{"collection":"tantra","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/tantra/htg/htg03.htm","path":"tantra/htg/htg03.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/tantra/htg/htg03.htm","text":"Hymns to the Goddess, by John Woodroffe (Arthur Avalon), [1913]\nSAN\u0100TANA BRAHMAN is called sakala when with Prak\u1e5bti, as It is ni\u1e63kala when thought of as without Prak\u1e5bti (prak\u1e5bteranya), for kal\u0101 is Prak\u1e5bti. 1 To say, however, that \u015aakti exists in or with, the Brahman is an accommodation to human thought and speech, for the Brahman and \u015aakti are in fact one. \u015aakti is eternal (an\u0101dir\u016bp\u0101), and Brahmar\u016bp\u0101, and both nirgu\u1e47\u0101 and sagu\u1e47\u0101. 2 She, the Goddess (Dev\u012b), is the caitanyar\u016bpi\u1e47i dev\u012b who manifests all bh\u016bta; the \u0101nandar\u016bpi\u1e47i dev\u012b by whom the Brahman, who She is, manifests Itself, 3 and who, to use the words of the \u015a\u0101rad\u0101tilaka, pervades the universe as does oil the sesamum seed. \"Sa aik\u1e63ata,\" of which \u015aruti speaks, was itself a manifestation of \u015aakti, the param\u0101p\u016brvanirv\u0101\u1e47a\u015bakti, or Brahman, as \u015aakti.\nFrom the para\u015baktimaya issued n\u0101da, and from n\u0101da, bindu 4. The state of subtle body known as k\u0101makal\u0101 is the m\u016bla of mantra, and is meant when the Dev\u012b is spoken\nof as m\u016blamantr\u0101tmik\u0101. 1 The Parambindu is represented as a circle the centre of which is the Brahmapada, wherein are Prak\u1e5bti-puru\u1e63a; the circumference of which is encircling m\u0101y\u0101. It is in the crescent of nirv\u0101\u1e47akal\u0101 the seventeenth, which is again in that of am\u0101kal\u0101 the sixteenth, digit of the moon circle (candrama\u1e47\u1e0dala), situate above the sun-circle (s\u016bryama\u1e47dala), the Guru and the Hamsah in the pericarp of the 1,000 petalled lotus (sahasr\u0101rapadma). The bindu is symbolically described as being like a grain of gram (canaka), which under its encircling sheath contains a divided seed--Prak\u1e5bti-puru\u1e63a or \u015aakti-\u015aiva. 2\nIt is known as the \u015aabda Brahman. 3 A polarization then takes place in para\u015baktimaya. The Dev\u012b becomes unmukhi. Her face is turned to \u015aiva. There is an unfolding which bursts the encircling shell. 4 The devat\u0101para\u015baktimaya exists in the threefold aspect of bindu, b\u012bja, and n\u0101da, the last being in relation to the two former. An indistinct sound then arises 5 (avyakt\u0101tm\u0101ravobhavat). N\u0101da, as R\u0101ghava Bhatta 6 says, exists in three states, for in it are the three gu\u1e47as. The \u015aabda Brahman manifests Itself in the threefold energies, Jn\u0101na, Ichh\u0101, and Kriy\u0101 \u015aakti. 7 For, as the V\u0101make\u015bvara\n[paragraph continues] Tantra says, the Dev\u012b Tripur\u0101 is threefold, as Brahm\u0101, Vi\u1e63\u1e47u, and \u012a\u015ba. Para\u015biva exists as a septenary under the forms of \u015aambhu, \u015aad\u0101\u015biva, \u012a\u015b\u0101na, Rudra, Vi\u1e63\u1e47u, and Brahm\u0101. The last five are the Mah\u0101preta, four of whom form the support, and the fifth the seat, of the bed on which the Dev\u012b is united with Parama\u015biva in the room of cint\u0101ma\u1e47i stone on the jewelled island clad with clumps of kadamba, and heavenly trees set in the ocean of ambrosia. 1\n\u015aakti is both m\u0101y\u0101 and m\u016blaprak\u1e5bti, whose substance is the three gu\u1e47as, representing nature as the revelation of spirit (sattva); nature as the passage of descent from spirit to matter, or of ascent from matter to spirit (rajas), and nature as the dense veil of spirit (tamas). The Dev\u012b is thus the treasure-house of gu\u1e47as (gu\u1e47anidhih). 