Shakti

A collection of poems in praise of Adya Kali
Although some of the poems from this manuscript have been published, also as part of my article "Kālī the Dark Mother", the manuscript as a whole is as yet unpublished.
I have made these poems available here for anyone who feels a call to the Feminine Face of God.

Independent scholar. https://jeanmacphail.academia.edu/ CHAPTER 2 AND LEVEL II Müller's Science of Religion and Vivekananda's Yoga as a Science Vivekananda's Emphasis on Yoga or Self-transformation Vis à Vis Müller With regard to Müller's influence on Vivekananda, Green asserts (50) that Vivekananda did not carry out a systematic study of religion and that his presentation of the historical development of religions, the essence of religion and its supernatural origins and theory are similar to Müller's. However, he admits that although Vivekananda read Müller's books, it is difficult to prove that Vivekananda borrowed from Müller and concludes that Vivekananda's integration of religion was not passively derivative of Müller's thought. A somewhat ambivalent assessment, as is true of much of what is said about Vivekananda in this book. The cogency of Green's remarks may now be explored in the light of Gayatriprana (2020), a compilation of all of Vivekananda's remarks on the history of Vedanta from its earliest Vedic stages up to the beginning of the twentieth century. In passing, Vivekananda does refer, though often obliquely, to Müller and other Western Orientalists and their theories, which would be in keeping with his respect for their work and his Westernized ability to gladly present some of their seminal ideas. In the same vein, he does not refrain from calling them out when their views simply make no sense in the Indian context. Further, it may be somewhat of a superimposition of Müller's thought on Vivekananda that Vivekananda was primarily moved by conceptual influences rather than by his own experience. These two positions could be further finessed by saying that Vivekananda saw that India desperately needed contemporary social consciousness and modern institutions to support its people if they were to gain independence from Western imperialism and gain a place in the global community. Such institutions were not to be built on Western presuppositions, but on the principles of indigenous thinking, including Vedanta and the practice of traditional yoga. On the other hand, his mission to the West was to introduce the time-tested methods of self-transformation (yoga) so that the West could find its "soul" without necessarily having to kowtow to outmoded religious forms or rejecting science, its crown jewel. Rather than relying on any conceptual analysis, this bipartite program arose more from Vivekananda's personal experience, supporting Green's other suggestion that Vivekananda's worldview was heavily influenced by his spiritual teacher, Ramakrishna. As we already know, it was at Ramakrishna's hands that Vivekananda-vehemently asserting the reality and value of the physical world-had been thrown into the world of pure subjectivity, a rather terrifying samadhi or saltation from the objective physical world to the totality of what Vivekananda would later call the superconscious, where any recognizable features of our material, rationalistic world-including the categories of exegesis by scholars-cease totally to exist, thereby bypassing any quibbles about established criteria of anything. This experience, occurring in what was to the Advaitins the "lowest" step of the chatushpad of "four steps of experiencing the Atman", can be said to throw a first monkey wrench into the apotheosis of Advaita and certainly is an illustration in actual life of the kind of process on which all of Vedanta, including Advaita, is built. Classical Advaita, however, was adamant in its denial of the worth of any practice other than that of intense focus on the meaning of non-dual scriptures and the resultant sudden saltation of the seeker's mind into pure intuitive experience. It therefore supports Müller's quest in the most radical of ways.

In recent years, the growing interest in the relationship between religion and “the Feminine,” whether human or divine, has given rise to diverse academic volumes exploring this connection in different traditions. The academic examination of the Feminine in Hindu traditions has been, for the most part, rooted in efforts to describe and interpret, using various scholarly methods, including ethnographic, historical, or literary research on Hindu women and Hindu goddess traditions. Important as these areas of study are, they are necessarily circumscribed by the methods of inquiry they employ and hence are, generally speaking, not concerned with exploring the relevance of Hindu understandings of the Feminine to theological concerns or contemporary forms of gender activism. The traditional academic parameters of textuality and anthropology are, of course, necessitated by the demands of credible scholarship. They can, however, be complemented by thealogical reflection, and constructive engagement. Such an approach could provide a more nuanced exploration of the significance of Hindu understandings of the feminine in terms of the following:
• Conceptual resources for thealogical reflection and reinterpretation.
• Alternative insights on the multiple possible modes of envisioning female empowerment and the divine feminine in feminist theory discourse.
• The relevance of Hindu models of the feminine to crosscultural philosophical, theological, ontological, or sociological interchange.

