The Divine Shakti in Its Various Forms

When we recognise that the world is an actual manifestation of the Divine, we can begin to appreciate the Divine in all things that we experience, all things that we see, all that we hear, all that we feel or touch or smell. The Divine manifests through his power, Shakti, which takes various forms depending on the intention and the specific plane on which that manifestation is taking place. We can identify a number of planes that go to make up our world, including a mental plane, the domain of mind, where thought and its operations are the controlling force; a vital plane, the domain of the life energy, where force and movement rule; the physical plane, the domain of forms that take shape and express the Divine through form; and the psychic plane, the domain of the soul that supports the development and expression of the psychic being.

Each of these planes is manifested as the result of the action of one of the four great powers of the Divine Shakti. Maheshwari embodies the power of wisdom and knowledge and rules the mental plane. Mahakali embodies the power of force in action, and thus, rules the vital plane. Mahalakshmi embodies the power of beauty and harmony and thus rules the physical plane. Mahasaraswati is the power that oversees the growth and development of the divine presence in the soul, and is the embodiment of love in action, ruling over the psychic plane.

In his book, The Mother, Sri Aurobindo describes these four great powers in detail in the sixth chapter, known by many as the Matri Upanishad, the Upanishad of the Mother, the Divine Shakti who manifests the divine intention in the creation through the operation of these various powers on their respective planes of action.

The Mother notes: “On the physical plane the Divine expresses himself through beauty, on the mental plane through knowledge, on the vital plane through power and on the psychic plane through love.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Powers Within, Chapter XVII The Vital, pg. 132