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The ninth Devi of the Khadgamala is called PRAPTI. "Prapti Siddhe"(the recitation in the Khadgamala) means, "O Siddhi named Prapti". She is the ninth stop on our journey to the center of Srichakra. Again, the power represented by PRAPTI is ATTAINMENT. She enables us to achieve our goals, to reach anything or any place we desire, and to extend our realization to any location, on every plane in each of the three worlds. The Shiva Samhita says the siddha of PRAPTI will find all that s/he wishes for to be always at hand; the Markandeya Puranasays s/he will get "that which, having been obtained, leaves nothing to be desired." Also, some add that PRAPTI includes the power to transport yourself to any place in any world at any time. It may sound far-fetched to the untrained mind, but we should actually strive to understand PRAPTI Siddhi as a completely natural, even scientific process. Those familiar with esoteric Shakta philosophyknow that it expounds a natural sequence of material unfolding – the 36 Tattvas, descending from pure unmanifest consciousness, through divine immanence, and on down through the various manifestations of energy and matter. PRAPTI siddhi enables us, through the use of mantra, to reverse this downward flow, thereby transforming gross physical objects intoethereal or subtle objects having no quality other than sound (i.e.mantra). This ethereal object may then be moved through space and timeby the trained mind. Finally, the entire process is reversed tore-materialize the original physical object in the sadhak's hand | 
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As with all of the Siddhis, these powers are ultimately neithermagical nor mystical – they are simply advanced methods ofmanipulating nature law on the subtle plane. However, that is not tosay they are easy or obvious; their acquisition requires large amountsof mantra japa and long-term, intensely serious sadhana to acquire. As noted in previous posts of this series, each Devi of the Khadgamala-- each Devi of the Srichakra -- merges into the next as we progresstoward the center. Each Devi is internalized from Her place, andcarried with us to the next Devi, and merged with Her. So when wereach PRAPTI, we are actually worshiping Her together with the powersof Her predecessors, Anima, Laghima and Mahima, Isitva, Vasitva,Prakamya, Bhukti, and Iccha. Thus we have, in essence, destroyed or overcome these seven siddhis bymerging Them into PRAPTI; and it will continue thus, through theSiddhis and other Devis of the Khadgamala. Locations of PRAPTI - Continuing to circumambulate counterclockwise around the corner, you immediately encounter Prapti, She sits to the righthand corner of the gate of the outer enclosing wall closest to you (on a flat yantra, she sits in the middle, between Anima and Iccha). [ No 9, BLue ] Prapti's mantra is: The beauty of the Khadgamala Stotram is that 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; it is offered merely for informational purposes. The entire stotram is self-contained, as explained in earlier posts. The full text can be found by clicking the photo on the front page of this Group. Again, the full pooja of these Devis takes hours, because at each point we pause and do smaller, detailed poojas. Hence the sages of yore 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 sadhanaof Srividya can be achieved by the recitation of the Khadgamala. Hoursof 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 reachDevi (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.] | ||||
