282 BHAGABATI GITA Before the triple worlds were manifest, Coeval with myself was only Sat*- The Highest Self-All Consciousness Supreme- Subtle-beyond all thought-Unspeakable. And He, Beginningless, was passionless, Alike of motion and emotion void; Bereft of quality-bereft, methought. Of pow'r of love in answer to mine own. He breathed not, moved not, spake not word to me, His co-mate for all time inseparable. This must not be, I thought within myself, And straight upon his eyelids lighted I As Yogamaya, † lulling him to sleep. As the All-Conscious all unconscious lay, I smiled, and lo! light filled the empty Void, And all the regions all at once arose! I drop the germ, which Dharma or the Law Of Evolution warms to life and growth, From smallest atom up to highest soul. For Evolution's but the casting off The vicious skin of Evil, that impedes The onward march of beings to their goal. Existence. † According to the Tantric doctrine of Creation, Bramhan or Shiva represents the formless, changeless consciousness in a static state, and Shakti. His formative active principle in His kinetic aspect. Before creation Shakti throws a veil of unconsciousness (Yogamaya) over Shiva. The function of Shakti is to negate, i.c. to negate consciousness and to make it appear to Itself as unconscious, because the formless cannot assume form unless formlessness is negated. It is only by negating consciousness to itself that consciousness becomes its own object in the form of the universe. Yogamaya corresponds to of the Sankhya and Maya of the Vedanta.
