Bob wrote: > I have the read the Srimad Devi Bhagavatam... > http://tinyurl.com/e4q48 > Maybe so, Bob, but the Devi Purana is not one of the authorized 18 main puranas composed by Vyasa, it is not part of the sattvika puranas and apparently was written in the 19th century, and therefore cannot be considered to be a pramana.
These days you can find many so-called puranas and upanishads that have been written by various people with claims to authenticity. The author of the Devi Bhagavatham, an obvious Vaishnava, proposes a theory of Devi as the Supreme, the one that created Siva, Vishnu and Brahma. This completely goes against the Vedas and all the other shastras. I suppose that if you consider Marshy to be just another common baba, then it would be appropriate to cite a modern purana and the bija mantras contained therein. However, Marshy doesn't seem to be just another common baba, since he sat at the feet of a jagadguru for 13 years. Surely Marshy would have had time to learn a few bija mantras, would he not? However, the work I cited to identify the origin of TM practice is the Tripura Upanishad, which is sruti, a revealed scripture, which was commented on by Bhaskarayacharya. This is the main text of the Sri Vidya sect at Sringeri, home of the Saraswati Dasanamis. The original TM tradition is Sri Vidya, which practice includes all the components of deep meditation, hatha and kundalini yoga. All the Shankaracharaya adherents follow the tradition of the Sri Vidya.
