PREREQUISITES FOR SRI VIDYA

Sri Matha Parvathi Devi out of compassion asked Lord Siva with
reverence Prabho. In this kaliyuga, when people are suffering so
much and are very busy with their efforts to earn livelihood, what are
the minimum requirements to get into Sri Vidya sadana.
Siva replied Oh Devi. Your compassion is boundless. Knowing the
answer, you are asking me this question for the benefit of our children.
Let us enact a leela and descend as sage couple along with cow & calf
in the outskirt of village and bless the poor farmer Mitrabuddhi, his wife
SuguNa and their young son SvaprakAsa.
Mitrabuddhi saw the holy couple as he was going to market. He
prostrated before them and with humility asked whether he could be of
any service as they appeared to be new to the village. Siva in the form
of sage replied that they are proceeding to Varanasi and they will be
happy if the farmer could take care of the cow and calf for one year.
The sage told that the cow gives a good quantity of milk which he can
use and sell the excess but should return the cow and calf in a healthy
condition when they come back after an year. With these words the
sage couple departed.
The farmer felt blessed and immediately rushed to the house to share
the joy with his wife. Both of them welcomed the cow with an Arti,
applied tilak on forehead, did pradakshinam with reverence and
shared the freshly prepared rotis with the cow .
The jobless farmer every day got up early in the morning, would take
bath first and then do a small pooja to the cow, feed the calf and then
milk the cow. He will take the cow and calf for gracing singing joyfully
folk songs. He will give them a nice bath in the river. He sought advice
from his friends regarding nutritious feed and proper maintenance.
Soon the cow started giving twice the quantity of milk. Not only the
cow and calf were healthy, the farmer, his wife and more importantly
their son also became very healthy. They sold the excess milk, and
even other by products like curds, cow dung cakes etc.
Later, one day Suguna told her husband that since the cow is now
giving lot of milk, why not we give some quantity of milk free to the
neighbor who is very poor and also has a small child. The farmer felt
very proud of his wife. He also suggested that we should give some
small quantity to the temple priest for Abhishekam to Siva linga.
Suguna felt very happy and readily agreed. She also volunteered to
make pancha kavyam and pure cow dung cakes for homa in temple.
The cow shed was always kept clean and decorated with rangoli by

Suguna. Since the hut was small, the calf and cow was kept tied to a
rope outside. One night, it started thundering followed by rains. Young
boy, Svaprakasa felt that the calf and cow will be frightened and asked
his father to bring the cow and calf inside the house with an offer that
he will keep awake and stay by the side of calf whole night comforting
the same. Actually all three of them kept awake. Suguna told stories of
Rama & Krishna to keep Svaprakasa awake. Later he slept in a sitting
posture itself for want of space.
During the annual village fair, in the contest for high milk yielding cow,
the village Chief s cow always won the prize. The village chief called
for Mitrabuddhi and offered him four times the normal amount to buy
his cow & prevent Mitrabuddhi from contesting. The Chief also
threatened of dire consequences. Realizing the status of chief and his
crookedness, Mitrabuddhi, politely praised the chief as to how the chief
only deserved the prize this year also. Mitrabuddhi informed the chief
tactfully that he will inform the Manager of competition that only
village born and bred cows should be allowed in the contest and not
any other cows bought from market recently within an year .
Mitrabuddhi gave some clues & offered his services for a while by
which the cow will give more milk. The chief felt relieved & happy.
Devi asked Siva: Maha Deva. Where is Sri Vidya here? Siva Replied:
Let us go now.
The sage couple visited Farmers hut and were joyfully & respectfully
welcomed by Mitrabuddhi & Suguna. They washed the feet, applied
Chandan, Kumkum & offered milk & fruits. After enquiring about the
safe pilgrimage to Varanasi, Mitrabuddi said:
Oh! Sage. You have been extremely kind to us. We do not know what
puNya we did in our previous births. Your cow was a holy cow. It
started giving me more and more milk with your grace. We have
become prosperous. We may be still living in the same hut but we are
contended and happy as a family. We surrender the cow, calf and all
the wealth we have accumulated by selling the milk and milk products
at your holy feet. Please accept.
At this point Sage interrupted looking at his consort with a smile. We
know everything that had happened. We brought two similar cows of
same breed. We gave you one and the other to your friend Somu in the
adjacent village. Go and look at his cow. He maintained the cow only
for getting milk. No doubt it is also healthy and gives good quantity of
milk. But your cow gave excess of milk because you treated the cow as
your own family member. You worshiped the cow as Mother. The
cowshed maintained by your wife looks like a temple. You were not
greedy. Not only you sold excess milk, but also shared with your poor
neighbor and gave some quantity to Linga Abhishekam also. Above all,

on the day of thunder and rain, your entire family sacrificed the
sleeping comfort for the sake of cow and calf. Do you remember. The
priest asked for more quantity of milk on that day to perform
Abhishekam at temple during the whole of night because it was
Sivaratri on that day. Unknowingly, you all kept awake on that holy
night.
Mitrabuddhi became blissful hearing the words of the sage. He pleaded
with reverence. Swamiji. Please guide us in spiritual path. We do not
know anything. I used to watch the temple priest doing abhisheka
chanting some mantras. I wish with your blessings at least in my next
birth, I should be able to chant such mantras.
Sage: Mitrabhudde! Do not get into this trap. There are many ways to
get liberation in this birth itself irrespective of caste, Gotra, Vamsa etc.
Do not even worry about your past sins of previous births. Your
innocence is a strength because you will not compare with other paths.
With your inquisitiveness to progress spiritually, with your attitude of
sharing and self sacrifice (Altruism), With your ability to acquire both
material prosperity and spiritual growth through Mother Cow and
finally with your mental outlook to lead a happy family life, yourself
and Suguna, being like minded and supportive of each other, are the
best candidates for Sri Vidya initiation.
Keep this cow and calf and all the wealth as our prasadam. In due
course, We will be directing a rishi couple to initiate both of you
because as per Sastras, it is necessary that three generations of Guru
are to be known for an effective initiation and sadana.
Keep the initiation confidential which is just the beginning. Perform
meticulously japa sadana , Pooja, contemplation on Thraipura
Siddhantha for a few years. With blessings of Sri Guru, you will realize
that through leading a Dharmic life of a house holder both husband
and wife can attain liberation in this birth itself (Jeevan Mukthi). Spend
the remaining years of life in Sahaja Ananda spreading Sri Vidya.
Siva and Parvathi left for their abode leaving us to summarize the prerequisites :Although Kulam, Gothra, Vamsa etc. would definitely help a person to
progress in any path of religious worship, in case of Sri Vidya these
birth factors are not a Must and will not obstruct entry into Sri Vidya
provided the person or couple is :--1) Simple, innocent, modest, humble, devoid of Craving & Hatred
and spiritually inclined without any preconceived notions.
2) Have an inherent, persistent urge to get into Sri Vidya through
satsang.

3) Lead a Dharmic life, with an attitude of caring, sharing & self

sacrifice (Altruistic).
4) Have Respect for elders, faithful to family, duty conscious,
truthful and supportive to Society & environment.
5) Lead a house holders life balancing the efforts to achieve
material prosperity and spiritual progress without conflict in
between.
6) Both husband and wife have an equal urge to get into Sri Vidya
and are like minded in every aspect of life with mutual respect,
love and regards towards each other.
Sri Mathre Namaha.