Durga is the personified external energy of the Lord
The external potency of the Lord is called
prakṛti or bahiraṅga-śakti, the energy responsible for all the material
manifestations. It is thus defined by the śāstras:
gaur anādy-antavatī
sā janitrī bhūta-bhāvinī
sitāsitā ca raktā ca
sarva-kāma-dughā vibhoḥ
(Mantrikā Upaniṣad,
5)
“The
Supreme Lord’s external energy is the beginningless and endless genetrix, the
source of the manifestation of all created beings. It is white, red, and
black, and is compared to a cow from
which all desirable things can be milked.”
triguṇaṁ
taj-jagad-yonir anādi-prabhavāpyayam
acetanā parārthā ca
nityā satata-vikriyā
triguṇaṁ karmiṇāṁ kṣetraṁ
prakṛte rūpam ucyate
(Viṣṇu Purāṇa,
1.2.21; Govinda-bhāṣya, 1.4.10)
“Material nature is
beginningless, it is neither created nor destroyed. It consists of the three
material modes and is the source of this universe. It is unconscious, eternal,
unchanging, and meant for others. It is said to be the field where the
conditioned souls perform their actions under the spell of the modes.”
The mode of goodness is the cause
of illumination, self-satisfaction, knowledge, etc. The mode of passion causes
misery, sensual desires, fruitive work, attachment, greed, etc. The mode of
ignorance causes negligence, laziness, sleep, madness, darkness, illusion, etc.
The balance stage of these modes in the universe causes the universal
devastation. Their misbalance produces the creation of all material elements
and the material bodies of the conditioned souls. Thus, everything that exists
inside the universe is composed of a certain combination of the modes, among
which one is always predominant. For example, in the animals the mode of
ignorance is prominent; in the human beings, the mode of passion; and in the
demigods, the mode of goodness. By the interaction of the modes, the
mahat-tattva emanates, which is the substance from which all the material
elements will further appear. By the interaction of the mahat-tattva with the
modes, the ahaṅkāra becomes manifested, which causes the living entities to
falsely identify themselves with the material body. This is explained thus:
tebhyaḥ samabhavat
sūtraṁ mahān sūtreṇa saṁyutaḥ
tato vikurvato jāto
yo ‘haṅkāro vimohanaḥ
(Bhāgavatam, 11.24.6;
Govinda-bhāṣya, 2.3.6)
“From these modes arose the
primeval sūtra, along with the mahat-tattva. By the transformation of the
mahat-tattva was generated the false ego, the cause of the living entities’
bewilderment.”
By the interaction of the ahaṅkāra with the
mode of goodness, the mind and the presiding deities of the senses appear. By
the interaction of the ahaṅkāra with the mode of passion, the five
knowledge-acquiring senses and the five working senses appear. By the
interaction of the ahaṅkāra with the mode of ignorance, the five sense objects
become manifest, from which the five gross elements appear, namely ether, air,
fire, water, and earth.
vaikārikas taijasaś
ca tāmasaś cety ahaṁ tri-vṛt
tan-mātrendriya-manasāṁ
kāraṇaṁ cid-acin-mayaḥ
(Bhāgavatam, 11.24.7;
Govinda-bhāṣya, 2.3, Adhikarana 7)
“False ego, which is the cause of
physical sensation, the senses, and the mind, encompasses both spirit and
matter and manifests, in three varieties: in the modes of goodness, passion and
ignorance.”
arthas tan-mātrikāj
jajñe tāmasād indriyāṇi ca
taijasād devatā āsann
ekādaśa ca vaikṛtāt
(Bhāgavatam,
11.24.7-8)
“From false ego in the mode of ignorance came
the subtle physical perceptions, from which the gross elements were generated.
From false ego in the mode of passion came the senses, and from false ego in
the mode of goodness arose the eleven demigods.”
mahat-tattvād vikurvāṇād
bhagavad-vīrya-sambhavāt
kriyā-śaktir ahaṅkāras
tri-vidhaḥ samapadyata
vaikārikas taijasaś
ca tāmasaś ca yato bhavaḥ
manasaś cendriyāṇāṁ
ca bhūtānāṁ mahatām api
(Ibidem, 3.26.23-24;
Govinda-bhāṣya, 2.4.6)
“The material ego springs up from the
mahat-tattva, which evolved from the Lord’s own energy. The material ego is
endowed predominantly with active power of three kinds—good, passionate and
ignorant. It is from these three types of material ego that the mind, the
senses of perception, the organs of action, and the gross elements evolve.”
In summary, prakṛti expands into
mahat-tattva, false-ego, intelligence, mind, ether, air, fire, water, earth,
the five knowledge-acquiring senses, the five working senses, and the five
sense objects, thus totalizing twenty-four material elements, which comprise
the field of activities for the living entity.
