[Advaita-l] Brahma Vidyas

[Venkata sriram P]

Namaste,

The purpose of upaniSad vidyA is to direct the upAsaka towards
ahamgrahOpAsana.  The corresponding vidyAs bestow the "parOkSa jnAna"
of the brahma-tattva.  Later, when the upAsana matures into ahamgrahOpAsana,
the "aparOkSa-jnAna" is revealed before him. 

Several vidyAs are prescribed but among all these "dahara-vidyA" is 
supposed to be the crest-jewel of all the vidyAs.  

Our upAsya-dEvata should be visualized at the center of the heart 
"hrud-puNDarIka-madhya-sthAna".

Bhagavan Krishna too hints this form of vidyA while saying
"Ishwara sarvabhUtAnAM hruddEshE arjuna tiSTati".

The guru of Sri Sadasivendra Saraswati by name Sri Paramasivendra
wrote a beautiful gloss on this dahara-vidya called "dahara-vidyA-prakAsika".

Apart from these, there are several vidyAs like akSi-puruSa-vidyA, prANa-vidya,
samsarga-vidyA, vAruNi-vidyA, gAyatri-vidyA, sat-vidyA etc.  

As regards the successful masters, i don't know much about others but my 
parama-guru was a great exponent of akSi-puruSa vidyA who was a siddha in this
upaniSad vidya.

Sri Kavyakanta Ganapati Muni initiated his beloved disciple Brahmarishi Daivarata
of Gokarna into the secrets of prANa-vidya.  

Also, it needs a special mention that srIvidya is "dahara-vidya" only and srIyantra
is also called "dahara-chakra".  One of the lalita sahasranAma mentions Mother 
as "daharAkAsa-rUpiNi".  

regs,
sriram