Terrorism and Shaktism ( A repost )

[Guest guest]

Vinod_Chopra

 

American disaster ( referring to the September 11th Attack ) has

posed an important question to me.

 

If Mother shakti is so kind then why she plays havocs with her

children ?

 

How can we interpret American disaster from Shakti sadhna point of

view ?

 

How do we treat the Negitivity ?

 

 

Devi_Bhakta

 

Thanks Vinod, for posing a very important question. Whatever

religious philosophy a person may hold, she or he must come to terms

with "how God/dess can allow such things to happen."

 

The kind of terror experienced in New York and Washington is --

despite all of the newspeople's intonations that "today it is a new

world" -- actually a very old story. Throughout history, we see

stories of innocents killed or oppressed or enslaved by simply being

in the wrong place at the wrong time as warring cultures and

dynasties "made history."

 

Thousands of years ago, in ancient China, the mothers and daughters

of slain peasants were forced into sexual service to the very

invaders who destroyed their peaceful lives. Just 70 years ago,

entire families were systematically liquidated by the Third Reich,

for the "crime" of being Jewish or Rom. And 50 years ago, innocents

were slain, raped and maimed as British India was partitioned into

Hindu and Muslim "homelands." Even as we speak, warring tribal groups

in Africa are systematically severing the arms and/or legs of

innocent babies and young children in Africa to "make a memorable

impression for their cause" in the eyes of the children's parents

and governments. These are, of course, only a tiny fraction of the

terror of this world -- today and throughout history.

 

And even without these atrocities, we all still have the everyday

sorrow of seeing good people whom we know forced to suffer, while

seemingly bad or evil people thrive. Children and parents dying

before our eyes, before their time. None of it seems to make sense

from our mortal, earthly perspective, and so we can rightly ask -- as

you do -- "If Mother Shakti is so kind then why she plays havocs with

her children?"

 

The answer is clearer in Shakti Sadhana than in most spiritual

traditions. For we understand that Shakti is Energy, and that Energy –

both Creative and Destructive -- is sole basis of the entire

manifest Universe. Everything from subatomic particles to entire

galaxies are in a constant process of birth and death. Neither of

these two forces can exist

without the other -- as with the Male-Female poles of Tantra, and all

other opposites in the Universe. If sadness is eliminated, happiness

is destroyed; if evil is eliminated, so is good -- and if Destruction

is dispensed with, then Creation is lost as well.

 

We worship Kali as the personification of Destructive Energy --

dwelling among corpses and cremation grounds. Her form as Mahavidya

Bhairavi leapt to mind at the Twin Towers crashed down in flames.

But at the same time we also acknowledge Kali's amazing beauty and

Her nurturing, Motherly qualities, and the help and comfort She

affords Her devotees in their times of need. As mere humans, we

cannot claim to understand the cosmic sense of the mundane evil and

terror that destroys blameless lives. We take faith in our belief

that suffering burns away the karma that binds us, steadily raising

us out of this ignorance, somehow bringing us closer to perfection,

somehow pushing us along the path that we must travel.

 

And until we, her ignorant children, finally experience and

understand the cosmic meaning of all this pain and suffering, She

offers us Her beautiful lap -- as broad and boundless as the

Universe it emcompasses -- in which to cry for Her comforting embrace

and beg for Her limitless understanding.

 

 

dkny1_2000

 

what a heartwarming explanation-specially the phrase "beautiful lap" -

Yes, our mother kali is just like the womb mother. She is both

benevolent as well as malevolent. she is a dayani {a boon giver} as

well as a NASHINI. {DESTROYER}

 

Mother kali is " maa" to her devotees but "death" to her non-devotees

like shumbha, nishumbha or mahishasur or asuras who challenge the

good among us?

 

Kali is black but her balck is not a coolr of evil but a color which

unifies all other colors. Black is a very attractive color - it is

a "sexy" color – it attracts. As per our beloved Sri ramakrishna

paramahamsa , Mother KALI is THE MOST COMPASSIONATE, KIND,

CONSIDERATE, LOVING, GIVING, NURTURING !!!! SURE, SHE IS TOUgH AND

SHE IS A DISCIPLINERIAN AND AN AUTHORITY FIGURE! some of us do not

like these traits in a woman.

 

Kali has many identities - there are aspects of her that some of us

don't like and then again there are aspects of hers which we simply

adore. Good and evil, kind and cruel these are not mutually

exclusive concepts.

 

A tigress is an "asura" only to someone who attacks her- but to her

cubs, she is the most nurturing mother!

 

is kali frightening and terrible? only to those who do not know her !

Yes, she looks beastly to those who have beastly energy in them but

to saint ramakrishna she looked absolutely divine and beautiful

because he saw her with saintly eyes!!!

death may be seen as "destruction" but it is also a release.

Mahisursur attained moksha because he was slain by kali! her feet

became worshippable because he took refuge under them!

 

 

Nora55_1999

 

Animal kills only when they are hungry, and retaliate only when their

space are being intruded. We have seen how animals such as tigers

began to attacked human because their habitat are being threaten and

destroyed. And yet we kill these magnificant animals for our pleasure

to the point of extinction.

 

The difference between human and animal is that we are given the

brain to think and the power of reasoning to distinguish between what

is right and wrong. Often we do get confused in our choices and have

this tendency to blame others for our weakness.

 

It have become a trend now that people killed others in the name of

GOD.

 

So do we blame GOD for these human actions?

 

Is it right for us to ask GOD to answer to these human actions?

 

Do we blame GOD to if we allows ourselves to be the slave to

jealousy, greed, anger, hate , hypocrisy and not forgetting EGO.

 

How do we over come this negativity?

Quote from brother vinod_chopra' own profile "don't be coward. Fight

the negativity !!!!!" you have already answered part of the questions

brother vinod. To be positive and not to be a coward when attempts

are made to maintain this positiveness are being attacked and

ridicule. We should cleanse ourselves from the emotional slavery that

we allow to ran rampage in our heart and mind causing it to cloud our

sense of reasoning. Prevent ourselves from being the breeding

grounds for this infectious and deadly viruses

called "HATE", "EGO", "ANGER" and many more. Do not let these

emotional slavery be like the malignant cancerous cells in our heart

and mind, which will eventually kill our very soul.

 

 

 

Vinod

 

I am still confused !!

When i see destruction and tyranny (as in America or India), should

it be treated as Mother's work ? Or an Asura's work whom Shakti will

punish later on ?

 

If shakti is behind this destruction, then why we should weep and

cry ? and why will she do such cruel things ?

Devi_Bhakta

 

Dear Vinod …

Unfortunately, I cannot give you a better answer than the one I

already offered in my previous message. I cannot explain away or

justify for you what has happened. My words about the role of Shakti

in destruction are the best I was able to manage, in my limited

understanding. But I can offer you these words of Lord Krishna in the

Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2:

 

"You are mourning for what is not worthy of grief. Those who are wise

lament neither for the living nor for the dead. Never was there a tim

when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future

shall any of us cease to be. … That which pervades the entire body

you should know to be indestructible. No one is able to destroy that

imperishable soul. … Neither he who thinks the living entity the

slayer nor he who thinks it slain is in knowledge, for the self slays

not nor is slain. For the soul there is neither birth nor death at

any time. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and

will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and

primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain. … All created

beings are unmanifest in their beginning, manifest in their interim

state, and unmanifest again when annihilated. So what need is there

for lamentation?"

 

Aum Saraswatyai Namaha