Where is Odyana?

[ravi]

On Fri, 17 Jan 2003 15:24:29 -0500, Shrinivas Gadkari
<sgadkari2001 at YAHOO.COM> wrote:

>On Fri, 17 Jan 2003 15:19:27 -0500, Shrinivas Gadkari
><sgadkari2001 at YAHOO.COM> wrote:
>>From a haTha yoga viewpoint, oDyana (not sure of transliteration)
>>and jalandhar are located in our body around the throat and forehead
>>regions respectively.
>
>Correction:
>
>oDyana - forehead
>jalandhar - throat


1) There is nAma in sahasranAma "oDyAna pITha nilaya", if yor refer to some
commentaries on this name, you may find more clues.

2) One of the commentaries I have identifies oDyana with aaj~naa chakra.
And gives one of the meaning of this name as SHE who is seated in the
aaj~naa chakra. sahasranAma itself later describes details of this chakra.
In that context, the devata seated here is identified as haakinii. She has
6-faces, white in color, fond of turmeric rice, presiding deity of bone
marrow, etc. are described. She also bears jnAna mudra. This name haakini
also comes in trishatii and shankara derives this name from hak to cut  and
says SHE cuts the cycle of birth and death (that is samsaara).

3). kAnchi is kAmakoTi piiTha (aka kaama piiTha). I dont think it is Odyana
piiTha.

4) As far as the name kAtyAyanI, various forms of ambaa are called by this
name. muuka panchashatii and some diixitar kritis address kaamaaxi as
kAtyAyani. I have seen kritis on Sri mInAxI of madhurai is also address by
this name. See for instance, the kriti on Sri miinAxi which explicitly says
as "oDyaNa piiTha sthithE".

http://www.sangeetham.com/kritis/srI_madhurApuri.htm (I have commentary on
this at home, I will whether the author has something more to say on this
krti).

I think that may not necessarily mean madhurai is ODyana piiTha. It may
mean that the deity in madhurai (aka haalasya xetra, dvadashaantapuri,
mantriNi piiTha, etc.) is same as the one in oDyANa (kAtyAyanI.)

5) Vaidya, are your sure the Tamil oDDiyaaNam is same as sanskrit oDyana?

6) kAtyAyanI is an ancient name. She is almost a common name for pArvati
everywhere. kAnchi paramAcharya in one of his talks says that the Tamil
deity kaaththAyi must be a smudged form Sanskrit kAtyAyanI.

7) Finally this name also come in a beautiful verse in shivAnandalaharI.
Last night, when I was thinking about this name, I suddenly rememberd (or
reheard) the phrase "kAtyAyanI shreyase" in balamurali krishNa's voice.
This verse starts with "nityAya" That is addressing Lord shiva as the
ETERNAL one. And the skt commentary interprets kAtyAyanI as parvatI and
shreyase as tapa-phala-ruupaya (link it with first verse nija tapa
phalaabhyAm).

8) Finally going by the gAyatrI, to know HER as kAtyAyanI, we should in
fact meditate on HER as kanyAkumArI.

I am not scholar, rather I know very little.  All the above may be
incorrect. Whenever you something in print or web or e-mail, you should
your common sense and intellect and analyse, whether this corresponds well
with other facts.  At least to that extent, one should try to use his
intellect. SHE is the most auspicious of all. SHE is celebrated as sarva
mangaLa, sumangalI, kalyaaNii. If it does not pain your heart even a little
bit when you make such a cruel comparison based on some dictionary meaning,
what can one say!! At least, it angers and pains me, that people will even
think so.

And shrinivas, you should note tantra bridges the gap between tattva and
ritual. Tantra extends (tanoti) the theory to practise and makes its a
ritual to protect (trayati) its adherent. You start with a flawed concept
and bad interpretation, you will not end up anything better. Because,
eventually people will build images, rituals, etc around tattva-s. That is
why we see most debased and ridiculous practises in tantra. In interpreting
anything, we should take the high road of our Acharya.


Om shivAbhyAnnamaH


Ravi