Womb of the womb-the womb chamber!

[Guest guest]

thank you marifa for this 'soulful' poem ...

 

in india, the innermost sanctuary where the idols (archa-vigraha) of

god/esses are kept are called - "garbha-griha" -womb chamber - it is

a sacred place where only the priest can enter !

 

it is my pleasure to bring to this audience an excerpt from a book

called the "path to the mother" by Savitri Bess on 'Yoni' as a sacred

symbol in hinduism.

 

 

 

"Many temples have engraved in stone such graphic feminine images as

the yoni or vagina with the symbolic red blood of the menses smeared

on it, or the spread legs of female figures with infants emerging out

of the yonic passage. A few temples in India are encrusted with

carved figures depicting sexual acts, representative of the divine

union of masculine and feminine which causes the universe to remain

balanced within its cosmic dance.

 

Hindu India is the only country in the world today where the Mother

remains widely worshipped in an unbroken lineage that goes back in

time thousands of years. In Central India there is a prehistoric

megalith that is still used in rituals in much the same manner, one

supposes, as it was during the time of the mother goddess cultures of

3,000 B.C.E. "All over the Indian subcontinent, monuments dating from

as early as 8000 to 2000 B.C. symbolize the great active power in the

universe, the feminine principle, Shakti."iv Many of these ancient

Devi shrines are still held in reverence today.

 

The Sanskrit word for sanctuary means "womb-chamber." In prehistoric

times domes were built and caves used as temples with their entrances

resembling the Great Mother's yonic passage. Mother-Goddess figurines

with exaggerated buttocks and breasts are prolific in many parts of

India. Often the Mother statuettes show signs of having been touched

on their yonic parts, evidenced by the wearing and discoloration that

has occurred over centuries of repeated tactile acknowledgment. The

genital area is regarded as the source of all life, the focus of the

Mother's cosmic energy; her menses time is known as the flower; her

breasts, belly, and yonic entrance were revered as sacred.

 

Hindu scriptures elaborate upon countless goddess legends and

prescribe rituals and guidelines for living a life steeped in

dedication to the Great Mother or Shakti. She is known to be the

activity in all things, the great power that creates and destroys,

the primordial essence, the womb from which all things proceed and

into which all things return. Mother Shakti is associated

with "independence or freedom because her existence does not depend

on anything extraneous to herself. . . She is even regarded as

substance, because all possible objects are latent and manifest in

her womb."vi At the time of dissolution when she returns into the

void, she is neither male nor female, nor neuter, nor does she have

form or attributes of any kind; at this point she is the ultimate

aspect of reality; she is both Shakti and Shiva.

 

Shiva is the masculine energy, the supreme lord, the great ascetic

and meditator. In Hinduism, the male aspect represents pure

consciousness, which is inactive; the female aspect symbolizes the

primal force, which is active. The Shiva lingam , a stylized phallic

symbol, stands for an eternal column of light, the purest form of

Shiva. Interestingly, one of the largest laser beams in the world is

named "Shiva." The lingam commonly sits in the yoni, a vaginal

symbol. The two images as one represent the cosmic masculine and

feminine, the great absolute. The lingam comes out of, not into the

yoni, illustrating the nature of the universal male and female,

suggesting the feminine principle which is the active force in both

males and females - she is the primordial power. Whatever exists is

dependent upon her. She is THAT which is energy in all forms and all

beings. The masculine is inert without the feminine. There cannot be

one without the other.

 

Today the relationship between Shiva and Shakti is honored amidst the

most patriarchal traditionalism of Hindu India. An example lies

within one of the most elite and highly respected of Indian

philosophical systems. The Shankaracharya Jagadguru,vii considered to

be equal in stature to the Catholic Pope, inherits the position of

serving his followers by representing Shakti, the Mother of the

Universe, in the form of the goddess Sarada.viii Her divine presence

in the temple of the South Indian village of Sringeri, in Karnataka

province, has inspired and guided the actions of an uninterrupted

heritage of Jagadgurus or universal spiritual figureheads since c.

800 C.E. "Through the person of the Jagadguru, she dispenses her

grace."ix

 

The Indian Saint, Shankara, an incarnation of Lord Shiva, the first

in the line of these Jagadguru religious authorities, settled in

Sringeri after he saw an auspicious and unnatural occurrence: a

cobra, with its open hood shaded a frog in labor pains from the

scorching mid-day sun. Twelve hundred years later I could feel the

love that must have existed between these two natural enemies as I

walked barefoot over the four hundred acres of Holy land, met the

smiling eyes of men and women Mothered by the presiding Goddess

Sarada, crossed the Tunga river in a pole-driven boat, watched

monkeys at play in the tropical forest, and passed by enclosed tombs

of the 35 Shankara Jagadgurus where Shiva Lingams are worshipped

daily to acknowledge the passing of these great souls into the cosmic

ocean of bliss, the ultimate union of Shiva and Shakti.

 

The average Indian is inundated daily with feminine religious

symbology in the nearby temple, in the worship room in every home, in

the scriptures, in the customs, and in religious celebrations. One

such religious event is observed for ten days in October or November,

according to the changes in the lunar calendar. In Sringeri, His

Holiness, the Jagadguru, dons the jewels, the dress, and the crown of

the supreme goddess or Devi. This Indian spiritual figurehead

embodies the Great Mother of the Universe in a ritual attended by

thousands of India's most humble and most elite.

 

"Except [from] our own mistaken habits of thought, there is really no

justification for the popular conception of God as He. God may, with

equal justice and propriety, be considered She" --The Greatness of

Sringeri

 

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enjoy the bliss of the cosmic union of shiva shakti!