"The Goddess's role as the dispeller of illusion who helps one achieve liberation (moksa) is indeed fundamental to her identity"

“The term prakrti has several meanings, including 'original or primary substance,' 'nature, character,' 'fundamental form, pattern, standard,' 'the original producer of the material world, Nature, ' and ' goddess, the personified will of the Supreme in the creation.' ¹ Thomas Coburn observes that the best way to circumscribe the primary meanings of the term is to describe it as ' word that has been used to designate the material world in varying relationships to the divine.'² Prakrti refers to an abstract, cosmic principle of materiality as well as manifest matter itself. The term sakti, from sak, 'to be able,' means 'power,' 'bility,' 'strength, ' 'energy,' and so forth.³ The term sakti often denotes a cosmic principle of energy that is described as the active dimension of Brahman, the Absolute. As a cosmic principle, sakti both causes creation to come into existence and sustains it.

The presentation of the Goddess as both prakrti and sakti implies that underlying the Brahmanical Hindu understanding of the feminine is some deeper connection between the two. There is in fact yet another principle, maya, that serves to link them. The term maya comes from ma, 'to measure,' and can denote Brahman's creative yet delusive power or the material form that results from the activation of such a power. As the first, maya is often equated with sakti; as the second, with prakrti. Like the other two, maya is often understood to be a cosmic feminine principle, and the use of the term tends to stress the illusory, impermanent, and/or changeable nature of creation in relation to the fully real, eternal, and unchanging nature of the Absolute.

Many scholars have noted the associations between some or all of these principles and female gender in Hindu thought in different contexts. Susan S. Wadley, for example, asserts that in the Hindu tradition 'The female is first of all sakti (energy/power), the energizing principle of the universe. The female is also prakrti (Nature)the undifferentiated Matter of the universe.' ⁴ Wadley touches upon the link between sakti/prakrti and female gender in mythico-religious and philosophical contexts, but her main concern is the way in which the association of these principles with femaleness is reflected on the social level in the expectations established for the behavior of women. David Kinsley briefly discusses these three principles in relation to the goddess Kali in particular and to the Hindu Great Goddess in general. P. G. Layle looks at the way in which these and other terms are used as epithets of the Goddess in the Devi-Bhagavata Purana, and Coburn does the same with respect to the DeviMahatmya.⁵ None of these scholars, however, has explored the origins and nature of this symbolic complex across a wide range of scriptures.

The development of these various principles in Brahmanical Hinduism and their association with female gender can be traced historically through the various layers of Brahmanical texts. In the earliest scriptures of the Brahmanical tradition, the Vedas (ca. 1500 B. C. E. -ca. 300 B. C. E. ), different goddesses are linked with materiality and/or power but not in a systematic or normative manner. Rather, there are several narrative and speculative strands that adumbrate such associations but do not articulate them clearly or directly. In the post-Vedic era up to the end of the classical period in India (ca. 300 B. C. E. -ca. sixth century C. E. ), we find an increasing preoccupation with systematic formulations of beliefs and increasingly standardized articulations of cosmic structures and processes as distinct philosophical schools emerge. In this period, a normative conception of the meaning of the term prakrti emerges within the context of Samkhya philosophy. An understanding of sakti as a cosmic power also begins to emerge, although the most elaborate formulation of this notion is fully articulated only in the ninth century and later, when Tantric literature begins to appear. ⁶ The concept of maya, too, begins to come into its own. These three principles are not identified with any particular goddess or goddesses during this period; in fact, they are not even necessarily conceived to be female in gender.

Toward the end of the classical period and in the postclassical and medieval periods (ca. fifth/sixth century C. E. sixteenth century C. E. ) different conceptual and mythological threads are woven together in the Puranas, and there emerges a notion of a Great Goddess, Devi (Goddess) or Mahadevi (Great Goddess), who is consistently identified as prakrti, sakti, and maya. The symbolic complex that is formulated in these texts participates in the medieval Brahmanical tendency to synthesize divergent elements and represents the confluence of various streams of thought already present in diverse conceptual and narrative environments. Vedic narrative themes in which different goddesses are associated with matter and energy come together with systematic formulations of the principles prakrti, sakti, and maya in later literature, and a new narrative emerges.

This study fills a gap in the available scholarly literature on the Goddess by exploring the rise of the Great Goddess historically in relation to these three cosmic principles and the ways in which the Goddess is formulated and elevated in Brahmanical Hindu discourse from Vedic times to the late Puranic period. There are five main purposes of this study: (1) to trace the origins and development within the Vedic-Brahmanical tradition of motifs that associate goddesses with materiality and power; (2) to examine the formulation of the principles prakrti, sakti, and maya individually; (3) to illuminate the development of the mutual association of all these elements; (4) to explore the resulting formulation of a Great Goddess characterized specifically as prakrti, sakti, and maya; and (5) to probe the cultural implications of this material with respect to gender issues.

