Shakti and Shâkta : essays and addresses on the Shâkta Tantrashâstra

— ee ee enna neni

INTRODUCTORY

or affirm it (Theism) or say we have no sufficient proof one way or another (Agnosticism). It is possible to accept the concept of an eternal Law (Dharma) and its sanctions in a self-governed universe without belief in a personal Lord (ishyara). So Sangkhya, which proceeds on intellectual proof only, does not deny God but holds that the being of a Lord is “ not proved.” |

There are then based on this common foundation three main religions, Branmanism, Buddhism and Jainism. Of the second, a great and universal faith, it has been said that, with each fresh acquirement of knowledge as to Buddhism, it seems more difficult to separate it from the Hinduism out of which it emerged and into which (in Northern Buddhism) it relapsed. This is of course not to say that there are no differences between the two, but that they share in certain general and common principles as their base. Brahmanism, of which the Shakta doctrine and practice is a particular form, accepts Veda as its ultimate authority. By this, in its form as the four Vedas, are revealed the doctrine of the Brahman the * All-pervader,” the infinite Substance which is in Itself (Svarfipa) Consciousness (Chaitanya or Chit) from which comes creation, maintenance and withdrawal, commonly called destruction, (though man, not God, destroys), and Which in Its relation to the universe which the Brahman controls is known as Ishvara, the Ruling Lord or “ Personal” God. Veda both as spiritual experience and the word “which is heard” (Shruti) is the warrant for this. But Shruti, as the ultimate authority, has received various interpretations and so we find in Brahmanism, as in Christianity, differing schools and sects adopting various interpretations of the Revealed Word. Veda says “ All this (that is the universe) is Brahman.” All are agreed that Brahman or Spirit is, relatively to us, Being (Sat), Consciousness (Chit) and Bliss(Ananda). It is Sachchidananda. But in what sense is “This” (Idam) Brahman? The Monistic interpretation (Advaitavada), as