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S'IVA AND S'AKTI
THAT eternal immutable existence which transcends the turiya and all other states in the unconditioned Absolute, the supreme Brahman or Para-brahman, without Prakrti (niskala) or Her attributes (nir-guna), which, as being the inner self and knowing subject, can never be the object of cognition, and is to be apprehended only through yoga by the realization of the Self (ātma-jnāna), which it is. For, as it is said, " Spirit can alone know Spirit." Being beyond mind, speech, and without name, the Brahman was called "Tat," "That," and then "Tat Sat," "That which is." For the sun, moon, and stars, and all visible things, what are they but a glimpse of light caught from "That" (Tat)?
Brahman is both niskala and sakala. Kalā is Prakrti. The niskala-Brahman or Para-brahman is the Tat when thought of as without Prakrti (Prakrte-ranya). It is called sakala when with Prakrti.1 As the substance of Prakrti is the three gunas It is then sa-guna, as in the previous state It was nir-guna. Though in the latter state It is thought of as without S'akti, yet (making accommodation to human speech) in It potentially exists S'akti, Its power and the whole universe produced by It. To say, however, that the S'akti exists in the Brahman is but a form of speech,
1. Sarada-tilaka (chap, i), and chap, i of S'Sktananda-tarahgini ("Waves of Bliss for S'aktas"), both Tantrika works of great authority. since It and S'akti are, in fact, one, and S'akti is eternal (Anādī-rupa).1 She is Brahma-rtipa and both viguna (nir-guna) and sa-guna; the Gaitanyarupini-Devi, who Manifests all bhuta. She is the Anandarupini Devi, by whom the Brahman manifests Itself,2 and who, to use the words of the Sarada, pervades the universe as does oil the sesamum seed.
In the beginning the Niskala-Brahman alone existed. In the beginning there was the One. It willed and became many. Aharh-bahu-syam—"may I be many." In such manifestation of S'akti the Brahman is known as the lower (apara) or manifested Brahman, who, as, the subject of worship, is meditated upon with attributes. And, in fact, to the mind and sense of the embodied spirit (jiva) the Brahman has body and form. It is embodied in the forms of all Devas and Devis, and in the worshipper himself. Its form is that of the universe, and of all things and beings therein.
As S'ruti says: " He saw " (Sa aiksata, aharh bahu syam prajayeya). He thought to Himself "May I be many." " Sa aiksata" was itself a manifestation of S'akti, the PaRāmapurva-nirvana-sakti' of Brahman as S'akti.3 From the Brahman, with S'akti (Parasakti-maya) issued Nada (S'iva-S'akti as the "Word" or "Sound"), and from Nada' Bindu appeared. Kali-charana4 in his commentary on the Satcakra-nirupana
1. Pranamya prakrtirh nityarh paRāmātma-svarupinim (loc. cit. S'āktā-nanda-tarangini). 2. Kubjika-Tantra, 1st Patala. 3. Sat-cakra-nirupana. Commentary on verse 49, "The Serpent Power." 4. Ibid., verse 37. says that Siva and Nirvana-S'akti bound by a mayik bond and covering, should be thought of as existing in the form of Pararh Bindu.
