The Serpent Power — Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe) (1924)
Veda says: “All this (that is, the manifold world) is (the one) Brahman” (Sarvam khalvidam Brahma).¹ How the many can be the one² is variously explained by the different schools. The interpretation here given is that of the grand doctrine underlying and contained in the Shākta Tantras or Āgamas. In the first place, what is the one Reality which appears as many? What is the nature of Brahman as it is in itself (Svarūpa)? The answer is Sat-Chit-Ānanda —that is, Being-feeling-consciousness-bliss. Consciousness or feeling, as such (Chit, or Chaitanya, or Samvit), is identical with being as such. Though in ordinary experience the two are essentially bound up together, they still seem to diverge from each other. Man by his constitution inveterately believes in an objective existence beyond and independent of himself. And this is so as long as, being embodied Spirit (Jīvātmā), his consciousness is veiled by Māyā. But in the ultimate basis of experience, which is the Supreme Spirit (Paramātmā), the divergence has gone, for in it lie in undifferentiated mass experiencer, experience, and the experienced. When, however, we speak of Chit as feeling-consciousness we must remember that what we know and observe as such is only a limited changing manifestation of Chit, which is in itself the infinite changeless principle which is the background of all experience. This Beingconsciousness is absolute Bliss (Ānanda), which is defined as “resting in the self” (Svarūpa-vishrānti). It is Bliss
1 This, as the Mahānirvāna Tantra says (VII. 98), is the end and aim of Tāntrika Kulāchāra, the realisation of which saying the Prapanchasāra Tantra calls the fifth or supreme state (Ch. XIX, Vol. III, “Tantrik Texts”).
2 Thus it is said of Devī that She is in the form of one and many (Ekānekākshārākritih). Ekam=ekam ajnānam or Māyā. Anekāni=the several ajnānas—that is, Avidyā. She is both as Ūpādhi of Īshvara and Jīva (Trishatī, II. 23).
because, being the infinite all (Pūrna), it can be in want of nothing. This blissful consciousness is the ultimate and real nature or Svarūpa, as it is called, of the one Reality, the own form or the propria forma of the scholastics. Svarūpa is the nature of anything as it is in itself, as distinguished from what it may appear to be. This Supreme Consciousness is the Supreme Shiva (Parashiva). It never changes, but eternally endures the same throughout all change.
But if this be so, how is it that everything we see is associated with apparent unconsciousness? Our mind is evidently not a pure, but a limited consciousness. What limits it must be something either in itself unconscious or, if conscious, capable of producing the appearance of unconsciousness.¹ In the phenomenal world there is nothing absolutely conscious nor absolutely unconscious. Consciousness and unconsciousness are always intermingled. Some things, however, appear to be more conscious, and some more unconscious than others. This is due to the fact that Chit, which is never absent in anything, yet manifests itself in various ways and degrees. The degree of this manifestation is determined by the nature and development of the body in which it is enshrined. Spirit remains the same; the body changes. The manifestation of consciousness is more or less limited as ascent is made from the mineral to man. In the mineral world Chit manifests as the lowest form of sentiency evidenced by reflex response to stimuli, and that physical consciousness which is called in the West atomic memory. The sentiency of plants is more developed, though it is, as Chakrapāni says, in the Bhānumatī a dormant consciousness. This is further manifested in those micro-organisms which are
1 The alternative is given to meet the differing views of Māyāvāda and Shaktivāda.
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Veda says: “All this (that is, the manifold world) is (the one) Brahman” (Sarvam khalvidam Brahma).¹ How the many can be the one² is variously explained by the different schools. The interpretation here given is that of the grand doctrine underlying and contained in the Shākta Tantras or Āgamas. In the first place, what is the one Reality which appears as many? What is the nature of Brahman as it is in itself (Svarūpa)? The answer is Sat-Chit-Ānanda —that is, Being-feeling-consciousness-bliss. Consciousness or feeling, as such (Chit, or Chaitanya, or Samvit), is identical with being as such. Though in ordinary experience the two are essentially bound up together, they still seem to diverge from each other. Man by his constitution inveterately believes in an objective existence beyond and independent of himself. And this is so as long as, being embodied Spirit (Jīvātmā), his consciousness is veiled by Māyā. But in the ultimate basis of experience, which is the Supreme Spirit (Paramātmā), the divergence has gone, for in it lie in undifferentiated mass experiencer, experience, and the experienced. When, however, we speak of Chit as feeling-consciousness we must remember that what we know and observe as such is only a limited changing manifestation of Chit, which is in itself the infinite changeless principle which is the background of all experience. This Beingconsciousness is absolute Bliss (Ānanda), which is defined as “resting in the self” (Svarūpa-vishrānti). It is Bliss
1 This, as the Mahānirvāna Tantra says (VII. 98), is the end and aim of Tāntrika Kulāchāra, the realisation of which saying the Prapanchasāra Tantra calls the fifth or supreme state (Ch. XIX, Vol. III, “Tantrik Texts”).
2 Thus it is said of Devī that She is in the form of one and many (Ekānekākshārākritih). Ekam=ekam ajnānam or Māyā. Anekāni=the several ajnānas—that is, Avidyā. She is both as Ūpādhi of Īshvara and Jīva (Trishatī, II. 23).
because, being the infinite all (Pūrna), it can be in want of nothing. This blissful consciousness is the ultimate and real nature or Svarūpa, as it is called, of the one Reality, the own form or the propria forma of the scholastics. Svarūpa is the nature of anything as it is in itself, as distinguished from what it may appear to be. This Supreme Consciousness is the Supreme Shiva (Parashiva). It never changes, but eternally endures the same throughout all change.
But if this be so, how is it that everything we see is associated with apparent unconsciousness? Our mind is evidently not a pure, but a limited consciousness. What limits it must be something either in itself unconscious or, if conscious, capable of producing the appearance of unconsciousness.¹ In the phenomenal world there is nothing absolutely conscious nor absolutely unconscious. Consciousness and unconsciousness are always intermingled. Some things, however, appear to be more conscious, and some more unconscious than others. This is due to the fact that Chit, which is never absent in anything, yet manifests itself in various ways and degrees. The degree of this manifestation is determined by the nature and development of the body in which it is enshrined. Spirit remains the same; the body changes. The manifestation of consciousness is more or less limited as ascent is made from the mineral to man. In the mineral world Chit manifests as the lowest form of sentiency evidenced by reflex response to stimuli, and that physical consciousness which is called in the West atomic memory. The sentiency of plants is more developed, though it is, as Chakrapāni says, in the Bhānumatī a dormant consciousness. This is further manifested in those micro-organisms which are
1 The alternative is given to meet the differing views of Māyāvāda and Shaktivāda.
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