The five shaktis of God in His/Her first Aspect are srishti–creation, stithi–perservation, samhara–dissolution, anugraha–revealing grace and tirobhava–concealing grace.

The five shaktis or powers of God govern the universe, including our life. These powers animate nature and life. Just observe the world around, at any place and every point in time the processes of generation, preservation and destruction are in play. There is not one static moment where God's power is not active. 

When a meditator contemplates God's activity in deep meditation. He will experience how seamless, intricate and vibrant the five shaktis animate everything in his body and environment. When he comes out of meditation after this mystical experience he will explain this experience as a divine dance. This is an allegory that describes the workings of God's five shaktis. This is why in Hinduism we term God's activity as the leela or the tandava; and God is also the Divine Dancer or the King of Dance as in the form of Lord Nataraja. 

God's five shaktis operarte in all scales, from the grand cosmic scales of planetary orbits to the minutea in the workings of every cell of our body. Thus God operates in our lives in keeping the world we live in, in balance and body and mind we inhabit in equilibrium. 

In this insight section we will study each of the five shaktis in their function and see how they effect the animation of life around us and within us. The five shaktis can be divided into two category. The first is the are spiritual-physical shaktis. These are shaktis that effect spiritual as well as physical matter. The shaktis in this category are the srishti, stithi and samhara shaktis; or the powers of creation, preservation and dissolution. The other two shaktis, tirobhava and anugraha are spiritual forces, they do not effect physical matter directly. These two purely spiritual shaktis effect mainly the perceptive functions of the soul and the intellect within us.

 

 

Srishti, Stithi and Samhara

Srishti, stithi and samhara are energies of nature. Nature in the context of God's powers operates in both the spiritual and the physical realms. Spiritual nature refers to the realm of perception, thoughts and feelings; physical nature refers to the realm of physical elements and the five senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell). 

Srishti–Creation: The Universe orginated from God's power of Creation. According to the Scriptures and God realized gurus the impulse for Creation came out of God's Being as the vibration of the sound Aum. From the vibration Aum, energy expanded into space and continued to evolve until the creation of physical matter. The description of God's Creative impulse into the evolutes that make and govern Creation is described in the list of the tattvas. The tattvas is an evolution list of all the spiritual and physical elements that make up Creation. 

From a more practical perspective, the manifestations of God's creative energy are easily evident in life. The birth of a child, building of a new building, innovations in technology and social systems (including creation of new laws and philosophy) are all God's shakti of srishti in motion. When our body creates new cells in the process of growth or replacement, it is also srishti at work. Even the process of developing new ideas in our minds is srishti shakti; this is how intimate God is with us, that is even within the processes of our body and mind. It is said by wise gurus, that not even an atom moves but by God's will.

In forms of Paramatma, the power of Creation is represented mainly by implements of sound such as musical instruments or the conch. This is to depict that Creation began as an impulse of vibration, specifically the mystical sound Aum. The damaru drum that God Shiva holds, or the conch that God Vishnu holds or the veenai that Goddess Saraswati holds are all representative of the srishti shakti. Apart from from sound symbols, the lotus bud, writing stylus and Scriptures also represent Creation. 

 

Among the Trinity as described in the Vedas, Lord Brahma is the manifestation of Paramatma whose duty is Creation. In the mythical stories of the Saivite, Vaishnavite and Smarta sects of Hinduism Lord Brahma is often portrayed as the Creator. Whereas in the Shakta sect, the creator is Goddess Parvathi, or Goddess Saraswathi.

 

 

Stithi–Preservation: Having created the Universe, laws have to be set in place to govern it. This is the main role of God's powers of Preservation. Preservation maintains Creation and keeps everything in stabitlity and working harmoniously according to a specific set of limits or rules. Physical laws such as gravity, electromagnetism and so forth; biological systems in ecology and physiological processes in our body that are involved in maintaining physical life on Earth,  spriritual laws such as karma and dharma are all orchestrated by God's stithi shakti.

When we maintain anything we are participating in God's stithi shakti. Perhaps you are cleaning your home, doing your chores on schedule, going to work everyday to maintain your monthly income; these are all activities of the powers of preservation. Health care, learning, the maintenence of community laws and social systems are also industries of preservation, as is recording knowledge. So law enforcers, teachers, doctors, authors, maintanence workers are all professionals within the domains of sthithi shakti. 

Among the Vedic Trinity, Lord Vishnu is the preserver. This is also the case with the Saivite and Smarta sects. In the Vaishnavite sect Lord Indra, is the preserver and in the Shakta sect Goddess Lakshmi the giver of wealth and abundance is the Preserver. The implements that are held by Paramatma to represent the powers of Preservation include the water filled kumbha, animals and plants such as the parrot, sugarcane, flowers and sweet foods. Hand gestures such as the abhaya mudra and the chin mudra also indicate the stithi shakti. 

 

 

 

 

Samhara–Dissolution: The Universe stays in equilibrium or in a state of harmony because of the process of change. This is the main function of the activities of God's powers of dissolution.  If not for the power of dissolution or destruction nothing can be rejuvenated or maintained. Samhara shakti is the power of God that keeps the Universe in activity and in a delicate balance. The perception of time is an important manifestations of the powers of dissolution.The passing of time from hours to days, weeks, months, years is possible because of the natural cycle of creation of the day and its subsequent dissolution by the setting sun. The beginning and subsequent end from one moment to another allows us to coordinate life; without which, life would be aimless.

Dissolution is the agent of change in our life and its circumstance. Using willpower to forge ahead to progress and suceed in endeavours, the ability to breakup old and useless habit patterns and the desire to fight injustice is also part of the divine acts of dissolution in our favour. Any form of growth or rejuvenation can only proceed successfully if it is built on a good foundation of dissolution, just like the process of the disgetion of food to provide nutrition for the body's needs. We are also protected by God through samhara shakti. This function can manifest in our lives in many ways, for instance the functions of the immune system in our body that destroys harmful pathogens and even the existence of security forces in our nation or community.

Lord Rudra or Bhairava is mentioned in the Vedas as the destroyer among the Trinity. In the Saivite and Vaishnavite sects, Lord Rudra is the destroyer. Whereas in the Smart sect, it is Lord Shiva and in the Shakta sect it is either Goddess Durga or Kali. The implements held by deities of Paramatma that indicate samhara shakti include weaponry like bow and arrows, swords, clubs and the sudarhshana chakra. The element of fire also represents the powers of dissolution. Another place where samhara shakti is represented is in the decorated archway that the deity is under. This archway is called the Tiruvasi. See the diagram below to see what a Tiruvasi looks like and how it represents samhara shakti as the perception of time.

 

 

 

 

 The Tiruvasi

 

The being in the middle of the arch of fire is Maha Kaala, who represents time. More accurately Maha Kaala is the Devourer of Time. He shares this gruesome distinction as a reminder to the worshipper that the material world we live in is constantly subject to change and therefore not permanent. This is also made clear by the Arch of Fire that surrounds the outer rims of the arch. A Hindu deity sits under the Tiruvasi, as the refuge of devotees from the unrelenting effects of time. It is also a reminder to the devotee to seek God, who is the only Absolute Reality, who can liberate devotees from attachments to the impermanent world of duality and bestow eternal bliss. 

 

 

 

Anugraha and Tirobhava

Anugraha and tirobhava are powers of God in the domain of arul. Arul is Grace and can be defined as any happening by God's design in our life that has to do with our spiritual evolution or the fulfillment of our prayer requests by Him. When God gives, we are receiving Grace. Our very life, the opportunity to live in the world, is God’s Grace. An answered prayer is God’s Grace. Protection from calamity or suffering is God’s Grace. Spiritual revelations or knowledge is also God’s Grace.

Tirobhava–The Power of Obscuring Grace: Obscuring Grace has to do with the obscuring or covering of knowledge. This covering limits our ability to access certain levels of spiritual knowledge before we are spiritually ready to accept them. Tirobhava shakti effects our perception by creating a barrier between the spiritual and the material. This barrier makes us feel distinct or separate from God and allows us to experience this world without the encumberances of extra sensory perception that we are capable of but not necessarily ready for. Basically it allows us to experience the physical world as a human instead of a soul; and keeps hidden certain knowledge like memories from our past lives, so we can live fully in the current life without troublesome distractions. The functions of tirobhava shakti manifest in an individual as anava and maya. Anava is ones personality or generally translated as the ego; and maya is ones perception of reality.

The activity of tirobhava shakti can be likened to parents protecting their children from complete knowledge of worldly life. For parents and teachers this is meant to preserve their children's  innoncence until the right time when they are mature enough to learn about the true nature of relationships and challenges in the world. Thus responsible parents and teachers reveal knowledge to children in stages and in small doses so their children are not overwhelmed with information that can confuse them early on in life. In this way God also hides the knowledge of the complete truths of life from us and reveals them to us in stages as we mature spiritually through lives lived on Earth. However the reason is not to corrupt our innocence, instead it is so we are able to experience the material world and what it has to offer us as humans. 

