The Serpent Power — Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe) (1924)
This is Parashiva, who in the scheme of the Thirty-six Tattvas is known as Parāsamvit. This is the perfect experience and perfect universe. By this latter term is not meant any heaven in the sense of a perfected world of forms. The perfect universe is Shakti herself in Her own nature as consciousness experienced by Shiva as consciousness. As the Upanishad says, “The self knows and loves the self.” It is this love which is bliss or “resting in the self,” for, as it is elsewhere said, “Supreme love is bliss” (Niratishaya-premāspadatvam ānandatvam). If, however, there be one Changeless Consciousness there is no manifestation. If, again, we assume some other than Consciousness as cause of the universe, then the Monistic (Advaita) truth is destroyed, as in the dualistic Sāngkhya, which assumes, in addition to and independent of the Purusha consciousness, the Prakriti unconsciousness as the material cause (Upādānakārana) of the world. All Indian Monism, therefore, posits a dual aspect of the single consciousness —one the transcendental changeless aspect (Parāsamvit),² and the other the creative changing aspect, which is called Shiva-Shakti Tattva.³ In Parāsamvit the “I” (Aham) and the “This” (Īdam), or universe of objects, are indistinguishably mingled in the supreme unitary experience.⁴
1 Yā anādirūpā chaitanyādhyāsena mahāpralaye sūkshmā sthitā (Comm. on Shāradā Tilaka, Ch. I)—that is, the Adhyāsa or attribution is given from the world aspect. Transcendentally She is then in her own nature (Svarūpa).
2 This is Paramashiva, or Nirguna (attributeless), or Nishkala (partless or devoid of Shakti), Shiva, or Parabrahman.
3 This is Saguna (with attribute), or Sakala (with parts or Shakti),
Shiva, or Shabdabrahman (Brahman as the source of “sound,” v. post).
4 As the Yoginīhridaya Tantra says: The Parā Devī is Prakāshavimarshasāmarasyarūpinī. This is the Nirvikalpa-jnāna state in
In Shiva-Shakti Tattva Shakti, which is the negative aspect of the former, Her function being negation (Nishedha-vyapāra-rūpā Shaktih), negates herself as the Idam of experience, leaving the Shiva consciousness as a mere “I,” “not looking towards another” (Ananyonmukhah ahampratyayah). This is a state of mere subjective illumination (Prakāsha mātra)¹ to which Shakti, who is called Vimarsha,² again presents Herself, but now with a distinction of “I” and “This” as yet held together as part of one self. At this point, the first incipient stage of dualism, there is the first emanation of consciousness, known as Sadāshiva or Sadākhya Tattva, which is followed by the second or Īshvara Tattva, the Lord.
And then by the third or Shuddhavidya Tattva. In the first emphasis is laid on the “this”, in the second on the “I,” and on the third on both equally. Then Māyā severs the united consciousness so that the object is seen as other than the self and then split up into the multitudinous objects of the universe. Some worship predominantly the masculine or right side of the conjoint male and female figure (Ardhanārīshvara). Some, the Shāktas, predominantly worship the left, and call Her Mother, for She is the great Mother (Magna Mater), the Mahādevī who conceives, bears, and nourishes the universe sprung from Her womb (Yoni). This is so because She is the active which there is no distinction of “This” and “That” of “I” and “This”. In Vikalpa-jnāna there is subject and object.
1 Paramashiva has two aspects—Prakāsha and Vimarsha, or Kāmeshvara and Kāmeshvarī or Paralinga. Prakāsha=asphutasphutikara, or manifestation of what is not manifest.
2 This word comes from the root mrish=to touch, to affect, to cogitate. It is that which is pounded or handled, handled by thought, that is, object of reflective thought. Pradhāna and Prakriti also involve the meaning “placing in front”; that which is so placed is object. All three terms denote the principle of objectivity.
aspect¹ of Consciousness, imagining (Srishtikalpanā)² the world to be, according to the impressions (Sangskāra) derived from enjoyment and suffering in former worlds. It is natural to worship Her as Mother. The first Mantra into which all men are initiated is the word Mā (Mother). It is their first word and generally their last. The father is a mere helper (Sahakāri-mātra) of the Mother.³ The whole world of the five elements also springs from the Active Consciousness or Shakti, and is Her manifestation (Pūrna vikāsa). Therefore men worship the Mother,⁴ than whom is none more tender,⁵ saluting Her smiling beauty as the Rosy Tripurasundarī, the source of the universe, and Her awe-inspiring grandeur as Kālī, who takes it back into Herself.
1 The quiescent Shiva-aspect is by its definition inert. It is because of this that the Devī is in the Tantras symbolically represented as being above the body of Shiva, who lies under Her like a corpse (Shava). As the Kubjikā Tantra, Ch. I, states, it is not Brahmā, Vishnu, and Rudra, who create, maintain, and destroy, but their Shaktis, Brahmāni, Vaishnavī, Rudrānī. See Prānatoshinī, 9. Activity is the nature of Prakriti (Sāngkhya Pravachana Sūtra, III. 66). For the same reason the female form is represented in Sexual union as being above (Viparīta) the male. When the Devī stands above Shiva, the symbolism also denotes (particularly in the case of Kālī) the liberating aspect of the Mother. See “Principles of Tantra,” I. 323.
2 The world is called an imagination (Kalpanā), for it is creative ideation on recalled memory. As the Yoginīhridaya Tantra says, “the picture of the world is designed by Her own will” (Svechchhāvishvamayollekhakhachitam), “seeing which Bhagavān was very pleased”.
