तन्त्र

Illumination of the Divine Means

The Reflection Metaphor and the Phonemic Matrix

The Reflection Metaphor

We have taught that the Divine Principle (shiva-tattva) is the Light of Consciousness (). If one is not able to enter into its undivided wholeness (akhanda-mandala), then simply focusing on its most fundamental potency, the Power of Autonomy (svatantriya-shakti), one may experience Immersion into the Absolute (bhairava-samavesha) without any need for conceptualization. This is the teaching for such a one:

This entire conditioned reality is simply a reflection in the space of Awareness.

We use this metaphor because what people call 'reality' possesses the characteristics of a reflection. A reflection is that which, being unable to appear on its own, manifests only by virtue of being intermingled with another -- like the appearance of one's face in a mirror, like smell in the nose, like the feeling of a spear in one's organs of internal sensation, or like an echo in the sky.

These sympathetic reflections cannot be said to be unreal, because we see the shuddering of the body when a smell triggers a deep memory, or involuntary responses to a pleasurable recollection. Thus, just as each of these sense-experiences manifests as a reflection, in the same way, the universe manifests as a reflection within the Divine Light of Consciousness.

Because he holds everything within himself as a reflection, the Blessed Lord is everything. Indeed, the universe consisting of his Consciousness is the foundation for the manifestation of conscious agency. And this self-awareness is not like conventional thought, but is rather taught in the scriptures as filled with the Supreme Resonance (paranada-garbha), inseparable from one's essence-nature as pure Awareness.

The Phonemic Matrix: Sound as Creative Power

Insofar as the array of Powers of the Highest Divinity establishes and orders the universe, 'he' is aware of himself as that array of Powers. Amongst those, there are three fundamental Powers of the Highest Divinity: the Power of the Absolute (anuttara), the Power of Intention (iccha), and the Power of Unfolding Insight (unmesha). Those very Powers are expressed and embodied by the trinity of 'reflections' that are the phonemes a, i, and u.

From this very triad, the entire unfolding of the Powers is performed. For repose in the Absolute itself is Awe (ananda), repose in Intention itself is Sovereignty (ishana), and repose in Unfolding Insight itself is the 'Wave' (urmi), which is the incipient Power of Action. Those very Powers are expressed and embodied by the trinity of reflections that are the phonemes a, i, and u in their long forms.

The sixteen vowels are said to have the nature of 'seeds'; from them arise the thirty-four 'wombs', that is, the consonants. The velar class of consonants comes from the Absolute; the palatal class from pure Intention; the retroflex and dental classes arise from objectified Intention; and the labial class comes from Unfolding Insight. There are five phonemes in each of these classes due to association with the five Powers.

The Twelve Kalis

There are really six fundamental 'reflections' (the vowels a, a, i, i, u, u) that develop the perfection of the universal Power of the Highest Divinity, becoming twelve by diffusing and reabsorbing. These are the very twelve powers that, due to their quality of articulating awareness, are interpreted as 'the Blessed Little Kalis' (Shri-Kalikas). These pure reflections are simply aspects of Power; they assume an intermediate form on the level of Pure Wisdom (suddhavidya-tattva).

The Twelve Kalis -- The Cycle of Consciousness

  • •1. Srishtikali -- Consciousness projects an entity or state entirely internally.
  • •2. Raktakali -- Perceiving it as something distinct from itself, it becomes passionate towards it.
  • •3. Sthitinashakali -- Wishing to reabsorb it within, it begins to internalize that entity.
  • •4. Yamakali -- It alternately creates and devours a doubt or hesitation that constitutes an obstacle to absorption.
  • •5. Samharakali -- The element of hesitation devoured, it withdraws the object-aspect into itself by reabsorbing it.
  • •6. Mrityukali -- It contemplates its intrinsic nature itself: 'This capacity to reabsorb is my nature.'
  • •7. Rudrakali / Bhadrakali -- While pondering its intrinsic nature as the capacity to reabsorb, it perceives something remaining as a subliminal impression reduced to pure Consciousness.
  • •8. Martandakali -- It reabsorbs the wheel of the twelve faculties, making them one with its realization of its nature.
  • •9. Paramarkakali -- It also absorbs the 'lord' of the sense-faculties (the ego-maker).
  • •10. Kalagnirudrakali -- It withdraws the constructed, dualistic, limited subject (individuality).
  • •11. Mahakalakali -- It withdraws the universal Subject too, which is on the threshold of abandoning all trace of contraction.
  • •12. Mahabhairaivacandograghorakali -- It withdraws even the fully expanded aspect into the absolute formless ground.

These twelve Blessed Goddesses that are Consciousness reveal themselves to multiple knowers or even to one, in configurations of twos or threes or other combinations, all at once or gradually, revolving like a wheel. They manifest externally also as the cycles of the twelve months, the twelve phases of the sun, the twelve signs of the zodiac, and other sets of twelve. They nourish the autonomy of the Lord of the Circle (Manthanabhairava) and are known by variations on the name Shri Kali.

As Abhinavagupta's esteemed Krama Guru, the revered Bhutiraja said: 'Because She projects and because She knows, and because She is the projected and the known, She is called Kali.'

Liberation Through the Reflection

A person, nonconceptually seeing him or herself as nothing but the ground in which all these reflections come to rest, and in which all the various Principles (tattvas), beings, states, and worlds are reflected, attains embodied liberation through the Divine Immersion (shambhava-samavesha). Here too, as before, there is no necessity whatsoever to practice mantras and so on.

Summary Verse

The entire world shines here within the Self, just as a complex creation appears in a single mirror. However, Awareness articulates and touches the universe of its experience in accordance with the flavor (rasa) of its own self-awareness -- no mirror can do that.

7 [3.1]

Day Three moves from abstract metaphysics to a concrete map of how Consciousness creates. The is not merely a linguistic theory; it is a contemplative technology. Each letter of the Sanskrit alphabet is understood as a particular vibration of divine power, and by understanding the relationships between them, the practitioner can trace the entire arc of creation back to its source.