Soundarya Lahari - Part 61

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According to that  shAstra, Shiva and  Shakti together form the paraBrahman. All the universe is a reflection of that paraBrahman. By saying this it does not mean that the reflection is outside of Brahman. Nor does it think of a ‘kevala-shivam’ ( ShivaM and ShivaM alone) that has no connection with the universe.

Since the paraBrahman, according to this school, is shiva as well as Shakti, the reflection (AbhAsa) is due to the presence of  Shakti. And even then, it is not like light and its reflection, wherein we think of the reflection outside of the light. # There can be nothing outside of  Shakti. Siva-Shakti is one. Within that one there comes an internal spandanaM and the duality is presented. Again the presentation is not outside of  Brahman. Just as a reflection shows itself in the mirror, there is nothing outside of the mirror.  

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Soundarya Lahari - Part 60

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In Kashmir Saivism this internal  spandanaM is emphasized very well. Though we call it Kashmir Shaivism, the propagators of that philosophy did not give it that name. ‘Trika-shaivam’ is its name. For it

focusses on three principles; pashu, pati and  pAshaM.  ‘pratyabijnA-shAstra’ is also another name for the same. 

To know the fact that Shiva principle is Atman is pratyabijnA. The literal meaning of ‘pratyabijnA’ is ‘to know a thing truly as it is’. Another name for this school of philosophy is ‘spanda-shAstra’ !

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Soundarya Lahari - Part 59

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The mutuality of Shiva and Shakti should be in our minds all the time. When hard core ideas from philosophy are made into poetic extravaganzas, both for the poetic excellence and for the liberties taken

with a view to making the devotees revel in their devotion, it is natural to exaggerate or make out-of-the-way comparisons. Thus at one time it may be said that Shiva is greater than Shakti and at another time quite the opposite. 

In every one of these presentations one should not forget the equality, nay, the identity of the two. Keeping this clearly in his mind, our Acharya, though he built into the first  shloka the idea that it was Shakti who made Shiva move, he takes care to see that the prodding for the ‘movement’ does not come from outside. She is inside Him and therefore the word ‘spandanaM’.

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Soundarya Lahari - Part 58

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But even the shAkta schools cannot place Shiva and Shakti as two separate things. Because Shiva and Shakti are like the lamp and its light, the flower and its fragrance, honey and its sweetness, milk and its whiteness, word and its meaning. 

Thus they cannot be separated from each other. Even though the credit for the spandanaM is given to Shakti, it is not as if She and He are separate. This mutual dependence of the two should be kept in our mind always.  

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Soundarya Lahari - Part 57

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But the Acharya, while appearing to be talking ‘dvaita’ he has built his advaita into it by using the word  spandanaM. In what was Knowledge-Absolute, the thought of ‘I’ arose from within. This internal pulsation is the  spandanaM. 

The word is very precisely placed here. Because ‘spandanaM’ by its very meaning negates anything external. It is internally caused.  Something like what you say in modern science about the central nucleus bursting of its own accord.

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Soundarya Lahari - Part 56

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Indeed the ‘feeling  of I-ness’ that arises in the immutable Brahman, is the spandana caused by Shakti and that is what personifies her. Our Acharya brings this effectively by using the word ‘Aho-purushhikA’ in Sloka #7. The word means that She is the personification of the thought ‘I am Brahman’ of Brahman !

The  shAkta school conception of Shiva and  Shakti sometimes appears to involve a duality there. Thus they contend that it is Shakti that caused the movement. Acharyaís shloka also seems to say so.

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