Defamation of Shaktism

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An e-mail from shivdooti

Originally sent: Fri, 20 Jul 2001 04:17:56 PDT

 

It has been seen that Advaitins, vedantins, krishna bhaktas, Raj yogis

etc. condemn Shakti upasana taking it as a lower form of worship and

they have a reason behind this, besides their other prejudices.

 

Shakti upasana is mentioned in Rigveda(devi suktham) in details and is

not against the Vedic path. But by the end of Dwapar, Shakti upasana

(a branch of which is Tantra) was used by less evolved people who

used the great forces of Tantra for Tamsic gains (like for sex, taking

revenges, money etc). A time came when even the dacoits before going

for the attack started worshipping Mother Kali, to help them. Benaras

was defamed for Tantriks who would sacrifice human beings to please

Mother and to gain powers. Shakti upasana was seen as Tantra and

tantra was seen as a ritual of the low and dangerous and was feared by

the common man.

 

With the start of Bhakti Movement and Advait (by Sri Sankra), the

common enemy was Shakti Upasana, and it was justified in the light of

the gross misuse of the Tantra. Though Sankracharaya himself accepted

Mother Shakti as a part of his Vedanta, he was against the misuse of

sakti upasana for lower Tantrik gains.

 

If we take tantra in its deformed way as we see today, then Tantra and

Shaktism are not synonymous. [but in reality] Shiv, Shakti and Tantra

are interconnected and are different [only] for ignorants.

 

Tantra was revealed by Shiva himself (first to Parvati, at amarnath

cave in kashmir), for the benefit of those who wished to have a great

leap in Evolution but perhaps we were not ready for this great leap

and misused it for smaller benefits.

 

We [should] not be discussing Tantra for sex or for money or

from lesser gains. We [should] be worshipping the eternal mother to

give us Moksha and enlightenment. And Shakti upasana has in it

Shivapuja and tantraa, how can we avoid that ?

 

In my understanding Tantra (worldly meaning - system or mechanism) is

the only perfect definition of Universe and its system of energies.

Tantra does not avoid Maya as illusion (as vedantins have no knowledge

about Maya so better ignore it).

 

Tantraa does not force us to acccept an imaginary God sitting

somewhere on strange plane of consciousness.

 

On the contrary Tantraa turns our attention to Shakti, the eternal

Mother and tells us how it works in the Universe, how it works in our

body and lets us find a way from the Tantra of the Universal energies

to get out of it.

 

In shakti upasana, nothing is Maya nothing is illusion. all forms are

Mother in her positive or negative aspects. We may all pray to the

Mother to bring Positivity to us, and show us the path to Moksha

 

We may all surrender ourselves to the Divine Mother, who is Maya her

self and who is knowledge herself. Who is nothing but Brahm/Param Siva

himself in activity. O Gracious Mother prostrations unto thee. Do not

forsake me. I am thy child Take me to the shore of fearlessness and

joy. When shall i behold thy lotus-feet with my own eyes. Thou art the

boundless ocean of mercy. When the philosopher's stone turns iron into

gold by contact, when the ganges turns impure water into pure water,

can'st thou not turn me, O Mother Divine into a pure soul ? May my

tongue repeat thy name always.

 

May Mother accept her children

 

Jai Mahakaali maa