Shakti as Maya

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devi_bhakta

 

We begin with the understanding that everything in the Universe is the

One Shiva-Shakti -- God-Goddess, if you will. Shiva -- the male

principle, the right-hand side of the Ardhanarishvara -- represents

Pure Consciousness, all-pervasive but inactive. Shakti -- the female

principle, the Great Mother, the left-hand side of the Ardhanarishvara

- is the active aspect of God, taking the form of all manifest

creation. Devi Bhaktas (devotees of Devi, another name for

Shakti/Mother/Goddess/etc.) focus worship and devotion on Devi, rather

than Shiva or Vishnu, the two other principle devotional strands of

Hinduism. Devi bhaktas are therefore followers of Shakti Sadhnaa, or

Shaktism. Today, I will attempt to define "Maya" in the context of

Shaktism.

 

In the Macrocosm, the Universe, Pure Consciousness (Shiva) is

infinite and formless. Life, Mind and Matter (manifestations of

Shakti) are finite and have form. In the Microcosm, the human body,

the soul (atma) is unchanging and inactive. Its animating principle,

Kundalini Shakti, is active and changes in the form of both Mind and

Matter.

 

Creation is the act of Mother apparently differentiating Herself from

Shiva and manifesting as the Universe. As for the question of "Why"

creation takes place, I'll attempt to address that in the next

installment, "Shakti as Prakriti" -- or better yet, perhaps other

members will share their wisdom and experience on this question! When

we everyone contributes, the energy here becomes greater than the sum

of its parts!

 

Suffice it to say for now that Creation occurs due to a cosmic

imbalance between the three qualities (Gunas) by which Mother gives

expression to Nature or Prakriti -- which is the creative power and

"finitizing" principle, synonymous with "Maya". As stated more

poetically in the "Kulacudamani" (Ch. I), with this imbalance of

Gunas, "Devi becomes desirous of creation, and covers Herself with her

own Maya."

 

The Ten Mahavidyas (Wisdom Goddesses) offer one excellent means of

symbolically explaining this process.

 

Sir John Woodroffe, in "The Serpent Power," elaborates: "Maya … is in

fact constituted by the Samskara [mental impressions] and Vaasanaa

[tendencies] produced by Karma accomplished in previously existing

worlds. … They were produced by desire for worldly enjoyment, and they

themselves produce such desire. The worlds exist because they, in

their totality, will to exist. Each individual exists because [his or

her] will desires worldly life."

 

So Maya (from the Sanskrit verb root "ma," to measure, to limit, to

give form) is our sense of difference -- that power which makes us see

the Universe, and all things and persons in the Universe, as different

from ourselves, when in essence we and they are the One Shiva-Shakti.

To again quote Woodroffe, "Shakti veils consciousness by negating in

various degrees Herself as Consciousness."

 

Shaktas worship Mother and appeal to her to be their guide back to

Universal Consciousness. For Devi is not only the One who veils. She

is also the one who liberates. Woodroffe explains that the worship of

Devi is "Philosophically sound, for all that [human beings] know --

outside the ecstasy of Samadhi -- is the Mother in Her form as the

world. The Supreme Shakti, who is not different from Shiva, is

embodied in every order of thing."

 

This is probably a good place to point out an important

theologicaldistinction between Shaktism and some other schools of

Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism) that interpret the term "Maya" as meaning

"illusion." For example, in Shankara's Vedantic interpretation, maya

is taken as pure illusion or unreality. For Shaktas and Saivites (and

most other nondualists), it is understood not as illusion but as

relative reality, in contrast to the unchanging Absolute Reality.

Everything around us in our finite world is real -- it simply isn't

the complete picture.

 

As stated by particle physicist Fritjof Capra in "The Tao of Physics"

"Maya does not mean that the world is an illusion, as is often wrongly

stated. The illusion merely lies in our point of view, if we think

that the shapes and structures, things and events, around us are

realities of nature, instead of realizing that they are concepts of

our measuring and categorizing minds. Maya is the illusion of taking

these concepts for reality, of confusing the map with the territory."

 

Shakti in the form of Mind performs the positive task of allowing

humans to function in the finite Universe in which our physical bodies

exist. The downside of this phenomenon, however, is that we then

become entwined in this finite Universe, losing sight of the Ultimate

Reality due to our entrancement by Veiled Reality and its attractions

and distractions. Shakti Sadhana is a Path toward reunion with the

Ultimate Reality, a method by which we can exchange this limited,

worldly experience for Unlimited, Whole and Perfect Bliss.

