Śivasaṃhitā 5.81

Sūryakoṭipratīkāśa—“with the appearance of millions of suns”—and candrakoṭisuśītala—“with the coolness of millions of moons”—are the two poles of cosmic energy: solar ardor (rajas/pitta) and lunar quietude (tamas/kapha), transcended and integrated in Tripura Bhairavi. This goddess is neither one nor the other but the synthesis of opposites: she can be ardent and cool simultaneously because she has transcended the duality separating them. This paradox of reunited opposites is the symbol of realization.

Tripura Bhairavi—“the Terrible Who Dwells in the Three Cities”—is the form of the supreme goddess combining the cosmos’s three fundamental śakti: icchāśakti (power of will), jñānaśakti (power of knowledge), and kriyāśakti (power of action). Her identification with the maṇipūra’s bīja in this verse’s context is fitting: the fire chakra integrates the three powers in transforming action. Without will (icchā), fire does not ignite; without knowledge (jñāna), it burns blindly; without action (kriyā), it remains potential.

The powers resulting from her contemplation—making gold, seeing Siddha, discovering medicines, finding hidden treasures—are the classic siddhi of maṇipūra. “Making gold” (suvarṇanirmāṇa) in the Indian alchemical tradition has both literal meaning (metal transformation) and metaphorical (transforming the lead of ignorance into the gold of wisdom). “Seeing hidden treasures” (guptanidhi darśana) points to the capacity to perceive what is hidden beneath the visible surface of reality.