Kavitha Chinnaiyan - Glorious Alchemy: Living the Lalitā Sahasranāma

Praise for G LORIOUS A LCHEMY

To me, this book is almost beyond praise. Stunning in its perfectly balanced blend of clarity, precision, concision, erudition, and accessibility, it is simply the best book on the Lalit Sahasranma in the English language. This book is not merely informational, however: it is designed to have maximum impact on your spiritual life, and if you take the abundant guided meditations in this sublime work into deep practice, you may experience radical opening and transformation. Especially if you are a lover of the Goddess, this book could become the primary touchstone of your spiritual life.

Christopher Wallis (aka Hareesh), M.Phil., Ph.D., author of Tantra Illuminated and The Recognition Sutras

This masterful illuminating book is a gift from Devi Herself as manifested through a brilliant contemporary practitioner, Yogini and householder, Dr. Kavitha Chinnaiyan. It is a timely, accessible and empowering resource that elucidates the rich, often complex and esoteric doctrine of rvidy and opens the multivalent portals of Devi Lalits 1000 names in intelligent, refreshing and relatable ways. Scholars, practitioners, spiritual seekers, and laypeople within and outside the non-dual Tantric and Vedic lineage streams will all delight in the wealth of knowledge and practical applications this precious work offers. Chinnaiyan offers the reader myriad opportunities to directly access and understand the Divine Mother and the infinite nuances and emanations of Her Reality through both knowledge and experience. In short, LSN is more than a book; it is a living revelation for which those who love Devi, those who wish to deepen their relationship with Her, and those who have yet to remember Her, have all been waiting.

Laura Amazzone, author of Goddess Durga and Sacred Female Power

Glorious Alchemy provides foundational insights on kta Tantric practice, incorporating rituals with narratives that ground the practice of Tripurasundar or rvidya in Tantric esotericism. In so doing, the text details the essential aspects that constitute the pantheon of Lalit. Over the course of my studies and teaching, I have always felt the need for an introductory text that engages the practitioners perspectives, provides textual background for ritual dynamics and helps scholars to ground what the insiders actually mean when they discuss practice. This text attempts to fill this lacuna. Broadly speaking, the polarity of orthodoxy and orthopraxy merges in a lived Hindu cultural experience where no text is sufficient without a teacher and no teaching is complete in isolation of texts. While Kavitha provides the manual for the kta vision, this keeps in mind the living aspect of Tantrism and the significance of in-person teaching. Kavithas text is accessible while addressing some of the most esoteric domains of ryantra, rvidya, and the phonetic body of the Goddess, expressed in her one thousand names. Surely this does not replace the Agamas, as it underscores the central teachings of the kta Agamas. It nonetheless paves the path for the advanced students to directly engage in the classical texts. Written in lucid English with illustrations and charts, the text is a must-read for understanding kta Tantrism. I am confident that kta aspirants as well as scholars seeking insider perspectives on kta Tantrism will find this text invaluable.

Dr. Sthaneshwar Timalsina, Professor, Religious Studies, San Diego University

The recitation of the thousand names of the Divine Mother known as the Lalit Sahasranma is one of the most powerful and popular spiritual practices among devotees of the Goddess. The background for these names is the sophisticated system of non-dualistic Tantra known as rvidy. Because of its complexity and the secrecy of many of its lineages, rvidy has remained mostly an enigma to the uninitiated. In Glorious Alchemy , Dr. Kavitha Chinnaiyan introduces the esoteric philosophy, metaphysics, mythology, devotional sentiment, and yogic discipline of this profound tradition with elegant clarity. With the humility and respect of a devoted practitioner and the rationality of an educator, she makes the divine names come alive, showing how the Lalit Sahasranma reveals a path back to the Great Mother. This book is an invaluable blessing to those interested in tantra, yoga, nonduality, the divine feminine, and the Hindu worship of the Goddess. This is the book I wish I could have written.

Rev. Dr. Swami Bhajanananda Saraswati, Head Priest and Dean of Seminary, Kali Mandir Ramakrishna Ashram, Laguna Beach, California

Simply beautiful! I wholeheartedly recommend this monumental work on rvidy. Going over the manuscript repeatedly reminded me of the profound works by illustrious sadhakas of the past including Bhaskar Rai and Karpatri Maharaj. Particularly if you havent been initiated into rvidy and wish to get a glimpse of its vastness, Glorious Alchemy: Living the Lalit Sahasranma by Kavitha Chinnaiyan (Saundrambika) is a read you cant afford to miss.

Om Swami

To prepare the reader for a meaningful experience of the thousand names of the Divine Mother, the author begins with a detailed presentation of the Tantric philosophy of the rvidy tradition. Her remarkable clarity is made all the more vivid by her enthusiasm and engaging style. All this leads to the thousand names themselves in the original Sanskrit with an excellent translation. Parallel to the text of the Lalit Sahasranma, a running commentary gives context and continuity to the names, bringing out the narrative power of their imagery. As a reference work Glorious Alchemy is a source of information to which the reader will return again and again; as a devotional manual it inspires; and as a guide to meditative practice it provides effective, step-by-step instruction to the spiritual seeker. In short, this is a work of lasting value.

Devadatta Kali, author of In Praise of the Goddess: The Devimahatmya and its Meaning

For centuries, the Lalit Sahasranma, rvidy Tantras exquisite thousand-name celebration of the Great Goddess, has ranked among the most powerful invocations in world religion. Yet it has also been one of the hardest to comprehensively grasp, with many of its myriad secrets, depths and revelations hovering persistently beyond the reach of even seasoned practitioners. So, in effectively bridging that gulf, Kavitha Chinnaiyans Glorious Alchemy accomplishes the nearly impossible. Dr. Chinnaiyanschooled and experienced in both traditional rvidy practice and modern Western pedagogyexpertly plumbs the cultural and philosophical concepts that underlie the Sahasranma, while also unveiling its governing patterns and logic. The result is a fresh yet erudite, systematic yet devotionally charged revelation that brings an ancient prayer, and an intimate vision of the Goddess herself, vividly to life.

Michael M. Bowden, author of The Goddess and the Guru; editor , Gifts from the Goddess; co-founder, Shakti Sadhana.

The r Lalit Sahasranma (LSN) contains the thousand names of r Lalit Mahtripurasundar, beautifully sequenced to show the progress of Her worship in various forms to the formless. Although many recite the LSN with devotion, very few understand them, let alone well. Dr. Kavitha Chinnaiyan (Saundarymb), a professional medical practitioner, is also an ardent practitioner of rvidy Tantra and has devoted her time to understanding the LSN in depth. Her educational background in medicine and science as well as the pursuit of rvidy makes her uniquely placed to explain many of the esoteric significances of LSN in scientific terms, and this book will surely help devotees to develop a deeper appreciation of the amazing knowledge hidden therein. May Devs abundant grace shower upon Saundarymb for many more such illuminating works that will bring joy and understanding in the hearts of those seeking the Mother.

Sridevi Gayathri Ramesh (Amruteshwariamba) and Ramesh Natarajan (Amriteshwarananda), GRD Iyers GuruCool