2 M\u016blaprak\u1e5bti is the womb into which the Brahman casts the seed from which all things are born. 3 The womb thrills to the movement of the essentially active rajogu\u1e47a, and the now unstable gu\u1e47as in varied combinations under the illumination of \u015aiva (cit) evolve the universe which is ruled by Mahe\u015bvara and Mahe\u015bvar\u012b. The dual principles of \u015aiva-\u015aakti, which are the product of the polarity manifested in Para\u015baktimaya, pervade the whole universe, and are present in man in the svayambhulinga of the m\u016bl\u0101dh\u0101ra and the Dev\u012b Ku\u1e47\u1e0dalin\u012b, who in serpent form encircles it. The \u015aabdabrahman assumes the form of the Dev\u012b Ku\u1e47\u1e0dalin\u012b, and as such is in the form of all breathing creatures (pr\u0101\u1e47i), and in the form of letters appears in prose and verse. She is the luminous vital energy (j\u012bva\u015bakti), which manifests as pr\u0101\u1e47a. Through the\nvarious prak\u1e5bta and vaik\u1e5bta creations, issued the Devas, men, animals, and the whole universe, which is the work and manifested form of the Dev\u012b. For, as the Kubjik\u0101 Tantra says, \"Not Brahm\u0101, Vi\u1e63\u1e47u, and Rudra create, maintain, and destroy, but Br\u0101hm\u012b, Vai\u1e63\u1e47av\u012b, Rudr\u0101\u1e47\u012b. Their husbands are but as dead bodies.\"\nThe Goddess (Dev\u012b) is the great \u015aakti. She is m\u0101y\u0101, for of Her the m\u0101y\u0101 which produces the sams\u0101ra is. As Lord of m\u0101y\u0101, She is Mah\u0101m\u0101y\u0101. 1 Dev\u012b is avidy\u0101 (nescience), because She binds; and vidy\u0101 (knowledge), because She liberates and destroys the sams\u0101ra. 2 She is Prak\u1e5bti, 3 and, as existing before creation, She is the \u0101dya (primordial) \u015bakti. She is the v\u0101caka-\u015bakti, the manifestation of cit in Prak\u1e5bti; and the v\u0101cya \u015bakti or cit itself. The \u0101tm\u0101 should be contemplated as Dev\u012b. 4\n\u015aakti or Dev\u012b is thus the Brahman revealed in its Mother aspect (sr\u012bm\u0101t\u0101) 5 as creatrix and nourisher of the worlds. K\u0101l\u012b says of Herself in Yogin\u012b Tantra: 6 \"Saccid\u0101nandarup\u0101ham Brahmaiv\u0101ham sphuratprabham.\" So the Dev\u012b is described with attributes both of the qualified 7 Brahman, and (since that Brahman is but the manifestation of the Absolute), She is also addressed\nwith epithets which denote the unconditioned Brahman. 1 She is the great Mother (ambik\u0101) sprung from the sacrificial hearth of the fire of the Grand Consciousness (cit) decked with the Sun and Moon; Lalit\u0101--\"She who plays\"--whose play is world-play; whose eyes, playing like fish in the beauteous waters of Her Divine face, open and shut with the appearance and disappearance of countless worlds, now illuminated by Her light, now wrapped in her terrible darkness. 2 For Dev\u012b, who issues from the great Abyss, is terrible also in Her K\u0101l\u012b, T\u0101r\u0101, Chinnamast\u0101, and other forms. \u015a\u0101ktas hold that a sweet and complete resignation of the self to such forms of the Divine Power denotes a higher stage of spiritual development. 3 Such dualistic worship also speedily bears the fruit of knowledge of the Universal Unity, the realization of which dispels all fear. For the Mother is only terrible to those who, living in the illusion of separateness (which is the cause of all fear), have not yet realized their unity with Her, and known that all Her forms are those of beauty.