We have referred to these principles as 'cosmic,' but it may not be clear what is meant by this term. Prakrti, sakti, and maya are often portrayed as cosmological principles, that is, structures inherent within creation. But they are also essentially cosmogonic, and they play key roles in the many accounts of creation found throughout the various scriptures constituting the Brahmanical Sanskrit canon. ⁷ One finds some of the richest descriptions of the nature and function of prakrti, sakti, and maya in the context of these creation accounts. It is in this context also that we often see the assimilation of these principles to one or more goddesses. Apart from the cosmogonic accounts, descriptions of cosmology that mention these principles usually offer rather thin descriptions of their nature and often appear to assume that their cosmogonic functions are understood. This study, then, will focus somewhat heavily on cosmogonies not by design but simply because much of the relevant data is found in the accounts of creation that appear throughout the various texts that constitute the Brahmanical canon.

Apart from questions of data, however, detailing the mechanisms of cosmogony and the resulting cosmology appears to be one of the central concerns of the tradition. Much attention is given to these topics, and one finds a great number and variety of cosmogonic hypotheses and narrative accounts across a broad range of different Brahmanical philosophical and mythological texts. One of the primary reasons for this emphasis on reflection about cosmic processes may be that cosmogony and cosmology in and of themselves are rich and meaningful categories. Cosmogonies describe fundamental categories and forces that are assumed to shape creation; these then help determine the essential nature of the universe, its structure, and the laws that govern it. In proposing to articulate truths about the world, descriptions of cosmogony and cosmology detail the confines within which it is assumed that humans as well as other kinds of beings must function. The centrality of our three principles and the Goddess with whom they are identified in descriptions of cosmogony and cosmology indicates their fundamental importance in Brahmanical Hindu conceptions about reality.

Since the symbolic complex that this study explores is largely related to issues of cosmogony and cosmology, we will focus only on those aspects and functions of the Great Goddess that are most clearly and directly related to such issues. Some may object that the present study does not pay enough attention to the Goddess's important soteriological functions. The Goddess's role as the dispeller of illusion who helps one achieve liberation (moksa) is indeed fundamental to her identity. Yet this role is essentially epistemological, for in such contexts the Goddess's salvific power is related to her identity with spiritual knowledge (vidya) or her ability to grant or lead one to such knowledge. The principles with which this study is concerned, on the other hand, are not primarily epistemological but are, generally speaking, ontological; that is, they are structures that are portrayed as structures of being, not knowing. This study will therefore address the soteriological functions of the Goddess only when they are relevant to the project at hand.

It is also important to note that all three of the terms that we will explore—prakrti, sakti, and maya—are grammatically feminine terms. One might argue, therefore, that the association of these principles with female gender rather than male gender is rooted in their linguistic valence. It is evident, however, that no matter what the origin of the association of these principles with femaleness, they are identified clearly in the Puranas as feminine not only in their grammatical values but in their very essences.”

Tracy Pintchman, The Rise of the Goddess in the Hindu Tradition
State University of New York Press (1994) pp. 3-7

Notes
1. Sir Monier Monier-Williams, A Sanskrit-English Dictionary, rev. ed. (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1988), p. 654.
2. Thomas Coburn, Devi-Mahatmya: The Crystallization of the Goddess Tradition (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1984), p. 186.
3. Monier-Williams, Sanskrit-English Dictionary, p. 1044.
4. Susan S. Wadley," Women and the Hindu Tradition," in Women in India: Two Perspectives, edited by Doranne Jacobson and Susan S. Wadley (Columbia, Mo. : South Asia Books, 1977), p. 115.
5. See David Kinsley, The Sword and the Flute: Kali and Krsna; Dark Visions of the Terrible and the Sublime in Hindu Mythology (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1975), pp. 109-114, 133-139, and Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Tradition (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1986), pp. 133-137; P. G. Layle, Studies in Devi-Bhagavata (Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1973), pp. 147-169; and Coburn, Devi-Mahatmya, pp. 123-127, 146-153, 180-186.
6. In dating Tantric literature from the ninth century, I am following Teun Goudriaan. Other scholars have argued for earlier dates. For a discussion of the dating of the Tantric literature and a summary of different scholars' views, see Sanjukta Gupta and Teun Goudriaan, Hindu Tantric and Sakta Literature, vol. 2, fasc. 2 of A History of Indian Literature (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrossowitz, 1981), pp. 19-21.
7. The term"cosmology"refers to reflection regarding the page_215 Page 216 general nature and structure of the created universe.”Cosmogony," on the other hand, refers to accounts of the act of creation or birth (gonos) of the cosmos itself.

The Paraclete Shri Mataji

“Everything comes from the Goddess. That is what they forgot. And that is why all the problems have been created. If there is no Spirit in your learning if there is no source of the Goddess in your learning, then it is absolutely useless. If they had realised that there is the Spirit that is working it out, they would not have gone that far. And that is what I was warning the Indians, although, that you are now taking to industrial revolution in a way and to avoid all the complications of industrial revolution, you must try to know the Spirit. If you don't know the Spirit you will have the same problems as these people have. Because they are also human beings, you are also human beings. You will also go the same way. At random you will run and there will be problems, the same problems as the Western people have.”

