tman_and_moksa

SR No.: 020053
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: G N Joshi
Publisher: Gujarat University
Publication Year: 1965
Total Pages: 901
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 12 MB

Page 654

Acharya Shri Kailashsagarsuri Gyanmandir
622
Ātman and Moksa
of the world, is associated with S'akti. S'iva and S'akti are related as prakās'a and vimars'a. S'iva is prakās'a, pure consciousness, and S'akti is Vimars'a, the power latent in Prakās'a, and gives rise to the world of distinctions. If S'iva is consciousness (cit), S'akti is the formative energy of consciousness (Cidrūpini). Brahmā, Visņu and S'iva perform the functions of creation, preservation and destruction in obedience to Slakti. In the perfect experience of ānanda, S'iva and S'akti are indistinguishable. The two coalesce in one being.' S'iva acts like the indeterminate Brahman and is characterised as quiescent, while S'akti being determinate and dynamic is possessed of will (icchā-575T), knowledge (jñāna-T) and action (kriyā-1847), and thus, the whole word is projected by S'akti. The two are inseparably related since force is inherent in existence. The S'akti is addressed as Mother in the Mahākāli Sarhitā and the prayer runs as follows — “Thou art neither girl, nor maid, nor old. Indeed thou art neither female, nor male, nor neuter. Thou art inconceivable, immeasurable Power, the Being of all which exists, void of all duality, the Supreme Brahman, attainable in illumination alone"? Thus, S'akti is supposed to be not of feminine gender, or a female Reality. However Bhandarkar says“Though it admits a male element in the beginning, still it is thoroughly subdued by the female element which becomes predominant; and the highest deity is Tripurasundari (Fargeteet). The ambition of every pious follower of the system is to become identical
1 Radhakrishnan, S. : Indian Philosophy, Vol. II, p. 735. 2 Woodroffe Jobn : Shakti and Shakta, p. 26,
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