Tripura Sundari- Eternal Beauty

"कदम्बवनचारिणीं मुनिकदम्बकादम्बिन

नितम्बजित भूधरां सुरनितम्बिनीसेविताम् ।

नवाम्बरुहलोचनामभिनवाम्बदुश्यामलां

त्रिलोचनकुटुम्बिनीं त्रिपुरसुन्दरीमाश्रये ॥"

Beauty….the most significant and sought after thing in the Universe. Goddess is always seen as a manifestation of outworldly beauty.

Tripura Sundari, prime Goddess within the Shakti Tradition, also known as Rajarajeshvari, Shodashi, Kamakshi, and Lalita, is one of the important goddesses of Mahavidyas.

She is the quintessence of supreme goddess Mahadevi. She is the central deity of Shaktas and celebrated in Lalita Sahasranama and Saundarya Lahari. In the Lalitopakhyana of the Brahmanda Purana, she is referred to as Adi Parashakti.

Tripura Sundari literally means, the most beautiful woman in the three worlds. Tripura can also mean the three cities created by Mayasura, and destroyed by Tripurantaka, so Tripura Sundari means “She who is beautiful to the destroyer of the Three Cities.”

She is Tripura, because it is similar to triangle which symbolizes the Yoni and her cycles. She is also known as Tripura as her mantra has three clusters of letters. She is called Tripura because she is manifested in Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva as the creator, preserver and destroyer of the universe.

She is the manifestation of divine feminine energy. She is often depicted as a beautiful and benevolent goddess, but when faced with the need to restore cosmic balance and protect the universe, she transforms into a fierce and powerful warrior.

The Srikula tradition focuses worship on Devi in the form of the goddess Lalita-Tripura Sundari.

The Srikula Tradition, one of the important traditions of Shaktism, The Tripura Sundari is principal of all the Mahavidyas, she is supreme divinity of Hindu beliefs and predominant Sri Vidya. The Tripura Upanishad places her as the ultimate Shakti of the universe.

Srividya largely views the goddess as "benign [saumya] and beautiful [saundarya]" (in contrast to Kalikula's focus on "terrifying [ugra] and horrifying [ghora]" Goddess forms such as Kali or Durga). In Srikula practice, moreover, every aspect of the goddess – whether malignant or gentle – is identified with Lalita.

She is Supreme Consciousness, she is leading above Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

There is a narration of a cosmic battle between Lalita Tripura Sundari and Asur Bhandasura in the Lalita Sahasranama, which symbolizes the victory of good over evil. This holy text detailed the portrayal of her divine attributes and qualities.

This battle was viewed as a triumph of righteousness over tyranny, and divine intervention over malevolent forces. The goddess, adorned with various weapons and symbols of power, engages in a fierce battle with Bhandasura and his army of demons. With her extraordinary prowess and the assistance of her divine companions and manifestations, Goddess Lalita defeats Bhandasura and restores cosmic harmony.

The temples of Tripura Sundari are all over India, but Prominent temples are in Tripura, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Jharkhand and Karnataka.

The Srikula Tradition is based on worship of a Goddess in the form of the goddess Lalita Tripura Sundari, this worship started in the first century. Srikula became a prominent force in South India after the 7th century. Today the prevalent form of Shaktism is practiced in South Indian regions such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Tamil areas of Sri Lanka. Srilkula’s prime school of thought discusses ‘Srividya’. Srividyas are represented with the ‘Sri Chakra’, which is the most famous image/ tantra in all Hindu Tantric Tradition.

In the Tantric tradition, there are many incarnation of three aspects associated with Tripura Sundari, which are referred as Tri-Shakti, which are three fundamental energies of divine- iccha shakti – the energy of will, jnana shakti – the energy of knowledge, and red - kriya shakti – the energy of action; and Trilingam, means Three aspects of Universal Lingam- svayambhu lingam, bana lingam and itara lingam. (Universal Lingam means Shiva the father all the universe)

From the point of etymology, ‘Tri’ means Three, and ‘Pura’ means city or elevated place or Citadel. So, ‘Tripura’ means “The once comprising all three citadels”. This is also translated as God’s gigantic septum of creation- the physical world, the astral world and the causal world. Due to the perfect homologation between the structure of the human microcosm and the macrocosm, these three citadels are usually associated with the three “bodies” of the human being: the physical body, the astral body and the causal body. In the different point of view, the significance is that of the goddess’ sovereignty, on the matter, energy, and thought at the level of the whole creation.

The Great Cosmic Wisdom is also reflected from Tripura Sundari. The manifestation of Tripura Sundari also refers to three fundamental states of Human Mind, the state of Awakening, The state of Sleep with dreams, and Dreamless sleep, which translated into Tantric language as Light of fire, light of Moon, and The light of the Sun.

Consequently, Tripura Sundari is the bright, gigantic sphere of divine consciousness that pervades all experiences of the three worlds of the Creation, but in the same time transcends them completely. The first “city-citadel” of the goddess is the state of awakening, in which the human being experiments various states of spirit mainly through the five senses.

In the Lalita Sahasranama, the most important description of Tripura Sundari, she is enthroned as a queen, entirely covered in radiant jewels, with all the marks of a married woman. She is with the figure of divine feminine, she is smiling with a crescent moon on her head. With her divine smile, she mesmerizes all, specially the God of desire, Kameshwara. Below her throne, five Brahmas sit with all the attention.

Tripura Sundari, as her name, is goddess of beauty and valor. She is the epitome of beauty in the universe, but she is also a protector of the human realm. Tripura Sundari teaches us to bestow your beauty, your inner beauty.

Celebrate your womanhood, your beauty. Show the world that you're beautiful as well as courageous. My dears, show the world that beauty is not necessarily weak, we can be both beautiful and powerful…!!!