Meaning and Significance of Shakti

 

Who is Shakti?

The Hindu Goddess Shakti or Sakti represents pure divine female power. The word ‘Shakti’ means energy or power in Sanskrit. She is the creatrix, the great divine mother. She is the dynamic energy that is responsible for the creation, maintenance, and destruction of the Universe. Shakti is the Hindu goddess responsible for creation and all dynamic forces in the universe. She is also called The Great Divine Mother or The Universal Mother. She is also known by the names Parvati, Durga, and Kali. Shakti is a Mahadevi, or great Goddess—which is a sum of all other Goddesses. All other Hindu Goddesses are seen as aspects of Shakti.She is the active, passionate, and creative spark of life that stimulates Shiva or Siva—who is consciousness, Shakti's consort and counterpart. Shakti and Shiva are seen as interdependent opposites with near equal value.Much like the High Priestess is considered by many to be a vessel for the Goddess, the Hindu tradition sees all women as vessels of Shakti.

 In Tantra yoga and meditation, yogis contemplate Goddess Shakti to understand and access the shakti energy, power and creativity in themselves and the universe. This allows one to view their powers as expressions of the universe rather than the ego.  In Tantra, Shakti is worshiped as the Divine feminine that imbues every living being and deity with energy, power and creativity. Her divine feminine energy has no beginning or end and is in constant play.In the saiva  traditions, śakti is considered non-separate from śiva, or that Absolute Consciousness that is the ground of Being. This union is historically depicted in images of Ardhanāṛīśvara, the androgynous form of god who is half man, half woman.  Here, śiva and śakti are consciousness and energy in an eternal dance of creation, sustainment, and dissolution.In the śakta traditions, śakti is considered the Absolute Principle, and all other deity forms are subordinate to her. Here, she is the very source and destination of all beings – be they deities or demons, heroes or villains.In both śakta and śaiva traditions, śakti doesn’t only give birth to the universe. She is the universe, from the minutest particle to the densest cosmic body. She veils herself in each of us where we fail to see our divine nature. As the potential for recognizing our true identity, she is kuṇḍalinī (the “coiled one”), which remains dormant but awakens in the context of deep yogic insight.  Kuṇḍalinī is often depicted as a coiled serpent at the base of the spine, where she lies asleep until one experiences śaktipāta, which literally means the “descent of śakti,” a bestowal of divine grace.While considered feminine, śakti, is non-binary, being present in all beings, all genders, and all objects as their true nature. In other words, all attributes of reality are but the face of śakti. She is the source, the expression and the ultimate dissolution of anything and everything in existence.Since Śakti is everything in existence, she is invoked in all modes of spiritual practice. While it is common to offer adoration to her as the divine feminine, she is the power and source of mantra or sacred sound, yantra or sacred art, ritual worship, contemplative practices, and meditation. She is easily invoked in Nature and in relationships, and in every context of our daily life.  

What do we mean by Shiv-Shakti?

In the Tantric cosmology, the whole universe is perceived as being created, penetrated and sustained by two fundamental forces, which are permanently in a perfect, indestructible union. These forces or universal aspects are called Shiva and Shakti.Shiva shakti is the power of transformation and liberation in some yoga traditions. It is one of three main forces and is personified in the Hindu god, Shiva, the transformer and destroyer of evil; while the feminine shakti energy is represented by his consort, Parvati (sometimes referred to as Mahadevi).Shiva shakti is also associated with destruction, or the destroying force, which paves the way for transformation.

The other two main forces in some yoga traditions are:

• Brahma shakti – the force of creating

• Vishnu shakti – the force of maintaining

It is believed that each yogi has a dominant force, but must develop all three – Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva shakti – to reach guru shakti. In yoga, the shaktis can be activated and developed through the practice of meditation, pranayama and even asana.