Book review by Sonali Gupta in History Today, Delhi, No. 3, 2002:

Francesco Brighenti, Sakti Cult in Orissa, D.K. Printworld, New Delhi, 2001, pp. xx +510, plates (b/w & col.) 66+33. Price: Rs. 2400.

“The word Sakti is powerful. It is the primordial energy of the universe and so represents cosmic energy. The author has confined his area of study to Orissa on account of its deep-rooted tribal influence and the continuity that the region represents in the evolution of the cult. According to the author the rise and spread of the Sakti cult brought within its folds, both non-Aryan and Aryan trends. These influences enabled the cult to reach out to all castes, creeds and sects, assuring wider acceptability and popularity. The author traces the roots of the Sakti cult in Orissa to the worship of the female principle. He then traces the migration and emigration of Austro-Asiatic, Dravidian and Aryan groups. Coupled with this, the author juxtaposes the developments in Orissa with developments in such cults elsewhere in the world. The inter relationships of the Sakti cult with Naga, Yaksa cults as well as tribal Shamanism are brought forth. In the historical period the growth of the cult from the Gupta period to the late medieval period is highlighted. There are instances of the fusion of the Sakti cult with the Shaiva cult and also Vaishnava. From the 5th to the 6th century A.D. the Sakta goddesses increase manifold. The subordination of the goddesses to the male gods in the past witnesses a reversal and the goddesses are seen in equal footing to the male gods. In his view this aspect is clearly an influence of tribal and matriarchal societies where equality between the sexes was the order, which is a moot point. Chapter 3 takes the readers to the important Sakta centres of eminence in Orissa, which are even today centres of Sakti worship. The manifestations of Sakti in different forms and iconographic representations are dealt with in detail. Further, the festivals and rituals associated with the cult show the undercurrents of the powerful Sakti cult, which are still in vogue. It is a 'must' read for historians and those interested in region specific studies of the cult. It has been a very well produced book.”

In this paper I will outline the psychophysical basis of the energy described as Kundalini from a scientifically trained perspective.  I will also present various specific techniques for acquisition of Kundalini experiences derived from several decades of participation in the exploration these contemplative practices.

The two songs translated below tell the story of the goddesses Cāmuṇḍi and her sister Uttanahaḷḷi and their epic battle against demons on the hill outside of Mysore in the modern state of Karnataka in South India. These songs, which are sung in the Kannada language, are part of a larger epic ballad Beṭṭada Cāmuṇḍi (Cāmuṇḍi of the Hill) about the goddess Cāmuṇḍi and her relationship with the deity Śiva in his local form as Nañjuṇṣēśvara, “the lord who consumed the poison.”  In these songs, and in the epic ballad more broadly, we can see the local traditions of these two situated goddesses seamlessly blend into the broader Indic tradition through narrative and mythic adaptation and acculturation.

