshkumar B Pandey at 6.10PM.