\nThe Dev\u012b as Parabrahman is beyond all form and gu\u1e47a. The forms of the Mother of the universe are threefold. There is first the Supreme (para) form, of\nwhich, as the Vi\u1e63\u1e47u Y\u0101mala 1 says, \"none know.\" There is next Her subtle (s\u016bk\u1e63ma) form, which consists of mantra. But, as the mind cannot easily settle itself upon that which is formless, 2 She appears as the subject of contemplation in Her third or gross (sth\u016bla) or physical form, with hands and feet and the like, as celebrated in the Dev\u012bstotra of the Pur\u0101\u1e47as and Tantras. Dev\u012b, who as Prak\u1e5bti is the source of Brahm\u0101, Vi\u1e63\u1e47u, and Mahe\u015bvara, 3 has both male and female forms. 4 But it is in Her female forms that she is chiefly contemplated. For, though existing in all things, in a peculiar sense female beings are parts of Her. 5 The Great Mother, who exists in the form of all Tantras and all Yantras, 6 is, as the Lalit\u0101 says, the \"unsullied treasure-house of beauty,\" the sapphire Dev\u012b 7 whose slender\nwaist, 1 bending beneath the burden of the ripe fruit of her breasts, 2 swells into jewelled hips heavy 3 with the promise of infinite maternities 4. Her litanies depict Her physical form from head to foot, celebrating Her hair adorned with flowers and crowned with gems; Her brow bright as the eighth-day moon; Her ruby cheeks and coral lips; teeth like to \"the buds of the sixteen-syllabled mantra,\" and eyebrows curved as are the arches at the gate of the palace of K\u0101mar\u0101ja; Her nose; Her teeth; Her chin; Her arms; and \"Her twin breasts offered in return for that priceless gem which is the love of K\u0101me\u015bvara\"; Her waist girdled with jewelled bells; Her smooth and faultless limbs rounded beneath the \"jewelled disc of the knee like the\nsapphire-studded quiver of the God of Love\" descending in lines of grace to Her bright louts feet, 1 which dispel the darkness of Her worshippers. 2 For moonlight is She, yet sunbeam, soothing all those who are burnt by the triple fires of misery (t\u0101patraya). Her face, Her body from throat to waist, and thence downwards, represent the v\u0101gbhava and other k\u016bta. The colour of the Dev\u012b varies according to the form under which She is contemplated. Thus, in conferring liberation, She is white; as controller of women, men, and kings, She is red; and as controller of wealth, saffron. As creatrix of enmity, She becomes tawny; and in the thrill of love, passion (\u015b\u1e5bng\u0101ra), She is of the colour of the rose. In the action of slaying She becomes black. Thus, Dev\u012b, the Supreme Light, is to be meditated upon as differently coloured according to Her different activities. 3\nAfter the description of the form of the Dev\u012b in brahm\u0101\u1e47\u1e0da follows that of Her subtle form, called Ku\u1e47\u1e0dalin\u012b in the body (pi\u1e47\u1e0d\u0101\u1e47\u1e0da). As the Mah\u0101dev\u012b 4 She exists in all forms as \u015aarasvat\u012b, Lak\u1e63m\u012b, G\u0101yatr\u012b,\n[paragraph continues] Durg\u0101, Tripurasundar\u012b, Annapur\u1e47\u0101, and all the Dev\u012b who are avat\u0101ra of the Brahman. 