Goddess Vaishnavi, Shakti of Lord Vishnu
Goddess Vaishnavi is one of the sapta matrikas – seven divine goddesses who is regarded as the Shakti of Lord Vishnu. She gets her name from Lord Vishnu and is believed to have born out of the body of Vishnu.
Vaishnavi Devi is depicted similar to Vishnu but only in the feminine form and she wears the same ornaments and rides the same vahana and also carries the same banner.
The Varaha purana, Matsya purana and Markandeya purana mention the Goddess Vaishnavi in great detail and according to legend, it is believed that she came out of Goddess Kaumari’s hand seated on a Garuda and holding a conch, discus, sword, club and bow and arrow. She is usually depicted as having four hands and is called Chaturbhuji for that reason. She holds a shanka and chakra in her two hands and her other two hands are in the poses of Abhaya and varada mudra.
However Goddess Vaishnavi is not to be confused with Goddess Vaishno Devi who is a popular goddess worshipped in the northern part of India. Goddess Vaishnavi is similar to Lord Vishnu in many aspects and wears the same ornaments and rides on a garuda. Some puranas vary slightly in describing her and in Devi purana she carries a gada and padma along with shanka and chakra. She is sometimes depicted as having six hands.
However some puranas say that sapta matrikas are the mental qualities of sadhakas which one needs to avoid and in that aspect Goddess Vaishnavi represents the one who destroys the quality of greed in the devotee.
Gayatri Mantra for Goddess Vaishnavi :
Aum tharksh yatwajaya vidmahe
chakra hasthaya dhimahe
tanno vaishnavi prachodayat
It is believed that chanting this mantra will alliviate dangers, enemies, bad luck, misfortunes and all obstacles and blesses with auspiciousness. The best time to chant this mantra is on wednesdays and fridays apart from pournami.
Can people have pictures of saptamatrikas in their homes? Are their any special pooja’s to be performed if they are kept in the house? Read it somewhere that they might cause problems to kids within 16 yrs of age? Would really apprciate any insight on this topic.
pl go through website shripuram.org the mentioned as you said
It is believed that photos or images of MahaKali or Chamundi should not be kept at home. As seeing the image, the pleasant nature of us may disturb.
This is the reason why elders believe that keeping image of Kraurya / krodha devatas is not good.
Thanks for your reply, but the picture of what I have at home has all the 7 forms of devi’s in their pleasant nature on their respective vahanas. Is it still not okay?
If the picture is in pleasant form then it is okay to keep. But be sure that do not touch or go around the picture in periods (those 4 days) as the Goddesses are more powerful.
is that lord mogini and lord shakti are same