The felt sense of whoness is not a me-ness…me is self-fixation and in fact the sense of whoness can free us from objectified self-fixation. The sense of me often replaces the sense of who. When the experiential nonconceptual felt sense of who is not known or experienced, the felt sense of me-ness arises desperately. The sense of who is unfixatedness and this innate sense of no-thingness can be found and even experienced as ongoing timeless awareness in time. Innermost awareness in its manifestation can be experienced as whoness, no-thingness and open knowingness. The sense of me-ness is self-fixated, self-referencing and this me-ness can obscure the experiential arising of whoness. The sense of me-ness reflects the being in mind alone, and the sense of whoness reflects being deeply within the awareness field. Whoness manifests most directly as pause and within the pause. The pause is unbound in betweeness…the space in between..transitional spaciousness. When the spaciousness of the breathless breath opens whoness can be felt as uncontained and unbound. Whoness is experiential openness….openess without a name or prior to name. We may say openness prior to mind. Dasein to use Heideggarian language. When the breathless breath manifests the experience is always mysterious. What does breathless breath mean? Breathless means no breath, there is no breath. The word breath here, in this context signifies that there is no breath but there is respiration. There is this inner most experience of no breath, no inhaling or exhaling of air and yet there is respiration. There is a respiration without breath and beyond breath. For instance, in the Kechari mudra this breathless breath experience takes place. The breath stops and yet there is an inner sense of breathless respiration. This experience of respiration without breath is described in various traditions of eastern philosophy. In the Dzogchen tradition Longchenpa describes the experience in his great text Words and Meaning. This

In this article I present Chapter 23 of my doctoral thesis Learning in Depth: A Case Study in Twin 5x5 Matrices of Consciousness. Here Sri Ramakrishna opens up the mystery of maya, a Sanskrit term that has been variously explained as magic, confusion, ignorance, partial vision, etc. Basically it relates to the difficulties in facing irresolvable contradictions, "squaring the circle", resolving complementarity, reconciling the world of matter and the world of spirit, and similar projects normally considered impossible. The subject comes up in the history of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda interaction after Vivekananda's second samadhi, which opened up the whole process of yoga, thereby permitting him to go more deeply into the depths of his own mind, where he was to encounter precisely all of the baffling aspects of maya, or his habitual mode of thinking. The key that Sri Ramakrishna gave him to solve the conundrums was, quite simply, to modify the way he looked at things. This may seem like a rather ordinary, humanistic way to approach the subject, a doable route around the endless myths, philosophies and ratiocinations that have been brought to bear on the subject. However, just how drastic this solution was to be is revealed in this chapter: a total "makeover" of Vivekananda's psyche and an apparent complete turnaround of philosophical outlook. As well as a saltation from the level of yoga to the very door of the Atman itself. As before, this whole process occurs over five different states or stages, running alongside the developments in both spiritual humanism and yoga as a science and throwing them into a different light than what we have seen thus far. The same format is followed of aligning the statements and actions of Sri Ramakrishna with the later interpretations of Vivekananda himself at comparable stages of his own teaching, as well as Vivekananda's habit of applying the more practical statements to the needs of India and the more transcendental to the West.

The Devi Mahatmayam is the battle between good and evil. But on that battlefield, the majesty of the Mother Goddess should not be underestimated. She does not wage wars with grand armies or divine allies. She alone is the source and the strength. This is not just a description of Her Divine Power. It is a worship and a praise of God, as Mother of the Universe. Such descriptions of an all-powerful feminine God are non-existent in the West, and as rare in the East. In world literature, the Devi Mahatmayam is an elusive scripture. Nestled within the Markandeya Purana, it is an extraordinary expression of both reverence and devotion. It is an epic poem, a true song of praise that should echo through the days of our lives. Deluded but Fully Aware: "How can we be so deluded and yet still aware of that? How can we both be so lacking in discrimination that we indulge in this state of despair?'"

By becoming aware of awareness we can experience the innermost sense or the felt sense of spaciousness and self-illumination. Within this state of open awareness, the openness of spacious luminous awareness, we can enter the experience of the radiance of light as energy through the sublime, luminous vibrations. The experience of the unfolding of sublime awareness and the corresponding energetic manifestation of the self-arising of primordial awareness is self-liberation. These experiences of the sublime manifestation of luminous energy was described by the 14 th century Dzogchen master Longchenpa in his text Precious Treasury of The Genuine Meaning. This meditative experience often arises spontaneously in Dzogchen meditation practice. This experience of translucent energetic manifestation is also described in Chan Buddhism, Hindu Kashmir Shavism, and Yan Xin Qi Gong. This experience of energetic manifestation can be experienced within subtle forms of respiration. Sometimes the ongoing sense of subtle luminous respiration can be experienced even as there is a profound sense of breathlessness. Breathlessness used here means no breath or minimal breath. This experience of the ongoing sense of respiration without breath is very powerful and empowering. In this experience of vast stillness there is no breath and yet there arises from deep within, a most subtle respiration within the breathlessness. During this respiration of stillness, the body seems to breathe and be breathed by most subtle inner wind. The inner sense of stillness expands and extends throughout the entire body and beyond the body's boundaries. This stillness opens us into the dimension of potential space, the dharmakaya and pure awareness.

