The Glories of Yogamaya

Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyana Gosvāmī Mahārāja Yogamāyā has so many forms, and we should never commit any offence to any of them. We should give them appropriate respect because they are the śakti of Bhagavān, but we should not perform any give-and-take transactions with them. This should be the only taking: “Please give your mercy to us so our enjoying spirit will go away.” Otherwise, this bartering mentality will lead us into material enjoyment. That should be our only prayer to them, and towards our most worshipful goddesses, the gopīs, we should have a mood of following and serving them. In some places this potency of Bhagavān is known as mahā-vibhūti, in some places as Yogamāyā, and in some places as ātma-māyā. In Bhagavad-gītā (4.6) we find the words sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā: “I incarnate by My internal energy.” What is the meaning of ātma-māyā? That potency of Bhagavān in His natural form. Where does this ātma-māyā come from? Who is its root? Śrīmatī Rādhikā. By the medium of this potency, saccid- ānanda, Bhagavān’s enjoyment takes place. This Yogamāyā potency is eternal (nitya), factual (satya), beginningless (anādi), and unlimited (ananta). She took birth along with Kṛṣṇa, so how can she be anādi, beginningless? Prior to her own birth, she arranged for Baladeva Prabhu to appear as the seventh child in the womb of Devakī and then she herself took birth from the womb of Yaśodā later. So because she performed some activity before taking birth, she is eternal, and is therefore known as Sanātanī. This Yogamāyā is the one who increases bhajanānanda, the happiness experienced by Kṛṣṇa’s servants. This Yogamāyā, taking the essence of the hlādinī and saṁvit potencies together, takes a devotee progressively through the stages of śraddhā, bhāva, prema, and all the way up to mahābhāva. As if feeding the devotees milk, she nurtures them in so many ways, and she arranges for a soul who has attained perfection in sādhana to appear in the womb of a gopī. The personification of that Yogamāyā, Paurṇamāsī, is the mother of Sāndīpani Muni and resides in Nandagrāma. In many ways she increases rasa, either by providing a stimulus, or by personally doing so as Paurṇamāsī. She increases Yaśodā’s vātsalya-rasa, she increases the cowherd boys’ sakhya-rasa, and she increases the dāsya-bhāva of those in that rasa. She enhances all of the rasas and nurtures all living entities. She is the mother of variegated bhajanānanda, and if one doesn’t take shelter of her, his bhakti cannot increase. This Yogamāyā is the foundation of the Lord’s many kinds of incarnations. She makes all the arrangements in regard to Bhagavān’s dress, appearance, ornaments, and pastimes. On one of the many occasions when Kṛṣṇa played the flute, the gopīs went into a state of bewilderment. Some were wearing ornaments in the wrong places, and others placed make-up in places where it should not have been applied. They were in varying awkward conditions. Who arranged all of this? Yogamāyā. Their state of disarray increased their beauty one million times. Yogamāyā was the cause of this. Suppose one gopī puts an ankle bracelet around her neck, and a necklace around her ankle. When she goes before Kṛṣṇa, He will see it and say, “Oh, you have arranged your ornaments so beautifully!” So tell me then: how much more valuable has it become? The cause is Yogamāyā. This potency of the Lord is durvitarkyā: inconceivable. Through Yogamāyā, Kṛṣṇa performs pastimes with His devotees, there is His mugdhatā (being spellbound in emotion), the mugdhatā of Yaśodā and all varieties of pastimes. From the very beginning it is done by her for the pleasure of Bhagavān and His devotees. In another form called Mahāmāyā, the activities of the demons are facilitated and the jīvas are bound