[Lord Shiva] - What Is God Siva's Pure Consciousness?

 

Creation issues forth from Siva as Satchidananda and returns to Him. That cosmic manifestation is shown here as the life-giving waters of Ganga, flowing from Siva's hair, filling the well and the lotus pond with existence, consciousness, bliss.

 

                                                   

 

Without Siva, Sakti has no existence and without Sakti, Siva has no expression. It is through Sakti that the Impersonal Supreme Being Siva or Nirguna Brahman becomes the Personal Being or Saguna Brahman. Siva or Nirguna Brahman becomes the Personal Being or Saguna Brahman. Siva is the Soul of Durga or Kali. Durga or Kali is identical with Siva. Siva is Satchidananda. Durga or Kali is Satchidananda Mayi. Siva and Sakti are one and neither is higher than the other.

 

ParaShakti is pure consciousness, the substratum or primal substance flowing through all form. It is Siva's inscrutable presence, the ultimate ground and being of all that exists, without which nothing could endure. Aum.

 

ParaShakti, "Supreme Energy," is called by many names: silence, love, being, power and all-knowingness. It is Satchidananda--existence-consciousness-bliss--that pristine force of being which is undifferentiated, totally aware of itself, without an object of its awareness. It radiates as divine light, energy and knowing.

 

Out of ParaSiva (SIVAM) ever comes ParaShakti, the first manifestation of mind, Superconsciousness or infinite knowing. God Siva knows in infinite, all-abiding, loving Superconsciousness. Siva knows from deep within all of His creations to their surface. His Being is within every animate  and inanimate form. Should God Siva remove His all-pervasive ParaShakti from any one or all of the three worlds, they would crumble, disintegrate and fade away. Siva's Shakti is the sustaining power and presence  throughout the universe. This unbounded force has neither beginning nor end. Verily, it is the Divine Mind of Lord Siva.

 

The Vedas say, "He is God, hidden in all beings, their inmost soul who is in all. He watches the works of creation, lives in all things, watches all things. He is pure consciousness, beyond the three conditions of nature." Aum Namah Sivaya.

 

------- Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami