Devi Speaks - I

And the Devi said. My Shakti shall incarnate as the mountain’s daughter, and she shall be Siva’s wife. And they will have a son who will rid you of the Asura. And, I bless you Suras, you will always have bhakti in your hearts, and my grace be upon you and yours. Smiling now, she added, Not only your tapasya brings you this boon. Himalaya has also worshipped me, and I shall come as his daughter.

At which the Lord of mountains, the mighty spirit of the Himalaya stood embodied upon his loftiest peaks, a great white figure, and, tears flowing down his craggy face, said, Mother, no boon in all the worlds can be higher than this one you have blessed me with. I shall be renowned across the universe from now on, that the Creatrix of all things incaranated herself as Himavan’s daughter! Who can be as fortunate as he whose child is the One in whose belly all the millions of brahmandas exist? Ah, peerless fortune, my sires shall find the highest Swargas for themselves, after this fortune of fortunes. But I beg you, Mahadevi, Parameswari, enlighten me now, that vanity and darkness leave my heart and I become worthy of this boon of boons you have granted me! said the august Lord of mountains.

The Devi said to the Devas and the Mountain, “Before creation, only I existed. That Form of mine, that formlessness, is called Chit, Sambit, Parabrahmam, and by other names too. But that Self of mine is beyond the mind’s comprehension, it is past even the Gods thought. It transcends all its names and symbols. It is One, unequalled, beyond birth, death and change, Un-born.

As heat arises from fire, as rays emanate from the sun, so, too, Maya does from the imperishable Atman. All these worlds and time are that Maya. Maya, also, has no beginning, but it surely ends with moksha. I, the pristine Soul, who am attributeless, Nirguna, become Saguna, diversely embodied when I am united with Maya. Then, I am Shakti, the cause of this and every world.

Maya is also twain: avidya maya, which binds in darkness and ignorance, and vidya maya that liberates. This Maya too is known by many names: Pradhanaa, Shakti, Prakriti and Ajaa. She is known as Avidya, Samsara, Vimarsha and Jada.

In creation, Samsara, there are jives and there is Iswara. Both have three bodies and three names. When the jiva dwells in his causal body he is Prajna, in his subtle body he is Taijasa, and in his gross body he is Viswa. So too with Iswara. He is Isa in his causal body, Sutra in his subtle one, and Virata in his material form. It is Iswara who creates the universe, impelled by my Brahma Shakti. I am the Parabrahman, the cause of causes, and the Iswara is conceived in me as a serpent is imagined in a rope.

Many are the jivas, the mandalas and the Iswaras, as well. But I am one, the Parabrahman, the Adi Parashakti. The Brahman is the ground upon which all the worlds are created, the fabric from which time is woven. I enter the worlds as subtle breath and sustain them, and, when I leave, I destroy them, transmute them. And just as the rays of the sun are not defiled when they fall upon the gross earth, I am untainted by the worlds I enliven.

I am actless. The worlds and time flow from me, but not because I exert myself to create them. All the mandalas are based upon me, but not because I make any effort to sustain them. They are not real, as the Brahman is; they wither and die, they are made of illusions, of maya. Even the Iswaras are, finally, illusory; they are born, they live and die. Though the worlds and their creatures, their very Gods appear to be myriad, in truth, they are all founded in just One, and that One is all there ever was, is, and shall be. Only ignorance sees the many in the one. O Devas, O Himalaya, all creation is made of me; I am the Srutatman, Hiranyagarbha that dwells in every spirit.

I am Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara. I am the Brahmi, Vaishnavi and Raudri Shaktis. I am the Sun, I am the Moon and all the stars; I am birds, beasts, Chandalas and the thief, as well. I am the savage hunter; I am the virtuous Mahatma. I am all men, women and every eunuch too. Be sure that if you see anything at all, I dwell in it and that is why it exists. No more can anything on any world exist without me, than a son be born to a barren woman.

I am the ground upon which all being and time are founded, and all that are found in these, said the Devi.

Reproduced without permission from Devi: The Devi Bhagavatam Retold, by Ramesh Menon. Please drop me a line in case copyright regulations require this posting to be removed.