The Secret Doctrine of Goddess Lalita
(Sri LalitaAṣṭottara Rahasyārthamu)
23. parāpara 24. prasiddhā
She who is both parā and apara.
She who is celebrated.
These nāma-s reveal the nature of the Goddess, the Supreme Self, that one attains as a result of vimarṣa. She is parāpara, the one who is both superior and inferior. That which is un-manifested and inaccessible to the mind and senses (Consciousness) is parā and that which is manifested and accessible to the mind and senses (world) is apara. Devī permeates both parā and apara. We can experience Her by perceiving parā as apara, Consciousness as the manifested world, and apara as parā, the world as an appearance of Consciousness.
As we discussed earlier, śakti appears as though remote and not in our direct experience. When śakti manifests, It appears as the world. The names and forms we see in the world are permeated by cītsakti, Consciousness. Therefore, when we see names and forms, we must cognize the underlying Consciousness that pervades them. When we do so, forms will appear as the formless and the formless will appear as forms. There will be no difference between the two. Everything will appear as one undivided whole. These mantras are pointing to that One Universal Consciousness, which is the very nature of Devī who is both form and formless.
A seeker must be capable of such deep enquiry and contemplation. The phenomenal world is always visible. We not only see forms, such as buildings, etc., we also see formless entities, such as space. Because space is formless, it pervades every object internally as well as externally. Isn’t it strange that we see the formless space the same way as we see forms? Both are objects to our awareness and we see them both (object and surrounding space) in the same instance. Yet we cannot integrate the two. We see them as separate entities, one as a solid object and the other as empty space. If we can train our minds to perceive names and forms as solidified space, we will be able to cognize parā, the supreme un-manifested formless Consciousness that pervades every object. A refined mind is capable of such a vision.
Earnest seekers will find this practice extremely useful. As they mature in the practice, names and forms will lose their specificity, and everything will appear as space. When forms lose their specificity, there will be no difference between apara and parā, the manifest and the un-manifest. As described in Katha Upanishad (2-10), everything will appear as one: “What indeed is here, the same is there; what is there, the same is here; from death to death he goes; who sees here as if different.”
When the division between parā and apara vanishes, Self is perceived as everything and everything as the Self. Devī will appear in Her essential form as Pure Consciousness. We will see Her effortlessly everywhere. Effort is necessary only if She is visible sometimes and not at other times. As the Self, She is ever present. No effort is necessary to grasp one’s own Self. Therefore, Devī is parāpara prasiddhā for the one who realizes Her true nature.