Swami Rama um Sri Vidya

Swami Rama explains that "the 'first thing that you should do is make full effort to convince yourself, to accept this: 'I am a shrine of the Lord.' First thing. It’s not enough to believe in God. You say, 'I believe in God because I believe in myself. I believe I am a Catholic, I am a Hindu, I am a Buddhist, I am this.' It’s not enough to lead happy life. It’s not enough to make you happy. You all have religions; you all have churches. So what? Still you are suffering. Sometimes I find you suffering more than those who do not have. Because you are not going ahead.

"What actually do you need? You need to go in systematically.... How your body is composed? How is it formed? From here you start going inside. If you have known yourself, you have known the universe. But if you are trying to know the universe, you are lost in bewilderment. You are lost. So you better learn to understand yourself first.

"That vidya which leads you systematically is called Sri Vidya—highest of all vidyas, as mother. And you are fully protected.... You are very close to mother. I’m talking about Divine Mother—the mother in you, the shakti in you, the power in you. Scientists proved that matter is nothing but energy. Matter can be converted into energy, and energy into matter. It’s all energy. But that’s all; nothing beyond that.

"Yoga science has gone to deeper levels explaining that you have shakti within you. And without that shakti, it is not possible for you to survive, it’s not possible for you to act and to function. Any part of yourself—even your brain, your mind, your intellectualization, your convictions, your actions—are not possible without shakti.

"This systematic path, loving path, most glorious, majestic path, is introduced by the teacher when you have enough time. Suppose you say, 'I don’t have time. Swamiji, can you tell me something about Sri Vidya which you do in two minutes time, before I go to my office?' He will laugh at you and say, 'I love you. Okay. Later on when you have time.' So this vidya—there’s a book called Saundarya Lahari—a wave of beauty, a wave of bliss, a wave of wisdom.

"So this mother worship is not the worship of a female deity; it is not.... It’s a systematic leading to the Source of highest consciousness within you, where you find unification with the Brahman, the Absolute One.... 

"There is one thing very wonderful, and that is you don’t have to be in the temple. You can. A student of Sri Vidya can go to synagogue, temple, church, Shiva temple, Krishna temple, any temple—it doesn’t matter. For him or her, everything is one and the same. It’s not the worship of the woman, mother, it’s not worship of man, father; it’s the worship of Brahman; not even worship of neuter gender. The absolute Truth which is changeless, which is not subject to change, death and decay, that which is limitless, that Infinite for whom we do not have words, which is inexplicable."