Iccha Devi


The eighth Devi of the Khadgamala is called ICCHA.

"Iccha Siddhe" (the recitation in the Khadgamala) means,

"O Siddhi named Iccha"(i.e. what Guruji identifies as the power of WILL). She is the eighth stop on our journey to the center of Srichakra.

Again, the power represented by ICCHA is WILLPOWER. Now, in everyday life, we usually associate with that term with the human ability to accomplish a seemingly overwhelming task or overcome a difficult obstacle with grit, hard work and preserverence. However, this quality is only a tiny, micro-fractional manifestation of Iccha Siddhi, which is a universal cosmic power of Devi.

It is so powerful and elemental that even ordinary human beings (i.e., those who have as yet made no systematic effort to acquire Iccha Siddhi) can sometimes instinctively draw upon it in a high-pressure situation, enabling them to accomplish seemingly extraordinary feats.

In the absolute sense, however, ICCHA SIDDHI refers to an accomplished upasak's ability to consciously access the power of DEVI'S WILL. This ability is very concrete and very dramatic: If the Iccha Siddha wills something to happen, it literally happens. If the Iccha Siddha wills something does *not* to happen, it does not.

However, the use of this power -- as of all Siddhis -- must be governed by DEVI'S will and not the upasak's personal desires and preferences. But what does this mean? Well, there is a story telling of a great guru and a young shishya who had acquired Iccha Siddhi. Once while walking together, the two came upon a forest fire threatening a poor shanty town. Filled with compassion, the shishya used iccha siddhi to stop the blaze. Afterward, however, his guru warned him to exercise the greatest discrimination when changing the course of Nature -- as such an act could easily violate the will of the Divine.






Another story, however, describes an episode in which a shishya and his guru were walking through a mountain pass when a huge avalanche ofrocks and boulders began tumbling toward them. There was no time toescape, and the young shishya prepared to die. But his guru smiled and said told him not to fear. Using iccha siddhi, he commanded the landslide to stop and it did so. But when they crossed out of the avalache's path, the guru used iccha siddhi to let the avalanche resume -- thus saving their lives, but not subverting the course of Nature.

In more practical terms, Iccha Siddhi is the power by which great spiritual teachers impart initiation to their disciples. Take, for instance, a situation in which a sadhak is chanting a given mantraw ith persistence and devotion, but with no perceptible effect. With the guru's diksha, however, that same mantra will bring great and immediate benefits to the sadhak. Whenever we receive a mantra from a spiritual guru, we are being touched by the Iccha Shakti of that guru's lineage -- that is, a very strong dose of Divine Will. Ineffect the guru is "changing the course of Nature," creating aspiritual shortcut for the devoted shishya, where otherwise there would be none. That is the essence of Iccha Siddhi.

Each Devi of the Khadgamala-- each Devi of the Srichakra -- merges into the next as we progress toward the center. Each Devi is internalized from Her place, and carried with us to the next Devi, and merged with Her. So when we reach ICCHA, we are actually worshiping Her together with the powers of Her predecessors, Anima, Laghima and Mahima, Isitva, Vasitva,Prakamya and Bhukti.

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

The locations of Iccha Devi : Continuing to circumambulate counter clockwise around the corner, you move past the next gate, and find Bhukti sitting at the next corner (on a flat yantra) the lower right corner of the outer enclosing wall. [ No 8. Blue ]

Iccha's mantra is:
aIM hrIM shrIM ich-CHA 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 theStotram. The mantra given just above is not part of the stotram; itis offered merely for informational purposes. The entire stotram is self-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 same plane 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.

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: ). 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 aspects of Devi).

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