Purusha and prakriti principle !

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dear members, i would like to share with you all a well researched

article by one of leading journalists of india, Frank Morales -

Shakti- the power of the feminine!

 

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Samkhya teaches the dualistic doctrine of Prakriti / Purusha.

According to this theory there are two radically distinct principles

at play during the creation of the cosmos: matter (Prakriti) and

spirit (Purusha). Prakriti is the primordial matter which is present

before the cosmos becomes manifest. It is as a direct result of the

devolution of this original material substance that the universe,

with all its diversity of names and forms comes into being. Prakriti

is seen as being "...the power of nature, both animate and inanimate.

As such, nature is seen as dynamic energy" (Rae, 1994). Prakriti is

originally passive, immobile and pure potentiality by nature . It is

only as a direct result of her contact with the kinetic Purusha that

she unfolds into the variagatedness we see before us. Sudhir Gupta

explains this process of devolution from the perspective of a Shakta,

or a worshiper of Devi, the Great Goddess:

 

The universe with all its diversity and multiplicity remains equated

in the divine volition as conception before manifestation. It is

manifested in the course of basic evolution, started under the

influence of the creative volition of the Divine Moth er. The

Universal Mother in Her Absolute Self admits of no mutability, change

or division. (Gupta, 1977)

 

Thus, Shakti is seen as being antecedent to Prakriti, with Shakti

being the instrumental cause, in the form of the Devi, or the Great

Goddess, and Prakriti serving as the material cause.

 

The idea of Prakriti / Purusha is seen mirrored in another closely

allied concept: that of the Divine Consort. According to Hindu

teachings, Shakti, energy, cannot exist in a vacuum. If there is an

energy, it must be someone's energy. Almost every god (deva) of the

Hindu pantheon has a feminine companion, a consort, a goddess. This

is an idea which is an indispensable element of every major sect of

Hinduism. Vishnu, for example, has the goddess Shri (Lakshmi) as his

eternal companion. Shiva is accompanied by Parvati, Brahma by

Sarasvati, Krishna by Radha. These goddess-consorts are said to

personify nothing less than the essential energy of the god. In the

words of Ernest Payne:

 

The energy of Vishnu and Shiva was personified as a goddess and

identified with Prakriti, the primary source of the universe. The

connubial relations between Devi and her husband were held to typify

the mystical union of the eternal principles, matter and spirit,

which produces the world. (Payne, 1933)

 

So integral is the relationship between a particular god and his

Shakti that one is thought incapable of existing without the other.

It is said that in her manifestation as Shiva's consort and source of

energy, Shakti is embodied in the "i" of his name. According to the

grammatical rules of classical Sanskrit, if a consonant is not

followed by a vowel, it is automatically assumed that this consonant

is followed by the vowel "a". Consequently, without this "i" in his

name, Shiva becomes shava, or a lifeless corpse. Thus it is the

feminine principle which is the animating force of life itself.

 

Both the feminine and the masculine are necessarily present in the

Divine. This is dramatically illustrated in South Asia in the image

of Ardhanarishvara, the representation of God as being half man and

half woman.

 

Veneration of God necessarily entails veneration of the Goddess. They

are two aspects of the same being and are, as such, mutually

dependent upon one another.

 

The intimacy of god and goddess can be more clearly illustrated by

examining one of the stories involving the creation of Devi which is

found Devi Bhagavata Purana. Interestingly, although clearly a Shakta

Purana, the Devi Bhagavata Purana describes Vishnu / Krishna as being

the supreme God (IX. 2. 12 - 23) who "...is said to be the root and

creator of all" (Dev, 1987) . According to this account, Krishna was

at one time the only being in existence. Desiring to create the

universe, He divided Himself into two parts, the left being female

and the right male. That female was none other than Radha, the

eternal consort and Shakti of Krishna, who is described as being the

Mula Prakriti, or the root source of all existence. From the conjugal

sport of Radha and Krishna a golden egg was born that was the

repository of the material from which our universe was created.

Creation, then, is depicted in the Devi Bhagavata Purana as

proceeding from Krishna, through Radha. The feminine, Shakti, is

shown to be crucial and indispensable in the process of creation.

This fact very clearly demonstrates the mutual dependence in which

god and goddess hold one another.

 

The relationship that is enjoyed between the gods and goddesses in

Hinduism is one of the wielder of power (shaktiman, the masculine

principle) and the power itself (Shakti, the feminine). Each is

meaningless without the existence of the other. While the possessor

of power is the guiding force as to the power's direction and

purpose, it is the power itself which provides the ability to perform

any task. To use a crude example, we might say that the deva is the

computer while the devi is the electricity that makes the computer's

functioning possible. Shaktiman is the principle that gives guidance

and direction to power. Shakti is the vital, life-giving force of the

god, as well as the personification of his particular power. As

Shrivatsa Goswami explains this concept:

 

On the transcendental plane this functional duality implies the split

of the Absolute into power or potency (shakti) , the subjective

component, and the possessor of power (shaktiman), the objective one.

On the phenomenal plane too there exists such a duality. (Goswami,

1985)

 

Together, the deva and devi, the god and goddess of Hinduism, are the

able and the ability, respectively. Moreover, this concept is not

relegated solely to the realm of the Divine.

 

What is true on the macrocosmic level is also the rule on the

microcosmic. Human beings too are said to also participate in the

interplay of shakti and shaktiman. For in Hinduism, every woman is

said to be a manifestation of the divine Shakti. The power of Shakti,

the feminine principle, is believed to be directly present in

creation in the form of our mothers, sisters, daughters and wives. As

the contemporary feminist author Elinor Gadon explains, "the truth of

the Goddess is the mystery of our being. She is the dynamic life

force within. Her form is embedded in our collective psyche..."

(Gadon, 1989). While she is primarily present as personified in

woman, however, Shakti is also present in man. "

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i just found this very interesting! i thought i would share it with

you all!