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| Preserving Ancient Oral Teachings |
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Teaching Lineages
The Preservation of Ancient Oral Teachings
A spiritual master passes spiritual teachings orally to his or her disciples, thus creating a lineage of teachers. Though the teachings remain the same, teachers may differ in the way they teach, thus providing unique settings in which each unique individual can find a place.
The first person known to attain the final state, completed this transformation nearly forty thousand years ago. She was called Adhinatha, First Master, first in the line of spiritual masters to this day.
Of Adhinatha's disciples, two names are known to us: Vishnu, a woman, and Shiva a man, both of whom attained the same state as Adhinatha, and through whom the experience and teachings of Adhinatha have been preserved and passed down. The receivers of this knowledge have, over time, evolved into numerous branches of spiritual wisdom.
Durga Ma's branch, which came to be known several hundred years ago as Pashupat Shaivism, is thought by most to have long since died out. However, an Immortal by the name of Lakulisha, or Babaji, revealed himself to a man in Gujarat, India, in the 1900s, in the foothills of the Himalayas near Rishikesh.
This man was Swami Shri Shri Kripalvanandaji, affectionately known to his disciples as Kripalu, “Giver of Grace.” After passing through its ups and downs and near dissolution, Pashupat Shaivism was revived by Kripalu through the direct teachings of Lakulisha, the twenty-eighth incarnation of Shiva.
As a descendent of the Shaivite branch of the lineage of Adhinatha, Durga Ma has been charged by her teacher, Yogeshwar Muni (Charles Berner) through whom she received the complete teachings of Swami Kripalu, to bring back the worship of the Goddess.
Exactly what this meant to her, and what she was being asked to do, were left to her understand and to teach to sincere seekers who would benefit from her knowledge and experience of shaktipat kundalini yoga, Surrender Meditation.