O Śaktismo é uma corrente religiosa que considera a Grande Deusa indiana (Mahā Devī, ou Śakti) como divindade suprema. Desde a mais remota Antiguidade, encontram-se diversas deusas (devī) na tradição religiosa indiana, mas elas possuem papel secundário na literatura sagrada mais antiga. Essa situação muda nas escrituras indianas conhecidas como Purāṇa, que demarcam o período cultural da Índia denominado como “Período Purânico”, que começa no início da era cristã. Nesse período, na história da Índia, nascem ou se desenvolvem diversos movimentos devocionais religiosos que adquirem força e influência, redefinindo o Hinduísmo em muitos aspectos. Nesse contexto surge o Śaktismo como um culto independente de adoração à Deusa, ou seja, um culto no qual se enfatiza o princípio feminino como realidade suprema última, com uma filosofia distinta, como um movimento autônomo e reconhecido no panorama religioso hindu. Iremos avaliar e definir a relevância e o papel dos Purāṇa na instituição e independência do culto à Śakti, no que vem sendo chamado de “cristalização da tradição da Deusa”, um movimento que se completa no Devī-Bhāgavata Purāṇa

In this paper I consider the way in which divinity is realized through an imaginary locus in the mystical thought of Jewish kabbalah and Hindu tantra. It demonstrates a reflective consciousness by the adept or master in understanding the place of God’s being, as a supernal and mundane reality. For the comparative assessment of these two distinctive approaches I shall use as a point of departure the interpretative strategies employed by Elliot R. Wolfson in his detailed work on Jewish mysticism. He argues that there is an androcentric bias embedded in the speculative outlook of medieval kabbalah, as he reads the texts through a psychoanalytic lens. In a similar way, I will argue that there is an androcentric bias to the speculations presented in medieval Shaiva tantra, in particular that division known as the Trika. Overall, my aim is to suggest some functional and perhaps structural similarities to the characterization of divinity in these two traditions, through brief analyses of the erotic understanding of the nature of the Godhead.

"L'avvento di grandi Maestri spirituali che sono venuti come luci guidanti per condurre l'umanità dalla miseria alla gioia, (da ashanti a shanti), da ignoranza e schiavitù a illuminazione e liberazione, è il lavoro della Grazia Cosmica. Essi sono una manifestazione della Grazia Divina, della Madre Divina. Nel contesto della filosofia indiana del non-dualismo qualificato, di cui uno dei più grandi esponenti fu Sri Ramanujacharya, la Madre Divina è considerata come un simbolo, la vera personificazione di quella Grazia Divina. Come anche Gesù ha detto: " Nessuno può venire al Padre se non tramite Me", anche così il devoto non-dualista qualificato dirà: " E' impossibile raggiungere i piedi del Signore se non con la benigna grazia della Madre Divina Lakṣmi. E' solo se voi vi abbandonate a Lakṣmi che Lei, tramite la sua compassione vi prende e graziosamente vi presenta davanti al supremo Signore Nārāyaṇa." In contrasto a questo, nell'India dell'Est, nel Bengala e in altri luoghi, la Madre Divina è considerata come il grande Potere Cosmico. Gli Śaktas considerano Lei come Adi-Śakti, il Potere primordiale, come Para-Śakti, il Potere trascendente, come Maha-Śakti, il grande Potere. E' Lei che determina i molteplici aspetti dell'esistenza fenomenica di innumerevoli universi. Così è il potere della Madre Divina che è l'oggetto dell'adorazione, il più alto supremo fattore nella vita spirituale e nella liberazione. Ella è colei che concede la liberazione nel contesto della filosofia Śakta....."

