Shakti

Shakti (Devanagari: शक्ति, IAST: Śakti; lit. "Energy, ability, strength, effort, power, capability"[1]) is the primordial cosmic energy and represents the dynamic forces that are thought to move through the entire universe[2] in Hinduism, and especially Shaktism, a major tradition of Hinduism. Shakti is the personification of the energy that is creative, sustaining, as well as destructive, sometimes referred to as auspicious source energy.

This article is about the concept of personification of power and energy. For the main goddess, see Adi Parashakti. For other uses, see Shakti (disambiguation).

As the Shakti or Creatrix, She is known as "Adi Shakti" or "Adi Para Shakti" (i.e., Primordial Inconceivable Energy). On every plane of creation, energy manifests itself into all forms of matter. These are all thought to be infinite forms of the Para Shakti. But Her true form is unknown, and beyond human understanding. She is Anaadi (with no beginning, no ending) and Nitya (forever).

In Shaktism, Adi Parashakti is worshipped as the Supreme Being.

Origins

One of the oldest representations of the goddess in India is in a triangular form. The Baghor stone, found in a Paleolithic context in the Son River valley and dating to 9,000–8,000 BCE,[3] is considered an early example of a yantra.[4] Kenoyer, part of the team that excavated the stone, considered that it was highly probable that the stone is associated with Shakti.[5] The worshipping of Shiv and Shakti was also prevalent in Indus valley civilization.[6]

Evolution

The Shakti goddess is also known as Amma[lower-alpha 1] in south India, especially in the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh. There are many temples devoted to various incarnations of the Shakti goddess in most of the villages in South India. The rural people believe that Shakti is the protector of the village, the punisher of evil people, the cure of diseases, and the one who gives welfare to the village. They celebrate Shakti Jataras with great interest once a year. Some examples of Shakti names are Mahalakshmi, Kamakshi, Parvati, Lalita, Bhuvaneshwari, Durga, Meenakshi, Mariamman, Yellamma, Poleramma, and Perantalamma.

Shaktism
Sri Guru Amritananda Nath Saraswati, performing the Navavarana Puja, an important ritual in Srividya Tantric Shaktism, at the Sahasrakshi Meru Temple at Devipuram, Andhra Pradesh, India.

Shaktism regards Devi (lit., "the Goddess") as the Supreme Brahman itself with all other forms of divinity considered to be merely Her diverse manifestations. In the details of its philosophy and practice, Shaktism resembles Shaivism. However, Shaktas (Sanskrit: शक्त, Śakta, ), practitioners of Shaktism, focus most or all worship on Shakti, as the dynamic feminine aspect of the Supreme Divine. Shiva, the masculine aspect of divinity, is considered solely transcendent, and Shiva's worship is usually secondary.[7]

From Devi-Mahatmya:

By you this universe is borne, By you this world is created, Oh Devi, by you it is protected.[8]

From Shaktisangama Tantra:

Woman is the creator of the universe, the universe is her form; woman is the foundation of the world, she is the true form of the body.

In woman is the form of all things, of all that lives and moves in the world. There is no jewel rarer than woman, no condition superior to that of a woman.[9]

Adi Parashakti
Main article: Adi Parashakti

Smarta Advaita

In the Smarta Advaita sect of Hinduism, Shakti is considered to be one of five equal personal forms of God in the panchadeva system advocated by Adi Shankara.[10]

Shakti Peeths
Main article: Shakti Peetha

According to some schools, there are four Adi Shakti Pitha and 51 Shakti centers of worship located in South Asia (four Adi Shakti Pitha are also part of 51 Shakti pithas but they are four major parts of Devi Sati's body. So, they are adi shakti pithas). They can be found in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Tibet and Pakistan. These are called Shakti Peethas. The list of locations varies. A commonly accepted list of Shakti Peethas and their temple complexes includes:

Other pithas in Maharashtra are:

Bhajans and mantras

There are many ancient Shakti devotional songs and vibrational chants in the Hindu and Sikh traditions (found in Sarbloh Granth). The recitation of the Sanskrit mantras is commonly used to call upon the Divine Mother.

