The Valley Spirit

 

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The Valley Spirit

The valley spirit dies not, aye the same; the female mystery thus do we name. The first couplet of Tao Teh King Part 6 introduces us to the valley spirit. The valley spirit is nothing but the latent divine feminine energy lying at the base of our spine, which we call the kundalini shakti in India.

Kunadlini as Mulaprakriti, is not just primal power, but Primal Consciousness. It is very crucial to understand this because the seeker can be fooled into thinking that the Kundalini needed ‘awakening’ and then could be directed or ‘used’ in any way. This would be really absurd! Just imagine that the Creative Consciousness of the Universe needed some Yogi to awaken Her! Swami Rama says, “In Her true nature Kundalini is not even energy but the consciousness behind all energy. We need awakening – not Her. She is the one who awakens us, not the other way around.”

The valley spirit has boundaries, it has definition and form. It is circumscribed and thereby has characteristics, qualities and definition. It is saguna, with form and qualities, rather than nirguna – without any such things. There are people who worship the form and there are others who worship the formless – both paths lead to the same true source – as the ultimate truth is only one.

So, the Valley Spirit is Mahashakti, the Great Power, Mulaprakriti, the Primal Energy that forms all things, the Great Mother. She is all that can be spoken about, all that can be known by sentient beings, and within which they live and evolve. All endeavours towards self-discovery must be in conformity with her ways, with her laws. That is why mystics in the East and West feel such an affinity to the Divine Mother aspect of Reality.

Birth and death, appearing and disappearing, emerging and withdrawing, forming and breaking apart: all are the Mother’s doing. Constant change is the basic trait of her realm, but it is not real, it is the magical power of Maya. Neither birth nor death are real, they are dreams, motion pictures of the mind. Why? Because everything is the Mother, who certainly does not die but remains the same.

The manifestation of name and form does not last forever, but is eventually withdrawn for a period and then projected again in a perpetual cycle. But it does last for a vast period of time.

Here we have the secret of using the Mother’s power in our life: it must be used gently, in peace and intelligent reflection, and without the desires that are the inevitable bringers of pain. Our use must also be free from coercion of any kind such as the opinion of others or fear in any form. If we can so live, then we will pass beyond the Mother’s realm into the Transcendent Eternal where no illusion or suffering can ever come.