1\nDev\u012b, as Sat\u012b, Um\u0101, P\u0101rvat\u012b, and Gour\u012b, is spouse of \u015aiva. It was as Sat\u012b, prior to Dak\u1e63a's sacrifice (dak\u1e63ayajna) that the Dev\u012b manifested Herself to \u015aiva 2 in the ten celebrated forms known as the da\u015bamah\u0101vidy\u0101--K\u0101l\u012b, Bagala, Chinnamast\u0101, Bhuvaneshvar\u012b, M\u0101tangin\u012b, Shorosi, Dhum\u0101vati, Tripurasundar\u012b, T\u0101r\u0101, and Bhairav\u012b. When at the dak\u1e63ayajna She yielded up Her life in shame and sorrow at the treatment accorded by Her father to Her husband, \u015aiva took away the body, and, ever bearing it with him, remained wholly distraught and spent with grief. To save the world from the forces of evil which arose and grew with the withdrawal of His divine control, Vi\u1e63\u1e47u, with his discus (cakra), cut the dead body of Sat\u012b, which \u015aiva bore, into fifty-one fragments, which fell to earth at the places thereafter known as the fifty-one 3 mah\u0101p\u012bthasth\u0101nas, where Dev\u012b, with her Bhairava, is worshipped under various names.\nThus the right and left breasts fell at Jalandhara and Ramgiri, where the Dev\u012b is worshipped as Tripuram\u0101lin\u012b; the yoni at the celebrated shrine at Kamrup in Assam, where the Dev\u012b is worshipped as K\u0101m\u0101k\u1e63\u0101 or K\u0101m\u0101khy\u0101 (see ibid.); 4 the throat, shoulders, nose, hands,\narms, eyes, fingers, tongue, buttocks, lips, belly, chin, navel, cheeks, thighs, teeth, feet, ears, thumbs, heels, toes (some at K\u0101l\u012bghat), waist, hair, forehead, with skeleton (several of these parts being themselves divided), fell at other p\u012btha, at each of which the Dev\u012b is worshipped under different names in company with a Bhairava or \u015aiva, also variously named. Thus, the Dev\u012b at K\u0101l\u012bghat is K\u0101lik\u0101, and the \u015aiva Nakule\u015bvara, and the Dev\u012b at Kamrup is K\u0101m\u0101ksh\u0101, and Her Bhairava is Ram\u0101nanda.\nThese are but some only of Her endless forms. She is seen as one and as many: as it were, but one moon reflected in countless waters. 1 She exists, too, in all animals and inorganic things, since the universe, with all its beauties, is, as the Dev\u012b Pur\u0101\u1e47a says, but a part of Her. All this diversity of form is but the infinite manifestations of the flowering beauty of the one Supreme Life--a doctrine which is nowhere else taught with greater wealth of illustration than in the \u015a\u0101kta \u015a\u0101stras and Tantras. The great Bharga in the bright sun, and all Devat\u0101, and, indeed, all life and being are worshipful, and are worshipped, but only as Her manifestations. 2 And he who worships them otherwise is, in the words of the great Dev\u012bbh\u0101gavata, 3 \"like unto a man who, with the light of a clear lamp\nin his hands, yet falls into some waterless and terrible well.\" It is customary nowadays to decry external worship, but those who do so presume too much. The ladder of ascent can only be scaled by those who have trod all, including its lowest, rungs. The \u015aaktirahasya summarises the stages of progress in a short verse, thus: \"A mortal who worships by ceremonies, by images, by mind, by identification, by knowing the self, attains kaivalya.\" Before brahma-bh\u0101va can be attained the s\u0101dhaka must have passed from p\u016bj\u0101bh\u0101va through hymns and prayer to dhy\u0101na-bh\u0101va. The highest worship 1 for which the s\u0101dhaka is qualified (adhik\u0101ri) only after external worship, and that internal form known as s\u0101dh\u0101ra 2 is described as nir\u0101dh\u0101ra. Therein Pure Intelligence is the Supreme \u015aakti who is worshipped as the Very Self, the Witness freed of the glamour of the manifold universe. By one's own direct experience of Mahe\u015bvar\u012b as the Self, She is, with reverence, made the object of that worship which leads to liberation.\nJ\u1e88.