D (Devotee): There is a trinity (Tripuṭi) of the knower, the known, and knowledge. You say that behind this, there is a unity that supports it. What is this unity? Is it powerful?
M (Ramana Maharshi): It is an all-powerful existence.
D: You often say, and the scriptures also state, that Brahman (the Absolute Reality) is immobile. But now you say it is all-powerful. Does this not imply movement?
M: Power implies movement. Though Īśvara (the Lord, the manifest aspect of Brahman) moves through His power (Śakti—divine energy, the force of manifestation), He Himself transcends movement. He is Achala (immovable) and Atīta (beyond all limitations).
D: Is there no difference between Śakti (power) and Śakta (the powerful one, or the possessor of power)?
M: No, the difference is only in how you perceive it. There is only one Truth.
If one looks at movement, they call it Śakti (Power).
If one settles in the foundation of that movement (Āśraya—the underlying support), they call it Achala (the immovable).
If the former is Vyāpāra (activity, operation), the latter is Āśraya (the support, the substratum). Śakti (force) and Vastu (substance, Reality) are inseparable; they are two aspects of the same Truth.
However, without Śakti—without movement, activity, or manifestation—the substance (Vastu, the Real) is not perceived or apprehended.
D: What is the true nature of Śakti?
M: Śakti is eternal, coeval with Īśvara (the Lord). It has no independent existence apart from Him. It is the eternal Vyāpāra (activity, dynamism) of Īśvara, through which countless worlds are created.
D: But worlds are created and then destroyed. How can you say that this activity (Vyāpāra) is eternal?
M: Even if, in the course of time, all worlds dissolve, Śakti still persists in a latent form.
In other words, Śakti does not perish. What is this movement? Every moment there is creation, and every moment there is destruction. There is no absolute creation and no absolute destruction—both are movement, and movement is eternal.
D: So, should I understand that Śakti (power) and Vastu (substance), Vyāpāra (activity) and Āśraya (support), are both aspects of the same Truth?
M: Yes. However, this entire movement—the creation—is only a formulation (Kalpanā, an imagination or conceptualization) of the Lord.
If this Kalpanā (conceptualization) is transcended, what remains is Svarūpa (one’s true nature, the pure Self).
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Vira Chandra: In this profound exchange, Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi articulates the nature of Reality in a manner that closely aligns with the teachings of Kashmiri Shaivism, particularly its doctrine of Spanda (the dynamic pulse of Consciousness) and the principle of Sadāśiva (the unity of Śiva and Śakti in non-dual awareness).
At first glance, the question posed by the devotee is rooted in an apparent paradox: how can Brahman, which is said to be immobile (Achala), also be all-powerful? Does power not imply movement, and does movement not contradict immobility? Ramana resolves this by clarifying that while Īśvara (the manifest Lord) moves through His Śakti (Power), He Himself transcends that movement. This corresponds precisely with Trika Shaivism’s assertion that Śiva, the ultimate Reality, is both Nirvikalpa (beyond activity) and yet ever engaged in Spanda, the vibration through which all manifestation arises.
Ramana further elaborates that the distinction between Śakti (Power) and Śakta (the Possessor of Power) is only a matter of perspective. This directly resonates with the foundational teaching of Kashmiri Shaivism that there is no essential difference between Śiva and Śakti—they are two aspects of the same Reality. When one perceives movement, one calls it Śakti; when one perceives the substratum of that movement, one calls it Śiva. In the same way, Trika philosophy asserts that Śakti is not an independent entity but the self-awareness (Vimarśa) of Śiva, without which Śiva would remain an unmanifest, undifferentiated principle (Prakāśa).
Furthermore, when Ramana states that Śakti is eternal and does not perish even when worlds dissolve, this aligns perfectly with the Shaiva view of the unmesa and nimesa—the cosmic pulsation of expansion and contraction. Just as waves rise and fall but the ocean remains, the cycles of creation and dissolution occur within Spanda, yet Reality itself is never lost. This dynamic eternity is fundamental to Shaiva cosmology, which holds that manifestation is neither an absolute beginning nor an absolute end but an ongoing play of Śiva’s self-expression.
Finally, Ramana’s most significant statement comes at the end: that this entire play of Śakti, this movement of creation and dissolution, is ultimately Kalpanā—a conceptualization. When this conceptualization is transcended, what remains is Svarūpa (one’s true nature). This is a crucial realization that corresponds to the transition from Sadāśiva, where dual awareness (the experiencer and the experienced) still exists, to Paraśiva, where all distinctions dissolve. In Kashmiri Shaivism, this is known as the dissolution of Māyīya Mala—the last veil that separates one from the direct recognition of the Self as Pūrṇa (complete, absolute).
Thus, in this short dialogue, Ramana Maharshi conveys a truth that is identical to the highest realization of Shaiva philosophy: that Reality is neither movement nor stillness, neither creation nor destruction, but a unity beyond conceptualization. When the mind ceases to project distinctions, what remains is the Self—self-evident, formless, and free.
This teaching, though simple in words, holds the essence of non-dual realization, transcending all philosophical systems and leading directly to the core of Truth itself.
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