 

dkSesh

Question about creation. why at all?

all that we have is a process. This explains how and what? Perhaps

where and also when?

 

But all these, how , what where and when are relative to a starting

point and this starting point is relative to time.

 

Time is truthfully not definable for it is not really comprehensible

by the mind about the begining and the end of time for there cannot be

any such thing. For a begin and end supposes there was something

before and after that and this again falls back on the dependency of

time.

 

One reason why God is also called Time.

 

Despite all these, why at all? why all these things at all?

 

 

devi_bhakta

About the fact of Creation, you ask: "why at all?" That's as big as

questions get, isn't it? I guess I'd begin the discussion at least by

saying it is in the nature of things. The saying goes, "Nothing is

permanent but change."

 

That is reflected in the Tantric concept of Shiva-Shakti (or

Shakti-Shiva, as you prefer!) ... Shiva, the static ground of Shakti's

Energy represents the eternal urge toward inertia; Shakti is the

eternal urge toward activity.

 

The balance, or stasis, between these urges is both the starting point

and the ending point of Creation. The Unity of Shiva-Shakti is stasis;

the three gunas are in balance . However, it cannot remain so -- it is

not in the natureof things. The essence of existence is in movement,

change -- and soeventually, after seconds or eons we cannot know, the

gunas begin to fall out of balance again, and creation rains down.

 

Or -- to put it "scientifically," another Big Bang happens - energy

becames matter, matter expands and differentiates, life emerges and

evolves, matter contracts, matter becomes energy and once again stasis

is achieved.

 

The answer to the "Why?" of Creation is Desire. Shakti's Desire. She

is the Ultimate Material Girl: When She has Unity, Her desire builds

for the opposite -- to go off and do Her own thing. When She finally

gets her independence, all She desires is Unity again. It is this

dynamic flux and tension that -- quite literally -- makes the world go

'round.

 

My two cents, at least.

Aum Maatangyai Namaha

 

 

adi_shakthi16

dear db, the question keeps coming up during discussions as to who

issuperior, shiva or shakti? the greatest worshipper of shakti is

shiva and the greatest devotee of shiva is shakti herself , at least

that is what scriptural texts say. they are complementary to each

other as is evident from the sculpture of ardha-nareeshwara as well as

from the 'shiva-linga' for the symbol of shiva linga also includes

yoni. (purusha and prakriti principle) in the famous dakshineshwer

temple in calcutta which houses the divine mother aa 'bhavatarini' ,

we have also the twelve jyothirlingas of lord shiva. in the gospel of

sree ramakrishna also we find many refrences to shiva stotras ! so the

great sree ramakrishna himself worshipped the divine consort of the

divine mother!

in sree lalita sahasaranama, the devi is described as SRI

SAMANADHIKA-VARJITA

supreme, none to equal or excel her "thou art the Supreme Sakti,

Infinite, Supreme Ruler, devoid of all differences, And destroyer of

all difference. . . . Some ignorant persons say there is a difference

between Sakti, And the possessor of it (Siva), But those Yogins who

meditate on reality, recognize non-separateness."

 

the kurma puranas

 

 

so, the whole point is there is 'unity' in duality and 'duality' in

'unity' because the ultimate reality is neither wholly static nor

wholly dynamic . it is both. for shiva is 'prakasa' aspect of reality

- pure self or consciousness - illuminating thought , impersonal,

inactive and devoid of any relativity. shakthi is the 'vimarsha'

aspect of the same reality- that is the inherent activity of thought.

so, shiva is -thought shakti- is activity. sakthi is the 'power'

behind shiva's 'consciousness' that is why the devi is called

"siva-prakasa-vimarsha rupini"

 

AND IN THE SAHASARA-KAMALAM OR THE THOUSAND PETALLED LOTUS IS CALLED

THE SEAT OF SIVA-SHAKT!

 

just my 2cents! please forgive me ! having been born into a shaivite

family and also being married into a vaishnavite family and having

been introduced to mother worship by my gurudeva, this is how i try to

reconcile my views!

