[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.To us the universe and ourselves are real.And Ishvara the Creator is real.Therefore there is a creation, and Shiva http://www.sacred-texts.com/tantra/sas/sas14.htm (11 of 18)07/03/2005 16:03:06Chapter Fourteen: Cit-Shakti (The Consciousness Aspect of the Universe) as Shakti creates by evolving into the Universe, and then appearing as all Jivas.This is the old Upanishadic doctrine of the spider actually evolving the web from itself, the web being its substance in that form.A flower cannot be raised from seed unless the flower was in some way already there.Therefore as there is an "Aham" and "Idam" in our experience, in some way it is in the supreme experience of Parashiva or Parasamvit.But the Idam or Universe is not there as with us; otherwise It would be Jiva.Therefore it is said that there are two principles or aspects in the Brahman, namely, that Prakasha or Cit aspect, and Vimarsha Shakti, the potential Idam, which in creation explicates into the Universe.But in the supreme experience or Amarsha, Vimarsha Shakti (which has two states) is in Its supreme form.The subtler state is in the form of consciousness (Cidrupini); the gross state is in the form of the Universe (Vishvarupini).The former is beyond the universe (Vishvottirna).But if Vimarsha Shakti is there in the form of consciousness (Cidrupini), it is one with Cit.Therefore it is said that the Aham and Idam, without ceasing to be in the supreme experience, are in supreme Shiva in undistinguishable union as Cit and Cidrupini.This is the Nirguna state of Shivashakti.As She is then in undistinguishable union with Shiva, She is then also simple unmanifested Cit.She is then Caitanya-rupa or Cidrupini: a subtle Sanskrit expression which denotes that She is the same as Cit and yet suggests that though in a present sense She is one with Him, She is yet in a sense (with reference to Her potentiality of future manifestation) different from Him.She is Sacchidanandamayi and He is Sacchidananda.She is then the unmanifested universe in the form of undifferentiated Cit.The mutual relation, whether in manifestation or beyond it, whether as the imperfect or Ideal universe, is one of inseparable connection or inherence (Avinabhava-sambandha, Samanvaya) such as that between "I-ness" (Ahanta) and"I" (Aham), existence and that which exists (Bhava, Bhavat), an attribute and that in which it inheres (Dharma, Dharmin), sunshine and the sun and so forth.The Pañcaratra School of the Vaishnava Agama or Tantra, speaking of the Mahashakti Lakshmi says, that in Her supreme state She is undistinguishable from the "Windless Atmosphere" (Vasudeva) existing only as it were in the form of "darkness" and"emptiness" (that is of unmanifested formlessness).So the Mahanirvana Tantra speaks of Her "dark formlessness".In the Kulacudamani Nigama, Devi says (I.16-24) -- "I, though in the form of Prakriti, rest in consciousness-bliss' (Aham prakritirupa cet cidanandaparayana).Raghava Bhatta in his commentary on the Sharada Tilaka (Ch.I) says, "She who is eternal existed in a subtle (that is unmanifested) state, as consciousness, during the final dissolution" (Ya anadirupa caitanyadhyasena mahapralaye sukshma sthita).It would be simpler to say that She is then what She is (Svarupa) namely Consciousness, but in creation that consciousness veils itself.These terms "formless," "subtle," "dark,""empty," all denote the same unmanifested state in which Shakti is in undistinguishable union with Shiva, the formless consciousness.The Pañcaratra (Ahirbudhnya Samhita, Ch.IV), in manner similar to that of the other Agamas, describes the supreme state of Shakti in the dissolution of the Universe as one in which manifested Shakti "returns to the condition of Brahman" (Brahmabhavam brajate)."Owing to complete intensity of embrace" (Atisankleshat) the two all-pervading ones, Narayana and His Shakti, become as it were a single principle (Ekam tattvam iva).This return to the Brahman condition is said to take place in the same way as a conflagration, when there is no more combustible matter, returns to the latent condition of fire (Vahni-bhava).There is the same fire in both cases but in one case there is the activity of combustion and in the other there is not.It follows from this that the Supreme Brahman is not a mere knowing with out trace of objectivity.In It the Aham is the Self as Cit and the Idam is provided by Cidrupini-shakti.There is Atmarama or play of the Self with the Self in which the Self knows and enjoys the Self, not in the form of external objects, but as that aspect of consciousness whose projection http://www.sacred-texts.com/tantra/sas/sas14.htm (12 of 18)07/03/2005 16:03:06Chapter Fourteen: Cit-Shakti (The Consciousness Aspect of the Universe) all objects are.Shakti is always the object of the Self and one with it.For the object is always the Self, since there is nothing but the Self.But in the supreme experience the object is one in nature with Shiva being Caitanya-rupa; in the universe the object seems to the Jiva, the creation of and subject to Maya, to be different from the Self as mind and matter.The next point is the nature of creation or rather emanation (Abhasa) for the former term is associated with dualistic notions of an extra-Cosmic God, who produces a world which is as separate from Himself as is the pot from the potter.According to this doctrine there is an Evolution of Consciousness or Cit-Shakti (associated with Maya-Shakti) into certain forms.This is not to say that the Brahman is wholly transformed into its emanations, that is exhausted by them.The Brahman is infinite and can never, therefore, be wholly held in this sense in any form, or in the universe as a whole.It always transcends the universe.Therefore when Consciousness evolves, it nevertheless does not cease to be what it was, is, and will be.The Supreme Cit becomes as Shakti the universe but still remains supreme Cit.In the same way every stage of the emanation-process prior to the real evolution (Parinama of Prakriti) remains what it is, whilst giving birth to a new Evolution.In Parinama or Evolution as known to us on this plane, when one thing is evolved into another, it ceases to be what it was.Thus when milk is changed into curd, it ceases to be milk.The Evolution from Shiva-Shakti of the Pure Tattvas is not of this kind.It is an Abhasa or "shining forth," adopting the simile of the sun which shines without (it was supposed) change in, or diminution of, its light.This unaffectedness in spite of its being the material cause is called in the Pañcaratra by the term Virya, a condition which, the Vaishnava Lakshmi Tantra says, is not found in the world "where milk quickly loses its nature when curds appear." It is a process in which one flame springs from another flame.Hence it is called "Flame to Flame".There is a second Flame but the first from which it comes is unexhausted and still there.The cause remains what it was and yet appears differently in the effect.God is never "emptied" as it is said wholly into the world.Brahman is ever changeless in one aspect; in another It changes, such change being as it were a mere point of stress in the infinite Ether of Cit
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]