Kamakhya’s Divine Play: The Shakti Who Witnesses, Transforms, and Liberates
Desire was not burned without reason. The silence of Kamakhya is never without cause.
Before we dare to ask why Kamadeva — the one who offered himself for loka-kshema — was not saved, we must first approach Kamakhya not as a goddess of indulgence, but as the Mahamaya who stands beyond karma, beyond form, and beyond mortal sentiment.
She is not a mother of selective compassion. She is the law.
Modern spirituality has tried to tame her — reducing her to a symbol of sensual freedom or a shortcut to pleasure. But Kamakhya does not bend to delusion. Her grace does not come cheap.
To even speak her name with depth, to even understand why she did not intervene to save Kamadeva, we must first pacify her heart — not through ritual alone, but through the fire of truth that burns illusions at their root.
Let the following shloka be recited — not as a chant, but as an act of submission to divine law. Only then can we begin to understand the terrifying grace that gave rise to Kamakhya Kshetra.
सम्सारसागरोत्तारतरणि: सुखमोक्षधृति: |
प्रसीद सर्वजगतां त्वं गतिस्त्वं मति: भोग्यते ||Meaning & Commentary
This shloka must not be read passively, but should be entered into with the force of truth.सम्सारसागरोत्तारतरणि:
Kamakhya has been hailed as the vessel that ferries beings across the terrifying ocean of samsara.
This samsara must never be romanticized as mere longing for women and gold — let men be added too, for the absurdity of the age demands it. Samsara is nothing but the horrific sea of birth and death where sukha and duhkha crush beings like wheat between grinding stones. These stones — sukha and duhkha — grind only when turned by the hands of one’s own actions, karma. Kamakhya alone becomes the raft, the unsinkable boat, that carries her devotee beyond this destruction.
No other raft is capable of bearing the burden of karma as She can.सुखमोक्षधृति:
Kamakhya is described as the embodiment of bliss and moksha, and the sustainer of spiritual fortitude.
This is not the sukha and moksha of soft-spoken modern discourses. This is not sukha born from sensual delight — this sukha is moksha. Moksha, liberation, must be understood not as escape from another’s control, but freedom from one’s own accumulated self.
As inanimate gold cannot clean itself, the jiva too must reach the hands of the skilled goldsmith — the Guru — who alone can burn away the crust of karma. This moksha is the privilege to be under the supreme divine’s control — not digital deliverance, but physical submission to a living embodiment of vidya.प्रसीद सर्वजगतां:
The prayer here is not desperation but recognition. “Be gracious,” is spoken to a Queen — Kamakhya — whose will alone anchors all worlds. She is no tribal deity, no local goddess, no sectarian power. She is sarva-jagatam gati — the root of all existence, from dust to devas.त्वं गतिः त्वं मति: भोग्यते:
Kamakhya is declared as the Goal, the Intelligence, and the Ultimate Experience.
She is not the way to something else — She is the end. She is also the very mati (discriminative wisdom) that reveals Her presence.
In the final realization, She is not only to be worshipped — She is to be experienced, entered into, possessed, and surrendered to. Kamakhya is the supreme bhogya — the true object of divine enjoyment, beyond metaphor.Let this shloka be recited by heart — not for ritual, but for awakening. For from now on, the nameless and formless Mahamaya shall be known simply as Kamakhya.
Returning to the Tale of Kamadeva:
Why was Kamadeva not saved, though his mission was sanctioned by Brahma and supported by Kamakhya?
Let it be understood — what is sown shall be reaped.
Kamadeva was burned by Shiva not out of vengeance, but because that was the fruit of his karma. The divine — whether Shiva or Kamakhya — remains sakshi-bhuta, merely witnessing one’s actions. No spontaneous intervention shall be made to cancel karma just because devotion exists.
If a man chants swamy-nama or mantra, and his path begins to shift, it is because a new path has been undertaken, not because the old one was erased.Kamadeva is no exception.
If he had been saved, the Kamakhya Kshetra would not have emerged. The yoni would not have fallen upon Neelachala Parvata, no tantra would have been revealed, and Vashishta’s curse that led to Kamakhya worhsip towards Vamachara would not have been known.
Kamadeva was turned to ash. But what seems like destruction is often divine transformation. Kamadeva, in his fearless devotion, was made into Ananga — formless, yet equal to Vishnu.
(“Though Vamachara is a superior path in its true essence, in this age of Kali, it is regarded as a lower path—only because we, in our current births, lack the adhikara (eligibility) to tread it in its purest form.”)