 

 

dkSesh

 

That's as big as questions get, isn't it? I guess I'd begin the

discussion at least by saying it is in the nature of things. The

saying goes, "Nothing is permanent but change."

 

I would say that this looks so because we tend to perceive things as

seen my the mind and its intrepretation. So the mind can't usually

live without a state and its attributes. To say nothing is permanent

would mean that attributes and methods that act on the attributes also

change. My question is why even these? Hence the question - why at

all? Really encompasing all and including - at all? why the leela at

all? Couldn't it have been possible without it? If shiva is a version

without it and shakthi is a version of with it, then why the + & - at

all? Because + & - are attributes themselves. So what will it look

like to transcend them, to see why at all?

 

May be why Upanishads say that one who says he knows does not and one

who says he may not know and experiences it knows. It's a question

which if asked for every answer until there is a situation where we

can't ask it?

 

I was looking to see if the Tantra and the Shakthi saadhakas have an

answer to it. Any help appreciated.

 

devi_bhakta

 

Thanks for your observations. I don't know that I can go any further

in my interpretation -- although I'd be very interested to see where

others might go with the fascinating question of "Why?"

 

Perhaps you're right -- because we live in the manifest universe, it's

hard for our minds to stretch beyond it. In the same way I have

trouble envisioning a non-carbon-based life form, I have trouble

picturing a universe without opposites.

 

If Shiva is Eternal Non-Change, and Shakti is Eternal Change, that

creates a "circuit" in my conception -- a completion and wholeness

that makes sense. And it fits with the Shakta idea that, without

denying the all-pervasiveness of Shiva, we focus our worship on

Shakti, because She is all we can ever really know so long as we are

embodied in this universe -- that's why I called Her the "Material

Girl" ;-).

 

You ask about whether we can consider "Ardhanareeshwara as a single

entity rather than a joining of two entities?" I think they are a

single entity, as are we all. To call them "a joining of two entities"

is like saying that a negative and a positive electric current are two

"separate entities," which, when joined, create a "single entity"; the

circuit. That's inaccurate, because we are dealing with not matter

alone, but phenomena. Shiva and Shakti are not merely two "entities,"

although the can legitimately be perceived that way.

 

They are more than that -- they are two complementary phenomena. Their

differing aspects (comparable, for simplicity's sake, to the positive

vs. negative current) are what make them "different" from one another,

but they are also the very nature of what makes them a single whole.

 

Why this leela, this play? Because "play" is not a wholly accurate

term for it -- if the microcosm truly relects the Macrocosm -- then we

can safely assume that we are dealing with the elemental push and pull

flux that creates the dynamic existence of all that is.

I know -- it's a circular answer, not a concrete one, to your

question. But in my understanding it must be so, because the answer is

a circle!

 

Aum Maatangyai Namaha

 

adi_shakthi16

dear sesh once sri ramana maharishi was asked what was the difference

between shakti and shakta? sri ramana replied- " That depends upon

your attitude. There is only one Truth. Looking at the movement, one

calls it Shakti, Power. Another, settling himself in the support of

the movement, calls it Achala (unmoving). If the former is activity,

the latter is the ground, support or substance. Force (Shakti) and

substance (Vastu) are inseparable, are indeed two aspects of one and

the same Truth. Only, without the movement of the power the real

substance is not apprehended. (See, Ramana Gita 12:20).

 

sesh, one more thing on maya.... sri ramana on maya....

Of all the aspects of Advaita philosophy that of Maya is the most

difficult to understand, still more to explain. Some interpret it as

ignorance, others as dream, others still as illusion, and nothing but

experience can explain it satisfactorily. In the meantime considerable

misunderstanding is created by explanations - the more it is explained

the more obscure it becomes. question - It is hard to conceive of

God, the formless, giving rise to form.

 

sri ramana . - Why hard? Does not your mind remain formless when you

do not perceive or think, say, in deep sleep, in samadhi, or in a

swoon? And does it not create space and relationship when it thinks

and impels your body to act? Just as your mind devises and your body

executes in one homogeneous, automatic act, so automatic, in fact,

that most people are not aware of the process, so does the Divine

Intelligence devise and plan and His Energy automatically and

spontaneously acts - the thought and the act are one integral whole.

This Creative Energy which is implicit in Pure Intelligence is called

by various names, one of which is Maya or Shakti, the Creator of forms

or images.