SAIVA-SIDDHANTA

"
Why
"
THE SVETASVATARA UPANISHAT. 1
39
Prapaiicha is evolved is the Maya or Pradhana, which also
dwelling in Him is drawn out and drawn in by the Supreme
Power (Sakti) with just the ease and dexterity of a spider
which spins out or in; or of the magician who draws forth, out
of an empty basket, fruits and flowers and sweets. The Maya
(meaning also power) is also a Sakti of His, (Mayasakti), but
differing from the other Sakti, Ichcha Jnana and Kriya, just as
darkness differs from light. As darkness is
necessary for rest
arfd recuperation, so this power of God also works for our rest
and recuperation and salvation. And God is called the Lord
of Maya (Mayin) and "
beyond" all forms of the tree, as
transcending all the "Tattvas, Kala c., and as trans
1
cending .Pradhana. Why we are required to contemplate
God as Akasa, Light or Chit is, that by this Light alone we
can know Him, and as such Light; and it is as Light, Chit
God is immanent in the world, and omnipresent. And this
brings out again the reason why this Chit is called Akasa, the
most subtle and invisible and omnipresent element we have
in Nature.
God is present in all nature and pervades it, as oil in seeds,
butter in ghee and fire in wood (i 15). And this all pervasive
ness is thus explained in a text of the Atharva Siras Upanishat
is it called Sarva Vyapi ? It is so called because like
ghee diffusing and soaking itself through and through the
Ruda (Milk or seed), it
pervades every created thing through
and through as warp
and woof."
And as by reason of this pervasiveness, nothing could be
imagined as existing out of Him, the whole is called also
Brahman, the whole, with the parts and limbs and bodies (iv. 10)
as the Chetana-Achetana Prapancha, has antahkarana as Chit
the bare ground, we naturally suppose there was some seed imbedded in it
without our knowledge, though the earth contained it and is essential for
the support and growth of the plant. This is the Aupanishadic view.
Badarayana would say that no seed is necessary and the earth alone is
sufficient.