The tradition has associated to these principles a form, respectively that of a masculine deity and that of a feminine one. Lord Shiva represents the constitutive elements of the universe while Shakti is the dynamic potency  which makes these elements come to life and act. From a metaphysical point of view, the divine couple Shiva-Shakti corresponds to two essential aspects of the One: the masculine principle, which represents the abiding aspect of God, and the feminine principle, which represents Its Energy, the Force which acts in the manifested world and life itself.Shakti here stands for the immanent aspect of the Divine, that is the act of active participation in the act of creation. This Tantric view of the Feminine in creation contributed to the orientation of the human being towards the active principles of the universe, rather than towards those of pure transcendence.Therefore, Shiva defines the traits specific to pure transcendence and is normally associated, from this point of view, to a manifestation of Shakti who is somewhat stronger (such as Kali and Durga), personification of Her own untamed and limitless manifestation.Owing to the fact that in a way, Shakti is more accessible to the human understanding (because this regards aspects of life that are closely related to the human condition inside the creation), the cult of the Goddess (DEVI) has spread more forcibly.

What does ‘Ardhanarishvara’ represent?

Ardhanarishvara is a combination of three words “Ardha,” “Nari,” and “Ishwara” means “half,” “woman,” and “lord,” respectively, which when combined means the lord whose half is a woman. It is believed that the God is Lord Shiva and the woman part is his consort Goddess Parvati or Shakti. The Ardhanarishvara represents a constructive and generative power. Ardhanarishvara symbolizes male and female principles cannot be separated. It conveys the unity of opposites in the universe. The male half stands for Purusha and female half is Prakriti. Ardhanarishvara harmonizes the two conflicting ways of life: The spiritual way of the ascetic as represented by Shiva, and the materialistic way of the householder symbolized by Parvati. It conveys that Shiva and Shakti are one and the same. A human being is not a pure unisexual organism. Each human organism bears the potentiality of both male and female sex. Neurohormonal mechanisms have been found to be greatly influencing the sexual behavior. The modern world has come to understand the concept of “Ardhanarishwara” as it aspires to resolve the paradox of opposites into a unity, not by negation, but through positive experiences of life. The matching of opposites produces the true rhythm of life.

Ardhanarishvara is most identifiable by way of his/her differentiation into male and female halves along the central vertical axis. Barring a few exceptions, the right half of his/her images comprises male anatomy and the left that of the female. A few images, obviously influenced by the Shakta sect that gives preeminence to the power of the goddess Shakti, have reversed placement of the male and female torsos.The male half of Ardhanarishvara is characterized by the typical features of Shiva. The head usually bears the crescent moon and snake ornamentations, as well as half of a mustache. Upon his ears, he wears traditional male earrings. His physique is very masculine, with a flat pectoral muscle, a broad shoulder, and a wide waist, as well as a muscular thigh. Furthermore, the male side is ornamented with all the typical accessories of a Shiva image, such as draped garments or a tiger-skin around his waist. Canons of iconography suggest that the right side of Ardhanarishvara should be covered with ashes, or else painted red to depict Shiva's Rudra aspect. Some images from North India depict the male half with tumescent genitalia.The female half of the image is distinguished by a different hairstyle, which is either held in a braid or in a bun. Her forehead bears a half tilaka, or dot (bindu), placed beneath the third eye. Her eye is larger than Shiva's, and the left ear wears earrings designed for women called valika. On the whole, the left side is more curvaceous, with a smaller waist and fuller hip as well as a rounder, well-developed breast. Her ornamentation is greater and decidedly female, including draped silk clothing which reaches her ankles, saffron body powder, anklets, bracelets and henna coloring her left foot or hand. This half of the body is typically colored saffron or parrot-green.