\n1:1 \u015a\u0101rad\u0101 Tilakam (chap. i.). See Introduction to Tantra \u015a\u0101stra by Sir John Woodroffe--sub. voc. \"\u015aiva and \u015aakti,\" of which the above is in part (with added matter) an abbreviation.\n1:2 Pra\u1e47amya prak\u1e5btim nity\u0101m param\u0101tmasvar\u016bpin\u012bm (chap. i.). \u015a\u0101kt\u0101nandatarangin\u012b, both T\u0101ntrik works of high authority.\n1:3 Kubjik\u0101 Tantra (First Pa\u1e6dala).\n1:4 S\u0101rad\u0101 (loc. cit).\n2:1 See Bh\u0101skarar\u0101ya's Commentary on the Lalit\u0101 Sahasran\u0101ma (verse 36), and the P\u0101duk\u0101pancaka in The Serpent Power.\n2:2 See \u1e62atcakranir\u016bpa\u1e47a of Purn\u0101nanda Sv\u0101mi in The Serpent Power.\n2:3 \u015a\u0101rad\u0101 (loc. cit).\n2:4 Ibid.\n2:5 Ibid.\n2:6 See Commentary on verse 49 of the \u1e62atcakranir\u016bpa\u1e47a, and generally as to the subject-matter of this Introduction, my \"Introduction to Tantra \u015a\u0101stra.\"\n2:7 See Goraksha Samhit\u0101, Bhuta\u015buddhi Tantra, and Yogin\u012b Tantra, Part I, p. 10.\n3:1 See \u0100nandalahar\u012b of \u015aankar\u0101c\u0101rya, verse 8. The dhy\u0101na is well known to the T\u0101ntrik s\u0101dhaka.\n3:2 Lalit\u0101, verse 121.\n3:3 Bhagavadg\u012bt\u0101 (chap. xiv., verses 3,4).\n4:1 Mah\u0101m\u0101y\u0101 without m\u0101y\u0101 is nirgu\u1e47\u0101, and with m\u0101y\u0101, sagu\u1e47\u0101. \u015a\u0101kt\u0101nandatarangin\u012b (chap. i.).\n4:2 \u015a\u0101kt\u0101nandatarangin\u012b (chap. L).\n4:3 Brahmavaivarta Pur\u0101\u1e47a (chap. i.); Prak\u1e5btikhanda. Br. N\u0101radiya Pr.\n4:4 See chap. ii. of Dev\u012b Bh\u0101gavata.\n4:5 Dev\u012b is worshipped on account of her soft heart. \u015a\u0101kt\u0101nandatarangin\u012b (chap. iii.).\n4:6 Part I., Chapter X.\n4:7 Such as Mukunda, an aspect of Vi\u1e63\u1e47u. Lalit\u0101sahasran\u0101ma, verse 838.\n5:1 Ibid, verse 153, and Commentator's note to Chapter II., where Dev\u012b is addressed as Supreme Light (paramjyotih), Supreme Abode (paramdh\u0101ma), Supreme of Supreme (par\u0101tpar\u0101).\n5:2 See the Lalit\u0101.\n5:3 See the saying of R\u0101mapras\u0101da, the poet-devotee of K\u0101lim\u0101, quoted at p. 714 in Babu Dinesh Chunder Sen's \"History of Bengali Literature.\"\n\"Though the Mother beat him, the child cries 'Mother! O Mother!' and clings still tighter to her garment. True, I cannot see Thee, yet am I not a lost child. I still cry 'Mother!'\n6:1 M\u0101tastvatparamamr\u016bpam tanna j\u0101n\u0101ti kashchana (see chap. iii. of \u015a\u0101kt\u0101nandatarangin\u012b)\n6:2 Amurtauchitsthironasy\u0101t tatomurtim vichintayet (ibid., chap. i., as was also explained to Himavat by Dev\u012b in the Kurma Pur\u0101\u1e47a).\n6:3 Ibid., and as such is called Tripur\u0101 (see Bh\u0101skarar\u0101y\u0101's Commentary on Lalit\u0101, verse 125).\n6:4 Ibid., chap. iii., which also says that there is no eunuch form of God.\n6:5 So in Candi (M\u0101rka\u1e47\u1e0deya Pur\u0101\u1e47a) it is said:\nThe T\u0101ntrika, more than all men, recognizes the divinity of woman, as was observed centuries past by the author of the Dabistan. The Linga Pur\u0101\u1e47a also, after describing Arundhati, Anas\u016by\u0101 and Shachi to be each the manifestation of Dev\u012b, concludes: \"All things indicated by words in the feminine gender are manifestations of Dev\u012b.\" Similarly the Brahmavaivarta Pur\u0101\u1e47a.\n6:6 Sarvatantrar\u016bp\u0101 Sarvayantr\u0101tm\u012bk\u0101 (See Lalit\u0101, verse 53).\n6:7 Padma Pur\u0101\u1e47a says: \"Vi\u1e63\u1e47u ever worships the sapphire Dev\u012b.\"\n7:1 \u0100jnvarastanatatimtanuvrittamadhy\u0101m (Bhuvane\u015bvar\u012bstotra), tanumadhya (Lalit\u0101, verse 79). krishodari (\u0100dyak\u0101lisvar\u016bp\u0101stotra, Mah\u0101nirv\u0101\u1e47a Tantra, 7th Ull\u0101sa).