The Indian Magna Mater - III. Dissolution

[Guest guest]

The Indian Magna Mater - III. Dissolution

 

I have dealt with the nature of Shiva-Shakti and the evolution of

power as the Universe, and now will say a word as to the relative

ending of the world on its withdrawal to reappear again, and as to

the absolute ending for the individual who is liberated.

 

In Hindu belief, this Universe had a beginning, and will have an

end. But it is only one of an infinite series in which there is no

absolutely first Universe. These Universes come and go with the

beating of the Pulse of Power now actively going forth, now

returning to rest. For the World has its life period, which,

reckoning up to the Great Dissolution, is the duration of an

outgoing " Breath of Time " . In due course another Universe will

appear, and so on to all eternity. This series of Worlds of Birth,

Death, and Reincarnation is called by the Hindus the Samsara, and

was named by the Greeks the Cycle of the Becoming (kuklos ton

geneson). All selves which are withdrawn at the end of a world-

period continue to reappear in the new worlds to be until they are

liberated therefrom.

 

The picture now described depicts the Mother-Power which dissolves --

that is, withdraws the World into Herself. This is another aspect

of one and the same Mother. As such She is Mahakali, dark blue like

a rain cloud. Nada is in Her head-dress. She is encircled by

serpents, as is Shiva. She holds in Her hands, besides the Lotus and

two weapons, a skull with blood in it. She wears a garland of human

heads which are exotically the heads of conquered Demons, but are

esoterically the letters of the alphabet which as well as the

Universe of which they are the seed-mantras, are dissolved by Her.

She stands on the white, inert Shiva, for it is not He but His power

who withdraws the Universe into Herself. He lies on a funeral pyre,

in the burning-ground, where jackals -- favorite animals of Kali --

and carrion birds are gnawing and pecking at human flesh and bone.

The cremation ground is a symbol of cosmic dissolution.

 

In a similar picture, we see the Mother standing on two figures, the

Shiva, and Shava previously explained. On the Corpse the hair has

grown. The Devas, or " Gods, " as they are commonly called, are shown

making obeisance to Her on the left, for She is their Mother as well

as being the Mother of men. There are some variations in the

imagery. Thus Kali, who is commonly represented naked -- that is,

free of her own Maya -- is shown clad in skins. Her function is

commonly called Destruction, but as the Sanskrit saying goes, " the

Deva does not Destroy " . The Supreme Self withdraws the Universe into

Itself. Nothing is destroyed. Things appear and disappear to

reappear.

 

To pass beyond the Worlds of Birth and Death is to be Liberated.

Human selves alone can attain liberation. Hence the supreme worth of

human life. But few men understand and desire Liberation, which is

the Experience-Whole. They have not reached the stage in which it is

sought as the Supreme Worth. The majority are content to seek the

Partial in the satisfaction of their individual interests. But as an

unknown Sage cited by the Commentators on the Yoginihridaya and

Nityashodasika Tantras has profoundly said, " Identification of the

Self with the Non-Whole or Partial (Apurnam-manyata) is Disease and

the sole source of every misery " . Hence one of the Cakras of the

Shri Yantra which I have shown you is called " Destroyer of all

Disease " . Eternal Health is Wholeness which is the Highest Worth as

the Experience-Whole. The " Disease of the World " refers not to the

World in itself, which is the Mother in form, but to that darkness

of vision which does not see that it is Her. As Upanishad said, " He

alone fears who sees Duality. " This recognition of the unity of the

World and the Mother has its degrees. That Whole is of varying

kinds. It is thus physical or bodily health as the physical Whole

which is sought in Hathayoga. Man, as he develops, lives more and

more in that Current of Energy, which, having immersed itself in

Mind and Matter for the purpose of World-Experience, returns to

itself as the Perfect Experience, which is Transcendent Being-Power.

With the transformation of man's nature his values become higher. At

length he discerns that his Self is rooted in and is a flowering of

Supreme Being-Power. His cramped experience, loosened of its

limitations, expands into fullness. For, it must be ever remembered,

that Consciousness as it is itself never evolves. It is the

Immutable Essence, and Shakti the " Wave of Bliss' as they each are

in themselves. Evolution is thus a gradual release from the

limitations of Form created by Being-Power. Interest in the Partial

and Relative Wholeness gives way to a striving towards the Mother as

the Absolute Whole (Purna) which She is in Her own spaceless, and

timeless, nature.

