image credit: Varivasyārahasya Adyar Library Series No. 28
In the sixteenth verse of his Cidvilāsastava (‘Hymn to the Play of Consciousness’), Amṛtānanda teaches about the ‘higher form’ of Vāgdevatānyāsa (the mantric installation of the eight Vāgdevīs), a specialized ritual found with the Śrīvidyā tradition as follows:
पूरुषत्वसमवाप्तिहेतुपुर्यष्टकाख्यनिजसूक्ष्मवर्ष्मणः ।
चित्पदे लयविधानमष्टवाग्देवतान्यसनमिष्टमुत्तमम् ॥ १६ ॥
pūruṣatvasamavāptihetupuryaṣṭakākhyanijasūkṣmavarṣmaṇaḥ |
citpade layavidhānam aṣṭavāgdevatānyasanam iṣṭam uttamam || 16 ||
“The higher form of the mantric installation of the eight speech goddesses (Vāgdevatā) is prescribed as the practice of dissolving one’s own subtle body called the “fortress of the eight,” which perpetuates individuality, into the field of consciousness.” (translation by Ben Williams)
