The Goddess in India ( A repost )

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devi_bhakta

 

Religions evolved differently in the East and West.

 

The West came to perceive life as a constant battle between good

and evil, between materialism and spirituality. All that was

undesirable came from the evil of the flesh. It had to be rejected in

favor of the pure soul. The free, unattached, sensuous aspect of the

Goddess was associated with diabolical forces, with materialism, with

evil. The mild, virginal, chaste aspect was linked to the Divine, to

the Spirit -- though she was never equated to the Supreme Divine

Principle.

 

In the East, on the other hand, there were no absolutes -- no

absolute good and absolute evil. All that was undesirable came from

ignorance; all that was desirable came from enlightenment. Life was

an attempt to harmonize matter with spirit, the Mother Goddess with

the Father God. Man had the option to either relish the fleeting

pleasures of worldly life with awareness, or to transcend it through

realization. Such an attitude allowed the Mother Goddess cult to

flourish, especially in India, where two distinct, principle

traditions evolved -- the Vedic and the Tantric.

 

Both linked the Goddess to samsara -- the material world, the

manifest cycle of birth and rebirth, the realm of eternal change. She

was the flow of Energy; the substance that embodies the soul and

gives form and identity to all.

 

As Shakti, the Goddess was supreme untamable Universal Energy. As

Shree, She was the supreme domesticated goddess of fortune. She was

Maya, the supreme unfathomable delusion of existence. She was

Prakriti, Mother Nature, responsible for earthly existence. From her

came material pleasures and worldly powers, kama and artha.

 

The male gods were more closely associated with unmanifest reality,

pure consciousness, the still soul or Paraatmaa. The ascetic Shiva

sought moksha, liberation, from material fetters; while the more

worldly Vishnu propounded the doctrine of dharma, detached

fulfillment of social obligations.

 

Thus the Goddess and the God stood opposite ends of the metaphysical

spectrum. She represented material reality; He represented spiritual

reality. Together, they gave life fullness and completeness.

 

(This material adapted from the book, "Devi: An Introduction" by

Devdutt Pattanaik (Vakils, Feffer & Simns Ltd., Mumbai, 2000)

 

Aum Maatangyai Namaha