Operation Freedom

 

The title of this blog post is click bait, of course. So I´ve been reflecting on the goddess Chinnamasta, whose iconography must be the most bizarre in Hinduism, nay, the world. The goddess is depicted as a naked 16-year old girl with a garland of skulls, standing on a couple engaged in sexual intercourse. Chinnamasta beheads herself (!) and the blood that streams out of her neck nourishes her two quasi-demonic attendants, Dakini and Varnini. 

Which may mean...whatever. Different interpretations exist. But here is my (somewhat subjective) take. 

Chinnamasta is a very graphic symbol of pantheism or rather the pantheist life-force. This force flows through all of creation, indeed it *is* creation. It feeds and nurtures all beings. It´s inevitably connected with death. However, since the life-force is constantly replenished, the process never ends: life, death, rebirth as new life. Chinnamasta is therefore Shakti, which is further confirmed by stories in which she is identified with Shiva´s wife Parvati (i.e. Shiva´s shakti). 

Note that Chinnamasta combines the traits of Kali (the sword and the garland of skulls) with those of Lalita Tripura Sundari (the red skin and her young age). Kali is the most destructive of the secret Tantric Mahavidyas, a group of strange goddesses to which Chinnamasta belongs. Lalita is the most erotic, her erotic desire also being a symbol for creation. 

The most common interpretation is that Chinnamasta is a symbol of the kundalini rising. Kundalini is a form of the shakti "sleeping" close to the sexual organs, and when it´s "awakened", it eventually reaches the head, making it metaphorically explode! The three streams of blood coming out from the neck of the goddess are the three "nadis" or energy channels through which kundalini rises. Dakini and Varnini symbolize the "inner" and "outer" aspects of creation, both being nourished by the energy gushing forth. 

So is the life-force a curse or a blessing? From a Gnostic or orthodox Buddhist perspective, it´s surely a curse, since it traps you in the material world of death, destruction and desire. Chinnamasta is the Demiurge or samsara personified. From a pantheist perspective, Chinnamasta is full of grace, since she sacrifices herself so the life-force can flow and nourish her children. But note that Dakini and Varnini never seem to change: they remain ugly, immature and (perhaps) insatiable even after drinking the blood of the Goddess! Somehow, this vision of a never-ending pantheistic cycle doesn´t appeal to me.

But then, neither does Gnosticism or "orthodox" Buddhism. A more constructive view would be "panentheist" rather than strictly pantheist or dualist. The process of birth-death-rebirth is both a blessing and a curse. It´s not a "solution" to anything, but the life-force is a blessing since it keeps us alive until we reach liberation. Our souls can never be truly lost. And the life-force is also an instrument we can use to reach liberation. How remains to be sorted out! Although I strongly suspect self-capitating maidens wearing skulls isn´t going to be a very central part of that yoga...

Please don´t ask what prompted me to write this, LOL.