 

This complete Liberation is the Perfect Experience in which the

Self, cramped in Mind and Body, overcomes its mayik bonds and

expands into the Consciousness-Whole. The practical question is

therefore the conversion of Imperfect (Apurna) into Perfect (Purna)

Experience. This last is not the " standing aloof " (Kaivalya) " here "

from some discarded universe " over there, " upon the discovery that

it is without reality and worth. For the World is the Mother in

Form. It is one and the same Mother-Power which really appears as

the psycho-physical universe, and which in itself is Perfect

Consciousness. Liberation is, according to this system, the

expansion of the empirical consciousness in and through and by means

of the world into that Perfect Consciousness which is the Experience-

Whole. This can only be by the grace of the Mother, for who

otherwise can loosen the knot of Maya which She Herself has tied ?

 

The state of Liberation can only be approximately described. Even

those who have returned from ecstasy cannot find words for that

which they have in fact experienced. " A full vessel, " it is

said, " makes no sound " . It is not in this system an experience of

mere empty " being, " for this is an abstract concept of the intellect

produced by the power of Consciousness. It is a concrete Experience-

Whole of infinitely rich " content " . The Mother is both the Whole

and, as Samvid Kala, is the Cause and archetype of all Partials

(Kala). She is Herself the Supreme Partial as She is also the Whole.

So, She is the Supreme Word (Paravak), Supreme Sound and Movement

(Parashabda Paranada), Supreme Space (Paravyoma),Supreme or

Transcendental Time (Parakala) the infinite " limit " of that which

man knows on the rising of Sun and Moon. She is again the Life of

all lives (pranapranasya). She thus contains within Herself in

their " limit " all the realities and values of worldly life which is

Her expression in Time and Space. But over and beyond this, She is

also the alogical Experience-Whole. This experience neither

supersedes nor is superseded by experience as the Supreme Self. This

Alogical Experience is only approximately spoken of as Infinite

Being, Consciousness and Joy which is the seamless (akhanda)

Experience-Whole (Purna). Relative to the Supreme Self the Perfect

Experience, She as His Power is the Perfect Universe. In the

alogical transcendent state in which Shiva and Shakti are mingled as

the One, She is the Massive Bliss (Ananda-ghana) which is their

union, of which it has been said: Niratishaya premaspadatvam

anandatvam, which may be translated: " Love in its limit or uttermost

love is Joy " . This is the love of the Self for its Power and for the

Universe as which such Power manifests.

 

She is called the Heart of the Supreme Lord (Hridayam Parameshituh),

with whom the Shakta unites himself as he says Sa'ham -- " She I am " .

 

If we analyze this description we find that it can be summed up in

the single Sanskrit term Anandaghana, or Mass of Bliss. The essence

of the Universe is, to the Shakta, nothing but that. Mystical states

in all religions are experiences of joy. As I have elsewhere said,

the creative and world-sustaining Mother, as seen in Shakta worship

(Hadimata), is a Joyous Figure crowned with ruddy flashing gems,

clad in red raiment Lauhityam etasya sarvasya vimarshah, more

effulgent than millions of red rising suns, with one hand granting

all blessings (varamudra), and with the other dispelling all fears

(abhaya-mudra). It is true that She seems fearful to the uninitiated

in Her form as Kali, but the worshippers of this Form (Kadimata)

know Her as the Wielder of the Sword of Knowledge which, severing

man from ignorance -- that is, partial knowledge -- gives him

Perfect Experience. To such worshipper the burning ground -- with

its corpses, its apparitions, and haunting malignant spirits -- is

no terror. These forms, too, are Hers.

 

Hinduism has with deep insight seen that Fear is an essential mark

of the animal, and of man in so far as he is an animal (Pashu). The

Shakta unites himself with this joyous and liberating Mother, saying

Sa'ham -- " She I am " . As he realizes this he is the fearless Hero,

or Vira. For he who sees Duality, he alone fears. To see Duality

means not merely to see otherness, but to see that other as alien

non-self. The fearless win all worldly enterprises, and fearlessness

is also the mark of the Illuminate Knower. Such an one is also in

his degree independent of all outward power, and Mrityuñjaya, or

Master of Death. Such an one is not troubled for himself by the

thought of Death. In the apt words of a French author (L'Ame

Paienne, 83), he no more fears than do the leaves of the trees,

yellowing to their fall in the mists of autumn. An imperishable

instinct tells him that if he, like the leaves, is about to fall he

is also the tree on which they will come out again, as also the

Earth in which both grow, and yet again (as the Shakta would say) he

is also, in his Body of Bliss, the Essence which as the Mother-Power

sustains them all. As that Essence is imperishable, so in the

deepest sense is its form as Nature. For whatever exists can never

altogether cease to be. Either man's consciousness expands into that

Lordliness which sees all as Itself, or he and all lower beings are

withdrawn into the Womb of Power, in which they are conserved to

reappear in that Sphurana or Blossoming which is the Springtide of

some new World.

 

The Indian Magna Mater - III. Dissolution

www.sacred-texts.com/tantra/sas/sas20.htm