Glorious Alchemy: Living the Lalitā Sahasranāma

The top five tattvas of Śuddhādhvan are ways of describing the One Reality by way of phases of awareness. In both—the directions of descent and ascent —the top two tattvas remain as Śiva and Śakti. While, in the direction of descent, we have icchā, jñāna and kriyā as the next three tattvas, they are known differently in the direction of ascent. The

Unlike the state of deep sleep where the dissolution is into ignorance (as in, we don’t wake up from deep sleep with the realization of our true nature), in the vijñānakala state, the meditative absorption is the result of wisdom or higher awareness. Here, only the āṇava mala is in play. This higher awareness, however, is not permanent.

Pure and Impure Paths The pure and impure paths have to do with seeming differentiation between the subject or perceiver (Aham) and object or That (Idam). The Māyā tattva delineates the pure and impure paths. Below Māyā, Ahaṃ and Idam remain separate. Above Māyā, Ahaṃ and Idam are non-separate.

Importantly, we’ve seen that even though it appears like the subject (Ahaṃ) and object (Idam) are two different things, they are essentially the One experiencing Itself.

We’ve seen before that when vimarśa as Śakti turns toward manifestation, there is a split of the One into three—pramātṛ (subject), prameya (object), and the process of the subject perceiving the object (pramāṇa).

The only way out of the cycles of saṃsāra is to realize our true divine nature, which is already whole and complete. With this realization, no further karma is accrued, and the bank balance is depleted. In other words, karma only applies to the “me story.” As long as we take ourselves to be the movie character, we are limited to the plot of the mov

Even as you’re reading this, various thought-forms, fragments of images, phrases and words might be arising, which determine how you’ll interpret this sentence. These spontaneously arising modifications are known as vṛttis, and are particularly noticeable when we are trying to meditate. When people say they can’t meditate because their minds are to

Most of the time, what we think is intuition is merely a product of past impressions. To know the difference between the two takes a highly discerning buddhi.

When our actions are driven entirely by vāsanās without the intervention of the discerning buddhi, they become addictions. The normal functioning of the brain and the body is overpowered by the vāsanā; neural and hormonal pathways are reset by the substance that we crave. The vāsanā rules over us.