Several features are shared between the male and female sides, including the navel, chest ornamentations, bracelets, anklets, neck pieces, rings, and belts. A halo often illuminates the entirety of the deity from behind its head. Sometimes the male and female halves share a third eye. From the Gupta period onward (320-600 C.E.), the sacred thread worn by twice-born castes appears upon the deity. Often, it takes the form of a serpent and crosses the upper torso of both the male and female halves.The Ardhanarishvara image may be endowed with two, three, or four arms, although they sometimes number as high as eight. Two-armed Ardhanarishvara images are the earliest. In these images, the diety holds the male hand in the abhaya mudra, the gesture in which the hand faces toward the onlooker with fingers straight, serving to impart fearlessness. The female hand carries either a mirror (darpana) or a blue lotus (nilotpala). Four-armed images are usually divided at the elbows, with one male hand remaining in the abhaya mudra while the other most commonly holds a Parasu (axe) or trident. This hand can also hold a rosary, sword, club, thunderbolt, skull, or noose. On four-armed images, one arm on the female half is bent and rests on Shiva's vehicle, the white bull Nandin, or else is held in the kataka mudra, a gesture of intellectual engagement. These hands many also hold the water pot (Kamandalu), a mirror, the lotus flower, the lute (or vina), a drum (damaru), or a small parrot. When three-armed, two of Ardhanarishvara's arms are shown on the male side while only one is placed on the female side.In sculpture, Ardhanarishvara is depicted in a number of bodily postures. The most common is the tribhanga, a posture with three mild curves: One in the head, which leans to the left, another in the torso, which leans to the right, and the third in the right leg, which leans to the right. Also recorded are the atibhanga, a posture with more pronounced curves, and the abhanga or sthanamudra, a straight posture. Sometimes the deity is seated upon a pedestal, such as the lotus (padmasana). While significant numbers of seated images of the deity can be found, they are not nearly as common as those in which she/he is standing.Modern images of the deity in popular culture pay closer attention to the contrasting complexions of his/her halves. The male half usually takes on the bluish tone typical of Shiva, while the female half is golden in color. Parvati is often pictured in proximity to her lion vehicle, while Shiva is accompanied by the white bull. The images are also often placed against a familiar backdrop, such as the Himalayas, where Shiva meditated upon Mount Kailasa. The Ganges, meanwhile, is commonly shown flowing from Shiva's head and into these mountains, in congruence with the Hindu legend of that river's origin.

Ardhanarishvara (also known as Ardhanari and Mohiniraaj) is an androgynous Hindu deity consisting of Shiva and his consort, Parvati (viz. Shakti, the active, creative female energy). Together, these unified divinities represent the synthesis of masculine and feminine energies in the process of creation.In Hindu iconography, Ardhanarishvara is depicted as half-male and half-female, split evenly down the middle upon a central axis. This Hindu deity symbolizes the inseparability of the feminine aspect of the divine with the male principle of God. The image of Ardhanarishvara is one of the most distinct in India, and represents either the harmonious male-female essence divinity or else the ineffable gender-less nature of of God beyond human distinctions. Ardhanarishvara is said to represent the perfect unity and equality of male and female in the creation of the cosmos: in this figure, Shiva and Shakti are non-dual and inseparable. Ardhanarishvara is considered an anthropomorphized manifestation of Parasiva, the abstract, formless Shiva comparable in His theological properties to Brahman, the monist essence of the universe. Ardhanarishvara explains a fact of biological necessity; that is, the pairing of male and female in order to create life. The hathayoga tradition attempts to put this noble idea into practice by having a yogin or yogini focus upon Shiva and Shakti as this interdependent, undivided whole. With this in mind, the goal of the practitioner in the hathayoga system is to achieve sustained experience of Ardhanarishvara, thereby recognizing his or her true nature as "divine, non-dual, and androgynous." In doing so, the kundalini-Shakti can readily be drawn upward from the base on the spine to Shiva's sahasrara chakra at crown of the head. Once this yogic action is performed, Shiva and Shakti are united, and the yogin can proceed to the final stage of liberation, identity with the supreme Parashiva, which is said to be characterized by formlessness and the absence of gender.However, some feminists have disagreed with the assertion that Ardhanishvara is the epitome of sexual unity and equality. Such critiques begin by pointing out that Ardhanarishvara refers to the "lord who is half woman" as opposed to a "half-man, half-woman." This phrasing suggests the inherent male nature of the deity and privileges him with the status of isvara—"god," "lord," or "master;" Parvati meanwhile, is simply "woman" (nari). It has also been noted that the left side of the body is generally thought to be subordinate to the right in Hindu doctrine and iconography. Thus, the male right side of Ardhanarishvara gains another token of implicit privilege over the female side. Furthermore, the aforementioned concept of liberation based on union with Parasiva, towards which yogic practitioners' experience of Ardhanarisvara serves as a stepping stone, has been labeled as a male-identified variation of non-duality. As a result, Shakti's manifestation is said to be quelled entirely, and so she loses her ability to act, rendering her no different from Shiva, the inactive principle. Thus, at the highest level of spiritual attainment, the female half of Ardhanarishvara is subsumed into its male half which seems in-congruent with the notion of equality of the sexes that the deity supposedly symbolizes. Hence, it becomes very important to understand the true significance of this concept and it is prescribed that a Guru is essential for a better understanding.