Yonivargaḥ
kalāśarīram योनिवर्गः कलाशरीरम् (sūtra I.3)
Yoni here means Māyā. Manifestation of the universe is due to the
effects of māyā. Varga means multitude of similar things
and in this context it means the progeny of Māyā. Therefore, yonivarga refers to māyīamala, the impurity causing
duality. It is the impurity generating differences causing duality. Thus the first part of this sūtra, yonivargaḥ
refers to the process of creation of the universe. Kalā means actions
and śarīram means body. Therefore, the second part of this sūtra kalāśarīram refers to the actions
that form the part of materialistic life. Kalāśarīra is kārmamala,
the impurity generating feeling of doership.
The cause of bandha
or bondage used in the previous sūtra is explained here. It has already been
discussed that mala or innate impurity is the cause for bondage. The
previous sūtra said that āṇavamala is
the original cause for bondage. This sūtra,
further adds two more mala-s - māyīya mala and kārma mala
and all three mala-s cause bondage.
The bondage is caused by afflicting the consciousness of the
aspirant. As a result of the afflicted
consciousness, the distance between the aspirant and Śiva is widened.
That is why, the previous aphorism said that limited knowledge is bondage (jñānaṁ
bandhaḥ).
In this sūtra, māyā is said to
be cause of this materialistic universe, because Māyā is the root-cause for Prakṛti. However, the
original cause for the universe as a whole is Śakti. As a result of the appearance of body, one
gets attracted towards it forgetting the Self within. In other words, the Self
is completely hidden, again due to His own power known as māyā-śakti. Māyā-śakti is not māyā-tattva, because
the former is His Power to produce duality, and the latter is a mere veil produced
by āaṇavamala.
Now it is to be seen how māyīya-mala
and kārma-mala cause bondage. Māyīya mala is the impurity arising
out of māyā. Kārma-mala is the cause for one’s karmic
impressions, known as vāsanā.
Karmic account is embedded as impressions in subconscious mind that is
attached to the causal body. These three
mala-s can be summarised as follows: āṇavamala is the impurity also
known as innate ignorance. Āṇavamala is the cause of kārma-mala,
the impurity that is at the root of one’s karma. Māyīya-mala is the mala
that is responsible for transmigratory existence arising of out of māyā.
This sūtra is
interpreted differently by Bhāskara. He says that yoni represents the
four powers viz. Ambā, Jyeṣṭhā, Raudrī and Vāmā*. They are nothing but forms of Absolute or anuttara
(Parama Śiva, beyond whom, there exists nothing) only. All these four
powers together constitute the physical body. According to him, kalāśarīra
means the fifty letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, from a to kṣa (अ to क्ष). The alphabet originates from the four powers known as
yonivarga. To summarise Bhāskara’s commentary, yonivarga (the
four powers of anuttara) is the cause for the Sanskrit
alphabet. Alphabet form words and the words bring forth the world.
*Yoginīhṛdaya discusses about these
four goddesses. Ambā, the Mother rules over the rest three. Yoginīhṛdaya correlates these four
goddesses with the four levels of speech. Ambā is parāvāc. When
she is moved to bring forth the universe, held within herself in seed form, she
brings forth Vāmā, who vomits (vāma means vomiting) the universe,
who is the power of will known as icchāśakti and abides in paśyanti.
The power of knowledge, also known as jñānaśakti is in madhyamā
and is known as Jyeṣṭhā. Raudrī, the power of action or kriyāśakti
is in vaikharī.
Kalā
is one of the five kañcuka-s (कञ्चुक)
or coverings of māyā and they are kāla, vidyā, rāga, niyati,
and kalā. Kāla is also known as notion of time, that measures the past,
gives enjoyment in the present and contains unknown future. Vidyā introduces
intelligence. Rāga induces desires for objects. Niyati fixes the
order and sequence of karma. Kalā is the one that is being discussed in this sūtra.
They together form a covering around māyā. The omnipotence of the
Supreme is made to appear as limited because of kalā. This is the reason for
specifically choosing only kalā out of the five kañcuka-s
of māyā.