While I have always intuitively seen Mary as more than Theotokos, my training in orthodoxy came to overshadow my orthopraxis of Mary. But today I hold a different stance because I have come to view my Marian practice as indeed worship of the Divine Godd/ess.

At a surprisingly early age, perhaps ten or eleven years old, I became the author of my own religious narrative, meaning, I took it upon myself to initiate and pursue the deep mysteries of my Catholic faith. Weekly Mass became an event, not an obligation, and something to which I attended independent of my large, Irish-American Catholic family. The singleness of my worship at such a young age drew stares and whispers from those families that arrived intact. And while I was not unaware of their curiosity, I found it easier to lose myself in the absolute wonder of my environment. This environment of the tangible and non-tangible is what Andrew Greeley has since come to identify as “the Catholic Imagination,” where a Catholic sensibility is manifested in cathedrals and high art, but is also awash in the mundane of our daily lives. Additionally, our family’s dependence on Saint Jude, the patron saint of lost causes, was a close second to a strong devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. By this I mean to suggest that she was our go-to heavenly figure when in need, and I, the appointed family petitioner. Through the years I would take each family crisis directly to Mary through the recitation of the Rosary. The thought never occurred to me that doctrinally Mary functioned as mediator between the Father and Son and not as Godd/ess. While I never identified her as the personification or manifestation of Godd/ess, that is exactly how my practice or devotion to her played itself out, until I left the church in my early twenties, certain my emerging feminism could not include the sexism and androcentrism of an all male priesthood. But twenty years later, when I discovered my husband had been involved in a five-year affair, I immediately ran for my childhood rosary beads, which I had not used or thought about since my youth.

Navarātri, letteralmente nove notti. Durante nove notti e dieci giorni sono venerate le nove forme della dea Śakti, simboleggiante l’energia vitale dell'universo.
Navarātri , o Navarātripūjā (il culto delle nove notti) è rivolto alla dea Durgā.
Le nove forme o forze di Śakti Devi sono: Kumari, Trimurti, Kalyani, Rohini, Kalika, Chandika, Sambavi, Durga e Subhadra. Il nono e ultimo giorno di questo periodo viene adorata la dea Sarasvati (Sarasvati Pūjā), in onore all'elemento Vayu (aria).
Si dice che l'oggetto o lo scopo con cui viene osservato sia propiziare la Dea che simboleggia ogni possibile tipo di energia nell'universo, al fine di ottenere felicità e prosperità perpetua.

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She changes everything She touches and everything She touches changes. The world is Her body. The world is in Her and She is in the world. She surrounds us like the air we breathe. She is as close to us as our own breath. She is energy, movement, life, and change. She is the ground of freedom, creativity, sympathy, understanding, and love. In Her we live, and move, and co-create our being. She is always there for each and every one of us, particles of atoms, cells, animals, and human animals. We are precious in Her sight. She understands and remembers us with unending sympathy. She inspires us to live creatively, joyfully, and in harmony with others in the web of life. Yet choice is ours.

What does it mean to talk of the power of God in relation to the human self? The discourses generated by the Jewish and Christian tradition about the capacity for divinity have been mainly promulgated by men, and have more often than not served to exclude women cognitively, practically, and spiritually. As a result they have been made powerless in the face of God's presence. It is possible to look to ideas developed in Hindu Tantra for comparative notions of power (shakti) which can redeem the place of God for women. The path of divine consciousness is effectively illustrated by an imaginary and somatic awareness, by a devout attention to the play of light in the soul. In this paper I propose to read the assignment of energy and force within conceptions of divinity through the lens of a poststructuralist realization, using the work of Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, and Luce Irigaray.