Navratri: Rise of the Feminine
“… Kali is none other than Brahman” — That which is called Brahman is really Kali. She is the Primal Energy. When that Energy remains inactive, I call It Brahman, and when It creates, preserves, or destroys, I call It Sakti or Kali. What you call Brahman, I call Kali.
Sri Ramakrishna
The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna,
38.16 Kāli and Brahman
Bharat is one of the few places in the world where the feminine is worshipped. In all corners of the country, the Divine Mother is the great Shakti, the most compassionate mother, the destroyer of negative forces and the protector of the good. She is enshrined as the kula-devi (community Goddess) in every village and she holds the key to victory in all areas of life – knowledge and arts, as Saraswati, prosperity and progress as Lakshmi and freedom from outer and inner enemies as Kali. It is She who gives the power or Shakti to reach the Absolute. It is She, as Katyayani, who brings the gopis closer to Krishna. It is She, as Mahalakshmi, who is the gatekeeper to Vishnu’s heart and Grace. It is She, as the Kundalini Shakti, who awakens us to Shiva nature. It is She as Mahamaya, who brings forth the manifestation and She as Parameshwari, who is an expression of the Absolute. As Sri Ramakrishna said, Kali is Brahman Itself.
The potential for spiritual ego and misunderstandings is strong on the spiritual path and Maya has not even spared great yogis. The story of sage Bhrigu represents the yogi who thinks they are above Nature or where their devotion to an idea of the Absolute (in this case, Shiva) makes them look on everything else as somehow ‘lower’. When Shiva was sitting with Devi Parvati by his side, sage Bhrigu tried to circumambulate (pradakshina) him alone, leaving his wife out. Shiva was amused at this childish devotion and pulled Parvati closer. Bhrigu then took the form of a mouse so that he could only go around Shiva. Shiva then pulled Parvati onto his lap. Bhrigu took the form of a bird and went around only Shiva again. Then Shiva pulled Parvati into himself, making her one half of him and Bhrigu, still insistent, took the form of a bee and went around only Shiva’s leg. Finally, Shiva took the Siddhasana pose so that there was no part of his body that Bhrigu could circumambulate. The teaching: Shakti and Shiva are not different. Often the enlightened sages enacted such leelas with the Divine to give teachings to people.
On the spiritual path, ignoring the Mother may express as ignoring our bodies or our dynamic lives such as to bring imbalances or not being able to ‘live out’ our spiritual understandings.
That the feminine aspect is included alongside most representations of God – Parvati with Shiva, Sita-Rama, Radha-Krishna, etc. – points to the integrated view of life that developed in Bharat, where dynamic life was not divorced from spirituality. The main message of honouring the feminine in this way was to emphasise the qualities of receptivity and humility that are considered most important on the spiritual path. In this sense, the feminine aspect is something each one of us possesses, regardless of gender, and without the rise of this spiritual dimension within us, we cannot fulfil the spiritual goal.
This Navratri, may Shakti rise in all the hearts and minds, leading us to fulfilment in every way.