The Sarada1 says: Saccidananda-vibhavat sakalat paramesvarat asicchaktistato nado, nadad bindu-samudbhavah. (" From Paramesvara vested with the wealth of Saccidananda and with Prakrti (sakala) issued Sakti; from S'akti came Nada and from Nada was born Bindu "). The state of subtle body which is known as Kama-kala is the mula of mantra. The term mula-mantratmika, when applied to the Devi, refers to this subtle body of Hers known as the Kama-kala.2 The Tantra also speaks of three Bindus, namely, S'iva-maya, Sakti-maya, and S'iva-S'akti maya.3
The param-bindu is represented as a circle, the centre of which is the brahma-pada, or place of Brahman, wherein are Prakrti-Purusa, the circumference of which is encircling maya.4 It is on the crescent of nirvana-kala the seventeenth, which is again in that of ama-kala, the sixteenth digit (referred to in the text) of the moon-circle (Candra-mandala), which circle is situate above the Sun-Circle (Surya-mandala), the Guru and the Hamsah, which are in the pericarp of the thousand-petalled lotus (sahasrarapadma). Next to the Bindu is the fiery Bodhini, or Nibodhika (v. post). The Bindu, with the Nirvana-kala, Nibodhika, and Amā-kalā, are situated in the lightning-like
1. S'arada-tilaka (chap i), 2. See Bhaskarariiya's Commentary on the LalitasahasranSma, verse 36. 3. Prana-tosini, (P. 8). 4. Mayabandhanecchaditaprakrtipurusa pararh binduh, Commentary to verse 49 of the Sat-cakra-n!rupana. inverted triangle1 known as " A, Ka, Tha " and which is so called because at its apex is A ; at its right base is Ka; and at its left base Tha. It is made up of forty-eight letters (matrka); the sixteen vowels running from A to Ka; sixteen consonants of the kavarga and other groups running from Ka to Tha; and the remaining sixteen from Tha to A. Inside are the remaining letters (matrka), ha, la (second), and ksa.2 As the substance of Devi is matrka (matrkamayi) the triangle represents the " Word " of all that exists. The triangle is itself encircled by the Gandra-mandala. The Bindu is symbolically described as being like a grain of gram (canaka), which under its encircling sheath contains a divided seed. This Pararh-bindu is prakrti-Purusa, S'iva-S'akti.3 It is known as the S'abda-Brahman (the Sound Brahman), or Apara-brahman.4 A polarization of the two S'iva and S'akti-Tattvas then takes place in Parasakti-maya. The Devi becomes Unmukhi. Her face turns towards Siva. There is an unfolding which bursts the encircling shell of Maya, and creation then takes place by division of S'iva and S'akti or of " Ham " and " Sah. "5 The Sarada says: " The Devatā-parasakti-maya is again Itself divided, such divisions being known as
1. The Devl-Purana says that Kundalini is so called because She has the S'ririgataka or triangle form, the three angles being the iccha, jnāna and kriya-S'aktis (see also Yoginl-hridaya). 2. Sat-cakra-niruparjta. 3. Sat-cakra-nirupana, Commentary, verse 49. 4. S'arada-tilaka, (Chap, i) : Bhidyamanat parad bindoravyaktātmaravo'bhavat. S'abda-brahmeti tarh prahuh. " From the unfolding Pararhbindu arose an indistinct sound. This bindu is called the S'abda-brahman." 5. Sat-cakra-nirupana, verse 49. Bindu, Bija, and Nada.1 Bindu is of the nature of Nada of S'iva, and Bija of S'akti, and Nada has been said to be the relation of these two by those who are versed in all the Agamas."2 The Sarada says that before the bursting of the shell enclosing the Brahma-pada, which, together with its defining circumference, constitutes the S'abda-brahman, an indistinct sound arose (avyaktātma-ravo' bhavat). This avyaktanada is both the first and the last state of Nada, according as it is viewed from the standpoint of evolution or involution. For Nada, as Raghava-bhatta3 says, exists in three states. In Nada are the gunas (sattva, rajas, and tamas), which form the substance of Prakrti, which with S'iva It is. When tamo-guna predominates Nada is merely an indistinct or unmanifested (dhvanyātmako'-vyaktanadah 4) sound in the nature of dhvani. In this state, in which it is a phase of Avyakta-nada, it is called Nibodhika, or Bodhini. It is Nada when rajo-guna is in the ascendant, when there is a sound in which there is something like a connected or combined disposition of the letters.5 When the sattva-guna preponderates Nada assumes the form of Bindu.6 The action of rajas on
1. That is, these are three different aspects of It. 2. Chapter I:
Parasaktimayah saksat tridhasau bhidyate punah. Bindurnado bijam iti tasya bhedah samiritah. Binduh S'ivStmako bijarh S'aktirnadastayormithah. Samavayah samakhyatah sarvaga-mavisaradaih.
