Just as a supplement here, pictures of the Shri Yantra Temple in Amarkantak, which is built as a 3 dimensional Shriyantra Mount Meru. It wasn't there yet at GD's time, in fact it was still being constructed when I was there, but it is reminiscent of the spirit of the place. There is of course a two dimensional Shri Yantra in the main temple which contains the source of the Narmada. There is another Shankaracharya temple, which displays the Dasa Mahavidyas, the 10 majors forms of the Divine Mother, which was initiated by the Shankaracharya of Dwaraka, Swaroopananda Saraswati http://jagadgurushankaracharya.org/, not our guy, but nevertheless a direct disciple of GD. So he would know about the worship of Devi's and yantras.
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photography-mystic-shri-yantra-temple-image11087077 ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <fairfieldlife@yahoogroups.com> wrote: Richie wrote "Now, if the Adi Shankara wrote the Sounda, then he must have included the fifteen bijas contained within, would he not?" The crucial word here is IF, Richard, as scholars agree that he never wrote it. But there is no doubt of the fact that Shri Vidya found entry into the Dasanami sampradaya in South India, where Gurudevs teacher came from. IMHO it is more likely, that GD would utilize the mantra of Tripura Sundari rather than that of Sharada. This is what worshippers of the Shri Yantra usually do. I saw a beautiful Shri Yantra at the temple at the origin of the Narmada river in Amarkanthak, where GD spend about 30 years roaming the forests. Like all holy rivers, the Narmada is seen as a manifestation of the Goddess, and Paul Mason put a beautiful song of GD's voice praising the Narmada goddess. Also, not all Dasanami monks meditate on the bijas of Saraswathi, not twice a day, some do not meditate at all, and not all of TM mantras are bijas of Saraswathi, only those of the student age. The first mantras Maharishi taught in the west were in fact Ram mantras. Shree is typical Lakshmi, other mantras are of Durga and Kali or Krishna. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <fairfieldlife@yahoogroups.com> wrote: So, it looks like Barry 2 is thinking the bija mantras have been around for ages. Does that men he thinks the bijas are eternal and came into the minds of the rishis spontaneously by the grace of Lord Shiva? Or, did the bija mantras have a human origin and were passed down from guru to chela in a long unbroken line leading back to the maha siddhas of the tantric tradtion? It has now been established that at least two of the most sacred bija-mantras, out of the fifteen, contained in the Sound Arya La Hari, are in fact, TM bija-mantras. Now, if the Adi Shankara wrote the Sounda, then he must have included the fifteen bijas contained within, would he not?" On 10/7/2013 6:13 PM, Bhairitu wrote: On 10/07/2013 01:02 PM, Richard J. Williams wrote: So, where did the meditation of SBS come from? Meditation is a technique that is common all over India, especially in the sect of the Sri Vidya. In that tradition they meditate on the bija mantra of Saraswati. It's the same bija mantra given out in TM initiation. It's the same technique - it's a meditation using a bija mantra of Saraswati. Let's review what we know about SBS. Rajaram Mishra, later to become Swami Bramhananda Saraswati, was born on Thursday, 21 December, 1868 in village Gana, which is close to the city of Ayodhya, in North India. Rajaram was enrolled at the Sanskrit Institute at Kashi at the age of eight and later became a student of Swami Krishnananda Saraswati of Utter Kashi. http://www.paulmason.info/gurudev/parampara.html http://www.paulmason.info/gurudev/parampara.html Are we agreed so far? So, we can assume that the SBS learned meditation from SKS who was initiated by his guru. All the gurus in the Saraswati lineage meditate on the bija of Saraswati. Their headquarters is at Sringeri. According to the Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath, the meditation technique used in TM originated with the Vedic sage Naryana. It's the same meditation that is used by all the Shankaracharyas in that lineage. So, the TM bija mantras came from SBS, who was a member of the dasanami order of the Saraswati dandi sannyasins, founded by the Adi Shankara. The bijas used in TM have been around for ages. And they didn't have to come from anyone.