within material existence. Vasudeva took Kṛṣṇa to Gokula and brought the girl Yogamāyā back from the bed of Yaśodā. As long as she was with Vasudeva, she remained as Yogamāyā; but when she arrived in the jail of Kaṁsa, and Kaṁsa lifted her up to kill her, then the activities of Mahāmāyā began, and Yogamāyā, in an invisible form, began her own activities. Exactly when she changed to her shadow form, no one knew. Seeing this, it must appear to most persons that they are one and the same potency, but they are not one. When she was placed in the jail and Kaṁsa grabbed her, she became eight-armed Durgā. He became astonished and frightened, and said, “Oh, you are directly my worshipful goddess!” But ultimately, at what point she left her form as Yogamāyā, and how she did this and that – it is all durvitarkyā, inconceivable. The potency of Bhagavān is eternal, factual, beginningless, unlimited and indescribable. It cannot be fully described in words and an ordinary man cannot portray its form. Only an elevated, liberated, great soul can describe a little of it. Otherwise it cannot be described at all. We know that we are not the body. Hundreds of thousands of times we have spoken this fact to others, but then we perform some sensual activity and again we forget this. If for one second we forget that we are not this body, then all of our determination for spiritual advancement may vanish. It happened to such a great liberated personality as Nārada. In the Rāmāyaṇa it is said that he was the cause of the appearance of Rāmacandra.* Selfishness for one penny can drown us in mundane consciousness. We must remain strong in bhajana, and with great humility we should perform sādhana-bhajana. Only by the influence of this Yogamāyā – when this potency is transmitted into the heart of a living entity – will the sentiment of bhakti arise, and we will be able to properly engage in the limbs of devotion headed by hearing and chanting. How is it done? By the essence of the hlādinī and saṁvit potencies together this sentiment arises in the heart of a jīva. This is called viśuddha-sattva, and this is the activity of Yogamāyā. She performs unlimited types of service in Vaikuṇṭha, Dvārakā, Mathurā and finally in Vṛndāvana. There are differences in bhakti, and also differences in rasa. What are the differences in bhakti? Sādhana-bhakti, bhāva-bhakti, vaidhībhakti, rāgānuga-bhakti, and within them also are niṣṭhā, ruci, āsakti, bhāva, and next, in nityasiddha devotees or in sādhana-siddha devotees are sneha, māna, praṇaya, rāga, anurāga, bhāva and mahābhāva. This variegatedness is all arranged by Yogamāyā. Bhakti is one; bhakti is not two. It is one sentiment, even though externally we see that there are sixty-four kinds, or nine kinds, or five kinds, or three kinds. Rasa is also one. Rasa is not many, but according to the different fields of activity of sādhakas, it appears to be in different forms. Śṛṅgāra is one complete rasa, mādhuryarasa. Manifest from that in sequence are vātsalya, sakhya and dāsya, and it appears in those forms. Bhagavān is one, not two, but according to the gradation of one’s devotion and the gradation of one’s knowledge, He appears as Brahman, Paramātmā, Bhagavān, Kṛṣṇa and so many other forms. The same moon, according to our angle of vision, appears as the lunar days of dvitīyā, trayodaśī, pañcamī and so on – the moon doesn’t change. It is the same moon; only our vision of it changes. Therefore sometimes it is amāvasyā, the new moon night, sometimes it is pūrṇimā, the full moon, and in precisely the same way, the same Bhagavān appears differently according to the gradation in a devotee’s sādhana. Similarly, Bhagavān’s potency is also seen according to the gradation in a devotee’s sādhana. All of this variegatedness is the arrangement of Yogamāyā, and therefore for Yogamāyā there are so many mantras:

