Invoking the divine female principle

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Invoking the divine female principle

 

The female Divine has always been an intrinsic part of Indian

tradition. Shakti and Shiva, the female and the male, are revered as

essential parts of being and the cosmic power.

 

The concept of ardhangini, of women being an equal part of men and

vice versa, clearly states that without one, the other is

incomplete. This is evident in Hindu rituals and symbols. Marriage

is seen as a sacred union.

 

The gods were perturbed when Shiva was devoid of his union with

Sati, and rejoiced when Parvati, incarnated as Sati, wooed him into

matrimony, through severe austerities.

 

The scriptures are clear that while the bride must recognise her

husband as her Lord, the husband must appreciate the wife as the

source of his position and strength as provider and protector.

 

In pure Shaktiism, Devi is worshipped as the highest divinity, the

supreme Brahmn, with all other forms of divi-nity, female or male,

considered to be merely her diverse manifestations.

 

The tantra tradition highlights the union of Shiva, the male

principle, with Shakti, the female principle or energy. The

masculine signifies the stable, static force while the feminine

signifies the kinetic, dynamic force. Shakti is energy.

 

Androgynous is a relatively new term. However, since ancient times,

we have celebrated the concept of Ardhanarishvara. The term

Ardhanarishvara is a combination of three words: 'ardha', 'nari'

and 'ishvara', meaning respectively, 'half', 'woman' and 'Lord'

or 'God'.

 

That is, Ardhanarishvara is half-man and half-woman. Because the

Vedic period celebrated many women philosophers of great merit.

Maitreyi and Gargi are some of the prominent ones.

 

The 1,000-odd hymns of the Rig Veda include 10 hymns that are

accredited to Maitreyi, the woman seer and philosopher. She

contributed towards the enhancement of her sage-husband

Yajnavalkya's perso-nality and the flowering of his spiritual

thoughts.

 

When the sage decided to settle his worldly possessions and renounce

the world by taking up asceticism, Maitreyi asked her husband if all

the wealth in the world would make her immortal. The sage replied

that wealth could only make one rich, nothing else. She then asked

for the wealth of immortality.

 

An overjoyed Yajnavalkya imparted to Maitreyi the doctrine of the

soul and his knowledge of attaining immortality.

 

Gargi, the Vedic prophet and daughter of sage Vachaknu, composed

several hymns that questioned the origin of all existence. When King

Janaka of Videha organised a 'brahma-yajna', a philosophic congress,

Gargi was an eminent participant.

 

She challenged Yajna-valkya with a volley of erudite questions on

existence: "The layer that is above the sky and below the earth,

which is described as being situated between the earth and the sky

and which is indicated as the symbol of the past, present and

future, where is that situated?" she asked.

 

In later times, too, Andal in the south and Meerabai in the north,

have been immortalised through their bhakti compositions.

 

Today's tide against gender bias will turn only if Shakti comes back

into our lives not just as a symbol or deity but as an essential

part of our consciousness and being.

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1773234.cms

http://spirituality.indiatimes.com