\n7:2 Stotra and dhy\u0101na commonly represent Her as having large, full, and erect breasts--p\u012bnastan\u0101dye (in Karpur\u0101distotra), pinonnatapayodhar\u0101m) (in Durg\u0101-dhy\u0101na of Dev\u012b Pur\u0101\u1e47a), bakshojakumbh\u0101ntari (in Annapur\u1e47\u0101stava) \u0101pivarastanatatim (in Bhuvane\u015bvar\u012bstotra)--which weight her limbs--kuchabharanamit\u0101ng\u012bm (in Sarasvatidhy\u0101na), annaprad\u0101nanirat\u0101ngstanabh\u0101ranamr\u0101m (in Annap\u016br\u1e47astava). And the Lalit\u0101, verse 15, says: \"Her golden girdle supports Her waist, which bends under the burden of Her breasts, thrice folding the skin below Her bosom\" (trival\u012bvalayopet\u0101m).\n7:3 So it is said in the tenth \u015bloka of the Karp\u016br\u0101khyastava samant\u0101d\u0101p\u012bnastanajaghanadhrikyauvanavat\u012b. \u015aankar\u0101carya, in his Tripur\u0101sundar\u012bstotra, speaks of Her nitaniba (buttocks) \"as excelling the mountain in greatness\" (nitambajitabh\u016bdhar\u0101m). The Javanese also call Her Loro Jongram, \"The pure exalted virgin with beautiful hips.\"\n7:4 The physical characteristics of the Dev\u012b in Her swelling breasts and hips are emblematic of Her great Motherhood, for She is \u015arim\u0101t\u0101.\n8:1 See the Lalit\u0101sahasran\u0101ma, verse 4 et seq. \"Her brow (a\u1e63\u1e6dam\u012bcandravibhr\u0101jadalika sthala \u015bobhit\u0101), Her eyebrow (vadanasamara m\u0101ngalyagrihatoranacillika), Her twin breasts (k\u0101me\u015bvarapremaratnamani pratiphalastani), Her waist (ratnakinkinik\u0101rabhyarashan\u0101d\u0101ma bh\u016b\u1e63it\u0101), \"Her thighs, known only to Kame\u015ba\" (K\u0101me\u015bajn\u0101tasaubh\u0101gya mardavorudvay\u0101nvit\u0101), Her lower limbs (indragopa parik\u1e63ipta smaratun\u0101 bhajandhik\u0101); Her instep 'arched like the back of a tortoise,' the bright rays from her nails and the soles of Her feet in beauty shaming the lotus.\"\n8:2 From the beautiful litany to the Dev\u012b in the Lalit\u0101sahasran\u0101ma.\n8:3 Bh\u0101skarar\u0101ya's Commentary on Lalit\u0101, verse 170.\n8:4 She whose body is, as the Dev\u012b Pur\u0101\u1e47a says, immeasurable.\n9:1 \u015a\u0101kt\u0101nandatarangin\u012b (chap. iii.).\n9:2 In order to display Her power to Her husband who had not granted, at Her request, His permission that She might attend at Dak\u1e63a's sacrifice (see \"Principles of Tantra\" and for an account of the da\u015bamah\u0101vidy\u0101, their yantra and mantra, the Da\u015bamah\u0101vidy\u0101 up\u0101san\u0101rahasya of Prasanno Kumar Shastri).\n9:3 The number is variously given as 50, 51, and 52.\n9:4 Here at Her shrine the menstruation of the earth which, according to Hindu belief, takes place in the month of Assar, is p. 10 said to manifest itself. For three days during ambuv\u0101ch\u012b no cooked food is eaten by the women, nor does any cooking take place in the house.\n10:1 Brahmabindu Up, p. 12.\n10:2 See chap. iii. of the \u015a\u0101kt\u0101nandatarangin\u012b, where it is said: \"The Parabrahman, Dev\u012b, \u015aiva, and all other Deva and Dev\u012b are but one, and he who thinks them different from one another goes to Hell.\"\n10:3 Hymn to Jagadambik\u0101 in Chapter XIX.\n11:1 S\u016btasamhit\u0101, 1, 5, 3, which divides such worship into Vedic and T\u0101ntrik (see Bh\u0101skarar\u0101ya's Commentary on Lalit\u0101, verse 43).\n11:2 In which Dev\u012b is worshipped in the form of mantra according to the instructions of the Guru.","title":"Hymns to the Goddess: Introduction","type":"page"}