śrī-paurṇamāsyaś caraṇāravindaṁ vande sadā bhakti-vitāna-hetum śrī-kṛṣṇa-līlābdhi-taraṅga-magnaṁ yasya manaḥ sarva-niṣevitāyāḥ

[I offer obeisances to the lotus feet of Śrī Paurṇamāsī-devī, who is Bhagavān’s Yogamāyā potency. She expands pure premabhakti for the feet of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, and her mind is always immersed in the ocean of Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes.]

kātyāyani mahā-māye mahā-yoginy adhīśvari nanda-gopa-sutaṁ devi patiṁ me kuru te namaḥ

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.22.4

[[The gopīs worshiped Yogamāyā with this mantra:] O Kātyāyanī-devī, O great power of the Lord, O possessor of great mystic potency and mighty controller of everything, please make the son of Nanda Mahārāja my pati. I offer my obeisances unto you.] All of the variegatedness in Bhagavān’s pastimes is arranged by Yogamāyā. Although the influence of this potency is indescribable, it is known to pure devotees, and they can describe it. Just as the glories of Bhagavān are indescribable, the glories of this potency are also indescribable, but knowing something of it, Bhagavān’s pure devotees have described it. Śukadeva Gosvāmī, Vyāsa, Parāśara, Nārada, Rūpa and Sanātana Gosvāmīs, Jīva Gosvāmī – many ācāryas have described it.

sā parāparayoḥ śaktyoḥ parā śaktir nigadyate prabhoḥ svābhāvikī sā hi khyātā prakṛtir ity api

Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta (2.4.178)

[Bhagavān’s potencies are classified either as superior or inferior. Yogamāyā is His superior, internal potency, and because she is Bhagavān’s natural potency, in some places she is known by the name Prakṛti.] This Yogamāyā and Mahāmāyā are called the parā, superior, and aparā, inferior, potencies, respectively. They are perceived as two forms. Actually they are one, but the original is parā, and its shadow is aparā. What is the meaning of “shadow”? That which is non-different from the original but does not perform the same functions, is called a shadow. But not like the shadow of a tree which performs no activity. Our shadow also performs no activity, but the shadow of Bhagavān’s potency is not inactive. In Goloka, Kṛṣṇa’s rāsa-līlā, Kṛṣṇa’s taking birth, devotees serving Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa’s form, the gopīs’ forms, the trees and plants there – everything is manifest by the influence of Yogamāyā and is true and eternal. And what are the activities of the aparaśakti? In different places in nature, by the action of this potency, some things are unreal, and some things are temporary. Some things are satya, real, and some things are asatya, false. All the relationships that we create in this world are false, whereas all of the objects of this world are true, but temporary. Shells from the ocean are real, and silver is also real, but the illusion of thinking the shells to be silver is asatya, unreal. These shells glitter just like silver, and both of these things are real. The seer is also real. Three things are real, but considering these shells to be silver is unreal. Or when there is a rope, a snake and a seer, these three things are also real, but the illusion of considering the rope to be a snake is unreal. At night, when we are walking along in the dark, we may step on a rope. Because it is a little stiff, it wraps around our foot and we cry out, “Snake! Snake!” Then with a lamp we take a look, and our fear disappears. We may have thought that a snake had bitten us and that we were going to die, but after some light comes, that illusion is dispelled. All of us are undoubtedly real, but to take it that “I am this body” is illusion. And to think that “all of these objects belong to me” is also illusion. What is “mine”? “I belong to Kṛṣṇa, and I am His servant.” Up to this point our conception is real. We should consider all objects as instruments to be employed in the service of Bhagavān, but instead we think, “I am their master.” On account of this, so much quarrelling and fighting is going on. Sādhus generally consider that nothing belongs to them, but when necessity for a certain object arises, even they claim ownership over it and fight amongst themselves. Therefore, this māyā-śakti is very peculiar. This potency is one, but the external potency binds the jīva in an illusory conception of himself and his surroundings, whereas the internal potency, Yogamāyā, illuminates within the jīva the knowledge of things related to Bhagavān and bhakti. We may pray to Mahāmāyā, “Please be merciful to us. Now we are a little entrapped in your illusion, but we pray to you for bhakti to the feet of Kṛṣṇa.” Excerpt from Going Beyond VaikuṇṭhaThe Glories of Yogamaya, Chapter 8 [CC-BY-ND Gaudiya Vedanta Publications]