3. See Commentary on verse 48 of the Sat-cakra-nirupana. 4. Tamo-gunadhikyena kevala-dhvanygtmako'vyakta-nadah. Avyakta is lit. unspoken, hidden, unmanifest, etc. 5. Raja'adhikyena kirhcidvarna-nyasatnaakah. 6. Sattvadhikyena bmdurupah. tamas is to veil. Its own independent action effects an arrangement which is only perfected by the emergence of the essentially manifesting sattvika-guna set into play by it. Nada, Bindu, and Nibodhika, and the S'akti, of which they are the specific manifestations, are said to be in the form of Sun, Moon and Fire respectively.1 Jnāna (spiritual wisdom 2) is spoken of as fire as it burns up all actions, and the tamo-guna is associated with it. For when the effect of cause and effect of action are really known, then action ceases. Iccha is the Moon. The moon contains the sixteenth digit, the Ama-kala With its nectar, which neither increases nor decays, and Iccha or will is the eternal precursor of creation. Kriya is like Sun for as the Sun by its light makes all things visible, so unless there is action and striving there cannot be realization or manifestation. As the Gita says : "As one Sun makes manifest all the lokas ".
The S'abda-Brahman manifests Itself in a triad of energies—knowledge (jnānasakti), will (iccha-sakti), and action (kriya-iakti), associated with the three gunas of Prakrti, tamas, sattva, and rajas. From the Pararh Bindu who is both bindvātmaka and kalātma—i.e., S'akti—issued Raudri, Rudra and his S'akti, whose forms are Fire (vahni), and whose activity is knowledge (jnāna); Varna and Vişņu and his S'akti, whose form is the Sun and whose activity is Kriya (action): and Jyestha and Brahma and his S'akti, whose form is the Moon and whose activity is desire. The Vamakesvara-Tantra says that Tri-pura is three-fold, as Brahma,
1. TataSca nada-bindu-nibodhikah arkenduvahnirilpah (Satcakra, verse 49, note). See also the S'arada (chap, i), which says te (that is, Raudri, Jyestha, and Vama) jnanecchakriyātmano vahnindvarka-svarupinah. 2. Jnāna is that knowledge which gives liberation. AH other knowledge is called vijnāna. Vişņu, and Isa ; and as the energies desire, wisdom and action;1 the energy of will when Brahman would create; the energy of wisdom when She reminds Him, saying " Let this be thus", and when, thus knowing, He acts, She becomes the energy of action. The Devi is thus Iccha-sakti-jnāna-sakti-kriya-sakti svarupini.2
Para-Siva exists as a septenary under the form, firstly, of S'ambhu, who is the associate of time (Kala-bandhu). From Him issues Sada-S'iva, Who pervades and manifests all things, and then come l§ana and the triad, Rudra, Vişņu and Brahma, each with His respective S'akti (without whom they avail nothing3) separately and particularly associated with the gunas, tamas, sattva and rajas. Of these Devas, the last triad, together with Isana and Sada-S'iva, are the five S'ivas who are collectively known as the Maha-preta, whose bija is " Hsauh." Of the Maha-preta, it is said that the last four form the support and the fifth the seat, of the bed on which the Devi is united with PaRāma-siva, in the room of cintamani stone ;4 on the jewelled island clad with clumps of kadamba and heavenly trees set in the ocean of Ambrosia.5
1. See PrSna-tosini (pp. 8,9). Goraksha Sanghita and Bhuta-shuddhi-Tantra. See also Yoginl-Tantra, Part I, chap x. 2. Lalita, verse 130 (see Bhaskararaya's Commentary). 3. And so the Kubjika Tantra (chap, i) says: " Not Brahma, Vismi, Rudra create, maintain or destroy; but Brahmi, Vaisnavi, Rudrani. Their husbands are as but dead bodies." 4. The " stone which grants all desires " is described in the Rudraya-mala and Brahmanda-PurSna. It is the place of origin of all those Mantras which bestow all desired objects (cintita). 5. See Anandalahari of SarhkarScarya, (verse 8), and Rudrayamala. According to the Bahurpastaka and Bhairavayamala, the bed is S'iva, the pillow Mahesana, the matting S'adasiva, and the four supports Brahma, Hari, Rudra and lsSna. Hence Devi is called Pancha-preta-mancgdhisSyini (verse 174, Lali tasahasranama). Sïva is variously addressed in this work as S'am-bhu, Sadā-siva, S'amkara, Mahesvara, etc., names which indicate particular states, qualities and manifestations of the One in its descent towards the many ; for there are many Rudras. Thus Sadā-siva indicates the predominance of the sattva-guna. His names are many. 1,008 being given in the sixty-ninth chapter of the Sïva-Purāna and in the seventeenth chapter of the Anusāsana-Parvan of the Mahābhārata.1
