Part Two: Shiva Sutra 2.7 – Matrikacakra, The Theory of Letters that Expand the
Universe & Everything Consists of Everything Else
“Matrika means letters or lettered sound. It is through
matrika that all human activities are carried on.” Shiva dwells in the heart of
all letters. All letters are the inner life of Shiva, the expression of that
Supreme Creative Consciousness, the “cosmic creative stress” which through its
divine pulsation (spanda) brings
about the emanation, projection, expansion, and dissolution of the universe. [Jaideva
Singh/Shiva Sutras]
Even after a Dissolution, when the universe is unmanifest,
the universe remains implicit as seed (bija)
eternally within the One. Just as the fluid in the egg of a peacock contains the
totality of profusion of its adult magnificence and beauty, so does the entire
manifested multiplicity of this universe remain implicit in the Oneness, Lord
Shiva. The universe repeatedly becomes manifest during the Cycles of Time and
returns to its state of being implicit, inherent, latent, unexpressed after a
Dissolution.
From this cyclical concept of the manifested and then
un-manifested universe as consciousness always lying implicit in the One, we
might imagine that all the four Cycles of Time
(yugas) exist simultaneously, one
nested within another, as merely ‘apparent’ temporal holograms.
The universe is nothing but consciousness. This idea of the universe being
eternally implicit brings the theory of David Bohm’s Implicate Order to mind. In
his implicate (enfolded) order “space and time are no longer the dominant
factors determining the relationships of different elements. Rather an entirely
different sort of basic connection of elements is possible, from which
our ordinary notions of space and time, along with those of separately existent
material particles, are abstracted as forms derived from the deeper order.”
The universe is consciousness.
“In fact, this universe is created by this supreme energy
of consciousness…[SLJ].”
The energy of consciousness
(cit shakti) is one of the five great
energies of the Oneness, Shiva. These five great energies are termed wheels
(cakras) because they move like
wheels.
In Kashmir Shaivism the Oneness is referred to as Shiva - and Lord Shiva has
these five great energies: consciousness, bliss, will, knowledge, and action.
These five energies are not discrete, not individually separated from each
other. Each one of the five energies contain the other four and are continually
interplaying with and within one another.
Perhaps musical chords and scales reflect this idea of one containing the others
and the interplay between them to create something new. One note contains all
the other notes. One note, for example a G, in one octave resonates and vibrates
with all the other Gs in every octave. And these resonating sounds as musical
notes, harmonious or dissonant, create chords and are constantly combining to
make the sounds of symphonies, songs, ragas, etc.
Music illuminates the connection between metaphysical
principles and physical reality.
Alain
Danielou: “Music was therefore justly considered by the ancients as the key to
all sciences and art – the link between metaphysics and physics…” In music, “By
the artificial construction of harmony we can go beyond the phenomenon of sound
vibrations and perceive not sounds but immaterial relations through which can be
expressed realities of a spiritual nature. We can thus lift the veil by which
matter hides from us all true realities.”
“Beneath the curtain of each atom lies concealed the life
increasing beauty of the face of the Beloved.”
- The Secret Garden, Mahmud Shabistari.
The basic metaphysical principle here is: SARVAM
SARVATMAKAM – which means that
‘Everything consists of everything else’ [Jaideva Singh – Paratrishika
Vivarana]. Shiva, the Oneness, is ubiquitous, immanent within everything,
permeating the entire universe from the galaxies to your teaspoon or toe. All
the great five energies of Shiva contain the other four. Everything is
everything.
***
The world is simply a form of consciousness
The energy of consciousness
(cit shakti) creates the five great
elements: ether, air, fire, water, and earth. One element is predominant in
each, while again each of the five elements contains all the other four. “So in
each and every energy of Lord Shiva, all five energies exist.” [SLJ]
The five elements are the result, the manifestation and creation of the energy
of consciousness, the Shakti power of CIT (pronounced chit). This creative
Shakti-energy-power is personified as the goddess and
is not different from Shiva.
“By the power of her own will she
(cit shakti) unfolds the universe
upon her own screen (i.e. in herself as the basis of the universe).” [Jaideva
Singh – Pratyabhijnahrdayam]
"Consciousness shines in various external and internal forms. There is no
existence of objects apart from consciousness. Therefore the world is simply a
form of consciousness."
[Kalikakrama, as quoted in the
Shiva Sutras
translated by Jaideva Singh]
Thus in Kashmir Shaivism, the universe has no material cause other than
consciousness.
The world is simply a form of consciousness.
