Why is there no universal Devi Mantra?

[Cypress]

Shiva & Vishnu both have Mantras that can be used regardless of which aspect of the deity you worship.
For Shiva you can use Om Namah Shivaya, not matter if you worship him as Dakshinamurti or Bhairava.
For Vishnu you can use Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya, no matter if you worship Narasimha or Rama.

But for Devi there is no such Mantra.
There is one Mantra for Durga, another one for Kali, yet another one for Sarasvati, Lakshmi, Radha, Gauri...
Is there no Devi Mantra that can be used for all aspects of Ma?

My Problem is that I like all aspects of Devi equally and cannot decide which of them I should primarily worship.
Is there no Mantra for Devi in her universal form, as the force underlying all existence, as the supreme reality?

 

[Smoke]

I couldn't find a Mahadevi mantra proper.
Would you settle for a Gayatri mantra?

[youtube]vx0Qzs1xqUg[/youtube]
YouTube - Gayatri mantra, Devi the Goddess

 

[Breathe]

Namaste,

I found the following websites with a "Devi Mantra":
Devi Mantra,देवी मंत्र
Devi Mantra - MAHA DEVI - tribe.net

Both contain the same mantra:

Ya Devi Sarva Bhutesu Maa rupena samsthita I

Ya Devi Sarva Bhutesu Shakti rupena samsthita I

Ya Devi Sarva Bhutesu Buddhi rupena samsthita I

Ya Devi Sarva Bhutesu Laxmi rupena samsthita I

Namestasyai II Namestasyai II Namestasyai II​

I believe the I and II are | and || (punctuation marks). I ask someone more knowledgeable to correct me if I am wrong.

 

[LuisDantas]

What is Gayatri?

 

[Flow]

Namaste,

I found the following websites with a "Devi Mantra":
Devi Mantra,देवी मंत्र
Devi Mantra - MAHA DEVI - tribe.net

Both contain the same mantra:

Ya Devi Sarva Bhutesu Maa rupena samsthita I​

Ya Devi Sarva Bhutesu Shakti rupena samsthita I​

Ya Devi Sarva Bhutesu Buddhi rupena samsthita I​

Ya Devi Sarva Bhutesu Laxmi rupena samsthita I​

Namestasyai II Namestasyai II Namestasyai II​

I believe the I and II are | and || (punctuation marks). I ask someone more knowledgeable to correct me if I am wrong.

I believe they are just breaks in the line Odion, kind of like Punctuation Marks, or at least that is how I see it.

 

[Breathe]

I believe they are just breaks in the line Odion, kind of like Punctuation Marks, or at least that is how I see it.

Yeah, I think they are supposed to be those. Devanagari script has them. । - danda (stick), ॥ - double danda, but I wasn't entirely sure if these were what they were intended to be (since I've only seen someone use | and ||, never capital a i), so I added that just in case it turned out they were for something else.

What is Gayatri?

From the mighty wiki:

Gayatri (Sanskrit: गायत्री, gāyatr&#299 is the feminine form of gāyatra, a Sanskrit word for a song or a hymn.

I've heard some people say they make spiritually powerful mantras.

 

[Wannabe Yogi]

Shiva & Vishnu both have Mantras that can be used regardless of which aspect of the deity you worship.
For Shiva you can use Om Namah Shivaya, not matter if you worship him as Dakshinamurti or Bhairava.
For Vishnu you can use Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya, no matter if you worship Narasimha or Rama.

But for Devi there is no such Mantra.
There is one Mantra for Durga, another one for Kali, yet another one for Sarasvati, Lakshmi, Radha, Gauri...
Is there no Devi Mantra that can be used for all aspects of Ma?

My Problem is that I like all aspects of Devi equally and cannot decide which of them I should primarily worship.
Is there no Mantra for Devi in her universal form, as the force underlying all existence, as the supreme reality?

All the the Devi's are one. So all the mantras are for the Devi. Smoke is right the Gayatri mantra is good for all. A short mantra for all every Goddess is HRIM. This is from the Devi Gita. You could also use OM Shakti Namah.

Jai Maa

 

[Riverwolf]

What is Gayatri?

Gayatri alone is the name of a type of meter, of eight syllables per pada (foot), and either two or three lines; if two lines, the first line is two padas long, while the second line is one pada long.

When talking about the Gayatri Mantra, it's referring to a mantra from the Rig Veda:

Om Bhur Bhuvah Svah
Tat Savitur Varenyam
Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi
Dhiyo yo nah Prachodayath

This mantra is regarded by many as the Mother of all Mantras.

