The Secret Doctrine of Goddess Lalita
(Sri LalitaAṣṭottara Rahasyārthamu)
11. mahāśakti
She who has great power.
māyā presents the impossible as possible and the possible as impossible. While remaining in its intrinsic nature as the formless śakti, it can manifest in any form. This is the essential nature of śakti. It is through Her expansion and Her manifestation that we know or recognize Her. As Svetaśvatara Upanishad states: “The Vedas speak of His exalted power, which is innate and capable of producing diverse effects, and also of His omniscience and might.“
śakti manifests as the phenomenal world and moves freely without any restraint. She is the invisible current in the ocean that manifests externally as waves, bubbles, foam, etc. She is the hidden energy in the tree that manifests externally as branches, leaves, flowers, and fruits. Hence, śakti is present inside every object as energy and outside as name and form.
mahāśakti transcends the phenomenal world. It is the Supreme Power of Consciousness that manifests as the micro- and macro-cosmic worlds containing countless sentient and insentient entities. We stare in awe at the ever-changing spectacular universe. When it is un-manifest or dormant, like the invisible current in the ocean, we call it śakti. When it manifests externally as names and forms, like the waves in the ocean, we call it māyā. śakti and māyā are both a play of Consciousness.
12. icchāśakti, jñānaśakti, kriyāśakti svarūpiṇī
She who is in the form of the powers of will, knowledge, and action.
How does that one primordial energy manifest in so many forms? How does it perpetuate so many changes? This mantra answers this question.
Although śakti is a single entity, It has many aspects. The very nature of śakti is change. It changes or transforms in three ways. Originally śakti is in the form of jñāna or Consciousness. The mantra, chidēka rasarūpiṇī, indicates this. Since śakti is Consciousness, It is independent. Because It is independent, It can freely manifest or change forms at Its will (icchā). Will or intention is an attribute of Knowledge or Awareness. Therefore, unlike the inert forms of energy we perceive in the phenomenal world, such as electricity, śakti is Conscious Power. Atomic energy and electricity cannot function freely on their own. They depend on a Conscious entity to function. śakti, the Supreme Power of Consciousness, on the other hand, has the freedom to function on Its own as well as to enable other entities to function. It is distinct from everything, and everything ceases to exist if śakti is absent.
Knowledge (jñāna śakti) transforms into desire or intention, and desire (icchā śakti) transforms into action or the power to act (kriyā śakti). As pure Consciousness, śakti remains undifferentiated and absorbed in Itself. When the desire to expand arises, the desire transforms into action. Every action produces a result. This saṃsāra, the world we perceive, is the result of such action. Action and the result are for the enjoyment of the jīvā, the individual. The jīvā is therefore the bhokta, the enjoyer of the world and its pleasures and pains.
Therefore, the world is the result of the transformation of śakti, from the Infinite and un-manifest to the finite and manifest. Desire, action, result, and experience are the four milestones in this journey. jñāna śakti or Consciousness is the inner current or underlying substratum through every stage of transformation. Like an expert dancer, parā śakti, the Supreme Consciousness, plays multiple roles. An earnest seeker must contemplate relentlessly on the parāśakti that permeates every object and transaction. As our contemplation continues without a break, identification with the body and mind reduces. Although, in reality, Consciousness (jñāna śakti) precedes desire (icchā śakti) and action (kriyā śakti), this mantra starts with the word icchā to highlight the importance of the icchā śakti of the Goddess over the jñāna śakti of the Lord. Because icchā śakti, the desire to expand, is the source of creation, the mantra starts with the word icchā. Therefore it is by design, and not in error, that this mantra has been formulated in this manner.
13. cītśakti-cētanārūpā
She who is the power of Consciousness; She who is Pure Consciousness
As stated earlier, jñāna śakti (Consciousness) transforms first into icchā (will) and then into kriyā (action and results) This mantra explains the manner in which śakti manifests as action and the result of the action. cītśakti is another name for jñāna śakti. Because it is Consciousness Itself, cītśakti manifests as the conscious beings of the world. Consciousness combined with the vital force (prāṇa) that makes humans, animals, and other living beings sentient.
Hence cītśakti is the cause and the source of this visible universe. Since She manifested as the world on Her own will and pervades it, from the absolute standpoint, cītśakti is both the efficient and the material cause of the world. In the relative world, we find that the efficient cause is different from the material cause. For instance, clay is the material cause of the pot, which is different from the potter who is the efficient cause of the pot. Gold is the material cause of the ornaments, which is different from the goldsmith who is the efficient cause of the ornaments. However, there are no such differences between the material and efficient causes in the Absolute Reality. Since Consciousness or śakti is the Absolute Reality, It is both the efficient and the material cause of the world.
Therefore, all sentient beings that appear as separate entities are, in reality, the universal cītśakti only appearing in various forms. They are like the pots that appear as separate objects, although in reality they are all nothing but clay. The two mantras, cītśakti and cētanārūpā, reveal this truth – that śakti or Consciousness is the source of both the sentient and insentient entities of the world. The mantra cītśakti indicates the efficient cause and the mantra cētanārūpā indicates the material cause. That means Consciousness permeates the entire creation as śakti and manifests as the sentient beings of the world. Therefore, a seeker must contemplate on the entire sentient world as cītśakti.
