Shaktism and feminism, another angle

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone,

 

Devi Bhakta wrote:

> Do all Shaktas need to

>be feminists? No. Many extremely advanced Shaktas are certainly not.

>But Shaktism certainly accomodates and invites a discussion of the

>question...If you'd like to read more on the social implications of

>Shaktism >for

>modern women, there is an excellent study available...

 

Thank you, Devi Bhakta, for your thoughts and references.

 

Here is another angle on shaktism and feminism: theological implications of

women's liberation as seen by a modern shakta.

 

Swami Ranganathananda, a leader of the Ramakrishna Mission, has written a

booklet called "The Indian Vision of God as Mother". (Published by Advaita

Ashrama, Mayavati, 1992) A subsection is entitled "The Mother Goddess and

the Current Women's Liberation Movement in the West".

 

An excerpt:

 

"One factor that is making for the prominence of this particular belief in

God as Mother in the West is, what is called, the Women's Liberation

Movement... Side by side with the efforts for women's liberation in the

socio-political sphere, there has come the struggle to remove all gender

bias in religion also. Why God should be described only as masculine, as

the Father; why not speak of God in feminine terms, as the Mother? So books

on this subject by women authors are coming out in a steady stream now in

America... Naturally, the Western mind turns to India which has cultured

and nurtured the whole range of the Mother Goddess cults all these

centuries through authoritative books and theology and rituals. Books on

God as Mother, as understood in India, are thus coming out in the English

language... formerly, Western authors used to write scholarly books, but

with little or no respect for our religious ideas [but] today they write

with sympathy, appreciation, and even bhakti."

 

Om Shantih,

Colin