By: Smt. Sunanda Ananth
Kakaji Vaidya was the priest at Mother Goddess ‘Saptashrungi’ temple at Vani, in Nasik district
of Maharashtra. Umpteen domestic problems had robbed him of his peace of mind. To mitigate his problems the Divine Mother gave him a dream vision and asked him to seek Sai Baba’s blessings. He did not know about Sai Baba. He went to Trimbakeshwar at Nasik and worshipped. Again, the Divine Mother in another dream vision clarified it as ‘Sai Baba of Shirdi. Kakaji Vaidya was again in a dilemma.
The Omnipresent Sai Maharaj reminded Madhava Rao Deshpande about a forgotten vow of his mother to Divine Mother ‘Saptashrungi’ at Vani. Baba asked Madhava Rao Deshpande to go to Vani and fulfill his vow. At Vani, he met Vaidya and was thrilled to learn his dream vision. Kakaji Vaidya accompanied Madhava Rao Deshpande to Shirdi. Upon seeing Sai Maharaj his mind became calm, and he regained his peace of mind.
Kakaji Vaidya stayed at Shirdi for some time. One day, Sai Maharaj asked Nana Saheb Chandorkar to describe the greatness of Mother Goddess Saptashrungi.
Nana Saheb Chandorkar gave a discourse – The real essence of the Goddess, the true form of Shakti, is well encapsulated in one of her most powerful mantras, ‘Shree Saptashrungi Mataaye Namah.’ The word ‘Shree’ means consciousness. Mother Goddess ‘Saptashrungi’ encompasses four different powers — Kriya Shakti, Gyan Shakti, Chitta Shakti, and Iccha Shakti. That which causes these four powers to become active and functional is referred to as Mother Goddess ‘Saptashrungi’.
What is Kriya Shakti – the power of action? It refers to creativity. A seed contains the potential to
grow into a tree. You sow the seed in the ground and from that small seed, a huge tree of peepal, banyan, or mango emerges. The process of a tree emerging from a seed is called the power of action.
What is Gyan Shakti – the power of knowledge? It is the ability to become a tree from within the seed. Someone who knows about plants can tell that a tree grows from the seed but even the most educated person cannot understand how the Gyan that transforms into a tree inside the seed functions. The nerves in our body, the capacity of those nerves and the brain, the digestive system, the nourishment, and the nutrition obtained from food, are all powered by Gyan Shakti. What knowledge is driving the internal functions of the body? Even during sleep, the heart keeps beating, the brain functions and blood circulation continues. In this way, the power of action and knowledge are evident even in inert nature.
What is Chitta Shakti? We call the unconscious mind Chitta. Its nature is vast. It is said that power arises from the mind. This mind is of the nature of Shiva. All Maya, illusion, emanates from this mind. We do not know of the nature of this mind. What we see in the world is the magic of this Chitta. This entire universe originated from the Chitta. The vast power of the mind has been described in the Gita thus: “O my mind, you have the treasure within you, nothing outside compares to it.” Whatever you seek outside is all within you. Jiva, the individual Self; Jagat, the World; and Ishwar, the Divine, are all within your mind. Whoever attains the knowledge of this Chitta, attains knowledge of the entire World.
What is Iccha Shakti, the power of Desire? Scriptures state that God desired, ‘Ekah Aham Bahusyamah’—
Let me manifest into many. Consequently, the One manifested into many. Beings, animals, birds, and aquatic creatures were created. All these became manifest forms of the same God. The desire of God has created the world and that same supreme mind, that same great mind is also within us. So, we can say that Iccha Shakti of God is within our minds, too.
‘Namah’ means that we pay respect to. Who do we pay respect to? Our obeisance is paid to Mother Goddess ‘Saptashrungi’ who functions in the entire universe and encompasses Kriya Shakti, Gyan Shakti, Chitta Shakti, and Iccha Shakti. It was to make it understandable to the
naive intellect that the Idol was made of the Goddess Divine Mother seated on a lion, holding weapons in her hands, and giving a sweet smile. People accepted this as truth and started worshipping her. They forgot that the symbols were indicating something else.
Nana Saheb Chandorkar concluded his discourse by saying we worship the Mother Goddess ‘Saptashrungi’ and feel satisfied.
Sai Maharaj added that we forget that the one we call Mother Goddess ‘Saptashrungi’ is within us, within our bodies, minds, consciousness, intellect, and ego, functioning everywhere. When we awaken the supreme power, the primal power within us, we imbibe the true essence of Mother Goddess ‘Saptashrungi’.
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