I tried to take help from the scriptures on this but instead of clarity, I got more confused. (1) Kali-Kula says Kali is all encompassing. (2) Sri-Kula grants this status to Lalita Tripurasundari. (3) Some say Durga and few Radharani (4) To add to it there is All World Gayatri Pariwar at Shantikunj Haridwar according to them Gayatri/Savitri – Shakti encompasses three supramental virtues of thy-faculties: “Hrim” – divine intelligence, “Shrim” – divine prosperity, “Klim” – divine might. Like the triveni of the holy rivers Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati, the Gayatri – Shakti is a spiritual confluence of the absolute powers of the trinity Gods Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and Goddesses Saraswati, Lakshmi and Kali. They have even built small temples of 24 forms of devis each representing 24 letters of Gayatri Mantra. at one of their main centers.
Please clear my confusion.
Forms necessarily implies a limitation. Each form is like a channel that canalises the Original Power with a certain specific purpose. As to the highest form, the views are divided. The dashmahavidyas regard the Tripurasundari as the highest, the Tantra literature regards Kali as the most powerful, the Vaishnava as Radha, the Shaiva as Gauri, others regard Gayatri as containing all others. Well faith is a great power and it is true that if one has faith in a particular form as the highest then it does become a means to contact the highest.
But if we go back to the Origin, that is to say the Vedas, then the highest is indeed Aditi, who is the Shakti of Aditya, the Sun that stands for the Creator. Aditi is the Mother of the gods (and the goddesses). She is Formless as well as can take a form through the different incarnations. Hence one hardly finds any temple dedicated to Her though She is worshipped in her various human embodiments such as Savitri, Sita, the Divine Mother of Sri Aurobindo. In his Records of Yoga Sri Aurobindo mentions her one of the four Absolutes.
‘Aditi – M [the Mother]. Aditi is the indivisible consciousness force and Ananda of the Supreme; M, its living dynamis, the supreme Love, Wisdom, Power. Adya-Shakti of the Tantra = Parabrahman.’
I suppose coming from Sri Aurobindo himself as well as ratified by the Vedas and the Katha Upanishad, it should be taken as the final word.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
