How we came in to existence
Brahman who is without beginning or end and which is the seed of the universe, becoming differentiated is jīva (soul); subjecting itself to the idea of separateness, it becomes ahaṃkāra (ego) with manana (contemplation), it becomes manas (mind); with the certainty of intelligence, it becomes buddhi (intellect); then the five elements (sound, etc) through indriyā-s (sensory organs). With the thought of the body, it becomes the body itself; with the thought of a vessel, it becomes the vessel. A form (subtle body), having such a nature is called puryaṣṭaka body or eight constituents of the body. The eight constituents are mind, ego, intellect, sound, touch, sight, taste and smell, the last five together known as tanmātra-s.}
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
The mind alone sees and hears; all else is deaf and blind.
Cit and Ananda
It is important to understand the difference between Cit and Ānanda. Cit is Śiva and Ānanda is Śakti. Cit is Prakāśa, the Power of Self- revelation (the Absolute and the foundational Consciousness that
never undergoes any changes) and Ānanda is Vimarśa, the absolute state of Bliss, also known as svātantrya śakti of Śiva (Independent and Absolute Authority of Śiva, beyond which nothing exists). At the time of creation, everything begins from Śakti and at the time ofliberation of an individual soul, everything is dissolved into Her and the soul is finally merged with Śiva only by Her. An individual soul cannot directly merge with Śiva without Her stamp of approval. The importance of worshipping Śakti arises from this reality.
Shiva and Sakti
Śiva becomes inert without Śaktī. When Śiva is not united with Śaktī, He cannot manifest the universe. Because of Her functional nature, Divine Mother becomes supremely important. Even gods and goddesses find it difficult to bow before Her and sing Her praise.
Śiva is Self-illuminating. Without His existence, the universe will be plunged into darkness. Śiva is present in prakāśa (illuminating) form. Prakāśa can be explained as visible, shining, universally
noted, brightness, lustre, splendour, etc. Śaktī is His vimarśa form. Vimarśa can be explained as reasoning, knowledge, consideration,reflecting etc. In spite of Śiva being the grandeur amongst the
cognized existences, He cannot realize His own incomparable splendour without something that is able to reflect His grandeur. This is like a human not able to see his own form without an object
that is capable of reflecting his image. Śaktī acts like a reflecting mirror where Śiva is able to realise His Reality, like a mirror reflecting the image of a person who stands before it. Pure
consciousness is Śiva and realizing the Pure Consciousness is Śaktī. If Śiva is not present, consciousness itself does not exist. If Śaktī is not present, the presence of consciousness cannot be
realised.
In the state of prakāśa ‘I’ and ‘This’ stand united and in the vimarśa aspect ‘This’ is separated from ‘I’. Therefore prakāśa aspect is ‘I + This’ and vimarśa aspect is ‘This’ alone. ‘I’ is the origin of the universe and ‘This’ is the expansion of the universe.
Śiva is cit and Śaktī is citi. Cit means foundational consciousness and citi means the consciousness that brings about cognitive operations. Śaktī segregates I and This. Without Śaktī this vital
segregation cannot take place. Śiva causes the initial pulsation for creation that is carried forward by Śaktī. Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad describes this Supreme Consciousness as ekātmapratyayasāram
and the worldly process as Prapañca.
Śaktī pushes forward the throb created by Śiva through different principles or tattva-s (thirty six, where Śiva is tattva one and Śaktī is tattva two) and sustains it through Her māyā or illusion. Māyā
is the sole factor that separates a soul from the Brahman. She is the manifested conglutination of Śiva and Śaktī and therefore She is both the seed and the sprout. This also drives home the point
that for creation, two objects are required. For example, a soul cannot be born on its own. It has to come into contact with prakṛti or Nature in order to manifest. Procreation is not possible without
conjugation of masculine and feminine energies.
Moving on from the perceptible to subtle, a lot more is said about Their subtle conjugation. They are referred as two bindu-s (dots), white and red, denoting Śiva and Śaktī respectively. These two
bindu-s in mutual conjunction expand and contract. When they expand, creation takes place by means of vāc (word) and artha (lit.meaning).
Vāc means the Śabda Brahman and artha means thirty six tattva-s or principles. These two bindu-s which enter one another are known as Kāma-Kāmeśvarī. Śiva, the Supreme is in the form of the first alphabet of Sanskrit A (अ), is the cause of all sounds of Veda-s. He attains the form of a bindu after having entered His own vimarśa form, Śaktī, in whom the entire universe is dissolved. Like prakāśa form of bindu entering the vimarśa form of bindu, vimarśa form of bindu also enters prakāśa form of bindu,which is already within it. As a result of this conjugation, a third bindu called as miśra bindu is born. Miśra means combined. Now there are three bindu-s, white, red and miśra. These three bindu-s
form a triangle, red and miśra are below and the white bindu is placed above them causing a perfect triangle.