Many of the Devas and Mahadevas have their own respective Gayatri mantras, as well.

 

[KrishnaLady]

In the Hare Krishna mantra, the word "Hare" means "Radharani." The Divine mother and God Herself as Goddess.

 

[ByeRaagi Rayaprolu]

Namaste,

I found the following websites with a "Devi Mantra":

Ya Devi Sarva Bhutesu Maa rupena samsthita I​

Ya Devi Sarva Bhutesu Shakti rupena samsthita I​

Ya Devi Sarva Bhutesu Buddhi rupena samsthita I​

Ya Devi Sarva Bhutesu Laxmi rupena samsthita I​

Namestasyai II Namestasyai II Namestasyai II​

I believe the I and II are | and || (punctuation marks). I ask someone more knowledgeable to correct me if I am wrong.

thank u for suggesting such a beautiful and perfectly universal Devi Mantra...regarding those "sticks"-->yes comrade, these symbols are only for punctuation. they just serve the purpose of "half-stop"(I) and "Full-stop"(II) in all sanskrit poetry.(let it be a shloka or mantra whatever)
**************************************************************************************************
googled to find out two sites with transliterated text & translation but they seemed to be li'l unsatisfactory..(lol.i'm not allowed to paste URLs (freshman))
so i tried to rewrite...but, again 4m these very sites, coz right now i don't have any book of DurgA saptashati, 4m which i believe these verses are :

********************************************************************************************************
yA dEvI sarvabhUtESu viSNumAyEti ShabditA
( the Devi who,termed as "the mAyA of viSNu", abides in all beings)
namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namO namah
(salute [namah]to Her[tasyai], salute to Her, salute to Her, Salutes and Salutes)

yA dEvI sarvabhUtESu chEtanEtyabhidhIyate (I)
(the Devi who, called as "Consciousness", abides in all creatures..)
namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namO namah

yA dEvI sarvabhUtESu buddhirUpENa samsthitA
( the divine lady(=dEvi) who(=yA), in the form of *intellect*(=buddhi-rUpENa), is well-established(samsthitaa) in all creatures (sarva-bhUtESu))
namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namO namah

yA dEvI sarvabhUtESu nidrArUpENa samsthitA...(i.e..in the form of 'sleep')
namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namO namah

yA dEvI sarvabhUtESu kSudhArUpENa samsthitA...(i.e..in the form of 'Hunger')
namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namO namah

yA dEvI sarvabhUtESu chAyArUpENa samsthitA...(i.e..as 'shadow'/'reflection')
namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namO namah

yA dEvI sarvabhUtESu shaktirUpENa samsthitA...(i.e..in the form of Shakti)
namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namO namah

yA dEvI sarvabhUtESu triSNArUpENa samsthitA...(i.e..as 'thirst'/desire)
namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namO namah

yA dEvI sarvabhUtESu kSAntirUpENa samsthitA...(i.e..as forgiveness???:help
namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namO namah

yA dEvI sarvabhUtESu jAtirUpENa samsthitA...(i.e..as 'Genus'/'Universal')
namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namO namah

yA dEvI sarvabhUtESu lajjArUpENa samsthitA (i.e..in the form of 'Modesty'')
namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namO namah

yA dEvI sarvabhUtESu shAntirUpENa samsthitA...(i.e..in the form of 'Peace')
namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namO namah

yA dEvI sarvabhUtESu shraddhArUpENa samsthitA...(i.e..in the form of 'faith')
namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namO namah

yA dEvI sarvabhUtESu kAntirUpENa samsthitA...(i.e..in the form of 'Light')
namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namO namah

yA dEvI sarvabhUtESu lakSmiirUpENa samsthitA...(i.e..as "Lakshmi" herself)
namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namO namah

yA dEvI sarvabhUtESu vruttirUpENa samsthitA.. (i.e. in the form of 'Activity')
namastasyai, namastasyai, namastasyai namO namah

yA dEvI sarvabhUtESu smrutirUpENa samsthitA...(i.e..in the form of 'Memory')
namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namO namah

yA dEvI sarvabhUtESu dayArUpENa samsthitA...(i.e..as 'Love/compassion')
namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namO namah

yA dEvI sarvabhUtESu tuSTirUpENa samsthitA...(i.e..in the form of 'contentment')
namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namO namah

yA dEvI sarvabhUtESu mAtrurUpENa samsthitA...(i.e..in the form of 'the Mother')
namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namO namah

