The Secret Doctrine of Goddess Lalita
(Sri LalitaAṣṭottara Rahasyārthamu)
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.