Aum as the primordial effulgent divine mother

Aum as the primordial effulgent divine mother

The awareness of a human being passes through various modes of consciousness. The Mandukya Upanishad is a short exposition on layers of consciousness and their relationship to the Divine Sound. At the beginning ¬ if one can demarcate a beginning to the Self-existent universe ¬ there was a vibration in the Absolute Consciousness. The vibration was Aum, consciousness itself, for consciousness and its vibration are one and the same.

Sage Mandukya related the Aum to various stages of Consciousness: ` Aa' is jagrat, the waking consciousness; `Uu' is swapna, dream consciousness, the subconscious mind; and `Mm' is sushupta, dreamless sleep consciousness, the unconscious mind.

The silence between two successive Aums denotes the fourth dimension of consciousness, the Turiya, which is the matrix of all sounds and its creations, giving rise to and supporting the other three dimensions of consciousness.

In the waking state we are extroverted; the five senses are active and the mind experiences pleasure or pain in the external world of gross objects. In dream-sleep, the five senses are inactive, but the still active mind enjoys the motion picture of subtle objects of the inner world. In deep sleep, the five senses and mind are suspended and the self sinks down to the deeper layers of the unconscious, deeper than the subconscious and due to its proximity to cosmic consciousness, returns recharged and revived.

If consciousness is graded like the rungs of a ladder, in sleep you sink down from waking to dream to deep sleep and from there may descend inadvertently into collective and cosmic consciousness. But, awareness is lost during this stage, though the sense of `i' is main tained and we say ¬ `i had a restful sleep'.

In deep meditation, when the object of meditation, the process and meditator lose their distinction, you climb up the ladder of consciousness, and ascend to the realms above mind to Superconsciousness or Turiya. From there, you soar into cosmic consciousness. Samadhi is an elevated state where the fourth, pristine dimension of consciousness, the very essence, is experienced which raises all samskaras. If sleep is deep unconsciousness, samadhi is heightened awareness. One may awaken refreshed from a deep sleep but not get transformed unless it is aware deep sleep, in which case it is Sushupta Sama dhi, and technically not sleep.

The Divine Mother is the vibration, the energy, of Absolute Consciousness; in fact, the two are one and same. And she holds the jivataman in thrall by the iridescent play of her myriad colourful roles. In deep sleep, she absorbs all colours to appear black and is Kalaratri ¬ the deep night of dissolution. Kalaratri is the compassion of the Divine mother as Prajna which forces us to be antarmukhi, introverted, and thus draw sap from the source of life by sheer intimacy, In samadhi, she is Tripurasundari, the exquisitely beautiful form of the Universal Mother, universal energy; as the sovereign Raja Rajeshwari and Mother of the triad of jagrat, swapna and sushupta awasthas, (Tripura Ambika), which emanate from her and are her.

Showering unconditional love, she finally takes us to Oneness with our greater Self, earning the name Kaivalya Pad Dayini, the only One. As Lalita, she is transcendental Consciousness, pervading the universes and yet remains above them, enjoying the delightful play of dualities. The whole of Creation emanates from her effulgence.