This is Parashiva, who in the scheme of the Thirty-six Tattvas is known as Parāsamvit. This is the perfect experience and perfect universe. By this latter term is not meant any heaven in the sense of a perfected world of forms. The perfect universe is Shakti herself in Her own nature as consciousness experienced by Shiva as consciousness. As the Upanishad says, “The self knows and loves the self.” It is this love which is bliss or “resting in the self,” for, as it is elsewhere said, “Supreme love is bliss” (Niratishaya-premāspadatvam ānandatvam). If, however, there be one Changeless Consciousness there is no manifestation. If, again, we assume some other than Consciousness as cause of the universe, then the Monistic (Advaita) truth is destroyed, as in the dualistic Sāngkhya, which assumes, in addition to and independent of the Purusha consciousness, the Prakriti unconsciousness as the material cause (Upādānakārana) of the world. All Indian Monism, therefore, posits a dual aspect of the single consciousness —one the transcendental changeless aspect (Parāsamvit),² and the other the creative changing aspect, which is called Shiva-Shakti Tattva.³ In Parāsamvit the “I” (Aham) and the “This” (Īdam), or universe of objects, are indistinguishably mingled in the supreme unitary experience.⁴
1 Yā anādirūpā chaitanyādhyāsena mahāpralaye sūkshmā sthitā (Comm. on Shāradā Tilaka, Ch. I)—that is, the Adhyāsa or attribution is given from the world aspect. Transcendentally She is then in her own nature (Svarūpa).
2 This is Paramashiva, or Nirguna (attributeless), or Nishkala (partless or devoid of Shakti), Shiva, or Parabrahman.
3 This is Saguna (with attribute), or Sakala (with parts or Shakti),
Shiva, or Shabdabrahman (Brahman as the source of “sound,” v. post).
4 As the Yoginīhridaya Tantra says: The Parā Devī is Prakāshavimarshasāmarasyarūpinī. This is the Nirvikalpa-jnāna state in
In Shiva-Shakti Tattva Shakti, which is the negative aspect of the former, Her function being negation (Nishedha-vyapāra-rūpā Shaktih), negates herself as the Idam of experience, leaving the Shiva consciousness as a mere “I,” “not looking towards another” (Ananyonmukhah ahampratyayah). This is a state of mere subjective illumination (Prakāsha mātra)¹ to which Shakti, who is called Vimarsha,² again presents Herself, but now with a distinction of “I” and “This” as yet held together as part of one self. At this point, the first incipient stage of dualism, there is the first emanation of consciousness, known as Sadāshiva or Sadākhya Tattva, which is followed by the second or Īshvara Tattva, the Lord.
And then by the third or Shuddhavidya Tattva. In the first emphasis is laid on the “this”, in the second on the “I,” and on the third on both equally. Then Māyā severs the united consciousness so that the object is seen as other than the self and then split up into the multitudinous objects of the universe. Some worship predominantly the masculine or right side of the conjoint male and female figure (Ardhanārīshvara). Some, the Shāktas, predominantly worship the left, and call Her Mother, for She is the great Mother (Magna Mater), the Mahādevī who conceives, bears, and nourishes the universe sprung from Her womb (Yoni). This is so because She is the active which there is no distinction of “This” and “That” of “I” and “This”. In Vikalpa-jnāna there is subject and object.
1 Paramashiva has two aspects—Prakāsha and Vimarsha, or Kāmeshvara and Kāmeshvarī or Paralinga. Prakāsha=asphutasphutikara, or manifestation of what is not manifest.
2 This word comes from the root mrish=to touch, to affect, to cogitate. It is that which is pounded or handled, handled by thought, that is, object of reflective thought. Pradhāna and Prakriti also involve the meaning “placing in front”; that which is so placed is object. All three terms denote the principle of objectivity.
aspect¹ of Consciousness, imagining (Srishtikalpanā)² the world to be, according to the impressions (Sangskāra) derived from enjoyment and suffering in former worlds. It is natural to worship Her as Mother. The first Mantra into which all men are initiated is the word Mā (Mother). It is their first word and generally their last. The father is a mere helper (Sahakāri-mātra) of the Mother.³ The whole world of the five elements also springs from the Active Consciousness or Shakti, and is Her manifestation (Pūrna vikāsa). Therefore men worship the Mother,⁴ than whom is none more tender,⁵ saluting Her smiling beauty as the Rosy Tripurasundarī, the source of the universe, and Her awe-inspiring grandeur as Kālī, who takes it back into Herself.
1 The quiescent Shiva-aspect is by its definition inert. It is because of this that the Devī is in the Tantras symbolically represented as being above the body of Shiva, who lies under Her like a corpse (Shava). As the Kubjikā Tantra, Ch. I, states, it is not Brahmā, Vishnu, and Rudra, who create, maintain, and destroy, but their Shaktis, Brahmāni, Vaishnavī, Rudrānī. See Prānatoshinī, 9. Activity is the nature of Prakriti (Sāngkhya Pravachana Sūtra, III. 66). For the same reason the female form is represented in Sexual union as being above (Viparīta) the male. When the Devī stands above Shiva, the symbolism also denotes (particularly in the case of Kālī) the liberating aspect of the Mother. See “Principles of Tantra,” I. 323.
2 The world is called an imagination (Kalpanā), for it is creative ideation on recalled memory. As the Yoginīhridaya Tantra says, “the picture of the world is designed by Her own will” (Svechchhāvishvamayollekhakhachitam), “seeing which Bhagavān was very pleased”.
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