Introduction to Tantra Sastra - Aghori
Introduction to Tantra Sastra - Aghori
Introduction to Tantra Sastra - Aghori
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ŚIVA AND ŚAKTI 11<br />
Śiva is variously addressed in this work as Śambhu,<br />
Sadā-śiva, Śaṃkara, Maheśvara, etc., names which<br />
indicate particular states, qualities and manifestation of<br />
the One in its descent <strong>to</strong>wards the many; for there are<br />
many Rudras. Thus Sadā-śiva indicates the predominance<br />
of the sattva-guṇ a. His names are many, 1,008<br />
being given in the sixty-ninth chapter of the Śiva-Purāṇ<br />
a and in the seventeenth chapter of the Anuśāsana-<br />
Parvan of the Mahābharata. 1<br />
Śakti is both māyā, that by which the Brahman<br />
creating the universe is able <strong>to</strong> make Itself appear <strong>to</strong> be<br />
different from what It really is, 2 and mūla-prakṛ ti, or<br />
the unmanifested (avyakta) state of that which, when<br />
manifest, is the universe of name and form. It is the<br />
primary so-called “material cause,” consisting of the<br />
equipoise of the triad of guṇ a or “qualities” which are<br />
sattva (that which manifests), rajas (that which acts),<br />
tamas (that which veils and produces inertia). The<br />
three gunas represent Nature as the revelation of spirit,<br />
Nature as the passage of descent from spirit <strong>to</strong> matter,<br />
or of ascent from matter <strong>to</strong> spirit and nature as the<br />
dense veil of spirit. 3 The Devī is thus guṇ a-nidhi 4 (treasure-house<br />
of guṇ a). Mūla-prakṛ ti is the womb in<strong>to</strong><br />
1 See also the Agni, Padma, Bhaviṣyottara, Varaha, Kūrma, Vāmana<br />
Purāṇas, and in particular, the Linga and the Kāsikhānda of the Skanda<br />
Purāṇa.<br />
2 The Devī Purāna (chap. xiv), speaking of this power of the Supreme,<br />
says: “That which is of various cause and effect; the giver of unthought-of<br />
fruit which in this world seems like magic or a dream; that is called māyā”;<br />
Vicitra-kāryakāraṇācintitāphalapradā<br />
Svapnedrajālavalloke māyā tena prakirtita.<br />
3 See post, sub voce “Guṇa.”<br />
4 Lalitā-sahasra-nāma, (verse 121). For though the Guṇas are specifically<br />
three they have endless modifications.