S'akti is both māyā, that by which the Brahman creating the universe is able to make Itself appear to be different from what It really is,3 and mula-prakrti, or the unmanifested (avyakta) state of that which, when manifest, is the universe of name and form. It is the primary so-called " material cause," consisting of the equipoise of the triad of guna or " qualities " which are sattva (that which manifests), rajas (that which acts), tamas (that which veils and produces inertia). The three gunas represent Nature as the revelation of spirit, Nature as the passage of descent from spirit to matter, or of ascent from matter to spirit and nature as the dense veil of spirit.3 The Devi is thus guna-nidhi4 (treasure-house of guna). Mula-prakrti is the womb into which Brahman casts the
1. See also the Agtii, Padma, Bhavisyottara, Varaha, Kūrmā, Vamana Puranas, and in particular, the Linga and the Kasikhanda of the Skanda Purana. 2. The Devi Purana (chap, xiv), speaking of this power of the Supreme, says : " That which is of various cause and effect ; the giver of unthought-of fruit which in this world seems like magic or a dream ; that is called māyā " ; Vicitra-kāryakaranācintitaphalapradi Svapnendrajalavalloke maya tena prakirtita. 3. See post sub voce, " Guna ", 4. Lalita-sahasra-nama, (verse 121). For though the gunas are specifically three they have endless modifications. seed from which all things are born.1 The womb thrills to the movement of the essentially active rajo-guna. The equilibrium of the triad is destroyed and the guna, now in varied combinations, evolves under the illumination of Siva (cit), the universe which is ruled by Mahesvara and Mahesvari. The dual principles of Siva and S'akti, which are in such dual form the product of the polarity manifested in Parāsakti-maya, pervade the whole universe and are present in man in the Svayambhû-Linga of the mûlādhāra and the Devi Kundalini, who, in serpent form, encircles it. The S'abda-Brahman assumes in the body of man the form of the Devi Kundalini, and as such is in all prānis (breathing creatures) and in the shape of letters appears in prose and verse. Kundala means coiled. Hence Kundalini, whose form is that of a coiled serpent, means that which is coiled. She is the luminous vital energy (jiva-sakti) which manifests as prāna, She sleeps in the mûlādhāra and has three and a half coils corresponding in number with the three and a half bindus of which the Kubjikā-Tantra speaks. When after closing the ears the sound of Her hissing is not heard death approaches.
From the first avyakta creation issued the second mahat, with its three gunas distinctly manifested. Thence sprung the third creation ahamkāra (selfhood), which is of threefold form—vaikārika, or pure sāttvika ahamkāra ; the taijasa or rājasika aharhkaāra ; and the tāmasika or bhûtādika ahamkāra. The latter is the origin of the subtle essences (tanmā-trā) of the Tattvas, ether, air, fire, water, earth, associated with sound, touch, sight, taste, and smell, and with the colours—pure transparency, syāma, red,
1. Bhagavad-gitā, (Chap. xiv). white, and yellow. There is some difference in the schools as to that which each of the three forms produces but from such threefold form of Ahamkara issue the indriyas (" senses ", and the Devas Dik, Vata, Arka, Pracetas, Vahni, Indra, Upendra, Mitra, and the Asvins. The vaikarika, taijasa, and bhutadika are the fourth, fifth, and sixth creations, which are known as prakrita, or appertaining to Prakrti. The rest, which are products of these, such as the vegetable world with its upward life current, animals with horizontal life current and bhuta, preta and the like, whose life current tends downward, constitute the vaikrta creation, the two being known as the kaumara creation.