Kundalini-Shakti-Bhakti Mantra
Adi Shakti, Adi Shakti, Adi Shakti, Namo Namo!
Sarab Shakti, Sarab Shakti, Sarab Shakti, Namo Namo!
Prithum Bhagvati, Prithum Bhagvati, Prithum Bhagvati, Namo Namo!
Kundalini Mata Shakti, Mata Shakti, Namo Namo!
Translation
Primal Shakti, I bow to Thee!
All-Encompassing Shakti, I bow to Thee!
That through which Divine Creates, I bow to Thee!
Creative Power of the Kundalini, Mother of all Mother Power, To Thee I Bow!
— Yogi Bhajan[13](p79)

"Merge in the Maha Shakti. This is enough to take away your misfortune. This will carve out of you a woman. Woman needs her own Shakti, not anybody else will do it ... When a woman chants the Kundalini Bhakti mantra, God clears the way. This is not a religion, it is a reality. Woman is not born to suffer, and woman needs her own power."

~ Yogi Bhajan (Harbhajan Singh)[13]

See also

Notes
  1. Amma is an honorific for a respected feminine person and even used for boys. The mother in English denotes a person with a child. Sakti is not represented as married or with a child.

References
  1. Monier-Williams, Monier. "Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary". University of Washington. śaktí f. power, ability, strength, might, effort, energy, capability
  2. Datta, Reema; Lowitz, Lisa (2005). Sacred Sanskrit Words. Berkeley, CA: Stonebridge Press. p. 111.
  3. Insoll, Timothy (2002). Archaeology and World Religion. Routledge. p. 36. ISBN 9781134597987.
  4. Harper, Katherine Anne; Brown, Robert L. (2012). The Roots of Tantra. SUNY Press. p. 39. ISBN 9780791488904.
  5. Kenoyer, J.M.; Clark, J.D.; Pal, J.N.; Sharma, G.R. (1983). "An upper palaeolithic shrine in India?". Antiquity. 57 (220): 93. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00055253.
  6. Chaurasia, Radhey Shyam (May 2002). History of Ancient India: Earliest Times to 1000 A.D. Atlantic Publishers & Dist. p. 26. ISBN 978-81-269-0027-5.
  7. Subramuniyaswami, p. 1211
  8. Klostermaier, Klaus K. (1989). A Survey of Hinduism. New York, NY: SUNY Press. pp. 261, 473 footnote [1].
  9. Bose, Mandakranta (2000). Faces of the Feminine in Ancient, Medieval, and Modern India. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 115. ISBN 0195352777. OCLC 560196442.
  10. "[no title cited]". Himalayan Academy.
  11. "Jwalaji".
  12. "Naina Devi Temple".
  13. quoted in Kaur, Tarn Tarn. The Conscious Pregnancy Yoga Teacher's Manual. Espanola, New Mexico.

Further reading
  • Datta, Reema; Lowitz, Lisa (2005). Sacred Sanskrit Words. Berkeley, CA: Stonebridge Press.
  • Feuerstein, Georg (2000). The Shambhala Encyclopedia of Yoga. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications.
  • Harish, Ranjana; Harishankar, V. Bharathi (2003). Shakti: Multidisciplinary perspectives on women's empowerment in India. New Delhi, IN: Rawat. ISBN 81-7033-793-3.
  • McDaniel, June (2004). Offering Flowers, Feeding Skulls: Popular goddess worship in West Bengal. Oxford University Press.
  • Shaw, Miranda (1994). Passionate Enlightenment: Women in Tantric Buddhism. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
  • Tiwari, Bri. Maya (2002). The Path of Practice: A woman's book of Ayurvedic healing. Motilal Banarsidass Press.
  • Woodroffe, John (1910). Shakti and Shakta. Forgotten Books. ISBN 1-60620-145-X – via Google Books.
  • Woodroffe, John (1952) [1913]. Hymns to the Goddess. Translated by Woodroffe, Ellen. Forgotten Books. ISBN 1-60620-146-8 – via Google Books.
  • Woodroffe, John (1922). Hymn to Kali: Karpuradi Stotra. Forgotten Books. ISBN 1-60620-147-6 – via Google Books.
  • "Shakti". VedaBase. Listing of usage in Puranic literature. Archived from the original on 15 April 2009.
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