Spanda Kārikā also explains this in
I.9. When the individual self is afflicted by his own impurities, gets attached
to his worldly existence. This state of the self is impure in nature. When the
highest state appears, his limited existence wanes away, leading to
realisation. Impurities are of three kinds. The first one is āṇava mala,
which occurs, when the Will of Śiva, known as icchāśakti contracts
itself. Jñānaśakti or the power of knowledge is obscured by āṇavamala
and as a result of which infinite knowledge becomes limited in the
aspirant. When the knowledge becomes completed limited, antaḥkaraṇa also
known as inner psychic apparatus is formed. Since the limitation spreading
duality is caused by māyā, this is known as māyīya-mala. The
last one is kriyāśakti, the power of action. This reduces the
omnipotence to limited organs of action, making the aspirant to accrue karmas,
both good and bad. This is kārma-mala. Thus the interconnection between icchāśakti,
jñānaśakti and kriyāśakt and āṇavamala, māyīya mala and kārma
mala is established.
{Further reading on māyā
from Advaita point of view: Brahman,
also known as God is full of inexplicable and inexhaustible energy.
Inexplicable because, Brahman just cannot be explained, as He is a way beyond
normal human consciousness. He is inexhaustible because irrespective of drawing
His energy for creation, sustenance and dissolution of the universe, potency of
His energy always remains the same. The significant part of his energy is known
as His illusionary aspect, which is often referred as māyā. Through this illusionary power, he throws a
veil around Him, so that, His true nature is not seen. What is not seen is His Reality and what is
seen through His illusionary aspect is the worldly existence. His power of māyā
is His very own undifferentiated power. The nature or prakṛti has two
types of powers. One is undifferentiated
and the other differentiated and the former leads to the latter. The three guṇa-s or attributes lie in
equal proportion in undifferentiated nature. This is the state of prakṛti
just before creation begins. When the
equilibrium of guṇa-s is disturbed, the creation begins to happen,
leading to different creatures, where one of these guṇa-s predominate.
God is also known as Brahman, the highest Reality of the universe, beyond
which nothing exists. The Brahman in unconditioned state is known as
Para-Brahman or the Supreme Spirit. This
Supreme Sprit is beyond normal human consciousness. He is called unconditioned
because, He has not manifested yet. The Brahman has two aspects - kāraṇa
(cause) or nirguṇa (devoid of attributes) and kārya (effect) or saguṇa
(with attributes). Nirguṇa
Brahman is devoid of any attributes and is the purest form of
Consciousness. He is the cause or source
of creation. He is the One, who is beyond normal human comprehension. He is devoid of shapes and forms. He is also changeless and infinite. He is
beyond time and space. He is the passive energy and is Self illuminating. The other aspect of the Brahman is saguṇa
Brahman who is full of attributes and qualities. He is the effect of nirguṇa
Brahman. Without nirguṇa Brahman,
saguṇa Brahman cannot exist. Saguṇa Brahman is the active part of
Pure Brahman. Māyā is the
mysterious power of saguṇa Brahman that makes it possible for the
universe to appear. Universe is nothing
but reflective image of the Brahman also known as His power of projection,
which is known as māyā.
Māyā is ignorance. For easy understanding, a rope is normally
cited. You see a piece of rope in
darkness and mistake it for a snake. Though
it is only a rope, it gives you a deceptive look as a snake. When you put on
the light, you find it is only a rope and not a snake. What is the state of your mind when you look
at the rope as a snake? Fear engulfs
you. When you find that it is not a
snake and only a rope, your mental condition suddenly changes from fear to
happiness. This happiness is the bliss,
when you truly realise the Brahman. The deceptive look of the rope as snake is māyā.
Therefore māyā is a factor that causes ignorance in you and makes you to
believe the real as unreal. Let us take
another example of a film. In a movie
there are actors. These actors are known
in the movie by different names and qualities.
The inherent quality of a person who acts will not be the same as that
of the character he plays, as he merely projects the character of a hero or a
villain. When you see the person on the
screen you mistake him for the role he assumed on the screen forgetting his
true nature. Identifying the actor with
the role he assumed for the movie is māyā . When the movie is over, what
you see is only the white screen. The
white screen does not change and it remains the same always, even when a movie
is being projected. What you see on the screen is only the movie and not the
white screen behind the pictures. The
white screen is the Brahman. White screen always remains the same, without
modifications. Though māyā and ignorance are identified as the same, in
reality they are not. Ignorance is the
quality of an individual. You can’t call
the world as ignorant, whereas you can call a person as ignorant.
We often talk about projecting power of the Brahman. Let us understand
this with an example. The potential form
of a huge tree remains in its tiny seed. This potential state of the tree is
the casual state. When the seed begins
to sprout, the casual state of the tree undergoes change to become the effect. Cause is the seed and the effect is the tree
and this is called projection. This
transition between cause and effect is called projection. Knowledge of understanding the potential
state of the tree is intellect. This is
called transcending māyā. Understanding the tiny seed behind the huge
tree is intellect. The universe appears
gross in nature. To understand the
potential state of the gross form of the universe is Realisation.
