image credit: Śrī Caitanyānandanātha performing āvāhana, Sri Vidya Temple Society
In the twentieth verse of his Cidvilāsastava (‘Hymn to the Play of Consciousness’), Amṛtānanda teaches a profound meditation on the true meaning of invoking the deity (āvāhana) as follows:
आन्तरस्य निजसंविदात्मनो मातुरक्षकरणाध्वना बहिः ।
मेयसंविदि समर्पणं तदावाहनं समरसत्वलक्षणम् ॥ २० ॥
āntarasya nijasaṃvidātmano mātur akṣakaraṇādhvanā bahiḥ |
meyasaṃvidi samarpaṇaṃ tad āvāhanaṃ samarasatvalakṣaṇam || 20 ||
“Casting outwardly the perceiver—the inner nature of consciousness—into object-awareness through the pathway of perception is the [true] ritual of summoning (āvāhana) of the deity. That [invocation of the deity] is [thus] identified as a [non-dual] fusion.” (translation by Ben Williams)
