The Secret Doctrine of Goddess Lalita
(Sri LalitaAṣṭottara Rahasyārthamu)
34. bhavachakra pravartinī
She who keeps the wheel of birth and death rotating.
The word bhava in this nāma means birth or saṃsāra. saṃsāra is the wheel of worldly existence that rotates endlessly. This empirical world is called saṃsāra because the jīvā thinks it is helplessly trapped in the endless cycle of birth and death.
In reality, there is no wheel called saṃsāra. It is parāśakti, the Supreme Power, that creates the illusion of a jagat and jīvā. She plays this game in two ways. As jagadātmika, She is the wheel of saṃsāra. As jaganniyāmika, She is the one who keeps the wheel turning. Therefore, Devī is both the operator and the operation of the world.
What is really present is parāśakti alone. Incapable of grasping the truth that Devī Herself is appearing as saṃsāra, we imagine that saṃsāra is real and that Devī keeps the wheel of saṃsāra rotating. Conforming to the our limited understanding, Devī conceals Her true nature and continues to appear as saṃsāra.
35. sudhāsāgara madhyasthā 36. kadamba vanavāsinī
She who resides in the center of the ocean of nectar.
She who resides in the kadamba forest.
This nāma describes how Devī appears to the individual. She appears as sudhāsāgara, an ocean of nectar. This ocean is saṃsāra, the phenomenal world that we experience with our mind and sense organs. Since we desire to enjoy the world and everything it offers, saṃsāra appears like nectar. In reality, however, saṃsāra is poison.
Even though the world appears like nectar sometimes, sooner or later, it reveals its true nature as poison. Nectar and poison represent the pleasures and pains of the world. Devī is the bindu, the point between pleasure and pain. Untouched by either pleasure or pain, She remains in Her intrinsic nature as Universal Consciousness. Although She is not affected by pleasure and pain, She can appear to inflict them on us. In ignorance, instead of recognizing Her as the Universal Consciousness, we imagine there is a saṃsāra and drown in it, tossed around by our likes and dislikes, pains and pleasures.
saṃsāra is not the end of Devī ’s journey. She created the kadamba forest in the midst of it. Strong impressions called vāsanā-s, accumulated over life-times, are like the trees in the dense forest. Desires and intentions are like the forest that gives shelter to the trees (vāsanā-s). The kadamba tree is known for its sweet scent. Like the haunting scent of the kadamba tree, these vāsanā-s persist life after life.
37.kularūpiṇī
She who is the deity of the kaula path.
She who is the personification of culture.
This nāma describes how captivated we are by the kadamba forest. The word kula here refers to the body made up of five elements – space, wind, water, fire, and earth. These five elements manifest from the three guṇa-s or qualities that make up prakṛti (nature) - ṣatva, rajas, and tamas. The mind is made up of ṣatva. The body and life-force are made up of tamas and rajas respectively. Since the body is a combination of these three guṇa-s, tāntriks refer to the body as kula.
Since body is a part of nature, it is subject to the laws of nature. But the jīvā who entered the body is not controlled by nature, since its essential nature is Consciousness. The gross elements have no control over Consciousness. Although its true nature is Consciousness, the jīvā does not realize that. Due to strong tendencies accumulated over lifetimes, it identifies with the body and mind and reduces itself to a finite being. It is this attachment to the body that distances the individual from Devī, the Universal Consciousness. It is this attachment that also keeps the individual imprisoned in his body like a bird in a cage.
38. tvaksthā 39. rudhira saṃsthitā’ 40. māṃsaniṣṭhā 41.mēdōniṣṭhā 42.asti saṃsthita 43.majjāsaṃsthā 44. śukra saṃsthitā
She who lives in the sensibility of the skin.
She who presides over the blood in living beings.
She who presides over the flesh in living beings.
She who resides in the fat of living beings.
She who resides in the bones of living beings.
She who is the presiding deity of the marrow in the bones.
She who resides in the semen.
In addition to holding us captive in the body, Devī surrounds us in the form of the seven dhātu-s, the seven basic building blocks that keep the body functioning – blood, flesh, fat, bones, marrow, and semen. These dhātu-s are the pillars that support the body and prevent it from collapsing. They not only support the external body but also penetrate deep into the core of the body and never forsake it.
We are quite aware of the five dhātu-s - skin, blood, flesh, fat, and bone. We are less aware of the two dhātu-s, majjā (marrow) and śukla (semen). majjā is the oil-like substance inside the bones, while śukla is the seed that appears white in a man’s body. These two dhātu-s nourish and sustain the human body.
The seven dhātu-s are not different from parāśakti. Although they appear as parts of the body, they are a manifestation of śakti. śakti pervades the entire body, from the skin to the semen. Its form and function are beyond the comprehension of the human mind. Just because the nāma-s says śakti resides or presides over the dhātu-s, we must not make the mistake of thinking that śakti is different from the dhātu-s, or that the dhātu-s exist separately and śakti “entered” them. The dhātu itself is śakti and śakti itself is dhātu. śakti transforms Herself into the dhātu and pervades (enters) it. She is both their support and content. Visualizing Her as both the support and the content of the body will help strengthen our knowledge and understanding of Devī as the non-dual, all-pervading substance. Therefore, this assemblage of skin, flesh, blood, bone, etc. that we call body is nothing but śakti Herself manifesting in these forms.