The Goddess (Devi) is the great S'akti. She is Maya for of Her the maya which produces the samsara is. As Lord of maya She is Mahamaya.1 Devi is a-vidya (nescience) because She binds and vidya (knowledge) because She liberates and destroys the samsara.2 She is Prakrti,3 and as existing before creation is the Adya (primordial) S'akti. Devi is the vacaka-sakti, the manifestation of Git in Prakrti, and the vachya-sakti, or Git itself. The Ātma should be contemplated as Devi.4 S'akti or Devi is thus the Brahman revealed in Its mother aspect (S'ri-mata)5 as Creatrix and Nourisher of the worlds. Kali says of Herself in Yogini-Tantra 6: " Saccidananda-rupaharh brahmaivaham
1. MahSmaya without maya is nir-gunS; and with maya Sa-guna; S'aktananda tarangini, Chap. 1. 2. S'aktananda-tarangini (chap. i). 3. Brahma-vaivarta Purana (chap. i). Prakrtikhanda, Naradiya Purarul. 4. See chap, ii, of Devi-bhagavata. 5. Devi is worshipped on account of Her soft heart: (komalantahkara-nam). S'akt3nanda-tararigini (chap. Hi). 6. Part I, Chapter X. sphurat-prabham. " So the Devi is described with attributes both of the qualified1 Brahman and (since that Brahman is but the manifestation of the Absolute) She is also addressed with epithets, which denote the unconditioned Brahman.a She is the great Mother (Ambika) sprung from the sacrificial hearth of the fire of the Grand consciousness (cit) ; decked with the Sun and Moon ; Lalita, " She who plays " ; whose play is world-play ; whose eyes playing like fish in the beauteous waters of her Divine face, open and shut with the appearance and disappearance of countless worlds now illuminated by her light, now wrapped in her terrible darkness. 3
The Devi, as Para-brahman, is beyond all form and guna. The forms of the Mother of the Universe are threefold. There is first the Supreme (para) form, of which, as the Vişņu-yamala says,4 " none knows." There is next her subtle (Suksma) form, which consists of mantra. But as the mind cannot easily settle itself upon that which is formless,6 She appears as the subject of contemplation in Her third, or gross (Sthula), or physical form, with hands and feet and the like as celebrated in the Devi-stotra of the Puranas and Tantras. Devi, who as Prakrti is the source of Brahma, Vişņu, and Mahesvara,6 has both male and
1. Such as Mukunda, an aspect of Vişņu. Lalita-sahasra-nama, verse 838. 2. Ibid, verse 153, and Commentator's note to Chapter II where Devi is addressed as Supreme Light (pararh-jyotih), Supreme Abode (pararhdhama) Supreme of Supreme (paratpara). 3. See the Lalita-sahasra-nama. 4. Matastvat-param-rupam tanna janati kaschana (see chap, iii of S'aktananda-tarangini). 5. Araurtaucit-sthrio na sy3t tato mtirttirh vicintayet (ibid, chap i, as was explained to Himavat by Devi in the KOrma Purana). 6. Ibid., and as such is called Tripur3 (see Bhaskararaya's Commentary on Lalita, verse 125). female forms.1 But it is in Her female forms that she is chiefly contemplated. For though existing in all things, in a peculiar sense female beings are parts of Her.3 The Great Mother, who exists in the form of all Tantras and all Yantras,3 is, as the Lalita says, the " unsullied treasure-house of beauty " ; the Sapphire Devi, 4 whose slender waist,5 bending beneath the burden of the ripe fruit of her breasts,6 swells into jewelled hips heavy7 with the promise of infinite maternities.8
As the Mahadevi9 She exists in all forms as Sarasvati, Laksmi, Gayatri, Durga, Tripura-sundari,
1. Ibid., chap, iii, which also says that there is no eunuch form of God. 2. So in the Candi (Markandeya-Purina) it is said : Vidyah samastastava devi bhedah Striyah samastah sakala jagatsu. . See author's " Hymns to the Goddess". The Tantrika more than all men, recognises the divinity of Woman, as was observed centuries past by the Author of the Dabistan. The Linga-PurSna also after describing Arundhati, Anasuya, and Shachi to be each the manifestation of Devi, concludes: " All things indicated by words in the feminine gender are manifestations of Devi.', Similarly the Brahma-vaivarta Purana. 3. Sarva-tantra-rupa; Sarva-yantratmikS (see Lalita, verses 205-6). 4. Padma-purana says: " Vişņu ever worships the Sapphire Devi". 5. Apivara-stana-tatingtanuvrittamadhyam (Bhuvanes'varistotra). "tanU-madhya (Lalita, verse 79) Krisodari (Xdyakalisvartipa stotra, Maha-nirvana-Tantra, seventh Ullasa). 