Who is Shakti?

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devi_bhakta

 

Shakti is all that is manifest in the Universe -- as Mind, Life and

Matter -- is Energy. That's what modern physicists say, beginning with

Einstein ; and that's what the ancient texts of Tantric Shaktism say

as well.

 

Energy implies an Energy-Holder. There can be no Energy-Holder without

Energy, and no Energy without an Energy-Holder. As conceived byTantric

Shaktism, the Energy-Holder is Shiva, or Pure Consciousness. The

Energy is Shakti, the Great Mother of the Universe.

 

"Shakti" is simply the Sanskrit term for Energy, or Power, which is

conceived as Female. Shakti, then, is all that is manifest in the

Universe. There is no Shiva without Shakti, and no Shakti without

Shiva.

 

And so it is that we call the Ultimate Reality Shiva-Shakti. It is

One, it is All, it is God. It is infinite and formless, without

degrees or differences, although human beings limit it, naming it and

labelling the various large and small religions that arose (and

continue to arise) in different times and places.

 

As a great Hindu proverb states, "All Truth is One; the wise call it

by different names." The modern saint, Mother Meera - considered a

living Avatar of Mother by her devotees - adds, "The Divine is the

sea. All religions are rivers leading to the sea. Some rivers wind a

great deal. Why not go to the sea directly?" In Tantric Shaktism, this

is precisely what we attempt to do.

 

In Shaktism, the Ultimate Reality is sometimes perceived

as Ardhanarishvara - the co-joint Male (right side) and Female (left

side). The Ardhanarishvara is a greattheme of Hindu religious art --

for a collection of examples, see the club Photo Album entitled,

"Shakti-Shiva: Female-Male as One."

 

The object of Sadhana (Spiritual Discipline) and Upasana (Worship) is

to transcend the human mind, to transcend finite experience and gain

access to the infinity of Pure Consciousness beyond. In Tantric

Shaktism, our vehicle for doing so is Shakti, to Whom we surrender as

Devi, as Goddess, accepting Her as our guide to the Infinite.