When God Plays Hide-And-Seek

A famous text of Kashmir Shaivism, ‘Pratyabhijnahrdayam’, informs that in consciousness in its purest form, both subject and object remain as one entity. However, under the influence of the power of consciousness to divide, they appear as separate entities. In the terminology of Kashmir Shaivism, this power is called Maya Shakti, the gross power of consciousness that obscures and creates a sense of differentiation by bringing into being mind and matter.   At the time of pralaya or cosmic dissolution, Maya Shakti remains dormant; at no time is it non-existent.  

When the Supreme Shiva’s powers of eternal existence, all-pervasiveness, completeness, omniscience and omnipotence are limited by maya, its five kanchukas or evolutes come into being. They are kalaa, vidya, raga, kaala and niyati --- the powers that limit universal conditions of omnipotence, omniscience, completeness, eternal existence and omnipresence respectively.

Maya Shakti and its five kanchukas result in the creation of purusha and prakriti, thus completely alienating subject and object from each other and firmly establishing in the process the duality of mind and matter.   In other words, the illusion of separation is brought about by maya, making purusha and prakriti look at each other as mutually exclusive. The individual begins to identify himself   with the body or certain objects which are the products of prakriti; in the process, the difference between cosmic ‘I’-consciousness in pure creation and the individualised ‘I’-consciousness in pure-impure creation   becomes conspicuously evident. Thus purusha, though a purely subjective element, gets tainted with the malas or impurities of limitations by virtue of its association with maya and its five kanchukas.

Kashmir Shaivism speaks of   three such malas which are: anava mala, mayiya mala and karma mala. Anava mala refers to the basic ignorance of the individual because of which he experiences imperfection and considers himself a separate entity.  Mayiya mala further limits the individual by reducing his power of knowledge, thus making him apprehend all objects as different.  Karma mala entangles the individual with good and bad actions, thus trapping him in the unending chain of karmas and their fruits.

 Thus,   Supreme Shiva   in the process of   enacting His  drama of manifestation  as the  wondrous universe  with myriad names and forms,   sheds the undifferentiated state and  accepts differences; hence  His unlimited powers  of  will, knowledge  and action  appear  to have shrunk. Of His own volition He   puts on the cloak of maya, forgets His true nature, and  reduces Himself to an individual soul  that  operates in the phenomenal  world at three levels of consciousness --- physical, subtle and causal --- wherein it   gets  trapped  in the vicious circle of the process of transmigration.Though of a purely mental nature, bondage   gives rise to real suffering in the same way as a dream cobra   terrifies the person who dreams of it.

 It is only when by the grace of the guru the dormant kundalini within the seeker is completely unfolded and the individual experiences the supra-causal state of consciousness. Identifying himself with Shiva, he perceives the entire universe as blissful play of Shiva and Shakti, who have been playing the game of hide-and-seek since eternity. Swami Muktananda observes:  “God forgets his own nature and looks for God, worships Him, meditates on Him, asks questions and gives answers.”

By: Anup Taneja