Namaste! What a profound journey this Chandi sadhana has been! As we find ourselves in the year 2024, we have once again gathered a dedicated team to update and upgrade our literary offerings, enriching them with new materials, insights, and studies of the Chandi Path. This effort also extends to enhancing our apps and website! It has been half a century since the first officially registered edition of the Chandi was published in 1974. My journey with the Chandi began in the late 1960s, leading to several local publications in India before the advent of personal computers in the 1980s. Early editions were published in Birbhum, West Bengal, and Rishikesh, Northern India, where I dedicated six years to chanting the Chandi daily, three years in each location. In total, I have spent 21 years immersed in chanting and studying Chandi in various forms and resources.
I made some additions and corrections to these publications in 1981, with further additions in 2001 as we embraced digital publications, and again in 2019, when our books were made available for print-on-demand. Our intensive work on the Samasti Chandi Bijamantratmaka and the Tantra Durga Saptashati Guhyabijavali involved sitting for 16 to 18 hours a day, chanting the entire book in one asana, even chanting it backwards and forwards (Siddha-Ulta path). The profound experience of “Long Asana Sadhana,” where one remains in a single asana, chanting with pranayama throughout the day and night, has been documented in articles, videos, and interviews on our website at https://shreemaa.org/long-asana-sadhana.
This intense focus, however, led to our website and apps lagging behind in system upgrades and current standards. Fortunately, a few months ago, Nanda and Pallavi reconstituted a new team. Abhyuday worked on the apps, Siddhartha and Munmun led web development, and Kumari and Paramananda tackled server issues. Rudra assisted with typing and translating Sanskrit, resulting in this comprehensive 1384-page collection related to Chandi in Devanagari, Roman, and English.
Reciting the Chandi Path, I experienced a profound transcendence, seeing myself as part of the divine whole. This feeling of unity with all existence, where every vibration is an expression of divine love, lasted for months. Although I returned to duality, I felt compelled to share this experience, translating and teaching the Chandi Path, and establishing temples worldwide.
Today, we have a global community engaged in the worship of the Divine Mother, finding joy and love in this divine relationship. I am filled with gratitude and love, knowing that this sacred practice continues to enrich lives and deepen our connection to the divine.
Swami Satyananda Saraswati
Uvita, Costa Rica, 2024