2023-02-16 06:27:18 by ambuda-bot
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INTRODUCTION
19
Vedānta and suggest ways and means of reaching the
goal of that philosophy, viz., self-realization. However,
some of the modifications they introduce into the
Vedāntic theories of the ultimate Reality and of the
process of creation lead to striking innovations in the
worship of the Devi.
As in the Advaita, we have in the Tántric philo-
sophy also one ultimate Reality called here Parama Siva,
who is again conceived of as being both nişkala and sakala.
And, as in the Advaita, the world is considered unreal
in a sense, for it owes its existence to the association of
Brahman with Māyā or, to use the Tantric terms, Siva
with Sakti. But, while Maya in the Advaita is anīrva-
caniya or that which cannot be described to be either
true or false, Sakti in the Tantric philosophy possesses
as much reality as Siva. In fact, the two are identical.
Thus, while the changes in the world are unreal in the
sense that they are only the apparent modifications of
the same identity, vis., Siva-Sakti, they are real in the
sense that they are the modifications of an entity which
is entirely real. The Advaita says there is no real
change, but only the appearance of it. The Tantra, on
the other hand, says that the ultimate Reality is immu-
table in one aspect, but undergoes a real evolution in
another aspect. The Advaita effects its synthesis by its
doctrine of different levels of reality, but the Tantra
does it by its doctrine of unity in duality and duality in
unity. According to the Tantra, the ultimate Reality
is neither wholly static nor wholly, dynamic. It is both.
For, while Siva is the prakása aspect of the Reality-
that is, pure self-illumining thought, impersonal, inactive
19
Vedānta and suggest ways and means of reaching the
goal of that philosophy, viz., self-realization. However,
some of the modifications they introduce into the
Vedāntic theories of the ultimate Reality and of the
process of creation lead to striking innovations in the
worship of the Devi.
As in the Advaita, we have in the Tántric philo-
sophy also one ultimate Reality called here Parama Siva,
who is again conceived of as being both nişkala and sakala.
And, as in the Advaita, the world is considered unreal
in a sense, for it owes its existence to the association of
Brahman with Māyā or, to use the Tantric terms, Siva
with Sakti. But, while Maya in the Advaita is anīrva-
caniya or that which cannot be described to be either
true or false, Sakti in the Tantric philosophy possesses
as much reality as Siva. In fact, the two are identical.
Thus, while the changes in the world are unreal in the
sense that they are only the apparent modifications of
the same identity, vis., Siva-Sakti, they are real in the
sense that they are the modifications of an entity which
is entirely real. The Advaita says there is no real
change, but only the appearance of it. The Tantra, on
the other hand, says that the ultimate Reality is immu-
table in one aspect, but undergoes a real evolution in
another aspect. The Advaita effects its synthesis by its
doctrine of different levels of reality, but the Tantra
does it by its doctrine of unity in duality and duality in
unity. According to the Tantra, the ultimate Reality
is neither wholly static nor wholly, dynamic. It is both.
For, while Siva is the prakása aspect of the Reality-
that is, pure self-illumining thought, impersonal, inactive