Matrika Shakti.

January 8, 2003

Adi Shakti had some problems with her account

and hence requested me to post this on her behalf.

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Matrika (the power of sound inherent in the letters of

the alphabet)

is the source of limited knowledge.

Shiva Sutra 1.4

When Parashakti - who is also called Citi Bhagavati,

the universal Consciousness - limits Herself, She

manifests in the form of matrika, the group of

letters, or sound-syllables. Matrika is the cause of

one's pain and pleasure. all the thoughts and feelings

that arise in the mind - happiness and unhappiness,

desire, agitation, love, expectation, and jealousy -

are the work of matrika. Neither language, nor

terminology, nor poetry, nor scriptures, nor words of

praise and blame can pass beyond the world of letters.

Matrika arises from the heart, from the inner speech.

There are four levels of speech corresponding to the

four bodies. Everyone is aware of the speech of the

tongue. It is called vaikhari and corresponds to the

gross body. With the subtle intellect, one can also

know the second level of speech, which is in the

throat. There, words have taken form but have not yet

emerged. This level is called madhyamah and

corresponds to the subtle body. At a deeper level,

words exist in the heart. This is the third level of

speech, pashyanti, which corresponds to the causal

body. Here, words are hidden, and what arises at this

level is matrika. Beneath this level, parah, which

corresponds to the supracausal body. Some say that

parah is in the navel region, but in actuality this

subtlest level of speech pervades everywhere. Since it

is all-pervading, it can be known anywhere. Matrika

has its source in the parah level.

Letters combine to form a word - for example,

m-a-n-g-o becomes mango. Each word has its own

meaning, the meaning creates its own image, and that

image has its own feeling.

Whenever an image is created in the mind, one

experiences an emotion, whether it is happiness or

unhappiness, friendship or enmity. For example, if I

call someone a fool, the letters come together and

compose words, the words compose a sentence, the

sentence has it's own meaning and the meaning creates

it's own image. When I utter a sentence "That girl is

a fool," it strikes her, and a painful and angry

feeling arises in her mind.

Matrika creates infinite images. If one doesn't

identify with the images or their objects, one doesn't

experience suffering.

Matrika is the source, not only of our pleasure and

pain but of this entire universe. This world has

arisen from the sound-syllables of the Sanskrit

alphabet, which are nothing but matrika. Just as it

creates the outer world, matrika creates infinite

inner worlds. Different feelings arise in the heart,

and the individual soul keeps moving among these

feelings throughout it's life, experiencing pain and

pleasure. Day and night, the matrika shakti creates

these things within us. Even when we sleep, it doesn't

sleep. It is alive even in the savikalpa state of

samadhi, the samadhi with thought. It dies only when

one attains the state of thoughtlessness, nirvikalpa

samadhi.

Matrika is the source of the three malas, the

impurities that cause knowledge to become contracted.

Due to anavamala, one feels imperfect; due to

mayiyamala, one becomes lost in duality; and due to

karmayamala, one becomes caught up in the fruit of

one's good and bad actions. Instead of understanding

that one is the Self, one understands oneself to be a

mere human being. One feels, "I am a man,I am a

priest,I am a woman,I am thin," and in this way,

one makes oneself small. In the inner space, matrika

shakti creates letters and one experiences them. One

begins to dwell in them, one becomes infatuated with

them, and as a result, one performs actions in this

world. This is worldliness.

However, just as matrika helps us to contract, it also

helps us to expand ourselves. The moment one

understands the matrika shakti and its work, one is no

longer a human being. When the matrika shakti expands

within, in this very body, one becomes Shiva.

Sit quietly and watch the play of matrika shakti.

Watch how the matrika gives rise to letters, how the

letters compose words, how the meaning of the words

compose images in the mind; watch how you become

involved in these images.

The yogi pursues matrika shakti; he watches it and

makes it steady. He brings it under his control, he

manipulates it any way he likes. He turns evil

thoughts into good thoughts. The matrika shakti works

according to his will. Such a yogi is called a

conqueror of the senses.

One who understands the play of matrika shakti and

makes it still rises above pain and pleasure. One

cannot attain peace as long as he is driven by the

play of matrika shakti. For this reason, one has to

practice yoga. Through yoga, the movements of the mind

are stilled and the power of matrika is overcome.

An exerpt from the Shiva Sutras 'Nothing Exists That

Is Not Siva'

by Swami Muktananda - A Siddha Yoga Publication

Published by Syda Foundation

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April 6, 2014

I read this and while reading it I thought this really is expressed perfectly. As I am teaching about this now for over 35 years I was checking how correct (according to the Shaivite tradition) this was. And I could not find any flaw or wrong understanding in these words. I was thinking, wow, I could not have put this more precisely. And at the end I read it was from Swami Muktananda, who taught me all I know. No wonder :smile: )))!!!