Consciousness (limitless) is consistently sacrificing itself for the ego (limited), hence it (as God) represents the supreme form of love. The ego, however, attaches itself to the objective achieved by the sacrifice instead of turning itself closer to consciousness. The Goddess that sits between the ego and consciousness is known as Kurukulla (the doer of the kula/lineage/family). She is known as a Bali devata in the Sri Vidya tradition for all offerings to the body-mind are consumed by Her and redirected to the thing that one desires immensely. She’s also the vidya of sammohana (power to attract all) and is known as the one that brings juice and nourishes our desires so that Lalita Tripurasundari can find enjoyment in Her play. Ego is the saturation of all desires, past and present, which is why identification with is makes us feel limited and agitated. When we consistently sacrifice the ego for the divine, Kurukulla removes duality between self and divine.
The form of Kurukulla
Let’s examine the beauty of this Goddess’ form and how She brings us closer to the goal of union with the divine.
Form of Kamadeva: She resembles the God of Love Kama who makes one mad with desire, as the Goddess of Love, She has the ability to make one attractive enough to attain their desires.
Dancing on one leg: The ritual worship of Kurukulla also happens standing on one leg, in a dancing pose like Her, this is to show single pointed focus on the object of desire. One also does this pose in yoga to become more centered in their own body, and this shows that one being completely self-possessed and centered becomes immediately attractive to all things. A lot of spiritual practices are related to building this very focus that Kurukulla has while swaying in the bliss of desire.
Free flowing hair: Muktakeshi is one of the names of Kali which means She who has open or wildly flowing hair. To have your hair bound is to show an identification with societal norms and desires. The Goddess, however, is not bound by these things and can get rid of all desires that are imposed upon us by the external world.
Lotus: The Goddess is the conduit for an internal bali and when we do sacrifice our over-identification with our desires (to be wanted, to be known, to be seen etc.) we rise above the limited selves.
Garland of severed heads: Letters of Sanskrit, all mantras are given up to Devi as bali.
Ankusha: The ankusha is a goad used for training and disciplining elephants and is the symbol of spiritual guidance that comes from the instructions of the Guru. Without a Guru, the student ends up lacking focus on their spiritual practice.
The flowery arrows and the sugarcane bow: The Goddess is seen holding flowery arrows and a sugarcane bow with a string of bees just like the Goddess Lalita. The arrows are the five senses (sound, touch, sight, taste and smell) that interact with the sweetness of the mind being held by the Goddess (sugarcane bow) and this itself creates constant desires. When turned outwards, Kurukulla mantra attracts external objects and when turned inwards, she unites and dissolves the ego in divine consciousness.
The form of Kurukulla is also reminiscent of a popular figure in the Mahabharata that was considered the closest to Krishna: Arjuna. Arjuna as the archer was focused and disciplined and everything else would fall away if he had a desire for something. The Bhagavat Gita is revealed to Arjuna for He’s the closest to the state of stithaprajna (one whose intelligence is fixated in knowing oneself). The Kurukulla vidya is also that which fulfills curiosities of the mind because it contains the beeja ‘Hrim’ that shows the division of the Goddess from one to many. In everything we seek, we seek to give ourselves up to the Goddess and the mind makes up creative ways of achieving Her.
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