Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Minor Religious Systems v2.c13.302
Vaiṣṇavism, Śaivism and Minor Religious Systems v2.c13.302
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v2.c13.302.1
The metaphysical doctrines of what is called Śāmbhavadarśana, on which the usual practices and rites of the Śāktas profess to be based, are these ³). Śiva and Śakti are the primordial substances. Śiva in the form of Prakāśa (light) enters into Śakti in the form of Vimarśa or Sphūrti (feeling or appearance), and assumes the form of a Bindu (drop); and Śakti similarly enters into Śiva, whereupon the Bindu develops, and there arises out of it the female element called Nāda (sound). These two, the Bindu and the Nāda, becoming united, form one compound Bindu, and that substance represents the intense affinity between the female and male energies and is called Kāma (love). Again, there are two drops, one of which is white and represents the male element, and the other, red, which represents the female element. These form the Kalā; these three again, the compound Bindu, and the white and red drops form one substance called Kāmakalā. Thus there are four powers united here: (1) the original Bindu representing the material of which the world is made; (2) Nāda, or sound, upon which depends the naming of the substances, arising from the development of the Bindu. Between these two there is intense love, but no creation follows simply from it. They only contain the materials of things and speech. Therefore a productive energy is associated with them by (3) the white male drop which, however, by itself cannot produce, and by (4) the female red drop which is fecundated by the male drop.
v2.c13.302.2
When all these four principles unite into one substance, Kāmakalā, the whole creation of words and the things expressed by them (Vāgarthau), proceeds. Another substance called the Hārdhakalā is also developed, according to some, along with the Nāda, when the female element first enters into the simple Bindu. In a certain text the highest deity, or Kāmakalā, is spoken of as having the sun (compound Bindu) for her face, fire and moon (the red and white Bindus) for her breasts, and the Hārdhakalā for her organ of generation. This view provides a womb from which creation springs out. The creative agent, therefore, is a goddess thus constituted, and she is the highest deity and is called Parā, Lalitā, Bhaṭṭārikā and Tripurasundarī. Śiva is symbolically identified with the letter *a* and Śakti with *h*, the last letter of the Sanskrit alphabet. This *h* is called Ardhakalā, or half part, and hence the female element, or womb, mentioned above is called the half part in the shape of the letter *h*. This *h*, or the half part, together with *a* which stands for Śiva is a symbolic representation of Kāmakalā or Tripurasundarī, who is the result of the combination of Śiva and Śakti. She is thus called Aham, the ego, and is invested with egoism or individuality, and hence it is that all her developments (i. e. the whole creation) have egoism or individuality;
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and all souls are but forms of Tripurasundarī and become Tripurasundarī when they study and practise the Kāmakalāvidyā with its series of Devīcakras, or mystic circles. *A* and *h*, being the first and last letters of the alphabet, contain between them all letters and through them all words, i. e. the whole speech; and just as all things are produced from Tripurasundarī, so are all words which express the things. She is thus called Parā, the first of the four kinds of speech. Creation is Pariṇāma, or development, and not Vivarta, or the generation of false appearances. This is the philosophy of the Śāmbhavadarśana, and it will be seen that, though it admits a male element in the beginning, still it is thoroughly subdued by the female element which becomes predominant; and the highest deity is a goddess, viz. Tripurasundarī. The ambition of every pious follower of the system is to become identical with Tripurasundarī, and one of his religious exercises is to habituate himself to think that he is a woman. Thus the followers of the Śakti school justify their appellation by the belief that God is a woman and it ought to be the aim of all to become a woman.