The gross form of the universe that you see is not real! What you see is a contracted Reality. Brahman, as you know is omnipresent and He
alone is omnipresent. When He is
omnipresent, what you see should be only the Brahman and nothing else. Then why do we call people by names and
forms? This is the power of māyā. It deceives you; it conceals the Reality from
you. It reveals only the projection and
not the source. By trusting your sensory
organs you believe in what you see. You know people only by their names and
forms. You trust your senses and you do
not want to go past the senses. You
continue to stay with the senses as you do not want to use your intellect. Intellect has the capacity to
discriminate. It can tell you what is
real and what is not. You are not making
attempts to understand the reality.
Hence, you continue to remain confused and perplexed. You are only using
your influenced mind. Your mind is
influenced by your sensory organs, and in this case your eyes influence your
mind by identifying a person known to you by his name. You do not want to put
into use your intellect. Intellect alone
has the capacity to discriminate and realise the One, who is the cause for the
entire creation. Intellect would have told you that He is a soul like you. It would have used its discriminatory
abilities.
Brahman also called the Supreme Sprit or the Self is hidden in all the
beings. Without the presence of that
Supreme Spirit, existence is not possible.
It is the force behind all our activities. This Supreme Spirit can be
realized only through the process of looking within with absolute confidence
that He can be found. What you are
seeing with your biological eyes is nothing but the illusionary aspect of māyā. You can be pardoned for mistaking a rope for
a snake for the first time, second time or even the third time. If you still insist that it is only a snake
and not a rope, then the problem is with your mind. Someone could even call you as a person
afflicted with schizophrenia. To understand that it is not a snake and it is
only a rope needs intellect. Intellect
alone has the capacity to discriminate between real and unreal. You cannot continue to remain in the grip of
spiritual ignorance. The human life is
the precious gift of God and no time should be wasted in knowing our
Creator. When we realize Him, we will be
relieved from the pains of transmigrations. Life is always a misery, whether
rich or poor. The intensity of the
misery alone differs.
Māyā has two types of powers. One is the concealing power and another is
the projecting power. Let us take the example of rope. The real nature of the rope is concealed and
projected as snake. The Brahman is concealed by māyā and projected as
objective world. To realise the reality,
one has to overcome both the concealing and projecting powers of māyā
successively. The concealing power is
more dangerous than the projecting power, because it always makes you to
misidentify an object, leaving aside its originality
Māyā is not something that is considered
as evil. Māyā is inherent in creation.
It is also Brahman’s own power. Māyā can be removed only by
spiritual knowledge and repeated affirmations. You have to negate māyā
and only your own intellect can do that. Intellect is not your birth
right. Intellect is to be acquired. You
have to learn to negate the illusionary aspect of the Brahman in the form of māyā
and go past it to realize Him. There is
no other way the Brahman can be realized except by transcending His own
projecting power of māyā. When
you want to go past māyā, the first thing that you should do is to get
rid of attachments and bondage. These two make you to get engrossed in gross
forms. When you are so attached to the
gross forms, you are deluded by the gross forms. You call them as your father, mother, wife,
daughter, son, friend, foe, etc. They
are the results of the projecting power of māyā. Their real form, the Self is concealed from
you. If you choose to ignore the gross
shapes and forms and look for the inner Self, you are bound to transcend māyā
and at this stage, you have crossed the greatest hurdle in your spiritual
path. The final liberation for you is
not far away from this point.}
{Further reading Icchāśakti-jñānaśakti-kriyāśakti as provided in my book Lalitā
Sahasranāma (nāma 658): She is in the form of three energies
– the energy of will, the energy of wisdom and the energy of action. These energies form a part of trīśikā. Trīśikā (tri + iśikā)
means analysis of three. Tri
means three and iśikā means Īśvarī, the power, abiding in divine
consciousness. She is the controller of
all triads in the process of creation.
For example, the three acts of the Brahman, creation, sustenance and
dissolution. Though She is said to be Īśvarī
of creation, etc, She is not different from Śiva. The supreme divine consciousness on the point
of expansion according to Her inherent nature is Icchā śakthi. The actual process of expansion is jñāna
śakti and the process of diversity leading to creation of the universe is kriyā
śakti. The One who is the possessor
of all three śakti-s or energies is known as parā-śakti or
the Supreme energy.}
0 comments:
Post a Comment