6. Pina-stanadye in Karpuradistotra, pinonnata-payodharam in DurgS-dhyana of Devi Purana: Vakshoja-kumbhantari in Annapurnastava, apivara-stana-tatirn in Bhuvanes/varistotra; which weight her limbs, hucha-bhara-namitangim in Sarasvatl-dhyana; annapradana-niratang-stana-bhara-nam-ram in Anna-pOrnastava, 7. So it is said in the tenth sloka of the Karpurakhyastava—samantgda plnastana jaghanadhrikyauvanavati. S'arhkaracharya, in his Tripura-sun-darl-stotra speaks of Her nitamba (nitamba-jita-bhudharam) as excelling the mountain in greatness. 8. The physical characteristics of the Devi in Her swelling breasts and hips are emblematic of Her great Motherhood for She is S'rlmata (see as to Her litanies. " Hymns to the Goddess ". 9. She whose body is, as the Devi Purana says, immeasurable. Annaporna, and all the Devis who are avataras of the Brahman.1
Devi, as Sati, Uma, Parvati, and Gauri, is spouse of S'iva. It was as Sati prior to Daksa's sacrifice (daksayajna) that the Devi manifested Herself to S'iva2 in the ten celebrated forms known as the dasa-maha-vidya referred to in the text—Kali, Bagala, Ghinna-masta, Bhuvanesvari, Matangini, Shodasi, Dhumavati, Tripurasundari, Tara, and Bhairavi. When, at the Daksayajna She yielded up her life in shame and sorrow at the treatment accorded by her father to Her Husband, S'iva took away the body, and, ever bearing it with Him, remained wholly distraught and spent with grief. To save the world from the forces of evil which arose and grew with the withdrawal of His Divine control, Vişņu with His discus (cakra) cut the dead body of Sati, which S'iva bore, into fifty-one3 fragments, which fell to earth at the places thereafter known as the fifty-one mahapitha-sthana (referred to in the text), where Devi, with Her Bhairava, is worshipped under various names.
Besides the forms of the Devi in the Brahmanda, there is Her subtle form Kundalini in the body (pin-danda). These are but some only of Her endless forms. She is seen as one and as many, as it were, but one moon reflected in countless waters.4 She exists,
1. S'aktananda-tarangini (chap. iii). 2. In order to display Her power to Her husband, who had not granted at her request, His permission that she might attend at Daksa's sacrifice. See my edition of the " Tantra—tattva ", (Principles of Tantra) and for an account of the dasa-mahavidya—their yantra and mantra—the dasa-maha-vidya-upasana-rahasya of Prasanna Kumara Shastri. 3. The number is variously given as 50, 51 and 52. 4. Brahma-bindu Upanisad, 12. too, in all animals and inorganic things, the universe with all its beauties is, as the Devi Purana says but a part of Her. All this diversity of form is but the infinite manifestation of the flowering beauty of the One Supreme Life,1 a doctrine which is nowhere else taught with greater wealth of illustration than in the S'akta-Śāstras and Tantras. The great Bharga in the bright Sun and all Devatās, and indeed, all life and being, are wonderful, and are worshipful but only as Her manifestations. And he who worships them otherwise is, in the words of the great Devi-bhagavata,2 " like unto a man who, with the light of a clear lamp in his hands, yet falls into some waterless and terrible well." The highest worship for which the sadhaka is qualified (adhikari) only after external worships and that internal form known as sadhara,4 is described as niradhara. Therein Pure Intelligence is the Supreme Sakti who is worshipped as the very Self, the Witness freed of the glamour of the manifold Universe. By one's own direct experience of Mahesvari as the Self She is with reverence made the object of that worship which leads to liberation.5
1. See the Third Chapter of the S'Sktananda-tarangini, where it is said " The Para-brahman, Devi, S'iva, and all other Deva and Devi are but one, and he who thinks them different from one another goes to Hell". 2. Hymn to Jagad-ambika in Chapter XIX. 3. Suta-sanghlta', i.5.3, which divides such worship into Vedic and TSntrik (see Bhaskararaya's Commentary on Lalita, verse 43). 4. In which Devi is worshipped in the form made up of sacred syllables according to the instructions of the Guru. 5. Sec Introduction to Author's " Hymns to the Goddess." |
