Question about Mahishasura Mardini

[Guest guest]

This came from one of the member (jacek pollner), I believe should be

in the message board.

 

I have one additional very important question:

 

At site of Mahishasura Mardini there is statemnt which I don't

understand well but which seems to me the most important clue of this

spiritual story :

 

"In order to access that Power, the Gods must reverse the downward

unfolding of Divine manifestation,i.e. cosmic tattvas...."

 

see homepage:

http://www.shaktisadhana.org/mahishasuramardini.html

 

How to understand this in practical manner???

 

"reverse downward unfolding..."...cosmic tattvas...

 

Would you be so kind to explain me this sentence..

 

Later is statemnt ("Not coincidentaly ,this is also the goal of any

sadhana...")

 

If it is..the sentence is v.important.

 

I understand in this way that "Gods" our internal powers radiated

energy which created appearance of Devi Durga...because She is Divine

Sakti...But exactly what means this sentence "reverse downward

unfolding.."

[Guest guest]

Namaskar Jacek:

 

You are correct that your question about Mahishasura Mardini

addresses perhaps "the most important clue of this spiritual story."

You ask: "'In order to access that Power, the Gods must reverse the

downward unfolding of Divine manifestation, i.e. cosmic tattvas...'

How to understand this in practical manner? Later is the

statement, 'Not coincidentaly ,this is also the goal of any

sadhana...' If it is..the sentence is very important."

 

Yes, it is very important. The doctrine of the tattvas is complex;

too complex to properly explain in a Group post. Suffice it to say,

they are the mystical stages in which creation unfolds, usually

considered by Shaktas and Shaivas to be 36 in number, although some

systems posit fewer.

 

Think of the unfolding of the tattvas as a kind of doctrinal Big Bang

Theory. We begin with an undifferentiated point of potentiality --

that is the Cosmic Union of Shakti-Shiva. And then Shakti begins to

create -- or to devolve, if you will, into the diverse Creation. Her

various forms, the devis and devas, the heavenly abodes, space and

time, the visible universe -- each stage denser and more materially

oriented than the stage that preceded it, each stage less thoroughly

sentient (i.e. less infused with the Chit, or Cosmic Consciousness of

Devi), on downward to the almost entirely insentient minerals of the

Earth.

 

All that is created consists of the interplay three subtle elements,

or gunas. They are: Sattva, or the spiritual tendency upward toward

the original union of Shiva-Shakti; Tamas, or the material tendency

downward toward the Earth; and Rajas, the tendency of movement, which

can accelerate a being's progress in either direction.

 

When we engage in sadhana, what we are trying to do by all of our

techniques -- regardless of whether our path is Vedic, Tantric,

Bhaktic, etc. -- is to reverse the downward unfolding of Creation. We

are, in essence, trying to swim against the current; to shed

our "Tamasic" tendencies, and employ the energy of Rajas to move

upward, back toward our Source -- Devi, the Cosmic Mother. In so

doing, we shift the balance of the gunas within us; becoming more

sattvic; increasing our access to Her Chit, and thus actually

becoming more sentient than the human being who does not engage in

sadhana.

 

This movement is most dramatically represented in the doctrine of

Kundalini Yoga, which envisions the process in terms that recall the

formulations of Physics, and electrical theory --Kundalini (the

latent energy of Shakti) is seen as a serpent coiled around the Linga

(the latent Shiva), who is enticed by various techniques to awaken

and climb upward through the sushumna nadi, through the seven chakras

(again, topics too complex to address here), to finally unite

actively with Siva in the thousand-petalled lotus chakra at the top

of the head. The sadhak who accomplishes this has effectively escaped

from the downward flow of the tattvas; different traditions might

express this by saying that she or he has achieved moksha, or perhaps

broken the bonds of karma (another way of expressing the downward

pull of Tamas).

 

So anyway -- now to relate all this back to the Devi Mahatmyam and

Mahishasura Mardini. The gods, or devas -- who exist higher in the

Tattva scheme than humans, but still not quite at the top (see the

Uma Haimavati incident in the Kena Upanisad) -- are unable to defeat

the Demon (Asura) Mahisha. They are to dissolute, so to speak; too

watered down; too far down the devolutionary scale from the Divine

force that creates and sustains them. And so each takes his own power

(or shakti) and offers it back upward toward the larger force

(Shakti) that originally devolved those powers unto them.

 

Who is that Source? The DM desribes it thus: "An exceedingly fiery

mass like a flaming mountain did the Gods see, filling the firmament

with flames. That peerless splendor, born from the bodies of all the

Gods, unifying and pervading the triple world with its lustre, became

a Woman." (DM, 2.11-12). She is, of course, Maha Devi, the Great

Goddess, the Mother of all beings, divine and mortal, and She easily

defeats Mahisha, who is also Her child, like the devas.

 

One lesson we might draw from this episode is the truth that we all

harbor Mahishasuras within us; the Tamasic forces that ever retard

our spiritual progress and drag us downward, toward the lower

Tattvas. Through our sadhana -- through our spiritual practices -- we

follow the example of the devas in offering ourselves back to our

source. We reach our hands upward, seeking aid in reaching the higher

realms that beckon us. In so doing, we surrender to Devi --

dedicating all of our actions to her glorification, understanding

that our every movement occurs only through Her grace, engaging in

a "dynamic surrender" wherein we do our best to meet the challenges

that face us, but ultimately detach ourselves from the result,

leaving it to Devi's will. The Devi Mahatmyam contains the precious

promise that, if we are able to achieve that, She will effortlessly

scoop us up and carry us the rest of the way toward our goal.

 

That's my perception, at least: I hope all that was of some use to

you.

 

Aum Maatangyai Namahe