14. jaḍaśakti-jaḍātmikā
She who is māyā that has transformed itself as the power of creation; She who is in the form of the inanimate world.
Devī is both cītśakti, sentient power, and jadaśakti, insentient power. She is sentient because She is chidēka rasarūpiṇī, the one whose nature is pure Knowledge or Awareness. How can She who is of the nature of sentiency also be of the opposite nature, insentient? Although śakti is Conscious Power, She appears as though inert and insentient in the macrocosm as the five elements, and in the microcosm as body, vital force, etc.
śakti, without undergoing any transformation, manifests in its intrinsic form as Consciousness in humans and other sentient beings. The difference between the various beings is only in the quantity of sentiency they each manifest, and not in the quality of sentiency present in them. While appearing as space and other elements, śakti appears to have transformed itself so much so that its intrinsic nature as Consciousness becomes hidden, and the objects it manifests as become visible and inert. Just because objects appear inert, it does not mean that they are devoid of Consciousness. It is just that, during the manifestation, śakti moves so far away from its original nature as pure Consciousness that it appears as though it is inert. However, an object is never totally inert. If it is totally inert and has lost complete touch with Consciousness, the object would not appear at all. Inert objects, such as buildings, mountains, pots, etc., continue to appear to us because they retain a touch of Consciousness, even though Consciousness manifests only minimally in them.
That is why the energy that permeates these insentient objects is called jaḍa śakti or inert energy. This inert energy is also infused by Consciousness. In the Devī Bhāgavata Purāṇa, the Goddess herself declared to the demon Mahishasura as follows: “Although I am originally inert as śakti, because of my close association with śiva at all times, I am Conscious. I am cīt-rūpini, not jaḍa-rūpini.”
The Goddess pervades the entire phenomenal world with Her jaḍa śakti. Hence, when we see an inert object, we must remember that it is śakti Itself appearing as the inert object. Because of Her will (icchā śakti) to expand and manifest as the sentient and insentient objects of the world, Devī is the efficient cause. Because of Her ability to expand and manifest in myriad forms (kriya śakti), She is the material cause of the world. Therefore, this entire world we perceive is only an expression of Her divine will.
15. anēkakōṭi brahmāṇḍa jananī
She who is the creator of the multitude of worlds.
Consciousness pervades every object internally and externally. Therefore, the essential nature of this entire universe of sentient and insentient objects is śakti. This mantra explains how śakti manifests as the sentient and insentient world.
brahmāṇḍa means space. There are innumerable objects, such as the sun, moon, stars, and planets, contained in space. Humans inhabit one such space called the earth and are completely absorbed in it. There are countless such spaces and universes. Human mind will draw a blank if it tries to imagine the number of objects contained in each universe. One can only marvel at the power of Consciousness that effortlessly manifests these universes. It is beyond human capacity to describe the magnificence of śakti. Only śakti can describe Her splendor.
16. ābrahma kīṭajananī
She is the mother of everything, from brahma to the lowest of insects.
The Divine Mother is not only the mother of the insentient world. She is also the mother of the sentient world, from a lowly insect such as an ant or a mosquito, to the great creator Brahma, the ruler of satya loka. While the earlier nāma describes the vastness of the insentient world Devī created, this nāma describes the vastness of the sentient world She created. Consciousness does not undergo any change while manifesting sentient beings. The difference is only in the extent to which it (Consciousness ) manifests in each sentient form.
According to Hindu mythology, there are a total of fourteen loka-s (worlds) in the universe, seven in the upper sphere and seven in the lower sphere of the universe. There are countless types of living beings of human, divine, and demonic natures living in these worlds. There are also countless types of animals, birds, reptiles, etc. living in these words. It is said that it is impossible even for the creator Brahma to keep track of the actions, perceptions, and feelings of these countless beings. One can only imagine the enormous power of mahāśakti who manifests and sustains these sentient and insentient worlds. Before appearing externally, these worlds were hidden in Her (mahāśakti) womb. The nāma-s viśvagarbhā (She who contains the whole world in Her womb) and svarṇagarbhā (She who is the cause of the universe) signify this. The word viśva refers to the inert world. The word svarṇa refers to the Conscious world, which is also known as hiraṇyagarbha. Before manifestation, the two worlds are present in the womb of the mahāśakti as pure un-manifested Consciousness. When the desire to expand arose like a ripple in the ocean of Consciousness, śakti moved from Her un-manifest state to the manifest state. The sentient and insentient worlds we perceive are, therefore, only an appearance of that mahāśakti. As manifest or un-manifest, they are all contained in Her womb and cannot transcend It.
17. parā, pratyakchitī rūpā; 18.paśyantī, paradēvatā
She who is Supreme; She who transcends all - She who is of the nature of un-manifested Consciousness. She who sees - She who is the supreme deity.
