The Goddess Parā
The Goddess Parā
2016
pure solid crystal
Large: 28 x 20 x 20 cm
Medium: 21 x 15 x 15 cm
Small: 14 x 10 x 10 cm
Edition of 108 + 1 Artist Proof
The Goddess Parā (The Supreme Goddess) is the lineage deity of the non-dual Śakta-Śaiva tradition known as the Trika. According to the Trika, She is the Goddess of primordial Creation, the subtlest power of Consciousness to represent itself to itself. This Goddess is considered the highest principle of reality, completely out of the mind’s reach, yet at the same time to be experienced at every moment as our own self-awareness, present in all things. She is the embodiment of pratibhā (creative inspiration, intuitive insight and divine knowledge), icchā (the initial pure impulse of Consciousness to manifest) and camatkāra (sheer wonder, awe-struck surprise, a fully expanded free-flowing state of self-awareness). She is described as having a body of crystal which expresses purity, subtlety, luminosity and omnipresence. Being the very first glimpse of the immanent as it emerges in union with the transcendent, The Goddess Parā is the motive force that impels the light of Consciousness into the variegated array of diverse forms that we experience as the world.
Textual Source:
“One should visualise Parā with her own form, sitting on a lotus in the air, with the book of all knowledge in her left hand, O Beautiful One, and holding a beautiful heavenly rosary of crystal in her right hand. One is to visualise a garland on her neck, a garland of heavenly beauty, made up with beads which are round like the buds of the Kadamba tree and which shine forth like fire. This garland reaches down to her feet and is as spotless as crystal all over”
~ Siddhayogeśvarīmata 12.4-10
Acknowledgments:
This artwork was created with the guidance of Christopher H. Wallis and Charles E. Ellick, in the Newar style.
Further Reading
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