yA dEvI sarvabhUtESu bhrAntirUpENa samsthitA...(i.e..in the form of 'delusion')
namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namO namah
_____________________ CONCLUDING VERSE (below)_______________________

indriyANAm+adhiSThAtrI bhUtAnAm+ca+akhilESu yA
bhUtESu satatam tasmai vyApti dEvyai namO namah (I)
citi-rUpENa yA krutsnam(=?:help:)+Etad+vyApya sthitA jagat
namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namO namah (II)
meaning..(ignoring the word Krutsnam)
"I salute (namastasyai....) to the Devi who's the superintendent (adhiSThAtrI) of [sense&motor]organs(indriyANAm) of creatures(bhUtAnAm) and [thereby] whose continuos (satatam) pervasion(vyApti) is in all (akhilESu) creatures (bhUtESu); who abides in (sthitaa) the world (jagat), after pervading it (Etad vyApya) in the form of "[the cosmic] consciousness"(citi-rUpENa)..."

********************************************* ENDS***********************************************

EACH COUPLET (yA dEvI.......namO namah)is a deemed Mantra in the above pATha,..so,Friends, now we may contemplate on the entire pATha...and then we may choose any few of these couplets for our daily chants,,
thumb-rule in selection : whichever qualities/forms of dEvI inspire u or whichever quality of dEvI u now want to "deal with" within urself...

here are two 'bonus' shlokas useful for seekers of universal mother-goddess.

Jayantii mangaLA kALI bhadrakALI kapAlinI (I)
DurgA kshamA shivA dhAtrI svAhA svadhA namO+astu te (II)

namO dEvyai mahAdEvyai shivAyai satatam namah (I)
namah prakrutyai bhadrAyai niyatAh praNatAsmatAm (II)

these two shlokas (from the ChanDI-700) too may be prescribed for meditating on the All-Mother..they address each and every vareity of Shakti in short.
All the best 4 sAdhakas.."Sarvam Shaktimayamidam Jagat"

(sorry if i've unnecessarily given the entire reading):sorry1:
(also sorry for the all probable mistakes in both transliteration and translation. )
PLZZZZZ SUGGEST CORRECTIONS, immediately as u notice them, just to save me from the curse of Shrii-Gurus for propagating erroneous Mantras & Ideas. ThnQ

 

[Smoke]

When talking about the Gayatri Mantra, it's referring to a mantra from the Rig Veda:

Om Bhur Bhuvah Svah
Tat Savitur Varenyam
Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi
Dhiyo yo nah Prachodayath

This mantra is regarded by many as the Mother of all Mantras.

I didn't know that. I was just looking for a Devi mantra that sounded good, and got lucky. Thanks for the info.

 

[Cypress]

@ByeRaagi Rayaprolu:
You seem to have great knowledge, do you know something about this aspect of Devi?
I wonder why she is named Unnamulaiamman when the place is called Annamalaiyaar.

 

[ByeRaagi Rayaprolu]

sorry Sis, i'm not a pro in any..only some attempts, inspired by ur quest. The names which u wanted to probe are "apparently" in TAMIL language which i don't know at all. After a vain search on internet i resorted to some tamil laymen here for help..they too said they didn't understand these words..then guessed these words must be Tamil-adaptations of their equivalents
in Sanskrit:
the hill is called "aruNa(red)+acala(immovable)" i.e..red-hill.
the Lord(shiva) is known as "aruNAcala+Ishvara = aruNAcalEshvara" i.e. "Lord of the Red Hill". Among the tamils, "aruNa" became "aNNa", "malai" being tamil for hill, He's also famous as "aNNAmalai+yAr" ("yAr" in Tamil is the respect-showing suffix to masculine nouns and 'aaL' is similar suffix used for female names, just like in Hindi we've a neutral suffix "Jii")
b4 pondering on the name "unnamUlaiyAL" [The respectable Lady (yAL) at the base of the Fire"] we shud know the history of the place a li'l,
::: Om Arunachala ::: - Tiruvannamalai, Deepam, Girivalam, Girivalam Date, Arunachala, Ramanamaharishi -
Arulmigu Arunachaleswarar Temple , Thiruvannamalai 606 601 (the official website of the Temple)
Tiruvannamalai
(it's full of Tamil/Tamilized Sanskrit terms so plzzz feel free to pm me for any translations required..)
This hill is indeed said to be a burning hill-sized "Jyothi"(Light/Flame) that appears as such only in the "krita-yuga"(1st yuga of the 4), as a 'Ruby-Hill' in the 2nd yuga, as a 'Golden-Hill" in the 3rd, and finally now, only as a mere pile of rocks.

