Devi Speaks - III

In isolation, Siva and Parvati let loose their full potential. Siva stood on the right as the fiery pingala, Parvati lay on the left as the frigid ida. By various physical postures, asanas, mental exercises, dhyana, and breath control, pranayama, they balanced each other’s energy, until they were both in perfect harmony, in a state of sushumna.

Parvati was like a coiled serpent, kundalini, forming the base of the sushumnapassage, seeking union with Siva. To that end, she began arousing herself with the five makara tools: bold diagrams, mandalas, began appearing before her eyes. The sound of chants, mantras, filled her ears. On her tongue was the rich taste of spiced meats, mamsa. her nose was filled with the overwhelming smell of perfumes and alcohol, madya. Her skin was stretched and awakened by many positions, mudra. She was soon ready to rise.

Siva waited for her at the other end of the cosmos, at the complementary pole of existence. While her senses were being excited, he stood beyond sensual stimulations.

They were two extremes of the cosmos - she was water, he was fire; she was matter, he was the spirit; she was the flesh, he was the soul; she was the senses, he was the consciousness. She was in a state of agitation, he was calm; she was Shakti, all the manifestations of energy, he was Siva, pure, unadulterated by any form or shape.

He was Bhava, the eternal being; she was Bhavani, the eternal transformation. They were ready to become one.

Parvati uncoiled herself and rose through the sushumna, the very axis of existence. She was like a dart, let lose by a strong bow. Her rise was spectacular: she pierced six great cosmic nodes to reach her lord, it was the great shat-chakra-bheda. She pierced the centers of fear, desire, hunger, emotion, communication and introspection located in the body. These were the six chakras which govern life: Muladhara, Svadhishtana, Manipura, Anahata, Vishuddhi and Ajna.

As she pierced them, they blossomed like flowers, reaching their full potential. She rose beyond the needs and demands of her physical existence. She crossed every level of being and then joined her lord, the pure cosmic consciousness, in the form of the thousand petaled lotus, the Sahasrapadma. He was the seed, the jewel, mani, that she enclosed within her petals, padma.

Together they returned to the time between creation, Om, and destruction, Hum. In that state of dissolution, laya, beyond all opposites, there was only perfect bliss. Man and woman became one, Ardhanaranari, as the lotus of matter enclosed the seed of the spirit.

Om Mani Padmane Hum

[Reproduced without permission from Shiva: An Introduction, by Devdutt Pattanaik]