The reality of the material world is also the effect of God's power of obscuring grace. For instance a spiritutally enlightened person, for whom much of the barrier between the spiritual and material has been removed by God's other power–revealing grace, will claim that the physical world is impermanent and therefore teach his or her disciples to cultivate detachment. This is because the guru has knowledge and experience of the spiritual realms and is able to compare the physical with the spiritual and therefore surmise that spiritual reality is a greater reality and hence a more worthy pursuit in life. However not all souls are ready for this knowledge. Most souls still need to experience the material world and what it has to offer. For these souls the material world will seem as the only concrete reality worth putting their effort into. Tirobhava shakti will keep them in this state of ignorance or denial of spiritual realities until such a time that they are ready to have their veils of ignorance removed. This is part of the process of spiritual evolution.

Obscuring grace is also a protective power of God. For instance when some prayer request especially for material need is left unanswered, it is because God forsees dangers in the future stemming from fulfillment of the request. On the other hand God also uses obscuring grace to fulfill our prayers–that is by disguising His activity in the fulfillment of our request by making it seem as if the fulfillment is coming as a natural course of action in our life. 

There are no deities that specifically represent tirobhava shakti. In symbolism, tirobhava shakti is represented by the depiction of God sitting or standing on a lotus flower. Whether in stone carving or paintings, most deities are placed sitting or standing on a lotus flower. The lotus flower is a symbol of spiritual wisdom and enlightenment. God's positioning on it represents His or Her control over the process of enlightenment (spiritual evolution) through tirobhava shakti. This is an indirect symbolism as the shakti is a subtle spiritual force; a more direct symbolism occasionally seen on deities is holding a lotus bud or flower upside down; more rare is depiction of God with His or Her foot on the head or body of a demon called muyalakan, who represents the selfish ego and ignorance.

 

 

 

 

Anugraha–The Power of Revealing Grace: The opposite polarity of tirobhava is anugraha–God's activity of revealing Grace. While tirobhava is God's power to limit, anugraha is God's limitless benevolence. Through anugraha God lifts the veils of worldly and selfish ignorance that covers the young soul in stages to allow the soul to discover its innate divinity. Anugraha causes the process of spiritual evolution–the goal of which is for the soul to reunite in undifferentiated union with God. 

Anugraha is the precursor to the workings of karma and dharma. Karma, in its activity teaches the soul about actions and their relating consequences. Through karma, the soul will learn from experience about living in accordance to the path of dharma. Living according to dharma which include guidelines for virtuous living cause the spiritual growth of the soul. Eventually the soul will reach a point of spiritual maturity when God will apply anugraha directly to the soul (karma and dharma are indirect applications of anugraha). When this happens the soul will yearn to know God intimately. A desire to know God that is often analogized in Scriptures as if one is struck by the need to fulfill the pang of thirst will decend on the the devotee. This longing for divine closeness is the impetus for the soul to tread the path toward God Realization, which eventually leads to the attainment of enlightenment and moksha.

Through anugraha God also grants boons, answers prayers and gives blessings. Discoveries and revelations of new knowledge or truths are also part of the activity of anugraha. You may have experienced a moment of revelation–that is when you were pondering a problem or trying to work out a solution to a quandry–when you suddenly get a brilliant idea or come upon a solution, that you know with all confidence was absolutely the right answer before you even applied the solution. Such solutions or ideas are coming out of anugraha from God, that is why it is accompanied by the feeling of confidence or 'rightness.'  This is possilbe because of our spiritual connection with God through our soul. When we are intensely concentrated on a subject, our awareness naturally enters into the state of meditation. In this state of meditation, we access God's Omniscient mind and through anugraha God 'provides' us an answer. Scientific dicoveries, technological innovations, philosophical breakthroughs, spiritual wisdom all come through God's revealing grace of anugraha.

As in tirobhava, there are no specific deities within Hindu sects that represent anugraha. In general anugraha is symbolised by the feet of God. The feet of God is seen as the dispenser of Grace. Infact God may also be worshipped as paduka. Paduka are the holy sandals of God, which represent His Feet, the source of Grace. This practice is seen most evidently in the protocols of guru worship. God realized gurus, who are recognized as God's tools of anugraha in the physical plane, are represented by their paduka in worship by their disciples; and scriptures state that the most potent spiritual initiation that a guru can give a disciple is by placing his feet on the head of the disciple. Usually deities who are the Lords of Learning or Lords of Gurus are recognized as manifestations of Paramatma who are representative of anugraha. Deities such as Sadashiva, Dakshinamurthi, Saraswati, Brahma, Krishna, Dattatreya (Lord of healing and medicine) are often worshipped as the bestower of anugraha.

 

  

  

 

 

 

 

   

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