The Shakti Principle

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The Shakti Principle

Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati

 

In the traditional idea of Shakti we find a blending of two elements,

one empirical and the other speculative. On the empirical side the

idea of Shakti is associated with cosmogony. It has been the un-

contradicted experience of man from the dawn of understanding that

there cannot be any origination whatsoever without the union of the

two principles of Shiva and Shakti, the Male and Female aspects. The

human analogy was naturally extended to the universe as a whole, and

thus we came to the concept of the primordial Father and Mother.

 

In India, from the age of the Indus civilisation of Harappa and

Mohanjoi-daro down to the present, the Father God is represented by a

linga (the male symbol) and the Mother Goddess by the yoni (the

female symbol). This conceptual representation of Shiva and Shakti by

the linga-yoni is quite common and in many temples the two are

worshipped in their symbolic form. In both Hindu and Buddhist

literature the lord (male deity) is symbolically represented by a

white dot (shveta bindu) thus suggesting the likeness with semen,

while the devi (female deity) is symbolically represented by a red

dot (rakta bindu) to suggest the analogy with menstrual blood

containing the ovum.

 

Philosophy

 

From the speculative side it was observed that everything which

existed, did so by virtue of its power or powers. So God who exists

as the creator, preserver and destroyer of the universe must possess

infinite power through which He creates, maintains and destroys. In.

fact, His very being presupposes infinite power by virtue of which He

himself exists. This belief is a universal one. Tantrics tend to view

this power or universal energy as something like a female counterpart

of the possessor of the power. Shakti, being conceived as the

counterpart of the possessor (Shiva), came to be recognised as the

consort of Shiva.

 

This is responsible for the fact that, not only in the Shakti

tradition (believers in Shakti in whatever form as the supreme deity)

but in almost all other traditions - the Saivas (believers in Shiva

as the supreme) the Sauras (believers in the Sun), the Ganapatyas

(believers in Ganesha), and the Vaishnavas (believers in Vishnu) - an

important place is occupied by Shakti. There is seldom a god or demi-

god for whom a consort is not conceived as an inseparable shakti.

 

A strong belief in this Shakti has brought about a popular synthesis

among philosophies like Sankhya, Vedanta, Vaishnavism and Tantra.

Sankhya speaks of 'Purusha' and 'Prakriti' as two independent and

ultimate realities whose interaction is a mere attribute resulting

from the contact of the two. In the Puranas and other literature.

Prakriti is plainly conceived of as being the female counterpart of

Purusha, and as such the two realities have been practically

identified with the Shakti and Shiva of the Tantras. In a similar

manner the principle of Maya (illusion) has been conceived as the

Shakti of Brahman, These pairs were later viewed in the form of

Vishnu and his Shakti, Lakshmi: of Sita and Ram, and later of Radha

and Krishna. Thus, in popular belief, Shiva-Shakti of the Tantras,

Purusha-Prakriti of Sankhya, Brahman-Maya of Vedanta, and Vishnu-

Lakshmi, Sita-Ram and Radha-Krishna of Vaishnavism, all mean the same.

 

The philosophy of Shakti is clearly suggested by the two passages in

the Brihadaranyak Upanishad (1:4, 1:3) where it is said that in the

beginning was the Cosmic Being as the Atman in human form, who could

never feel satisfied and content for he was all alone. So he desired

a complementary aspect. His being was something like a natural point

where the ultimate principles of male and female lay unified as it

were in a deep embrace. He divided himself into two, male and female,

which formed the first pair, and all the pairs of creation are said

to be the replicas of this original pair.

 

These passages of the Brihadaranyak Upanishad have been used

extensively in the Puranas, Tantras and later Buddhist and Vaishnava

Sahajiya in which Shakti played an important part. Whatever has been

created in this phenomenal process has been created from the union of

the two- energy and matter, the consumer and the consumed. They

represent the two aspects of the one non-dual truth, one internal and

the other external; one illuminating, unchangeable and immortal and

the other obstructive, gross and perishable.

 

Distinct mention of the various powers of God is found in the

Swetaswatar Upanishad, in which it is said " 'Various powers are heard

of this Brahman. It possesses power as knowledge and power as force

or activity by virtue of its very nature. " (6:8). " Know Maya (the

unspeakable mysterious power) as Prakriti and the possessor of the

Maya as the Great Lord Maheshwara (a name of Shiva) " (4:10). " He who

is one and colourless brings forth various colours through the agency

of his various types of powers " (4:1), The possessor of Maya created

the universe, and beings are fettered by his Maya.

