Isitva Devi


The fourth Devi of the Khadgamala is called ISITVA.

Continuing to circumambulate counterclockwise around the corner, Isitva sits to the right side of the gate on the next wall. [ No 4, blue ]

Isitva Siddhe(the recitation in the Khadgamala) means,
"O Siddhi named Isitva"(literally, the power of CREATIVE CONTROL).

She is the fourth stop on our journey to the center of Srichakra.

Again, the power represented by Isitva is CONTROL. She denotes the Creative Power; that is, ability of the sadhak tomanipulate the elements in their five forms to produce objectiverealities -- thus creating on the physical plane

Isitva's mantra is:

aIM hrIM shrIM isitvA siddhi shrI pAdukAM poojayaami

But again, please note that the beauty of the Khadgamala Stotram isthat NOTHING is required for its recitation except for your time,attention and concentration: You need simply sit and recite the Stotram. (The mantra given just above is not part of the stotram; itis offered merely for informational purposes.

The entire stotram isself-contained, as explained in earlier posts.
Again, the full pooja of these Devis takes hours, because at each point we pause and do smaller, detailed poojas. Hence the sages ofyore created an ALTERNATIVE, SHORT-FORM recitation known as the Khadgamala Stotram more suitable for the demands of modern life.

According to Sri Bhasurananda Natha, an accomplished Srividya upasakas well as a member of and advisor to this group: "All of the sadhana of Srividya can be achieved by the recitation of the Khadgamala. Hours of long ritual compressed to less than half an hour of intense meditation that will give you a ticket on the sameplane as the great Srividya Upasakas. Whatever your developmental stage, this is IT.

Even those who have not been initiated into Srividya can benefit from the Khadgamala, which is why we chose too offer it to our members here. Once again, it is important to note that the Devis representing the Siddhis are *outside* the Sriyantra proper (i.e. the RED area in this graphic [ click here ].

Metaphorically, this teaches that we must get past the Siddhis (powerful and/or attractive side effects of Srividya sadhana) before we can enter the Sriyantra (the higher benefits of sadhana) and reach Devi (the goal of Sadhana; even though each of these Siddhis are themselves aspectsof Devi).

It's important to note that, when we first do the pooja of Isitva,we do not simply complete the pooja and move on to the next Devi,Vasitva. When we are doing the pooja we are standing in front of Her,facing Her. After completing Her pooja, She is internalized from that spot, carried with us to the next Devi, and merged with Her. So when we reach Isitva, we are actually worshiping Her together with the powers of Her predecessors, Anima, Laghima and Mahima.

Thus we have, in essence, destroyed or overcome these three siddhis by merging Them into Isitva; and it will continue thus, through the Siddhis and other Devis of the Khadgamala.

That's why, when we start the pooja from the outer enclosure, it is called samhara karma, or the dissolution method. In samhara karma,each Devi is worshiped and is absorbed into the next Devi, and itcontinues until we reach Lalita, in whom, by that time, all the Devis will be absorbed. (In srishti karma, or the creation method) Lalita is worshipped first, and from her the next Devi is extracted,and from her the next one, and onward until all the Devis are in their rightful places.)

[With sincere thanks and appreciation to Sri Amritananda Natha and Sri Bhasurananda Natha, who kindly provided detailed and substantive content for this commentary.]