03 October 2013 - QA 9

Gurudev, Devi Chandika’s vaahana (chariot) is shown to be a shava (dead body). What is its significance?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The one you consider as a dead body is also not completely inert. There also is a vibration, a consciousness, a power. We can say that there is no consciousness to a certain degree, but to say that there is no power at all is not correct. There is power even in stone. So to convey this idea, the vaahana of Chandika is shown to be a dead body.

When one thing subsides, the other rises. When tamoguna is destroyed, satvaguna blossoms. We can also look it like this. Inertia (symbolized by the dead body) is subsided and consciousness (symbolized by Divine Mother) blossoms.