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T R I P U R A S U N D A R I 
THE ESSENCE OF BEAUTY IS GODThe third Great Cosmic Power is known under the name of Tripura Sundari or Shrividya Tripura. The Goddess manifests, generally speaking, three fundamental aspects of the Divinity, which may be extended to the level of the whole creation. Moreover, in the Tantric tradition there are many other forms of reuniting three aspects in one, such as Trishakti (referring to the three fundamental energies of God in the manifestation: iccha shakti - the energy of will, jnana shakti - the energy of knowledge, and kriya shakti - the energy of action) and Trilingam (referring to the three aspects of the universal lingam, which are: svayambhu lingam, bana lingam and itara lingam). From an etimological point of view, "tri" means Three, and "pura" means city, or citadel. Thus Tripura may be translated as "the one comprising all three citadels", referring to the three worlds or gigantic spheres of God's creation: the physical world, the astral world and the causal world. Due to the perfect homologation between the structure of the human microcosm and the macrocosm, these three citadels are usually associated to the three "bodies" of the human being: the physical body, the astral body and the causal body. From a different perspective, the significance is that of the goddess' sovereignty, on the matter, energy, and thought at the level of the whole creation. Moreover, this grandious manifestation of the Great Cosmic Power Tripura Sundari refers also to the three fundamental states of the human being: the state of awakening, the state of sleep with dreams and the state of deep sleep, without dreams, symbolized in Tantrism as the light of the fire, of the Moon and of the Sun. Consequently, Tripura Sundari is the bright, gigantic sphere of divine consciousness that pervades all experiences of the three worlds of the Creation, but in the same time transcends them completely. The first "city-citadel" of the goddess is the state of awakening, in which the human being experiments various states of spirit mainly through the five senses. 
In this case, the Tantric tradition asserts that the location of the individual consciousness is at the level of the right eye, or in the area of the forehead, in between the eyebrows.The goddess’ second "city-citadel" is the state of sleep with dreams, associated to the level of vishuddha chakra, in which the individual consciousness is centered in the mind. The goddess’ third "city-citadel" is suggested by the state of deep sleep, associated to the level of anahata chakra, in which the individual consciousness becomes united with its divine nature. As the sovereign goddess of these three principal states of consciousness, Tripura Sundari represents in the same time the fourth state of consciousness (turiya), which transcends all other three and which is associated to the state of ecstasy (samadhi) and spiritual freedom. TRANSFIGURATION IS THE MAGIC KEY In the Tantric vision, from the point of view of the universal principles, it is known that the feminine principle represents God’s manifestation in the aspect of names and forms while the the masculine principle signifies the transcendent aspect of God. Therefore, the feminine nature is always associated to beauty. We may justly ask ourselves: where can one find the supreme beauty? The tantric teachings urge us to seek this beauty inside of us, because exterior beauty can only reflect, mirror for a few instances the ineffable inner beauty, which transcends all forms. From a literary point of view, Sundari means "beauty" and this Great Cosmic Power’s worship represents in fact following the path of beauty and ecstatic bliss through the manifestation, to the Divine Absolute. 
On the level of the ordinary conception of the world, we imagine beauty as implying the perfection and harmony of the exterior outer forms, as is the case of a beautiful woman or a gorgeous flower.However, regardless of their beauty, if we analyze them closer, we will discover certain less appealing aspects. Moreover, as a direct consequence of our lifetime experience, we all know that all formal beauty will eventually fade and even disappear, sometimes even very soon. This thing happens because the form may embody an amazing beauty for a while, but nonetheless, beauty is and means more than any form. On the supreme level, the genuine beauty is eternal, and it is reflected only to a certain degree in the changing forms of things and beings of the universe. From this point of view, Tripura Sundari represents more than the formal beauty (which is mainly the attribute of Kamalatmika, the tenth Great Cosmic Power), Tripura Sundari is the very indescribable beauty of the perception of the divine perfection. This is the reason why beauty should never be considered as inherent to objects, as it appears from the unwrapping of the divine consciousness’ light that irradiates from every single thing.
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