We are at a global crossroads. Environmental devastation, economic upheaval, political corruption and unconscionable acts of man-made violence threaten the precious equilibrium of our planet. Racism, sexism, homophobia, war, violence, genocide, human trafficking -- it is hard not to feel overwhelmed by the massive injustice perpetuated by humans against our own species and ultimately the fragile web of all life on this planet. How do we make sense of the destruction? When all seems futile, how do we approach formidable life experiences from a place of compassion for both self and other? To whom do we turn for guidance?
To many in the West, the orthodox religious traditions we grew up within have failed to provide solace. Many of us are looking for a spiritual model that addresses the needs of the tumultuous 21st century and yet is grounded in respect for the interconnectedness of all life. While some have found guidance in indigenous beliefs, western mystical traditions or eastern philosophy, the ululating call of the divine feminine seems to be making itself heard across the board.
Most of us are familiar with Greek mythology and its pantheon of goddesses and gods; however, fewer are aware that there is a thriving tradition of goddess worship in South Asia where devotion to the divine as Compassionate Mother and Fiercely Protective Female Warrior has existed for millennia. In fact, there is not one, but thousands of manifestations of goddess in South Asia. In Hinduism human diversity is expressed by this vast pantheon of deities; and yet, as one of the most popular goddess myths reminds us, despite our differences, we are indeed all One.
The Devi Mahatmya or the Great Glory of the Goddess is a 5th century myth that offers potent teachings relevant to this day and age. The heroine of this story about the victory of good over evil is Durga, Goddess of Divine Justice, Invincible Power, and Impenetrable Compassion. Her name, Durga, means fortress, and speaks to the unassailable essence of our inherent nature. Durga is also known as the Remover of Fear and Difficulty for she always comes to the aid of any who call on her in distress.
According to the myth, demonic forces are threatening to conquer the world and take down any who do not agree with their agenda. Despite the gods' intentions to stop the demons, the methods they use only perpetuate the violence. Moreover, this demon king has received a boon from the creator God Brahma, which makes him undefeatable by any man, god or demon. When Brahma asks the demon if he wants to be exempt from defeat by a female as well, the demon's inflated ego puffs up with pride. To the demon, battling a woman is an easy win -- he declines.
After eons of senseless violence, the male gods convene and call forth the Supreme Mother Goddess behind all existence. Only she is powerful enough to stop the bloodshed. The initial chapter of Durga's mythic journey of restoring harmony to the world tells how the demon king learns a beautiful female is waiting to engage in battle with him. He orders his two favorite demon generals to bring her to him so he can force her into wedlock. However, the generals do not have a chance against the all-powerful goddess. As they approach her, the composed goddess emits a flame from her finger that restores them to a state of tranquility and compassion. Outraged, the demon demands that the goddess engage directly with him in battle. She does.
The demon becomes more and more furious as he faces the great goddess. He hurls mountains, uproots forests and causes earthquakes with his all-consuming anger against the possible loss of power and control. Every time one of Durga's arrows flies at him, the demon changes form from water buffalo, to tiger, to man until finally she grabs him, pins his neck down with her foot and sends a spear through his heart.
Metaphorically, we can consider Durga as the wisdom of the heart, untainted by cultural, religious and societal conditioning. The buffalo demon symbolizes our ignorance, reactions and ego attachments. The constantly shifting appearance of the demon speaks to our irrational behavior and the need to pin down the destructive causes of our negative emotions: anger, jealousy, pride, greed and delusion. His shape shifting is symbolic of the grasping ignorant mind that continuously jumps from one desire to another. The demon's uncontrollable rage, destroying everything in its path without regard for the consequences, is a fitting analogy for the violence we face today. This myth asks us to consider how we choose to express our anger -- whether we will use our rage against injustice in constructive ways, or if we will be divisive, fearful and blaming, thereby poisoning our environment. The fiercely compassionate divine feminine nature will help free us from the afflicted ego and return to the penetrating wisdom of divine love. Goddess Durga may not solve all the world's problems at the moment, but as this ancient scripture teaches, she is the impenetrable place of calm within our hearts from which we can choose actions that promote harmony and unity rather than selfish harmful acts.
In the myth, after the demon has finally been defeated and the gods gather to celebrate, Mother Durga promises to return whenever any of her children are in distress. As we face crises on both a personal and planetary level, might we call on this ancient divine female force of compassion and courage to help us confront and transform that which threatens the well being and contentment of all beings on this planet?
The Devi Mahatmya teaches that the grace of goddess is unconditional and will never be withheld from anyone -- ego demon or not. Through her fierce love toward self and other, harmony will be restored within and around us. We need only invoke Durga to help us remember our true nature and that divine love conquers all.
Durga - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I like Tolkien better.
Hindu thought tries to merge the variety of existence and attempts to understand them, which is how there are dozens of different philosophies of thought in Hinduism that exist and thrive, these various strands are not simply doctrinally different but nearly separate faiths. Just my thoughts.
i didn't know about the caste system, contemporary hinduism and how it relates everyday life until i wanted to expand from my zen meditation background.
i went on 3 years of study on hindu and other scriptures that influenced my background specifically within the female manifestation. i ended up being an executive assistant to the top swami in the western hemisphere for this particular sect of divine (mother) worship. i was the only lay person and female to ever hold that position.
my critque isn't something i pulled from books or saw as an outsider either being overly critical or overly fawning to a favorite new religion that's still shiny and fresh that i can apply to my own world.
religious texts are exquisite. i love durga, saraswati, and kali, and i have also seen first hand how religion is used to close people off or used as an excuse rather than a path to enlightment.