 

Vaishnavism & Shaivism

 

The elaboration of this Shakti-vada is to be found in most of the

Puranas, Upa-Puranas, samhitas and mainly in the Tantras, both Hindu

and Buddhist. There is no systematic discussion on the philosophy of

Shakti in the Puranas, even in the Markan day a Purana, which

contains the Chandi, the most important text of the Mother

worshippers in India; discussion on Shakti in the Puranas is sporadic

and scrappy. The main discussions are found in Tantric literatures.

So far as the Hindu tantras are concerned, they seem to have

flourished in the two borders of India-Kashmir in the north-western

border and Bengal, the easternmost province.

 

So far as the tantric literature of Bengal is concerned, scholars are

disposed to think that none of these texts were composed earlier than

the 10th century A.D. The tradition of the tantras in Kashmir seems

to be earlier. The well-known Trika school of Kashmir Shaivism seems

to have derived many of its ideas from the earlier tantras of

Kashmir, some of which have been quoted and referred to in important

texts of Shaivism. The Kashmir school of Shaivism most probably

flourished between the 9th and 10th century A.D.

 

Some of the tantric texts must have been composed earlier but it has

to be noted that some of the Samhita texts belonging to the

Pancharatna school of Vaishnavism (sometimes referred to in the Trika

school of Kashmir Shaivism) were composed earlier than the Shaivite

texts, and the Ahirabudhya Samhita, belonging to the Pancharatna

school, contains a good exposition of the philosophy of Shakti,

though of course of Shakti as associated with Vishnu and not Shiva.

 

It has been said in this text that the ultimate being has two

aspects, one of which is the inactive or negative state, where all

his creative impulses lie dormant within Him, and the whole universe

lies infinitely contracted in. Him as a mere possibility and potency.

This negative state may be said to be a state of nothingness. Even in

this state there is Shakti, but she remains perfectly absorbed in the

Lord, as if in a union of deep embrace. With the urge of the first

creative impulse, there comes from within the Lord, a determination

(sankalpa), which results in his 'willing'. This 'willing' of the

Lord may be recognised as the first vibration of the Shakti - the

first cosmic rhythm in the absolutely calm and quiet ocean.

 

When Shakti first wakes from her absorption in deep embrace, into the

first vibration of activity, she acquires something like independence

and tends to manifest herself in her triple functions of 'willing'

(icchha), 'knowing' (jnana), and 'activity' (kriya), These three

functions are symbolised by the inverted triangle, yantra of the

Mother Goddess. Sometimes it Is held that Shakti is nothing but a

figurative representation of the Lord, for the power cars never be

viewed as being a separate entity from the agent that possesses the

power.

 

The rise or awakening of Shakti therefore means the awakening of the

Lord from his infinitely contracted state to the state of full-

fledged 'I-ness'. Shakti is thus the full 'I-ness' of the Lord. Her

nature is infinite bliss. This Shakti can again be viewed in two of

her aspects - the internal aspect in which she coexists with and is

in the Lord (samavayini shakti), and the external aspect in which

she, as Prakriti, and the repository of the three natural qualities,

manifests herself as the external universe.

 

According to the tantric texts of Kashmir also, Shakti inheres in the

Ultimate Being as a latent potency of infinite possibilities, as a

seed of the future worlds, mobile and immobile. As the Ultimate Being

is real and eternal, so is Shakti, who is coexistent with Him. The

awakening of Shakti is something like a self-projection of the 'I-

ness' of God which is accompanied by an internal process of self

creation.

 

Shiva and Shakti

 

There are different views on the relation of Shiva and Shakti as

propounded in the Puranas and Tantras. One view holds that neither

Shiva nor Shakti represents the absolute truth; that the absolute

reality is a State of neutrality where Shiva and Shakti remain in a

state of perfect union (yamala). This is called the 'samarasya',

where all things become one in a unity of blissful realisation. Shiva

and Shakti ate two aspects of the one truth - the static and dynamic,

the negative and the positive, the abstract and the concrete, the

male and the female.

 

Another view holds Shiva as the Ultimate Being to whom Shakti

eternally belongs. Nevertheless, neither Shiva nor Shakti is 'real'

without the other. As Shakti cannot be conceived of without Shiva, so

also Shiva becomes 'shava' (dead) without Shakti. The two are

therefore eternally and inseparably connected.