How did the un-manifest become manifest? These mantras describe the process. The un-manifest becomes manifest in four stages. The first stage is parā, un-manifested Supreme Power, the inner-most core (pratayak) of manifestation. This mantra corresponds to the mantra chidēka rasarūpiṇī. Consciousness (cīt) is always pratyak (innermost reality), not parāk (external appearance). If Consciousness were also of the nature of parāk, Consciousness would become an object. Because it is formless awareness, Consciousness is ever the subject and never the object. This pure Consciousness is called parā.
As long as the parā śakti (Supreme power) is in complete union with śiva (Supreme Consciousness), there is no vibration (spandana) or movement in its intrinsic power. When the desire to manifest or expand arises in parā śakti, a corresponding vibration appears in its intrinsic nature. This vibration or desire (icchā) to expand is called paśyantī. Hence, icchā śakti is the second stage in the transformation of the parā śakti into the manifested world. While parā is Pure Consciousness, paśyantī is the movement towards expansion. We see this principle operating in the empirical world as well. Before desire in the form of a thought arises in our mind, the mind is still. As soon as the thought arises, we sense a disturbance in the previously still mind. Similarly, the moment the impulse to create arises, the Goddess (śakti) moves from the state of parā to paśyantī.
19. madhyamā 20. vaikharīrūpā
She who stays in the middle.
She who is of the nature of vaikharī (sound in the form of the manifest world).
The third stage that follows paśyantī is madhyamā. For desire to transform into action, śakti takes the form of kriyā śakti. Since She is in the middle, in transition from icchā to kriyā, at this stage, śakti is called madhyamā. The gross world is not manifest at this stage. It is only a subtle and ‘un-blossomed’ potential in madhyamā.
When śakti moves from madhyamā to vaikharī, She blossoms fully. The universe appears with all its tantalizing and transitory forms. This gross appearance of śakti is vaikharī. In Her subtlest form, as un-manifest śakti, She is parā; In Her grossest form as the manifest world, She is vaikharī; and in the in-between states, She is madhyamā. In this manner, śakti transitions from the un-manifest and un-differentiated state of Pure Consciousness to the fully manifest and differentiated gross world we perceive.
21. tattvādhikā - tattvamayī
She who transcends all cosmic categories.
She who is reality itself; She who is Siva Himself.
Although we refer to śakti as manifest and un-manifest, in reality, there are no such differences. śakti is one, not two. At every stage in Her journey from parā to vaikharī, She shines as Pure Consciousness. The apparent stages do not impinge on Her real nature in any way. She does not undergo any change. Her essential nature is Existence-Consciousness, sat-cīt. Since sat and cīt are both formless, they are in essence One, not two. There can be no Existence without Consciousness, and no Consciousness without Existence. As pure Existence-Consciousness, śakti is Absolute and Universal. As icchā śakti and kriya śakti and through the various stages of manifestation, She appears as though relative and particular.
These particulars, the various elements or aspects of the phenomenal world, are called tattva-s. According to the Shaiva/Tantric philosophy, there are 36 tattva-s. Except for śiva tattva, which is the Absolute Consciousness, the other tattva-s are particulars. Since śakti is not separate from Consciousness, śakti is also of śiva tattva. Hence, She is tattvādhikā, the one who transcends all tattva-s.
In addition to being known as tattvādhikā (the one who transcends), She is also known as tattvamayī (the one who is immanent). tattvamayī means that which is immanent in the 36 tattvas. That means śakti pervades as well as transcends the basic elements that constitute the universe. When we recognize the śiva tattva (Consciousness) in every aspect of manifestation, we realize that śakti and śiva are not different. When we closely examine any name, form, or function, from the subtlest ( śiva tattva) to the grossest (earth/bhūtatva) element, we find that it is pervaded by śakti in the form of Existence-Consciousness, sat-cīt. An object IS (sat) and we are aware (cīt) of its existence. We don’t think that it does not exist. Although objects appear with particular names, forms, and functions, these particulars cannot transcend sat-cīt. sat-cīt pervade every object uniformly. It is the substratum on which all objects appear. If an object loses touch with sat-cīt, it ceases to exist.
That is the reason why Devī, the material cause of this entire universe, is called tattvamayī. The mantra hiranmayi, also implies the same. Gold is not different from the gold ornaments. Similarly, śakti (tattvamayi) is not different from the tattva-s it manifests. Therefore, we must reflect on all the nāma-s that describe the nature of śakti as describing Her expansion (vibhūti), the manifestation of Consciousness into names and forms.
The nāma tattvādhikā presents the Goddess as the efficient cause. In the empirical world, an efficient cause is usually separate from the material cause. For instance, the potter (efficient cause) is separate from the clay (the material cause of the pot). The nāma tattvamayi, however, presents the Goddess as the material cause. Like the gold that is not different from the ornament, śakti is not different from Her creation. Hence, She is immanent in Her creation as well as transcends it. Since She is both the material and efficient cause, She is jagadātmaka (She who pervades the entire world) and jaganiyāmaka (She who appointed Herself to transform into the world.). This means everything in this world is Her and by Her divine will. The individual (jīvā), who is a mere notion, is not responsible for anything. He is neither the doer nor the enjoyer. When such an insight into the nature of Devī develops into a firm conviction, the jīvā will be free of saṃsāra.