Now, the story u found @ the first website is supposed to be the First ever manifestation of Rudra ( celibate-wrathful-ascetic-War Lord), who'll go on to become Shiva/Shankara (the Auspicious/the benefactor) only much much later i.e.. only after mahAdEvI too manifests to get reunited with n to marry Him as "satI dEvI".
This is when there was no female in the cosmos and no life on earth/no earth at all..the cosmos itself was way too young and had just not more than 20 sentient beings, consisting
1. nArAyaNa (who's the first 'unborn', always the 1st sentient being to be co-manifest along with every new cosmos)
2. his mental procreate, five-faced brahmaa (unaware of his own birth 4m nArAyaNa, but a proud father of atmost 15 celibate kids) who has lost his fifth head coz of Rudra's wrath and, as a consequence, fell from immortality.

The Boar(nArAyaNa), gone in search of the 'base' of this "Jyotirlinga",found the primal 'Dot' from which this cosmic-Linga is incessantly growing out and this Shakti((impersonal yet), the unmanifest Dark energy-cum-matter, which is at the 'Origin-al' base of this cosmos. "vahni"(Fire)+ "mUlam"(base) became, i guess, unnamUlam(in Tamil ) and "the Mother"("ammAL/amman" in Tamil) of all worlds whose secret abode is at the base of this huge Flame called Cosmos is "unna+mUlai+ammAL/amman" [or unna+mUlai+yAL=the respectable female at the Fire-base]

supporting this view are Her names, elsewhere, eg: "chit+agni+kunDa+sambhUtA"(born from the pit of conscious fire), "bindu+manDala+vAsinI"(residing in the Dot-zone) etc.. in the 'lalitAsahasranAma'(Thousand names of "Lolita") and innumerable references to the Bindu(dot,the centre of shrIcakra) in all SAkta literature.

i don't think i have been clear enuf to get my point through..if i'm not, then plzzz poke me again and again..i really need discussing shiva-shakti so that i shudn't forget them after my death. thank u Sis, and all the best with "amma"(Mother in all south Indian tongues).

 

[Cypress]

ByeRaagi, you are a storehouse of knowledge, I bow to you. :bow:
The reason for my interest in Arunachala is that Ramana Maharshi spoke of this hill as being Shiva himself.

Another verse in the Arunachala Mahatmyam, translated from Sanskrit into Tamil by Sri Ramana Maharshi says:
"Arunachala is truly the holy place. Of all holy places it is the most sacred! Know that it is the heart of the world. It is truly Siva himself! It is his heart-abode, a secret kshetra. In that place the Lord ever abides the hill of light named Arunachala."

Asked about the special sanctity of Arunachala, Ramana Maharshi explained that other holy places such as Kailas, Kasi and Chidambaram are sacred because they are the abodes of Lord Siva whereas Arunachala is Lord Siva himself.
However, as the above verse of Arunachala Mahatmyam says, Arunachala is a secret kshetra.
It is this place that bestows jnana (Self-knowledge) and because most people have so many other desires and do not truly want jnana, Arunachala has always remained comparatively little known.
But to those few who seek jnana, Arunachala always makes itself known through some means or other.

source

I have seen a wonder, a magnetic hill that forcibly attracts the soul. Arresting the activities of the soul who thinks of it even once, drawing it to face itself, the One, making it thus motionless like itself, it feeds upon that sweet [pure and ripened] soul.
What a wonder is this! O souls, be saved by thinking of this great Arunagiri, which shines in the mind as the destroyer of the soul [the ego].

source

 

[ByeRaagi Rayaprolu]

any amount of mere scriptural knowledge cannot be equated to the knowledge of Self ( which i seriously lack). So, thank u for passing on this revelation 4m the Bhagavan. i'm sad that i never read Bhagavan hitherto ( except one small book viz.. "who am i") so, i'm indebted too, for the wiki-source u presented. its really good.
i'm repenting now for not visiting this gr8 place sofar though i'm now at Tirupathi, a place so close to it. this week i'll surely visit this Fire-hill to get some frubals for my dirty spirit too.
Thank u Sis,
:bow: to u and ur "Ramona", the BhagavAn

 

[Cypress]

I am wondering... is the word mother in ones own native-language a mantra?
Does someone know what scriptures say about this?