The Secret Doctrine of Goddess Lalita
(Sri LalitaAṣṭottara Rahasyārthamu)
13 duṣṭadūrā; 14. śiṣṭēṣṭā
She who is unapproachable by the wicked.
She who is loved by the righteous; She who is the chosen deity; She who loves righteous people.
Those who cannot see Devī as the all-pervading Pure Consciousness are duṣṭa or wicked. Devī remains unreachable and ungraspable by such people. They are regarded as “sinners” because of the three doṣā-s they commit. The first doṣā is avidyā (ignorance), which leads to the second called kāma (desire), which in turn leads to the third called karma (action). Lack of proper knowledge of the Self (ātmā) is avidyā. Due to avidyā, Self appears as the anātmā (the not-self - world, objects, people, relationships, etc.) When anātmā appears, desire arises. This is kāma, desire for worldly pleasures. kāma produces action (karma) to satisfy the desires. Action (karma) produces results. Results, good or bad, must be experienced. Hence, the source of saṃsāra are these three doṣā-s: avidyā, kāma, and karma.
The extent to which we are subject to these doṣā-s to the extent we are duṣṭa-s. Hence, Devī appears as though out of our reach. In reality, She is right here, but hidden from us. Like three thick curtains, the three doṣā-s hide Her from our view. That is why we cannot grasp Her. Hence, She is called duṣṭadūrā, the one who is unattainable by duṣṭa-s.
How can we attain Her? How can we get rid of all our desires and dissolve our mind in Her completely? This second nāma, śiṣṭēṣṭā, answers this question. We must get rid of these doṣā-s. When these doṣā-s disappear, the duṣṭa transforms into a śiṣṭa, the noble one. Such noble ones are dear to Devī because their only desire is to know the truth. This is a common occurrence – to first desire a thing, then to make an effort to attain it, and finally to make it our own.
For instance, if we desire to eat a particular type of sweet, if our desire is strong enough, we will explore all the ways in which we can quickly acquire the sweet and satisfy our desire. We now have a desire to attain Devī. Although Devī is our very own Self, we have forgotten this truth over several life times. Now that we desire to know Her, we are inspired to seek Her. As our desire becomes stronger, our effort to attain Her also becomes stronger and will eventually culminate in experiencing Her as our own Self. Because She is desired and sought by śiṣṭa-s and She in turn favors them, She is śiṣṭēṣṭā.
Sri Krishna echoes this truth in Bhagavad Gita, Ch 7-17 as follows: “I consider them to be the highest, who worship Me with knowledge, and are steadfastly and exclusively devoted to Me. I am very dear to them and they are very dear to Me.”
The desire to attain Devī is not like a desire to attain material objects, such as sweets. In order to satisfy our desire for sweets, we must either make them from scratch or acquire them from a store. No such transactions are necessary in satisfying our desire for Devī. Consciousness pervades everything. It does not have to be newly created or acquired from some distant place. It is readily present as our own Self. All that we need to do is to remove the three doṣā-s that conceal It. We will then experience Devī as our very own Self. This recognition of the divine nature of our Self is pratyabhijñā. Such a recognition is the only effort required by śiṣṭa-s.