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The Role Of Parvati.

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Apep

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I see her as the earth mother Goddess. I see her as the Goddess of virtue and the wife of Shiva. She is the mother of Ganesh the wise and all knowing.

 

Somehow though I feel I am not coming close to her real meaning.

 

With that been said what do you feel of the divine Goddess and her role as a divinity?

 

What is her meaning?

 

Om Namah Shivaya :)

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Devi is a generic word that refers to the feminine goddess associated with Shiva. There are always pairs, one shakti (feminine goddess) and one shiva. The original form of Devi is called by various names, sometimes as Durga, sometimes as Rajarajeswari. The name isn't so important, but the concept is what is important. Devi has an original form that is linked to Shiva's original form. As Lord Shiva expands into thousands and thousands of other forms (with different qualities and aspects), simultaneously Devi also expands to accompany him. There are 10 main expansions of Devi, known as the dasha mahavidyas. All of these Expansions are on the side of the material creation, dealing with creation and destruction. Durga is the imediate source of material creation, and Shiva is the immediate cause of life in the material world (in his form as Shambu). Beyond this is Maha Vishnu who creates the material universes by His breathing out.

 

 

I see her as the earth mother Goddess.

 

Technically Mother Earth (Prithvi Devi, or Bhumi Devi) is Lakshmi, the consort of Vishnu. Durga is the "Nature", as opposed to the "Earth".

 

Parvathi is an expansion of Durga. Parvathi means "daughter of the mountain". It was one lila Devi performed where she took birth as the daughter of Himavan (Himalayas) and Lord Shiva married her. This was the incarnation following her pastime as Sati mentioned in the Srimad Bhagavatam.

 

I'm sure you have heard of the Hindu practice of Sati (the widow being burned alive in the funeral pyre of the husband). Well, I don't think that practice actually exists in India, but the origin of these stories come from the story of Sati, who burned her body to ashes through meditation when her father insulted Lord Shiva. When Lord Shiva found out he tore a hair from his head and threw it to the ground, which then transformed into the terrible Virabhadra. Virabhadra then went on to kill Daksha (Sati's father) and punish all those who participated in the sacrificial ceremony wherein Lord Shiva had been insulted.

 

This story is scriptually very authentic as it is accepted by all schools of thought within Hinduism and is found within all of their respective scriptures (Vaishnava, Shaivite, etc.). You can read this story here:

 

http://vedabase.net/sb/4/en

 

It goes on for 3 or 4 chapters, beginning with the second chapter.

 

Ambika is also a generic name for Devi, which means "Mother".

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Devi is a generic word that refers to the feminine goddess associated with Shiva. There are always pairs, one shakti (feminine goddess) and one shiva. The original form of Devi is called by various names, sometimes as Durga, sometimes as Rajarajeswari. The name isn't so important, but the concept is what is important. Devi has an original form that is linked to Shiva's original form. As Lord Shiva expands into thousands and thousands of other forms (with different qualities and aspects), simultaneously Devi also expands to accompany him. There are 10 main expansions of Devi, known as the dasha mahavidyas. All of these Expansions are on the side of the material creation, dealing with creation and destruction. Durga is the imediate source of material creation, and Shiva is the immediate cause of life in the material world (in his form as Shambu). Beyond this is Maha Vishnu who creates the material universes by His breathing out.

Technically Mother Earth (Prithvi Devi, or Bhumi Devi) is Lakshmi, the consort of Vishnu. Durga is the "Nature", as opposed to the "Earth".

Parvathi is an expansion of Durga. Parvathi means "daughter of the mountain". It was one lila Devi performed where she took birth as the daughter of Himavan (Himalayas) and Lord Shiva married her.

I see. This makes sense to me now. My next question would be what is the true meaning of Parvati as Shiva's wife?

I know you went into it briefly ,could you explain a bit more to me?

I would very much appreciate it.:)

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As was stated earlier in another post, Parvathi is an expansion of Devi, the feminine aspect of God.

 

Her name as 'daughter of the mountain' proabbaly comes from her being worshipped as the main feminine deity in the HImalayan area by NOrth Indian Shaivites originally.

 

To me, Parvathi represents righteousness and compassion - the right things to do in life. She is like that loving mother or perfect wife or companion that would guide you to do the right thing.

 

She is married to Siva because Siva is auspiciousness. To be auspicioius in life will lead to auspicious births in death. In order to be auspicious, one must walk with an air of righteousness around them.

 

She is the mother of Ganapathi because he is the remover of obstacles. Righteousness will remove its own obstacles and one will know what to do and when to do it.

 

The is the mother of Subramanyan. To me, subramanyan represents the mind itself. I know there are many who dont worship him thisway. But i do. I feel it helps me. His 6 heads stand for the mental control of sex, anger, jealousy, pride, ego and greed. This two wives, Valli and Devasena, stand for control of desire and control of action. The story of Skanda getting the shaktivel from parvathi further represents the mind getting the staff of strength from righteoussness - meaning that righteoussness gives strength to the pure minded.

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The Cosmic Power is in the form of Shakthi.Parvati is the daughter of Parvatha Raja or king and it described that she did penance to attain Shiva and pleased by her great devotion Shiva accepted her as His consort.In Hindu puranas we come across everso many such stories just to make people understand the impact.They are just like fairy tales to inculcate more faith in the humans towards Godhead.For anything and everything power is required and the real power is in mentioned in the form of feminine and so Parvati or Durga or whatever name one gives simply shows that the male form of a being or even God naturally requires a female form also.Just like in all the matters we hv two aspects.If there is positive there is nagative,if water you hv fire,if sun is hot then there is moon with coolness and in short for every thing there is an opposite factor and that is the beauty of Creation.

Shiva as the Supreme Being is fire and to cool him Parvati acts as a catalyst.

Thogh it also true that she got angry when Daksha did not invite Shiva when she was born as his daughter and married Shiva and cursed daksha for neglecting Shiva and Shiva in his anger sent veerabhadra to destroy the yaga conducted by Daksha.So the real impact is as we hv the mother and father the Creator has taken the shape of universal faher and mother in the name of Shiva and Parvati just to give an authenticity.At the same time we also accept the theory that God is One and why there is dualism.For that Shiva took the shape of Arthanareeswara thereby giving Parvati his left portion so as to emphasise that both of them are the same.One is in manifest form Shiva and Parvati is unmanifested in the form of power of Shiva.

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