Shakti and Shâkta : essays and addresses on the Shâkta Tantrashâstra

INTRODUCTORY

heart, of the Sadhaka who worships Her Lotus Feet, the dust on which are millions of universes. The Power, or active aspect of God the immanent, is thus called Shakti. In Her static transcendent aspect the Mother or Shakti or Shiva is Shiva or “the Good.” That is, philosophically speaking, Shiva is the unchanging Consciousness, and Shakti is its changing Power appearing as mind and matter. ShivaShakti is therefore Consciousness and Its Power. This then is the doctrine of dual aspects of the one Brahman acting through Its Trinity of Powers (Ichchha, will; Jnana, knowledge; Kriya, action). In the static transcendent aspect (Shiva) the one Brahman does not change, and in the kinetic immanent aspect (Shiva or Shakti) It does. There is thus changelessness in change. The individual or embodied Spirit (Jivatma) is one with the transcendent spirit (Paramatma). The former is a part (Angsha) of the latter, and the enveloping mind and body are manifestations of Supreme Power. Shakta Darshana is therefore a form of Monism (Advaitavada). In creation an effect is produced without change in the Producer. In creation the Power (Shakti) “ goes forth” (Prasarati) in a series of emanations or transformations, which are called, in the Shaiva and Shakta Tantras, the 36 Tattvas. These mark the various stages through which Shiva, the Supreme Consciousness, as Shakti, presents itself as object to Itself as subject, the latter at first experiencing the former as part of the Self, and then through the operation of Maya Shakti as different from the Self. This is the final stage in which every self (Purusha) is mutually exclusive of every other. Maya, which achieves this, is one of the Powers of the Mother or Devi. The Will-to-become-many (Bahu syam prajayeya) is the creative impulse which not only creates but reproduces an eternal order. The Lord remembers the diversities latent in His own Maya Shakti due to the previous Karmas of Jivas and allows them to unfold themselves by His volition. It is that Power by which infinite formless ) 2