Shakti

The whole universe is a creation of the feminine, the great Mother. Shakti physically manifests itself and can be felt everywhere in this prakriti. She is the one who makes Shiva come alive in the sagun form.

Vaishnovdevi is the temple that stands the tallest in the north of India and down south where all the temples originated were also Devi temples. The internal shakti in each body which we refer as Chitta shakti or kundalini is the same Devi Shakti. The basic form of nourishment – cooking or food which nourishes our body from childhood till death is also the prerogative of a woman. All good qualities – love, tenderness, beauty, sexuality and fondness rest with a woman. In today’s society, the same woman has come alive with the purusha qualities and has even reached space. Today’s women have come alive in the most rigorous manner and they are in the forefront in various other fields like archery, finance, marketing and manufacturing as well.

Balance in srishti is again because of the same woman who is symbolic of Devi Shakti. The word WOMAN envelopes the word MAN in it. So a woman is a complete being. When a woman sets out to do something she becomes a Rani Laxmibai in Satyuga and an Aung San Suu Kyi in Kaliyuga. Gone are the days when women were compared to animals in texts like Manusmriti and kept in purdahs or when men were the warriors and protectors and bread winners for the family.

Every beautiful creation like a flower, kundalini or anything that blooms is feminine and related to Devi tattva. The grace and the beauty of the feminine is a quality which is not gender specific for both men and women have the same solar and lunar or masculine and feminine tendencies within. While power, fame, hard work is masculine qualities, creation, acceptance, love is feminine aspects and both need to be in balance in every human alive.

Shakti when defined on a completely spiritual level would be either chitta shakti which will relate to the absolute or the maya shakti which will define the way the world operates. Since Devi shakti herself manifests in both forms, so maya shaktiand chitta shakti should be both respected in this human birth. When in this human body and relating only with maya unconsciously, one remains unaware of the ultimate reality. But when the chitta shakti comes in play, one becomes aware of the ignorance of the worldly life.

Both maya and chitta shakti would exist together till one walks the path to attaining self-realisation and the highest truth. Once you know the universal truth, the self-vanishes and maya does not exist anymore. Just like advaita and duality exist simultaneously till one is ignorant but the universal truth remains that of advaita or universality. So, chitta shakti is the shakti that has to be realised by each one of us on this planet earth.

If maya shakti is too overpowering for a human being, he will never be open to reach the absolute, the Param Ishwara . The greatest challenge in this life is to go beyond the body and reside within. However this would not mean renouncing life. The right path would be that of Krishna where being in Dharma and spirituality, one also celebrates life fully.

 Shakti of a physical being is in his breath, watching this breath and going with in are the two steps towards that awakening and then that shakti manifests itself to finally unite in the sahasrara with Shiva.

The ultimate awakening and joy is in the meeting of Shiva and Shakti, in the merging of the masculine and the feminine, in the play of Purusha and Prakriti.

AUM

Gurushree Vidushii