July 20, 2020

The second quality describing the Goddess from the list of attributes in the Tantrasara, a Tantrik text, is sāmarthya. This Sanskrit word, which translates as potency or efficacy, is one of the activities of Consciousness which, if meditated upon, sits the Goddess in the heart to the practitioner.

Totality, the first descriptor in the list of Goddess qualities, references the infinite expanse of everything that is, in fact, the One. Non-dual Tantrik philosophy recognizes that everything seen and unseen emanates from a single source and therefore everything we experience is a form of the Divine. This single source, from which all creation emanates, holds all creative potentiality adhered together in an undifferentiated mass, a single fundamental web or matrix. Without differentiation, distinct forms are unrecognizable. Forms or seemingly separate expressions arise out of the totality powered by this second quality, sāmarthya, potency.

Potency holds within itself the capacity to create. It references the enlivening principle that generates life and radiates outward. Totality conjures up the endless ocean which, especially when still, can seem inert and undefined. Sāmarthya is the authority that holds the capacity to bring forth waves from the bottom of the ocean to the surface. This absolute strength is also what we find at our essence - the capacity to bring forth creativity from the spacious depths within us. Sāmarthya is the the secret force that erupted in the Big Bang and began the process of turning the sea of elements into universes.

Potency is defined as the power of something to influence or make an impression as well as pure strength. Out of Her infinite spaciousness, the Goddess holds the power to make impressions with her folds the phenomenal world. She influences the raw potential in totality in infinitely diverse and imaginative ways, creating forms that are never exactly the same through linear time. It is like She is continually depressing a cookie cutter into unformed dough with infinite creativity and power.

Potency and power share the same Latin origin. They commonly hold at their etymological root the idea of “being able.” This full able-ness is the power of will, iccā shakti. In the Tantrik paradigm. The absolute will is the faculty through which The One can produce desired or intended results, the definition of efficacy. Efficacy is commonly used to convey the appropriate use of power or will toward a specific outcome. It implies success but doesn’t explicitly state it. Potency, on the other hand, implies a much broader, or absolute, concept of power. While potency and efficacy are both translations of sāmarthya, there is a sense that potency holds the more ultimate view whereas efficacy moves us into the relative world.

In biology, potency refers to the capacity within embryonic tissues to develop into a specialized tissue or organ. This specificity of function is held by sāmarthya and is the imprint in the seed that allows it to form the tree. Within the seed is simply space, the totality, impregnated with the potential to turn into a tree. All seeds, however, do not

turn into trees. While holding that potential, it is not universally expressed or fully actualized. It may lie dormant, hidden like the lava bubbling within the depths of a volcano and only actualized under ideal conditions.

This is the same inside us. Held dormant at our centre is the untapped potentiality that holds the power of manifestation. Touching our potency asks us to probe into what enlivens us. What fuels our passions, what drives us to create the life that we have? How do we harness or direct our power to fuel our deepest desires? Exploring the answers to this questions invites us into communion with this aspect of the Goddess and asks us to tap into the potent impressions within us wanting to be realized.