________________
36
The Pañcarātra
[CH. cause it does not depend on anything (nirapeksatayānanda); it is eternal (nitya), because it is not limited in time; it is complete (pārņa), because it is not limited by any form; it manifests itself as the world and is therefore called Laksmīl. It contracts itself into the form of the world and is therefore called Kundalini; and it is called Vişnu-sakti because it is the supreme power of God. The power is in reality different from Brahman; but yet it appears as one therewith. With this power He is always engaged in an eternal act of creation, untired, unfatigued, and unaided by any other agent (satatam kurvato jagat)2. The power of God manifests itself in two ways, as static entities such as avyakta, kāla and purusa and as activity. Sakti, or power of God as activity (kriyā), is spontaneous and of the nature of will and thought resulting in action. This is also called samkalpa, or the Idea, which is irresistible in its movement whereby it produces all material objects and spiritual entities, such as aryakta, kāla and puruṣa“. It is this power, which is otherwise designated as lakṣmi or vişnu-sakti, that impels the aryakta into the course of evolution, and the puruşa to confront the products of prakrti and run through the experiences. When it withdraws these functions from these entities, there is pralaya or dissolution. It is by the force of this power that at the time of creation the prakrti as the composite of the three gunas is urged into creative evolution. The association of the purusa with the praksti also is brought about by the same power. This Idea is vibratory by nature and assumes diverse forms, and thus by its various transformations produces various categories.
In the original state all the manifold world of creation was asleep, as it were, in an equilibrium in which all the qualities of God were completely suspended, like the sea when there are no waves ruffling its breast. This power, which exists in an absolutely static or suspended state, is pure vacuity or nothingness (šūnyattarūpiņi); for it has no manifestation of any kind. It is self-dependent
jagattaya lakṣyamāṇā sā lakṣmir iti gîyate. Ahirbudhnya-samhitā, 11. 9. 2 Ibid. il. 59. svātantry'a-müla icchā-tmā prekşā-rüpah kriya-phalah.
Ibid. 111. 30. 4 unmeşo yaḥ susamkalpaḥ sarvatrāvyāhataḥ kytau
avyakta-kāla-pum-rūpām cetanācetanātmikām. Ibid. 111. 30, 31. 5 so'yam sudarsanam nāma samkalpaḥ spandanā-tmakah
vibhajya bahudhā rūpam bhāve bhāve'vatişthate. Ibid. 111. 39.