THIS OCCURS IN EVERY RELIGION so people on this thread who continue to make the false accusation that i'm attacking you or i'm going at you with vitriolic are the ones with completely shut minds... and in fact these are the ones making ad hominem attacks.
this is an example of how "spiritual people" go rabid.
you can go ahead and flag my comments, again, they won't be erased.
You're not being 'attacked,' it's just that if every time something Hindu or involving the Goddess appears, there's always someone harping on the caste system and or implying that Hindu nationalist militants and sectarian mean 'Hinduism's a violent religion, stop there.'
No one's making claims that India or Hinduism means 'Perfectly-righteous politics always.'
It seems to be the standards of some others to make accusations so that if criticized, themselves for *actual* regressive agendas, they can say, 'Everyone does it, look over there, be against *them,*'
India's caste system is certainly an *issue* (And one I think they're dealing with a lot more rapidly than the US has with slavery and class, on the latter point with Christianists advocating making the wealth stratification ever-worse, in fact,) ...But you haven't made a case where it's an issue of *this* thread.
"Goddess Durga may not solve all the world's problems at the moment, but as this ancient scripture teaches, she is the impenetrable place of calm within our hearts from which we can choose actions that promote harmony and unity rather than selfish harmful acts. "
For me, this statement is the beauty of Durga. As a woman in this current-day culture, it can be hard to find my way to act in a way that promotes unity and love when much of what I see around me is simply adding to the pain and suffering of the world.
Sometimes, we need a clear image out here, to remember what is already inside...a heart that knows peace, desires harmony and is willing to courageously act to serve the greater good.
In every moment we have a choice as to how to respond to any situation or person. We can react and create harm, or we can find ways to respond that honor the pain, struggle, whatever emotions come up and yet still respects our differences from a place of deep compassion.
I've never understood what's to be gained by all this hooliganism and vandalism and worse. A philosopher makes a point, and people go crazy and wantonly destroy art and architechture to hold everyone to the letter of this supposed "law".... absurd.
Blessed Be.
There's also a lot more 'sides' to things than binary gender, or human form, though, of course, those are just kind of big in our attention while we're being this particular sort of 'image.'
Form is manifold, that's part of how She's real. ('the God,' too, but that's a whole other kettle of fish right about now, so to speak. :) )
A friend told me I was a female warrior , she said she saw me with a foot on the neck of a lover who broke my heart and a spear in my hand, ready to inflict the same injury to him. Love it , Finally
a "goddess" I can believe in.
Beauty , blessings for the insight, peace
superiority , it's all just a reason to feel smug . Did I inflict the same injury no ? Can I muster my inner warrior , hells yes. The dead monks of Tibet wish they had stopped the Chinese , you should learn what his Holiness went through , I will not go through the same if they knock on my door , or try to destroy my temple. And I have no political affiliation ,
Still, I was just making a quip on another thread and made me think of Uma Thurman in yellow racing suit as Herself. "I'm going to kill... Great illusion...." :)
Not sure how far that one goes, but hey. :)
Anything in nature - material, life or mind - that can be objectively classified is considered as "feminine". The Sanskrit term for it is "prakrithi". That which is beyond all these physical aspects is "purusha" - loosely translated as consciousness, but better referred to as the "experiencer".
All the gods of Hinduism are aspects of Prakrithi. Any female goddess is simply an aspect - an action, a thought, a dream etc. But any male deity refers to the "purusha as reflected in prakrithi" - as an actor, thinker, dreamer etc.
In this metaphysics, the mother goddess is logically the root of it all. Durga represents Prakrithi in its entirety. This includes both male and female sexes in nature.
i think it's safe to say that there are many problems with how women are treated in india who also happen to be hindu.
there's that whole caste thing and a dowry system of marriage that makes infant girls unwanted and as a side effect there's a high female infanticide rate. there is extreme violence there - hindu militants... and regional problems (kashmir and pakistan).
i could go on. every region, country, ethnic group, and religious group has its problems and those problems look very similar to other groups' problems from outside groups, but done up with different spices.
40%-60% of India lives below the poverty line. I could go on with more statistics but your image of India should be sub-saharan Africa, not China, certainly not Europe.
Under these conditions belief systems rarely matter. They don't put food in your mouth, but crime, child labour does. Dowry, Caste are not Hindu traditions anyway. They exist throughout Asia and the middle east. Let's not derail this into a social-political blog.
my first sentence, " there are many problems with how women are treated in india WHO ALSO HAPPEN to be hindu." i didn't say these things were happening BECAUSE they were hindu.
then i went on to say that every region, country, ethnic groups... has its problems... look similar... but done with different spices.
you should actually read what i wrote. my comment was not an argument and it doesn't state anything you claim it to state.
your comment on the otherhand... i could easily slice and dice that into a million pieces, but why bother. i have better things to do.
if you want to look at what the hindu militants have been doing at recess, google "hindu militants india".