Shakti – The Power of the Goddess

When the world becomes difficult to bear, the Mother is where Vimalananda turns. He speaks of Her as someone who can appear in whatever relationship is needed. She may be experienced as Mother, wife or child, yet in every form She remains present.

Ma is the source of knowledge, but She is also connected with delusion and with the freedom from delusion. She is the foundation upon which this universe rests, as well as all universes that may exist. She is called Adya because She is first and eternal. There is no beginning from which She came and no end toward which She is moving.

The Mother can be understood as existing in two states. She may become manifest and take an active part in the appearance of the universe, or remain unmanifest and undivided. The difference lies in the condition of the energy, not in the disappearance of the energy itself.

The origin of Adya cannot be reached through ordinary knowledge. There is no point in trying to discover where the Universal Mother came from, because such knowledge is not available while there remains a distinction between the one who knows and that which is known. The distinction disappears only when the individual becomes Ma Herself.

Ma, Shakti and Maya are three ways of speaking about Her. Shakti is power, or energy. Maya is the aspect of that power through which delusion comes into being. Ma is the Mother.

Maya has a particular function. She draws beings into the world, keeps them involved in it and maintains the process through which individual existence continues. There is no personal hatred or jealousy behind this. Maya does not act against anyone out of hostility. She performs the work that belongs to Her.

Maya is also responsible for individualization. Within Her activity, separate egos arise. A person can become absorbed in the body and in everything surrounding it, identifying with this limited existence as though it were the whole of the self.

Her activity belongs to a world of distinction. Maya operates where there is duality, where one thing can be experienced as different from another. The universe contains pairs of opposites, and between consciousness and matter lies Maya.

Shakti, on the other hand, is dynamic. She is energy in movement. The distinction between Shakti and Maya is therefore not a distinction between two independent powers. They belong to the same reality, appearing in different ways.

Maya is the manifestation of the external universe, while Shakti is the power that moves and operates within manifestation. Their relationship is inseparable.

There is also no need to imagine that Ma will prevent a person from receiving exactly what that person desires. If someone wants the experience of Maya, Ma allows that experience to come. She gives according to what is wanted, but She also expects Her children to learn from what they receive.

Motherly kindness does not mean that the Mother removes every difficulty. Sometimes a lesson has to be learned through experience. If a person chooses the harder way, Ma allows the lesson to continue until it has been learned.

For this reason, the Mother can appear in two very different ways. She can be the one who protects, and She can also become terrifying. Both belong to the same Mother.

And in this connection, the name Kali appears.

Source & Note

This article is based on Robert E. Svoboda’s Aghora: At the Left Hand of God. The material has been edited and adapted for this publication.