SHAKTISM AND WOMEN

[Guest guest]

A female Group member wrote to me offline and we had

an interesting exchange on Shaktism and gender. What

Devi could mean to women and what She means to Her

male devotees. Here is an excerpt of her take on women

and Shakti. Would any of our female members care to

comment upon or add to this analysis?

 

*** The Goddess is needed in a woman's life. In our

society, women are being pressed into a mold that

should not even exist for the male population, one

where successes in a profession and in income have

become the "bottom-line" markers of personal self

worth. Factors like sexuality, kindness, fairness,

spirituality, morality, peace, gender differences,

love, commitment, are not included in the milieu of

success in this world.

 

Devi is Creation, Preservation and Destruction; these

are the attributes she employs in dealing with the

world the way it is. And since women are considered

microcosms of Devi, these same attributes would be

also present within the daily life of each woman -- in

every being for that matter. Women are nurturers and

builders. But again, these qualities are not

compatible with the "bottom line."

 

Women are especially lost in the milieu of success and

are losing out on the strengths and powers they

possess. They are in a "no-win situation" from the

start and will never bridge that gap within the

delusions of gender inequality and a male oriented

society. I am not a hardcore feminist, but I do see

something missing from this picture. ***

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

"The Goddess is needed in a woman's life."

 

This sentence gave me an impression that the Goddess is something of

an external matter. I would like to rephrase that sentence : Woman

needed to be reminded that she is a Goddess and that she is beautiful

in her own way. We have gone into a stage of amnesia of who we are and

what we are, because of the years of suppression and systematic

destruction of the worship of the goddess. The sacredness of the

goddess/woman are being reduced to that a role of a consort and slave,

and in some religious faith, woman are said to have no soul nor is she

allowed to recite the holy book.

 

When the goddess rule, the women are being revered and respected.

There fore we needed to be reminded and reclaim of the glory that was

once ours.

 

I quite disagree in the statement : " .. will never bridge that gap

within the delusions of gender inequality in a male orientated

society"

 

I believe the only way that woman to reduce this gap is by cooperation

with each other and helping one another, instead of seeing each other

as competitors. We are losing out on the strengths and powers that we

possess because we allow ourselves to get caught in the delusions and

in the milieu of success.

 

OM ParaShaktiya Namaha