The Paraclete Shri Mataji
Shri Saraswati Puja, Dhulia, India—14 January 1983

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The Paraclete Shri Mataji "In the sixth century we had a very great saint in India or you can call him a incarnation or a great master, called Adi Shankaracharya - who has very clearly said that Kundalini has to be awakened Sahaja. He wrote many treaties like Viveka Churamani and all those. And then he got fed-up with the intellectuals. And he got so fed-up, he wrote his last book as Soundrya Lahari. And in this he describes that The Mother's powers, the power of the Primordial Mother, the Holy Ghost, the Adi-Shakti. And just he has sung the praises of The Mother. And people said that, 'Why are you wasting your intelligence in this?' So he said, 'All these thinking and reading has made human beings absolutely mad.' Because too much reading, thinking creates dogmas. And once you start reading too much about something, you just form your own ideas. And by that you really become a stupid person, in the sense that you start forming isms. But He has clearly said the 'Yogen, Sankhena'- by all these philosophies you are not going to get there. It is The Mother's grace that is going to work it out.'

So those who have read a lot about philosophy, any philosophy, must know by reading you do not reach there. For example we were coming from Tivoli and we saw a sign to Rome. And if we had stuck up there and at the sign only saying, 'This what is written in and start reading it,' we would have never reached Rome.

Like another great personality in India, Guru Nanaka. He says that 'unless and until you know yourself, unless and until there is self knowledge - your confusion cannot disappear'. But those who follow Guru Nanak, go on reading the book that He has described of the poems of realized souls, to read. They go on saying that, 'Unless and until you know yourself, you can not get out of the confusion,' they go on remembering it by heart, saying for hours together, like this. But this is not the way, because if somebody gives you a prescription saying that, 'You should take this medicine, and if you just go on remembering, 'I should take this medicine. I should take this medicine,' how will you treat yourself? So by reading too much you condition yourself and form an ism. And you get identified with that knowledge. And once you are identified with that knowledge, so-called, you do not get to the point what is described.

So by reading at the most you can get the idea or a logical conclusion you might arrive at: what to do; how to achieve; what to expect. Like Christ had said, 'You are to be born again.' So in the church we get up and say, 'All right, let us sing the hymn, a number so and so. We have to be born again.' And we go on singing this song again and again. Then we start believing that we are already born again. In Geneva I met some people who came themselves, called themselves born again and they brought a Bible to hit me. So this kind of development that is within us must be seen and faced if you are a true seeker.

There were many other questions about Me also. Whether I was a spiritual master or I am an Avatara or who was My guru, all sorts of things. I would say, you better find out yourself. Christ said that, 'I am the path. I am the light,' which He was. So people crucified Him. So it is wise not to say anything about yourself in these days, because the ego is so developed in human beings that they don't see that they are the losers. Anyone who pampers their ego, is a very great man. But anyone who makes them the Self, the Spirit, is not liked so much. In all the countries, in the whole world you will find all the people who propounded truth were tortured completely. Nobody wanted to listen to them. This is the problem. When they die then we build up big organizations in their name but when they live, we never listen to them. So now it is time that we should seek our spirit, and the reality. That is very important.

Now today I have decided to speak of the reality. The reality is that you are the spirit. The rest is a myth. Shankaracharya called it as Adyavtya. He says that, 'The Brahman is the only truth. The rest is all myth.' Like Christ has said that, 'Seek your eternal life.' So this all-pervading power of God, which is a subtle power, is the only truth. And the spirit is the only way we can know it.

The Paraclete Shri Mataji
Third Public Program, "Seekers of Joy", Rome, Italy—10 September 1983

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The Paraclete Shri Mataji "I said, all scholarship is within yourself; All the knowledge is within yourself. If you only can get light there, you can see all that knowledge is within you. You don't have to go anywhere for your knowledge. it's all inside, everything is built in. You are built in so beautifully to become your Spirit that I don't have to do much about it. It just works out. Only thing is that one has to know what we should expect; to be the Spirit, what should be our expectation. And that also logically you must understand. It should be a logical conclusion. Not just because I say something, because you have become a member of some group, because you have paid money somewhere. it's not that way. Reality is what it is. And logically it has to be reality.

The other day I told you about the left side, about the past, about the subconscious, about the collective subconscious and the problems of the subconscious and the conditionings we get from material things, from matter. Matter is always trying to overpower the Spirit. And this matter is overpowering us because we come from matter to begin with. But how does the Spirit come out of it? What happens that we become the Spirit?

People have talked about Self Realization. So many people have talked about second birth. Everyone has said that you are to be born again. There are many people who go about saying, "I'm twice born," self certified. You can find all kinds of people in this world, who are knowing that something has to happen, some breakthrough has to take place, something we have to seek. Imagine at the time of Christ there were not so many people who were seeking, nobody could talk to the disciples also much. They were just ordinary fishermen, very simple people. But today is the time when you find so many of seekers all over the world. Seeking what? What are you seeking? The seeking is of your Spirit. Now this is also a very vague term to say you are seeking your Spirit. Now what is this Spirit supposed to be? And why should we seek this Spirit?”

The Paraclete Shri Mataji
Public Program, "The Creative Power", Brighton U.K.—14 May 1982