Shakti and Shakta: Essays and Addresses on the Shakta Tantrashastra c19.11

c19.11

But if it is neither Sat nor Asat, then as Mâyâ it is not the Brahman who is Sat. Does it then exist in Pralaya and if so how and where? How can unconsciousness exist in pure consciousness? Sañkara calls it eternal, and says that in Pralaya, Mâyâsattâ is Brahmasattâ. At that time, Mâyâ, as the power of the ideating consciousness, and the world, its thought do not exist: and only the Brahman is. But if so how does the next universe arise on the assumption that there is Pralaya and that there is not with Him as Mâyâ the seed of the future universe? A Bîja of Mâyâ as Sañskâra, even though Avyakta (not present to Consciousness), is yet by its terms different from consciousness. To all such questionings, Sañkara would say, they are themselves the product of the Mâyâ of the state in which they are put. This is true, but it is possible to put the matter in a simpler way against which there are not so many objections as may be laid against Mâyâvâda.