Introduction to Tantra Sastra - Aghori

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