Читать книгу Ashtanga Yoga - The Intermediate Series - Gregor Maehle - Страница 48

The first state is called the unmanifest state; in it rajas, tamas, and sattva are in equilibrium. There is no manifestation — no objects or phenomena — because the gunas cancel each other out. In Western science we call that the state before the Big Bang. Indic thought calls this state prakrti. This beautiful Sanskrit term, which gave rise to such important English words as procreation and practical, can be translated as “procreativity” or simply “nature.”

Yoga sees prakrti as an unconscious (acetanam) matrix.¹ The Supreme Being in the form of the Lord Krishna describes the very same prakrti as a machine operated upon by Him,² and the Agama Shastra describes it as the Great Goddess Uma Parvati herself.³ We need not be disturbed by these differences, as all three views are correct and describe aspects of prakrti. What is important is that during the prakrti state all phenomena are unmanifest. There is no universe, only the infinite eternal consciousness called Brahman.

In the unmanifest state, in the Brahman, there exists already a potential, a divine intention to bring forth the entire creation. This divine intention is called shabda Brahman, or the vibration aspect of infinite consciousness. Thus the unmanifest state has a sound, called para (beyond). Para is a divine sound that has no physical manifestation; only in the most advanced states of samadhi can it be heard. Sound at the para stage can be perceived only from the sahasrara chakra — the crown energy center, which lies not within the body but above the crown of the head — where consciousness is realized. The para sound can be “heard” in the highest state of samadhi, when shakti (life force) ascends all the way to the sahasrara chakra. Through the “hearing” of the para sound, the yogi travels “beyond” relative existence and enters the state of Brahman.