Matter is consciousness. Matter might be imagined as condensed consciousness
that creates the ‘appearance’ of solidity.
There is more space in an electron than there is matter. “The space which an
electron occupies is only one fifty-thousandth in diameter of its distance from
the nucleus; the rest of the atomic interior is empty. If the nucleus were
enlarged to the size of a dried pea, the nearest electron would circle around it
at a distance of about 175 yards. …it is doubtful whether it is permissible to
say that the electron ‘occupies space’ at all. ” [Arthur Koestler-The
Sleepwalkers]
Rene Guenon in ‘The Reign
of Quantity’ makes some wonderfully startling observations concerning the idea
of matter: “…the idea of ‘matter’ is therefore as illusory as it possibly could
be, since it corresponds to no reality of any kind…it could be said that
materialization exists as a tendency.”
Guenon prefers to use the
word ‘solidification’ indicating an ongoing process as we descend into the
depths of the Kali Yuga. He remarks that in the previous cycles of time we all
possessed faculties which allowed us “to pass beyond the bounds” of the sensible
world (i.e. the five senses). In our current era, “never have either the world
or man been so shrunken, to the point of their being mere corporal entities,
deprived…of the smallest possibility of communication with any order of
reality!”
The universe is
consciousness and created by consciousness. Matter is consciousness. Everything
is consciousness and everything is everything. The parts contain the whole and
interact with one another. Nothing is discrete.
The power of consciousness is CIT SHAKTI and here she is known as Matrikacakra,
the lady that generates the letters. The Sanskrit letters contain the creative
energy that manifests the universe. The cit shakti holds the entire universe
within itself. “Every letter of the (Sanskrit) alphabet represents energy in
some form.”
[Jaideva Singh – Paratrishika]
Swami Lakshmanjoo: “In
perceiving, you should not perceive things one by one. See what is in the
beginning and see what is in the end (simultaneously). Take the first letter and
the last letter and combine them and you have perceived the whole universe.
…unite them by means of taking them in one point.”
To Become the One again,
we need to learn to collapse our linear thinking and move beyond conditioned
ideas of space and time, leaving behind all preconceptions of mechanical laws
such as cause & effect. Think in terms of Totality – weave the beginning and end
into one.
“Whatever is perceived is
PRAKASHA (the light of consciousness). It is the state of the universal ‘I’.
Carrying all that is perceived to your own nature, to that point of the Self,
and establishing it there is called SVANTANTRYA (the absolute freedom).” [SLJ]
In Jaideva Singh’s
translation of the Shiva Sutras, he says this about the difficult and complex
Matrikacakra theory: “If a man wants to understand the mystery of life, if he
wants to turn to the source of his being, he will have to understand the mystery
of Matrika (lettered sound). Matrika not properly understood only confines us to
the feverish activities of life, and thus becomes a source of bondage. If
properly understood, she becomes our savior.”
The sole reason and
motivation to immerse your consciousness in the theory of MATRIKACAKRA is for
your own Liberation, your own freedom from repeating cycles of birth & death.
Understanding these ancient sacred teachings will reveal the nature of the
universe to you, and the processes by which it is manifested and dissolved, and
very soon will lead you to the Home you in fact never left!
Swami
Lakshmanjoo
***
Bohm, David
(1980),
Wholeness and the Implicate Order, London:
Routledge
Music and The Power of Sound, The Influence of Tuning and Interval on
Consciousness, by Alain Danielou; Inner Traditions, Rochester, Vermont,
1943/1995.
The Sufi Dialogue: The Secret Garden, written in the 14th
century by Mahmud Shabistari; Octagon Press, London, 1969.
Abhinavagupta PARA-TRISIKA-VIVARANA, The Secret of Tantric Mysticism, English
translation with notes and running exposition by Jaideva Singh; Sanskrit text
corrected, notes on technical points and charts dictated by Swami Lakshmanjoo;
edited by Bettina Baumer; Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 1988/2000.
Pratyabhijnahridayam, The Secret of Self-Recognition, translated by Jaideva
Singh, Sanskrit Text with English Translation Notes and Introduction; Motilal
Banarsidass Publishers Private Ltd. Delhi, 1963, 2003.
The Sleepwalkers, the
History of Man’s Changing Vision of the Universe, by Arthur Koestler; Arkana
Penguin Books, London, 1959/1989.
The Reign of Quantity &
the Signs of the Times, by Rene Guenon, translator Lord Northbourne; Sophia
Perennis, Hillsdale, N.Y., 1945/2004.
Shiva & Parvati
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