 

A third view considers Shakti as the highest truth and Shiva as the

best support for Shakti. Shakti is more important as 'the contained',

while Shiva is the 'container'. Shakti is the all-creating, all-

preserving and all-destroying power of which Shiva is the adhara

(base).

 

In some of the Puranas the male deity, as the Shaktimat (the

possessor of Shakti) has been described as the male aspect of the

Ultimate Truth which is Shakti. It is from this point of view that

the Mother worshippers would give a subsidiary place to Shiva, where

the Shakti as Mother is taken to be the highest object of adoration.

In this, her sovereign majesty, the Goddess, is sometimes called

Lalita Devi from whom the male deity proceeds as a transformation of

her own self. Apart from this conception of the Goddess, Lalita often

stands as the general Mother Goddess of India. She is called

Tripurasundari in the Tantras.

 

Puranas: Chandi Saptashati

 

Shakti as the Great Mother and highest truth has found an elaborate

exposition in the Devi Mahatmya, (Glory of the Goddess) of the

Markandeya Purana, and this portion of the Purana, comprising

thirteen chapters, is regarded as the most sacred text of Mother

worshippers and is known as Chandi or Durga Saptashati. Here the

goddess is seen as Devi and becomes well known later as Durga. The

name Durga has been variously interpreted in Puranic and Tantric

literature which means she is the Mother Goddess who saves us from

all sorts of misery and affliction, from all dangers and

difficulties. She is also known as Chandi the fierce goddess as she

incarnates whenever occasion demands, for the purpose of destroying

the asuras (demons) who may threaten mental peace and the heavenly

domain of the divine beings.

 

Durga is the Mother Goddess whose worship during the Autumn is a most

celebrated one. She is also worshipped as Annapurna or Annada

(goddess of corn and food). In Autumn she is also worshipped as

Jagadhatri (the maintainer of the world). During the Spring she is

Vasanti (Goddess of Spring). In some Of the Puranas Devi is said to

be worshipped by 108 names in 108 sacred places (in the Matsya

Purana, chapter 13, it is said that, though she is all-pervading and

underlies all forms, the devotee desirous of attaining perfection

should worship her in different places).

 

In the Devi Kavacha of the Chandi, the Devi as Nawadurga is described

as Shailaputri, Brahmacharini, Chandraghanta, Kushmanda Skandamata,

Kutyayani, Mahagauri and Siddhidatri. Other forms of Shakti are

Chamunda (seated on a corpse), Varahi (on a buffalo), Aindri (on an

elephant), Vaishnavi (on the bird Garuda), Maheswari (on a bull),

Kaumari (on a peacock), Lakshmi (on a lotus), Ishwar (on a bull) and

Brahmi (on a swan). Many of the Shaktis are associated with different

godheads, such as Varahi, Shakti of Varaha (the boar-god), Narasimhi

of Narasimha (the man-lion god).

 

Some Shakti forms are also found within the Buddhist tradition. For

instance, Tara, a popular Indian goddess, is also a famous Buddhist

goddess, while Chhinnamasta may be compared to Vajrayogini of the

Buddists.

 

The story of Chandi first introduces Shakti as the principle of great

illusion (mahamaya) which prevents us from viewing the things of life

and the world around us in their true perspective. It creates in the

mind a fierce attachment to the world and thus binds us down to a

lower plane of existence. But where does the principle of objective

illusion originate? It is an aspect of the same divine power which is

responsible for the creative process, and which is shaping the

universe eternally to its end. It was there as one with the Supreme

Being even when the cosmos was not, and it remains there absorbed in

the existence of the Supreme Being even after the dissolution, as a

potency, a seed of future creative manifestation. It has its sway,

not only on all animates but also on the Supreme Being, and in

connection with the latter it is called Yogamaya, the maya which is a

direct part of the Lord.

 

Mahamaya, as the Mahashakti, remains absolutely inactive at the time

of dissolution and this inactivity of the Shakti lulls the Supreme

Being lo profound sleep in the ocean of causal potency. She is the

Mahakali since she contracts eternal time (kala) within her and from

her time proceeds again as an endless flow of creative vibration. It

is incorrect to consider this power as being spiritual alone. She

is 'The' power - spiritual, mental, intellectual, physiological and

biological. Whatever exists is due to Her; whatever works, works due

to Her.

 

The Shakti Principle

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