The Secret Doctrine of Goddess Lalita
(Sri LalitaAṣṭottara Rahasyārthamu)
51: sarvāntaryāminī 52: pūrṇā
She who dwells inside all.
She who is always whole, without growth or decay.
Because Devī is yajamāna svarūpiṇī, it does not mean that only the yajamāni, the one who performs the jñāna yajña, is entitled to mokṣa. Devī, who is Pure Consciousness, is not limited to any form. She resides in everything, sentient and insentient alike. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad declares, “That which resides in everything, pervades everything, contains everything in itself, controls everything – that is ātmā, the indweller (antaryāmi).”Devī is the great power, mahāśakti, that pervades everything. Without Her, nothing can exist or appear to exist. In fact, It is śakti that sustains everything. She keeps the moving and unmoving parts of the micro and macro cosmic worlds in motion and performing their respective functions. Sri Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita (18-61): “The Supreme Lord dwells in the hearts of all living beings, O Arjuna, revolving through māyā all the creatures (as though) mounted on a machine.”
Devī’s mahāśakti is not like the insentient powers we perceive in the world. It is cītsakti, Conscious power. Hence, Devī can transform and manifest as anything at Her will. That is why Vedantins refer to Her as pūrṇa (totality), that which permeates everything, moving and unmoving, inside, outside, and in the middle. Every atom is permeated with Consciousness. When Consciousness pervades everything - inside, outside, and in the middle – there is no place for anything else, moving or unmoving, to exist on its own. Since everything is pervaded by and permeated with Consciousness, Consciousness alone IS, with no other.
Sri Krishna in Bhagavad Gita (10-20) echoes this truth when He says, “O Arjun, I am seated in the heart of all living entities. I am the beginning, middle, and end of all beings.”
The peace invocation mantra in Ishavasya Upanishad also echoes this truth: “ That is full. This is full. This fullness has been projected from that fullness. When this fullness merges in that fullness, all that remains is fullness.”
Therefore, when we don’t see any difference between this and that, and when we see everything as the One Consciousness, our vision is pūrṇa (complete). There is nothing to challenge Its completeness. Therefore, Devī is sarvāntaryāmini. She is pūrṇa because She permeates everything as Pure Consciousness and manifests in everything as Pure Existence. She is mahāśakti, the all-pervasive Self in all.