Jñānādhiṣṭhānaṁ
mātṛkā ज्ञानाधिष्ठानं मातृका (sūtra I.4)
Jñāna
here means the knowledge that has been discussed in sūtra I.2. There, jñāna referred to as the
limited knowledge or ajñāna (jñaana in sūtra I.2 is kiñcijjñaana or limited
knowledge, while ajñaana is completely absence of knowledge, this is the
difference, i.e. āṇavamala lets a little knowledge pass, viz. it
throttles but not stops the flow of knowledge). It is only the limited
knowledge that precludes the individual self to realize the Supreme Self, though
factually there is no difference between the Self and the self. Adhiṣṭhāna
means the seat or basis. Mātṛkā refers to the Divine Mother. It also means the Mother energy of phonemes,
Śakti. She is introduced here for the first time in this Scripture.
This sūtra says that Śakti,
in the form of uncomprehended Mother, also known as Śabda Brahman is the
cause for limited knowledge. The limited knowledge is caused by the three mala-s
that have been discussed in the previous sūtra. Mātṛkā also means the letters
of the Sanskrit alphabet beginning from a to kṣa (अ to क्ष). The
Divine Mother is subtle because She is in the form of unmanifested sound. She
limits the knowledge of Supreme by prefixing “I am”.
Let us take this through
an example. Suppose an aspirant is walking. When someone asks him, what he is
doing, he will answer ‘I am walking’. The usage “I” denotes his gross body and
not the Self within. This is called
bondage or attachment. An aspirant gets attached to his gross physical body
while carrying out his actions. Therefore, the infinite Śiva is apparently
bound by the limited body of the aspirant.
This is called ignorance or ajñāna. This ignorance happens
because of formation of various words that are capable to interpreting the
different states of the mind and in particular the opposites. For example,
happiness and sorrow, pressure and pain, love and hatred, comfort and
discomfort. The formation of words gives rise to such subtle states of mind, as
the mind is always subtle and work closely with the subtle body.
Knowledge is
of two types – superior and inferior. Śakti presides over both these
types of knowledge. Superior knowledge works internally with consciousness and
inferior knowledge works externally with shapes and forms. Further details have
been provided in sūtra I.2 under parā. There are three types of Śakti-s who work on
an aspirant. The first one is Ghorā, which makes an aspirant to become
attached to the materialistic world and thereby blocking his spiritual path by
constantly manifesting powers. The second one is Mahāghorā causing
delusion in the mind of the aspirant and makes him become attracted to
materialistic world. The third and the last one is Aghorā Devī also
known as Aghorī. They are essentially of nature of liberation and free
from duality and hence they are capable of making the aspirant to walk through
the path of spirituality to attain liberation. These three Śakti-s are
the seat of sense organs. Mātṛkā works in close association with
the other four Śakti-s
Ambā, Jyeṣṭhā, Raudrī and Vāmā discussed in the previous
aphorism. Mātṛkā is the power of Śiva.
Spanda
Kārikā (III.13) also conveys the same meaning. It says that the aspirant is
not able to realize the glory of Śiva, as he is deluded by innumerable words that create links
between him and the materialistic world. Hence this aspirant is known as paśu.
Paśu means the individual soul that continues to be deluded by the
effects of māyā. Spanda Kārikā (III.15) says that the
eight deities presiding over the alphabets hide the aspirant’s true nature by
making his associated with words. Without words thoughts cannot originate and
without thoughts association with matter, which causes attachment to worldly
existence is not possible.
{Further
reading on mātṛkā varṇa rūpinī (Lalitā Sahasranāma - nāma 577) from
Advaita point of view. Lalitā Sahasranāma is Advaita Scripture. She is in the form of
fifty one alphabets of Sanskrit called matṛkā. These fifty alphabets are
split into six groups and worshipped in the six cakra-s from mūlādhara
to ājñā. These alphabets have different colours and is said to be
closely related to cosmological studies. A comparative narration is drawn
between Śiva and Śakti and vowels and consonants. Vowels are
always active and dynamic in nature and therefore vowels are compared to Śakti;
consonants are compared to Śiva. Without Śiva-Śakti combine, the
universe cannot exist, as they are two different aspects of the Brahman. In the
same way, sound cannot exist without vowels-consonants combine. The sound
originates from Śabda Brahman whereas the universe originates from the
Brahman. She is the Śabda Brahman.
She wears a
garland made up of fifty one alphabets, which was discussed in nāma 489 akṣa-māladi-dharā.
Another interpretation says that She is the Mother (matṛkā) of all
letters (varṇa-rūpinī). This theory goes to prove that She is the
creator of all the alphabets. These alphabets are the foundation of Śrī
Cakra. Based upon the theory that Śrī Cakra is a human body, these
alphabets form the foundation of human existence. The difference between
animals and man is the decoding and understanding of sound, which becomes
possible because of Śabda Brahman. Meditating on matṛkā-s and Śrī
Cakra as one, is a way of worshipping Śrī Cakra. This is called Kailāsa
prastāra. There are two more prastāra-s. They are meru - prastāra
where tithi nitya devi-s and Śrī Cakra are meditated upon as one
and meditating Vāc devi-s (authors of this Sahasranāma) and Śrī
Cakra as one is called bhū- prastāra. Prastāra means
flight of steps.}
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