Thus, Kamadeva was not saved in the conventional sense — he was consumed by the fiery tapas of Shiva. Yet, even in this seeming destruction lay a hidden grace. For wherever Kamadeva goes, his beloved consort Ratyamba (Rati) follows. She witnessed the sorrowful burning of her divine husband in Shambhu’s fire and, overwhelmed with grief, prayed with deep devotion to Mahadeva.
Ratyamba, being none other than a manifestation of the same divine shakti as Parvati, Lakshmi, and Saraswati, radiated such pure daiva chaitanya through her heartfelt prayer that even Shambhu’s wrath was softened. Moved by her unwavering bhakti, Shiva granted a shapa vimochana — a path for redemption.
He declared that when Shakti, in the later days, is cut into pieces and her Yoni falls upon the Neelachala Parvata, Kamadeva and Ratyamba must consecrate that spot by establishing a temple in her honor. There, in that sacred kshetra, if they worship Mahamaya with sincerity, she will restore Kamadeva’s form once more.
At first glance, it may appear that Kamadeva was reduced to ashes and lost his form while selflessly risking his life for the well-being of the worlds. But this is not a tale of defeat — this is the very moment he became Ananga, the bodiless one, akin to Vishnu himself, ever pervading consciousness. This is why, without the grace of Kamadeva, no seeker can truly access the depths of Shri Vidya or Kali Vidya. Such is the place Amba has given him in Her worship. The very force once permitted to bind beings in lower tendencies has, through Her will, been transformed into the power that uplifts human consciousness.
To those with only surface sight, it may seem he was destroyed. But in truth, by the boundless grace of Mahamaya, and through the strength of his sincere devotion, Kamadeva was not annihilated — he was sanctified. In that sacred transformation, he and Ratyamba attained a stature on par with the Trimurtis. Just remember this portion, this will help you understand the relevance of bali happening in Kamakhya Kshetra for Kamakhya.
Even here, Amba remained the silent Shaskshi Bhuta — the divine witness. She did not intervene, for it was Kamadeva’s own fearless effort, born of noble intent, that earned him such divine elevation. He reaped precisely what he had sown — not destruction, but divinity.
This is why, before one steps into the sacred Kamakhya Kshetra, it is essential to have worshipped Shiva at Bhasmachala. Why so? The episodes surrounding Kamadeva offer timeless lessons:
- Desire, if allowed unchecked, can pull a seeker away from true consciousness. Like even the siddha purushas remained no immune from the arrows of Manmatha, forget swamy & indulged in forbidden actions, remained blind enough to notice the passing Shambhu with Nandi Bhagavan.
- Yet, those established in constant communion with Shambhu remain beyond its reach. From Nandi to Nandi Bhagavan.
- Approaching Swamy or Amba with carnal intentions is a grave misstep.
- Such intent will burn away like Kamadeva in Shiva’s fire — and the seeker cannot withstand the divine presence.
- Swamy is always a sakshi-bhuta — the silent witness. One must remain deeply aware of what they sow, for only then will the fruits be aligned with sincere devotion.
Keeping these truths in heart, a seeker must approach Kamakhya with purity, not as a goddess of desire in the worldly sense — a misconception unfortunately spreading in the name of Kamakhya Sadhana today. She is not the giver of indulgence but the awakener of divine consciousness.
Now, we begin to see — everything unfolds with purpose.
And so, the fall of the Yoni to Neelachala Parvata too holds a deeper reason.
That mystery shall be revealed in the next part… as the journey of Kamakhya Tattva Bodha continues.
What appears to be destruction, in the hands of truth, is always purification.
Kamadeva was not spared — not because he lacked bhakti, not because his mission was false, but because karma does not bend for emotion — not even divine emotion.
And yet, he was not lost.
He was made formless — Ananga — and through this burning, he became pervasive, subtle, unbound.
Kamakhya did not interfere, not out of absence, but out of absolute awareness.
She stood as sakshi-bhuta — the silent witness — watching as desire, karma, and tapas played out the law of dharma in full.
Those who only seek soft blessings will see this as cruelty.
But those who see through the eye of tattva will understand: no true elevation is possible without burning.
The seeker who wishes to approach Kamakhya must first understand this: She does not reward fantasy. She transforms reality.
Kamadeva became the force through which one enters the deepest layers of Sri Vidya. He who once bound the world in desire was made to guard the very gates of transcendence.
If this tale is to be remembered, let it not be remembered as a tragedy.
Let it be remembered as the first truth one must swallow before stepping into the yoni kshetra.
Kamakhya is not a goddess to be pleased — She is a force to be surrendered to.
In the next parts, the fall of the yoni to Neelachala Parvata shall be revealed — not as a myth, but as a tattva hidden beneath centuries of forgetting.
Let the reader now prepare to walk deeper.
And so, the journey continues…
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