Daily Signet

Continued meditations on the Mahavidyas…

The Silent Inertness of Dhumavati is Darkness, the darkness hidden in darkness. But she is not absolute absence of light, but rather Dhumavati is smoky hue, darkness impregnated with the seed of light. The smoke carries within it the particles of the heat of flame. Dhumavati is the state just before creation and also the ultimate state after the creation is withdrawn and readied for the next.  Dhumavati was at the very beginning, before the age of gods and is called “the Eldest”. Not only is she said to have been at the beginning, it is also said that she is the ultimate darkness of dissolution at the end of things as well. Thu,s she is also known as the “smoky swallower of the universes.” She is all potential, all seed, and all unrevealed potentialities are held in her obscure bosom. If Bhairavi represents the energetic heat of Tapas, Dhumavati is the coiled energy of inactivity. She holds in potentiality all creative principles.  She is sleep that holds in assimilation all that has been gained in the waking state preparing for what has yet to be achieved Gestation periods are all by the grace of Dhumavati. 

Teri H Martin

From the August High Service

Darkness hidden by darkness,
There is no lesson in the fern except uncurling slowly,
one green frond at a time;
O somnolent Dhumavati, there in the slumber
learning to do well in dark places;
of the Cosmic Will,
letting growth come from the underside of things.              Kathleen Cain
the secret key of Nature’s change…                                 Sri Aurobindo

On This Day…

Russell Baker born in Londown County, Va., 1925: writer of satirical commentary, Pulitzer Prize recipient

Works: Growing Up, So This Is Depravity, Russell Baker’s Book of Humor

Quotes: “Oh, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it.” “Inanimate objects can be classified scientifically into three major categories:  those that don’t work, those that break down, and those that get lost.”