The miśra bindu has all the tattva-s or principles within itself and is the cause for further
creation. This is the innermost triangle of Śrīcakra. When these three dots are connected, the three connecting lines represent all the triads such as three guṇa-s, three stages of consciousness, icchā,
jñāna and kriyā śaktī-s, etc. This triangle becomes the cause for creation beginning with Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Rudra. These three dots are also referred as sun (top), moon (right) and fire (left).
There is an inverted triangle below the three dots. The three connecting lines of this lower triangle represent three kūṭa-s of Her Pañcadaśī mantra .
Śiva and Śaktī together are known as Paramaśiva. Śiva alone has got independent power of autonomy, known as svātantraya śakti, which comprises of cit, ānanda, icchā, jñāna and kriyā śakti-s.
These five śakti-s are known as Consciousness, Bliss, will, knowledge and action. Śiva transfers His exclusive and independent power of autonomy, comprising of these five powers to Śaktī. Śiva always prefers to remain alone in a state of Bliss. He carves out His svātantraya śakti and transfers it to Śaktī. As He has transferred His Power to Her, this verse says that He cannot act without Her. It must be remembered that whatever power She has,they represent the Powers of Śiva only. She acts on behalf of Śiva alone. There is nothing in this universe that is not Śiva. Therefore,unless one understands Śaktī, he or she cannot realize Śiva, the Ultimate. She alone can reveal Śiva, says Lalitā Sahasranāma 727,Śivajñānapradāyinī.
In the process of creation, there are so many energies in action. For example, creation is taken care of by Brahmā, sustenance by Viṣṇu and death is caused by Rudra. These three are only the primary acts
of the Divine. There are many other innumerable energies and every such energy is represented by a deity, either a god or a goddess. For example, water is under the control of Varuṇa, fire by Agni, etc. All these acts are overseen by Śaktī. Without Her command, none of these gods and goddesses becomes active.
She is worshipped in Śrīcakra, where the Divine Couple, Śiva and Śaktī are seated in the central bindu (dot). Before worshipping Them in this bindu, all other gods and goddesses are worshipped
in various coverings known as āvaraṇa-s. Only after obtaining the blessings of all other gods and goddesses, the Divine Couple can be worshipped. This concept is symbolically represented through
Śrīcakra worship.
Lalitā Sahasranāma adores Her through 1000 nāma-s. This Supreme Sahasranāma was composed by eight Vāc Devi-s and these nāma-s highlight all Her activities. If one needs to understand Her, he or she should first understand the meaning of these nāma-s. For example the first nāma adores as the Supreme Mother and the last nāma reveals Her name as Lalitāmbikā. In between these nāma-s, She is adored for each of Her quality. Nāma 250 adores Her as pañca-brahma-svarūpiṇī. Pañca-brahma refers to Her five primary acts – creation, sustenance, death, annihilation and re-creation.
To sum up, this verse adores the Supreme Mother, who is ever compassionate, carrying out all the activities to sustain the universe. Those who have good karmas accrued over past births alone become capable of seeking Her through various forms of Her worship. When it is not easy for Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Purānic Śiva to worship Her, the kind of good karmas one needs to have accrued,to worship Her through Śrīvidyā Upāsana
In Śrī Vidyā cult, great importance is attached to Her sacred feet. She is worshipped in the
bindu of Śrīcakrā. Before reaching the central point of Śrīcakrā, which is the bindu, one has to worship different goddesses known as āvaraṇa devi-s. These devi-s’ feet are worshipped before
reaching Her, where She is worshipped as Parābhaṭṭārikā in the bindu as “śrīlalitā mahātripurasundari-parābhaṭṭārikā śrīpādukāṁ pūjayāmi tarpayāmi namaḥ
Ultimate aim
The ultimate aim of everyone is to attain liberation. If aim of someone is different from emancipation, he is not considered as a true devotee.For attaining liberation, there are set of guidelines available. The whole process starts with external worship. After attaining external worship, one has to perform japa mantra. During this period both external worship and japa mantra are done one after another. When he attains perfection in japa mantras, he has to move on to meditate on Her. To begin with, one has to meditate on the mantra which will stop on its own when meditation becomes perfect. After attaining perfection, the aspirant installs Her in his or her mind and establishes perpetual connection with Her. When this connection is firmed up, the aspirant transforms himself or herself into Parāśakti and experiences Bliss which turns perpetual over a period of time. At the end of high intensity of Blissful state, he or she confidently says “I am That” or “ahaṁ brahmāsmi” (I am Brahman). Reaching this stage is the very purpose of Bhāvanopaniṣad. This can be achieved only
through internal worship such as meditation, contemplation, visualization, etc.
