Aditi (अदिति)

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Aditi (Samskrit: अदिति) is one of the outstanding deities of the Veda. Rigveda describes her as the Mother of all Devas, the most luminous possessor of the light of Truth (Rig. Veda. 1.136.3). She is the आद्याशक्ति (ādyāśakti), the Transcendent Mother, पराशक्ति (parāśakti), the Supreme Mother, and the महाशक्ति (mahāśakti), the Mother of the cosmos, as described in the vision of the Tantra.

Introduction

Aditi is commonly regarded as the mother of Devatas.

Lineage

Kashyapa, the grandson of Brahma and son of Marici married Aditi, daughter of Daksaprajapati. Aditi had twelve sisters: Diti, Kala, Danayus, Danu, Sirhhika, Krodha, Prtha, Visva, Vinata, Kapila, Muni and Kadru. (Mahabharata, Adi Parva, Chapter 65, Verse 12). Devas are sons born to Kasyapa by Aditi and hence they are known as Aditeyas also. Kasyapa married all the thirteen sisters including Aditi, and all beings owe their origin to them.

Etymology

The word अदिति (aditi) is constituted of two components: अ (a) and दिति (diti).

• The sound ‘अ a’ here is a negative prefix meaning ‘not’.
• The word ‘दिति diti’ is derived from a lost root ‘दि di’ which means to cut, split or separate or divide. It is important to note that the fundamental experience associated with the seed-sound द (da) is a forceful motion which splits, divides, separates. So, दिति (diti) refers to division, split, separation, duality etc.
• The word अदिति (aditi) — ‘not diti’ or ‘not divided’ thus refers to that which is indivisible.
• Hence अदिति (aditi) is the undivided consciousness. In the Vedic tradition अदिति (aditi) is identified as the mother of Devas, the infinite mother, the supreme Prakriti, in opposition to दिति (diti) the divided consciousness from whom all the दैत्य (daitya-s) or demons are born.

The word अदिति (aditi) can also be derived from the root अद्(ad) meaning ‘to eat’. ‘To eat’ also means: ‘to swallow’, ‘to envelope’, ‘to encompass’, ‘to embrace’. So, in this sense अदिति (aditi) is ‘the all-encompassing or enveloping consciousness’; the vast infinite consciousness having the power to clothe itself in finite forms.

Esoteric Meaning

As per Sri Aurobindo,

"Aditi is the infinite Light of which the divine world is a formation and the gods, children of the infinite Light, born of her in the Ritam, manifested in that active truth of her movement guard it against Chaos and Ignorance. It is they who maintain the invincible workings of the Truth in the universe, they who build its worlds into an image of the Truth."

The esoteric qualities of Aditi described in Rigveda (8.47.9) are

अदितिर्न उरुश्यत्वदितिः शर्म यच्छतु

May Aditi make us vast ( uruśyatu); May Aditi bestow ( yacchatu) on us ( naḥ) the true happiness ( śarma).

Each female divine form is a form of अदिति (aditi), the infinite Conscious-Force, the executive Energy, the Will or Law, the Maya, the Prakriti, the Shakti which is behind all happenings. This supreme Energy formulates itself in different forms like Durga, Lakshmi, Sarasvati, Kali etc. as the Mother of the worlds.

Puranic Legends about Aditi

Vamana as Aditi's son

The Mahabharata and the Ramayana refer to a story about the birth of Mahavishnu as the son of Aditi. Visnu entered the womb of Aditi to be born as Vamana (Dwarf). This story was related by the sage Maharshi Vishvamitra to the boys Rama and Laksmana while they were accompanying the sage in the forest. The Devas induced Mahavishnu to obstruct the yaga performed by Bali Chakravarty the grandson of Prahlada. At that time Aditi, the wife of Kashyapa was doing penance to obtain Mahavishnu as her son. Thousand years later she gave birth to Visnu, and that child was known as Vamana. (References - MB and Ra page 3)

Aditi reborn as Devaki

Devi Bhagavata (Skanda 4) mentions the story of Aditi reborn as Devaki. There was reason for Devaki being imprisoned on the orders of Kamsa. When Kasyapa was living in an Asrama with Aditi and Diti, pleased with the services of Aditi he asked to ask for a boon. Accordingly she prayed for a son and was granted Indra. The birth of Indra created jealousy in Diti towards Aditi, and she demanded a son equal to Indra. Kasyapa obliged Diti also. As Diti advanced in pregnancy and her beauty also increased Aditi got jealous of the former and she called her son Indra and told him that unless something was done in time, Diti would deliver a child equal to him (Indra) thus relegating him probably to the place of second Deva. Thus admonished by his mother the artful Indra approached Diti and told her: "Mother, I have come to serve you . Then he used an opportunity to enter the womb of Diti and destroyed the fetus. They later came to be called as Maruts.

The distraught Diti cursed Aditi as follows : "Your son did treacherously kill my offspring in the womb itself. So he will forfeit the three worlds. You were responsible for the murder of my child. You will, therefore, have to spend days in prison grieving over your children. Your children also will be annihilated". Because of this curse of Diti, Indra once lost Devaloka and had to live elsewhere, and Nahusa functioned, for a time as Indra. In the 28th Dvapara yuga Aditi transformed as Devaki to be a captive of Kamsa, and Kamsa killed her children by dashing them on the ground. (Devlbhagavata, Skandha 4).