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Saktism
The close doctrinal relationship between Saktism and Saivism is embodied in tantric
iconography by the ecstatic coupling of Sakti
and Siva. In both religious cults Siva is pure, indeterminate awareness (prakasa),
both impersonal and inactive, while Sakti as the mother of all manifestation is
the self-awareness of Siva, bearing the triple nature of knowledge (jnana), will
(iccha) and action (kriya).
The opening verse of the Saundaryalahiri (a devotional hymn attributed to Samkara)
expresses this relationship more concretely: 'Siva, when he is united with Sakti,
is able to create; otherwise he is unable even to stir.' As the consort of Siva,
the Great Mother Sakti personifies the dynamic and creative principle that gives
form to a potentiality that would otherwise remain latent and unexpressed. Ultimately
Siva and Sakti are inseparable, but from the perspective of the phenomenal universe
Siva (from the verb root si = 'to lie') is transcendent and quiescent, while Sakti
(from the verb root sak = 'to be able') is immanent and responsible for all creation
and dissolution.
The Mahanirvana Tantra describes Siva as both the Lord of the Universe and its very
Self:
He is One. He ever is. He is the truth. He is supreme unity without a second. He
is ever-full and self-manifest. He is eternal consciousness and bliss (1:33.3-4);
while Sakti is portrayed as,
the very Para Prakrti (supreme matter) . and from thee has sprung the whole universe
.. whatever is in this world, of things that have and are without motion, from Mahat
(the Great) to an atom, owes its origin to and is dependent on thee.. Thou art both
subtle and gross, manifested and veiled, though in Thyself formless, yet thou hast
form. (4:10-11, 15)
As the mother of creation or prakrti (from the verb root kr = 'to make, to do' +
pra = 'forth'), Sakti is responsible for the cycle of birth, death and rebirth to
which all individuals or jivas (from the verb root jiv = 'to live' or 'to continue
breathing') are bound, as well as being the means of gaining liberation from this
cycle.
As essentially inseparable from Siva, Sakti, and by implication the realm of empirical
existence or samsara (from the verb root sr = 'to flow' and sam = 'together'), receives
a status commensurate with the transcendent that is unique in the Hindu tradition.
This is reflected in Tantra's affirmation rather than renunciation of sense experience,
the body and indeed empirical existence in general. It is also reflected in the
goal of Tantric sadhana, which is to dissolve the distinction between the transcendent
and the jiva that keeps the latter bound to the wheel of birth, death and rebirth.
In representing the primordial unity of the totality of experience, the divine embrace
of Siva and Sakti also conveys Tantra's recognition of the value of both masculine
and feminine aspects of experience. Tantra's valuing of the feminine coincides with
its affirmation of sense experience, and both are personified in Sakti as the active
spouse of the masculine Siva.
Even though all Tantric cults characteristically acknowledge the value the feminine,
Saktism places the worship of the Divine in the feminine form at the forefront of
its religious practices. There is some evidence that Goddess worship may have pre-dated
the Vedas, or at least co-existed alongside Vedic orthodoxy among the lower classes
of Indian society. Within the orthodox tradition Sakti is portrayed in one of the
hymns of the Rg Veda as the embodiment of power, 'the supporter of the earth living
in heaven' (i.136.3), as the supreme power by 'which the universe is upheld' in
the Chandogya Upanisad (iii. 12), and as 'the great mother of the devotees' in the
Brihadaranyaka Upanisad (v. 14). She is the consort of Siva for Saivas, Vaisnavas
know her as the sister of Krsna in the Mahabharata, she is known as Candi in the
Puranas, and is also referred to as Kali, Uma, Durga, Parvati, Mahamaya, among others,
or is simply known as Devi, 'the shining one' who is at one with Brahman or the
Absolute.
Worship of the various goddesses of the Hindu pantheon remained marginal until the
emergence of a recognisable Tantric movement from around the middle of the first
millennium CE. From around this time devotional cults gradually displaced Vedic
ritualism, with the Great Mother Sakti becoming increasingly central to Hindu religious
life. This was reflected in the appearance of a new sacred literature called the
Tantras, which are usually in the form of dialogue between Siva and Sakti, and are
considered by adherents to be a divinely revealed literature equal in status to
the Vedas. The most widely recognised of these are the Mahanirvana Tantra and the
Kularnava Tantra.
The Hindu Tantras are practical treatises that deal with a wide range of subjects
which characteristically include instructions for spiritual disciplines that presuppose
esoteric correspondences between the individual and the cosmos. These correspondences
are underpinned by the creative power of Sakti which manifests not only as the cosmos
but also in a latent, individualised form known as kundalini (from the verb root
kund = 'to burn'). When the latent kundalini is awakened the correspondences between
the individual and the cosmos are fully realised as both forms of sakti coalesce
in a living unity with the Divine.
Even though Saktism is one of several strands of Hindu Tantra, the unique contribution
that Tantra has made to Indian spirituality generally is embodied in its conception
of the goddess Sakti. The inseparability of Sakti and Siva dissolves traditional
distinctions in orthodox Hinduism between the Divine and worldly experience, spiritual
liberation (mukti) and worldly enjoyment (bhukti), which have led to a strong association
between spiritual aspiration and worldly renunciation. For example in the Samkhya
and Yoga darsanas (philosophical schools) the two basic principles: purusa and prakrti,
are equally real but ultimately distinct. This means that liberation (kaivalya or
'aloneness' in these schools) requires the individual soul or purusa as pure awareness
to realise its complete separation from the manifest forms it falsely believes it
is associated with. In the non-dualist Advaita Vedanta school the Absolute or Brahman
is the only Real, with maya or the principle that gives rise to the phenomenal world
being a mere projection that conceals the ultimate Reality of Brahman. Here bondage
is understood as the false identification with the determinations of a world that
is only apparent. Liberation or moksa arises when this false indentification or
avidya (from the verb root vid = 'to know' + a = 'not') is dissolved by the knowledge
that Brahman is all there is.
In Samkhya, Yoga, Advaita Vedanta and other orthodox Hindu darsanas, then, the distinction
between the Divine and worldly experience coincides with forms of spiritual discipline
that seek liberation by detaching from the world we experience through the senses.
Tantric schools attempt to transcend this distinction by making Siva and Sakti equally
real and ultimately inseparable, and this translates into an understanding of liberation
as the realisation of the fundamental unity that underlies all experience. Just
as Sakti is responsible for manifesting the latent potentiality of Siva in the form
of the cosmos, she is also the means by which the jiva or individual seeks to awaken
an innate potential to realise this unity. The awakening of kundalini-sakti is therefore
not achieved by detaching from worldly experience, but by realising its true essence
in dissolving the distinction between the individual and the Divine that keeps the
jiva bound to the cylcle of birth, death and rebirth. In this sense the jivanmukta
(one who is liberated while still living) is the living embodiment of the unity
of Siva and Sakti.
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