Summation

To conclude with a summation of what has been presented, Parabrahma and Parashakti (Brahman and Shakti) are Absolute Reality in Its static and dynamic aspects — the transcendent Father and the primordial Mother of all beings. All true knowledge contained therein is called Paravidya which is Supreme Truth, pure and perfect, symbolized by the sacred word, AUM, representing the four quarters of Consciousness. Through Iccha shakti, Jnana shakti, Kriya shakti and Dravya shakti — the Divine Mother's essence as will, wisdom, spontaneity and creative activity — the complex architecture of diverse worlds, subtle and gross, seen and unseen, gets facilitated. This has been called envisionment, expression, divine sport, dream power, manifestation, illusion, etc., and this is where Maya enters. When the Divine Mother’s four shaktis begin to operate, the first material of subtle creation utilized is Her Maya with its attending attribute called mulavidya that immediately though apparently causes a rift in Consciousness. This disturbance provides the means necessary for manifestation, including the appearance of celestial powers (gods and goddesses), the cosmic principles they oversee, the many worlds of becoming, the three modes of nature (gunas), the many pairs of opposites (duality/relativity), the process of evolution and more.

In this complex web, the human being or jiva, embodied consciousness, gets born and becomes subject to two forces: Vidya shakti, that leads inward and away from Maya’s effects and, Avidya shakti, that leads outward and which is fully subject to Maya’s effects. With the categories of aparavidya available (secondary knowledge concerning the external worlds of becoming) living beings embark on the journey of life, making choices that affect their progress in worldly and spiritual matters. Those who are dharmic, seeking higher attainments through right knowledge and right action, ascend inwardly along the path of Vidya shakti and reach consummate wisdom leading to immersion in the Absolute. The rest, taking matter to be Reality, become subject to Maya’s perplexing forces such as the malas and the many evolutes.

The ten characteristics reveal a little of the nature of Maya and describe briefly both the basis for its appearance and its ultimate insubstantiality. The seven malas show the manner in which Maya works within the limits of the body/mind mechanism and act upon the imperfections of human nature. The sixteen evolutes represent the development of Maya’s powers on the individual, collective and cosmic levels of manifestation. They form complexes which cloud proper perception of the design and purpose of the creation, obscure Truth, and cause forgetfulness of Reality.

In all this, the real Self called the Atman, which is the indwelling and all-pervasive Spirit consisting of Consciousness alone and which is identical in nature with Brahman and Shakti, is ever free from Maya and its evolutes and abides eternally in a perpetual state of perfect unity. By identifying with this eternal verity while taking note of and detaching from the various forces of Maya, living beings can escape the suffering associated with relativity and experience the peace and bliss inherent in them as Atman. As Shankaracharya puts it: “The majesty of the ocean of Supreme Brahman, replete with the nectar-like swell of the Self, is verily impossible to express in speech, nor can it be conceived by the mind — in an infinitesimal fraction of which my mind melted like a hailstone getting merged in the ocean, and is now satisfied with that Essence of Bliss.”