THE GODDESS EPISODES: In Search of The Mother

The Kaulajnananirnaya describes the yogic path outlined by Shiva to his consort. The teaching methodology is in the form of dialogue between Bhairav, the fierce form of Shiva, and the Devi. In some tantras, the Devi actually teaches Shiva. Mysterious tantric practices, performed in secrecy, navigate various realms of consciousness to determine what is real and what is a dream, going beyond this space time continuum into more subtle realms, between form and formless. Bliss. Magic acoustic formulas are uttered, opening up portals to summon the deity. The vibrational sound frequency of the mantra is the body of the deity. Ancient yantra designs are downloaded by the sages and etched into the earth.

Yoginis and dakinis appear in tantric sadhana as the mediators between realms of consciousness, helping to remove certain ‘veils’, or granthis, to prepare the physical and subtle body to receive kundalini or shakti energy. The subtle yogi body is the intersection between form and formless. Yoginis bring the formless into form. Dakinis bring the form back to formlessness. They conceal and reveal. Perhaps it’s more mundane and they simply help us work with afflicted emotions to transform them back into an unconditioned or unfabricated liberated state of mind. The iconography of the yogini temples helps us understand the blissful state of “emptiness” combined with desire.

The erotic sculptures give rise to a refined sense of desire (the vibration that comes before a thought). Ritual, invocation and worship of deities are not something outside ourselves, but exist within, as part of consciousness. The journey of the practitioner is about unraveling— deconditioning ourselves to understand who we really are. Wrathful deities exist to scare us away from entering altered states until we’re ready. They demand we take off the layers of our crustacean mind, conditioning passed down through generations, to clear our stain of perception and see through the veils of maya (illusion) that prevent us from seeing our true nature. Pure vision.

The origins of Goddess worship are obscured in history. It’s as elusive as the roots of Hatha Yoga with its nomadic and oral-based traditions passed from Guru to adept—little material culture and textual evidence exists. Some claim that the trading seals at Harappan and Mohenjo Daro, from the Indus Saraswati civilization (2500–1750 BCE) are evidence of goddess worship. One in particular that has a female shape under a tree and eight attendants is interpreted as early dod- dess worship. Another has a tiger and a female in a tree.

This female goddess is known as a Yakshi, or Yakshini, and is an earth spirit, accepted as a symbol of fertility by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains. She shows up later to adorn the gate of the great stupa at Sanchi (3rd century BCE). Sculptures depict a yakshi as a beautiful and voluptuous woman in the three- bend pose (tribanga), bending at her neck, waist, and hips, standing under a tree with her upper hand grasping a tree branch and causing the tree to bear fruit simply by touching it with her foot. Her spherical breasts, narrow waist and wide child-bearing hips symbolize the fertility of the earth. Sculptures and rock carvings depicting the curvaceous form of the divine feminine have existed across time and cultures.

Goddess worship exists in scriptures since the time of the Vedas. However it wasn’t until the post-Vedic texts of the medieval era with Tantra and Shaivism that a major expansion in goddess mythology and literature occurred. The firstreferencetotheGoddesscanbe found in the earliest text, the Rig Veda, which attributes the creation of the cosmos to the goddess Vac. Vac means “speech”,“word”or“voice”. The world was created through the vibration of sound. Vac is the supreme goddess, the creatrix, the Queen of all gods, the source of the cosmos and divine power. Even though Vac is about speech and the Vedas are shruti, or “heard into existence,” the Rishis “see” Vac by tapping into their inner vision. In the Riddle Hymn (RV 1.1 64 41-42) Vac is represented as a cow and the syllable she utters—ohmmm—sounds like a lactating cow mooing to her calf. From her breasts flow an inexhaustible supply of milk, the sustenance of life and the key to salvation. Vac is also considered to be an ancient model for Saraswati, the goddess of wisdom.

The Devi Sukta, another hymn in the Rig Veda (10.125.1-10.125.8), declares that the ultimate reality is the Goddess, equal to Brahman:

“I have created all worlds at my will

without being urged by any higher

Being and dwell within them. I per-

meate the earth and heaven and all

created entities with my greatness and

dwell in them as eternal and infinite

consciousness.”

In the Devi Bhagavata Purana (900-1400 C.E) everything begins with Adi Parashakti, or Adi Shakti. Adi means “first” and Para, “beyond”. Shakti means “Supreme-Power”. When nothing existed, a light emerged in the darkness and took the form of Adi Shakti. Her first emanation was Ma Kushmanda (one of the Navadurgas) whose form is identical to Durga, with three eyes, trishul, shield, mace, bow, arrow, chakra, long sword, with one hand shown in abhaya mudra, and sitting on a lion. Kushmanda created the universe through her silent smile. She produced the Cosmic Egg, bringing light to the universe. Her luminosity gives the Sun its brightness.

When Ma Kushmanda opened her left eye, Maha Kali was born. She opened her right eye and Maha Saraswati was born. When she opened her third eye, Maha Lakshmi was born. These three main goddesses are married to Shiva, Brahma and Vishnu, the holy trinity of the Hindu pantheon of Gods. So, the great Goddess precedes everything—Brahma the creator, Vishnu the sustainer and Shiva the destroyer, the time that spans between them and the space from where they evolved. Everything which exists in the universe comes from Adi Shakti, this central super Goddess who is pure consciousness and bliss—primordial cosmic energy. She is the essence of all the non-dual tantric teachings. She is the Mother.

The word durga is found in post-Vedic Sanskrit texts such as the Mahabharata (2.451) and the Ramayana (4.27.16), but these references have nothing to do with Durga as a demon-slaying goddess. This narrative came much later, in a section of the Markandeya Purana (400—600 C.E.) known as Durga Saptashati, Devi Mahatmya or Chandi Path, where Durga manifests as the supreme power and the creatrix of the universe. In Devi Mahatmya, Durga proclaims her pre-eminence as the Supreme Being. She says:

“I resemble in form Brahman,

From me emanates the world

which has the Spirit of Prakriti and Purusha,

I am empty and non-empty,

I am delight and non-delight,

I am knowledge and ignorance,

I am Brahman and not Brahman.”

In the Devi Upanishad (900-1400 C.E.), the goddess is thrust into her prominent role, equal to Brahman. Celestial beings ask Devi who she really is after proclaiming that she rules the world, blesses devotees with riches, and is the supreme deity to whom all worship is to be offered, and that she infuses Atman in every soul.

Sridevi describes her incomprehensible form to destroy the ignorance of her devotees (the devas). In the Shakta and Shaiva traditions of tantra, Devi is the Divine Mother, the supreme being who represents the animating force of the universe. Without her Shakti energy, Shiva remains a shava, or corpse. One needs to understand that if anything exists, it’s ‘her’. Nothing exists other than Sridevi. She is the ONE and the many. She is the only ultimate truth.

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