Chapter Nine
Nitya-dharma, Material Science & Civilization - Part Five
Digambara: What is this visnu-maya?
Advaita: In the Candi-mahatmya of the Markandeya Purana (81.40), visnu-maya is described,
mahamaya hareh saktir yaya sammohitam
"The potency of Bhagavan by which the entire world
is bewildered is known as mahamaya."
Digambara: Then who is the goddess I know as Mother Nistarini?
Advaita: She is Sri Hari's external potency known as visnu-maya. Digambara opened his book on tantra and said, "Look, it states in tantra-sastra that my divine mother is
consciousness personified. She
possesses full will and she is beyond the three qualities of material nature,
yet she is the support of those three qualities. Your visnu-maya is not free from the influence of the
modes of nature, so how can you equate your visnu-maya with my
mother? This type of fanaticism on the
part of the Vaisnavas really irritates me. You Vaisnavas have blind faith."
Advaita: My brother, Digambara, please don't be angry. You have
come to see me after such a long time, and I want to satisfy you. Is it a
slight to speak of visnu-maya? Bhagavan Visnu is the embodiment of supreme
consciousness, and He is the one supreme controller of all. Everything that
exists is His potency. Potency is not an independent object (vastu), but
rather the functional power inherent within an object (vastu-dharma). To
say that sakti (potency) is the root of everything is thoroughly opposed
to tattva, metaphysical truth. Sakti cannot exist independent of
the object from which it originates. We must first accept the existence of an object that possesses full spiritual consciousness,
otherwise accepting sakti by itself is like dreaming of a flower in the
sky.
The
commentary on Vedanta states, sakti-saktimator
abhedah:"There is no difference between the potency and the possessor of
potency." This means that sakti is not a separate object. The Supreme
Person who is the master of all potencies is the one truly abiding substance. Sakti
is the quality, or inherent function, that is subordinate to His will. You
have said that sakti is the embodiment of consciousness, that it
possesses will, and that it is beyond the influence of the three qualities of
material nature. This is correct, but only insofar as sakti operates
fully under the support of a pure conscious entity, and is thus considered
identical with that powerful entity. Desire and consciousness depend on the
Supreme Being. Desire cannot exist in sakti; rather, sakti acts
in accordance with the desire of the Supreme Being. You have the power to move,
and when you desire to move, that power will act. To say "the power is moving"
is merely a figure of speech; it actually means that the person who possesses
that power is moving.
Bhagavan
has only one sakti, which is manifest in different forms. When it functions in a spiritual capacity,
it is known as cit-sakti, and when it operates in a material capacity,
it is known as maya, or jada-sakti. It is stated in the Svetasvatara
Upanisad (6.8), parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate, "The Vedas say
that Bhagavan's divine sakti is full of variety."
The
sakti that supports the three modes of material nature –sattva, rajah,
and tamah – is known as jada-sakti, and its functions are to
create and destroy the universe. The Puranas and the Tantra refer
to it as visnu-maya, mahamaya, maya, and so on. There are
many allegorical descriptions of her activities. For example, it is said that
she is the mother of Brahma, Visnu, and Siva, and that she slew the demoniac
brothers Sumbha and Nisumbha. The living entity remains under the control of
this sakti as long as he is engrossed
in material enjoyment. When the jiva is endowed with pure knowledge, he
becomes aware of his own svarupa, and this awareness enables him to
transcend maya-sakti and attain the liberated status. He then comes
under the control of cit-sakti and obtains spiritual happiness.
Digambara: Are you not under the control of some power?
Advaita: Yes, we are jiva-sakti. We have abandoned maya-sakti
and come under the protection of cit-sakti.
Digambara: Then you are also a sakta.
Advaita: Yes, the Vaisnavas are true saktas. We are
under the control of Sri Radhika, who is the embodiment of cit-sakti. It
is only under Her shelter that we render service to Krsna, so who is more of a sakta
than the Vaisnavas? We do not see any difference between the Vaisnavas and
the real saktas. Those who are only attached to maya-sakti, without
taking shelter of cit-sakti, may be called saktas, but they are
not Vaisnavas; they are only materialists. In the Narada-pancaratra, Sri
Durga Devi explains:
tava vaksasi
radhaham rase vrndavane vane
In
the forest known as Vrndavana, I am Your internal sakti, Sri Radhika,
who adorns Your chest in the rasa dance.
From
this statement of Durga Devi, it is clear that there is only one sakti,
not two. That sakti is Radhika when She manifests as the internal
potency, and she is Durga when she is manifested as the external potency. In
the condition of freedom from contact with the material modes of nature, visnu-maya
is the cit-sakti. That same visnu-maya is the jada-sakti when
it is endowed with the modes of nature.
Digambara: You said that you are jiva-sakti. What is that?
Advaita: Bhagavan has said in the Bhagavad-gita (7.4-5):
bhumir apo ‘nalo vayuh kham mano buddhir eva ca
ahankara itiyam me bhinna prakrtir astadha
apareyam itas tv anyam prakrtim viddhi me param
jiva-bhutam maha-baho yayedam dharyate jagat
My
inferior, or material prakrti, is comprised of the eight components:
earth, water, fire, air, space, mind, intelligence, and ego. These eight
elements are under the control of jadamaya. There is however another prakrti which is superior to this
jada-prakrti and which consists of the jivas. By it this material
world is perceived or seen.
