by Jayaram V
One of the distinctive features of Hinduism is the worship of devis
or feminine
deities which is a very ancient and popular tradition. The
Indus people worshipped some form of Mother Goddess. The vedic people
worshipped female deities along with gods such as Indra, Varuna, Agni
and Brahmanaspati. Aditi was the mother of gods. She gave birth to the Adityas or the solar deities.
Saraswathi was the goddess of learning who was compared to a
river. Lakshmi was the goddess of wealth. She brought happiness
and prosperity through harmony, bestowing cattle and good crops on
people who invoked her. The earth was
compared to a mother while the heaven to Prajapathi, Indra or
Brahmanaspathi. Usha was the
goddess of dawn. She symbolized awakening consciousness and heralded the arrival of the sun in his golden
chariot yoked by seven ruddy horses. Uma Haimavathi of the Katha
Upanishad, was the mysterious
companion of the supreme Brahman, who acted as His emissary and
imparted knowledge of Brahman to Indra, Agni and Vayu and helped them become the first and the
foremost among the
gods of devaloka. Then there was Yami, who desired the companionship and physical union with her own
brother Yama, who was the Lord of the netherworld and epitome of
justice.
As the vedic religion expanded and assimilated other religions and
sectarian movements such as Saivism and Vaishnavism, the Hindu
pantheon acquired an interesting and complex character. The concept of
Purusha, the universal male deity or the Supreme Self or God, and
Prakriti, the universal female deity or the Mother Goddess as the
primal and dynamic energy of God became popular. It became customary
to associate one or more female deities with each male deity not only
at the highest level, but
at other levels also. Thus Lakshmi of the Vedic world was recognized as
the consort of Vishnu, Parvathi of Siva, Saraswathi of Brahma, Iswari
or Mahadevi or Iswara, Aindri of Indra, Varuni of Varuna and so on.
Even asectic gods like Ganesha were associated with female divinities,
Siddhi and Riddhi. In
the process, the Hindu pantheon acquired the character of a large
family (vasudaika kutumbam) of gods in which each major divinity headed
a family of his own consisting of wives, children, vehicles, weapons,
assisting deities and in some cases worlds of their own recognized as
their abodes or habitats. Saivism went a step ahead and
personified the union of male and female principles of creation in the
form of Siva as Ardhanariswara, the half male and half female.
It is important to note that these developments were not products of
someone's imagination but realization, during deep meditative states, of the existence of these
divinities and their powers within oneself and within the cosmos. It was as
a result of the internalization of ritual knowledge and
ritual practice and the discovery of a whole new world within oneself.
Some western scholars tend to call this process erroneously as vedic imagination, but it was realization of oneself as the highest self and
the recognition of one's own divine nature and its universal
character. It was an elevation of
vision in which man found himself at the center of divine creation, as
a tool by which all that was to be known could be known not by going out
but by looking within oneself. Hidden within each human being is a blue
print of the universe, the entire cosmic order and its structure. Science
explores it by sending space missions or using extended means of
seeing through powerful telescopes. In Hinduism we are advised to look
within ourselves to find the universe that is hidden there. Our minds
and bodies are perhaps the best and the most powerful telescopes
through which we can fathom the entire universe that is hidden deep
within. Patanjali's Yogasutras speak of siddhis or supernatural powers
which can be acquired and used by advanced practitioners of yoga to
perform similar tasks. Our scriptures describe each being as a microcosmic aspect of
the macrocosm. If Brahman is the self of the universe, atman is the
self of the individual. If the material universe with the planets, the
stars, the elements, the worlds and the beings constitute the body of
God, the physical and subtle bodies of a being are a universe by
themselves in which reside some of the divinities that also reside in the
material universe of God.
Hindu mythology describe the female deities as fickle, possessive
and subject to emotional outbursts. At the same time they describe them
as the highest and purest of divinities, courted, loved and pampered by
their consorts with unconditional love and undivided attention and
from whom, in their purest states, they are inseparable and
indistinguishable. Some of the divinities are depicted as vengeful and
wrathful and some as lovable, kind and motherly. Going by the Puranas,
these opposing behaviors
are often displayed by the same divinity in different circumstances.
In some cases, like that of Brahma and Saraswathi, their relationships
do not stand the test of human morality. This seemingly contradictory behavior is quiet understandable. These
divinities are energies that reside in the material body of the
universe and also in the bodies of the individual beings. It is for
general public we ascribe them human character and build a whole
mythology around them. We all know
that the energy levels in our bodies are never the same. They are
constantly fluctuating and fickle. They ebb and flow depending upon
what we do, think and aim for. They demand our attention, respond to
our pampering and work for us to the extent we nurse them and care for
them. Some are easy to invoke and some are difficult to find. These
energies are both positive and negative. They can help us in our
spiritual advancement or become obstacles on our paths depending upon
how we use them or respond to them or which energies we invoke. They
can potentially help us or they can destroy us just as any other tool
or energy that we use in our day to day lives.
Apart from worshipping these female divinities or powers in the
temples and homes, seeking their help and support in our material
success, we need to know them from a higher perspective and seek their help in our
spiritual journey to achieve the four aims of human life, namely
dharma, artha, kama and moksha. Knowing them is part of knowing ourselves. It
is very vital to our spiritual
practice and self awareness. In seeking their help we fulfill the
divine purpose for which they exist. They are inseparable aspects of
our physical and mental environments. They are as real as our minds
and bodies. They are hidden in our individual energy fields and,
whether we know it or not, want it or not, are constantly at work.
Their presence is part of the divine plan, the mystery and secret
embedded in our constitution and creation, by knowing which we can
make our journey to freedom possible and real.
Sri Aurobindo repeatedly emphasized that we cannot fulfill our
spiritual aspirations and achieve self realization unless we surrender
to the divine mother and let her do her work in cleansing and
purifying our minds and bodies to facilitate the descent of higher
consciousness. It is the mother goddess who does all the work. She
cleans the cave of the seeker's heart and keeps it clean so that it
can receive the rays of light without the taint of ego. It is important that through surrender and devotion we
seek the help of our inner energies to ensure that we are purified and
transformed enough to sustain higher levels of consciousness and the
energies that accompany them and vibrate at much faster and subtler
rate. The purpose of the yoga and the practice of its yamas and
niyamas is essentially the same. It is to prepare the body and the
mind for the experience of samadhi in which the body needs to sustain
higher levels of energy that accompany the consciousness of Brahman.
It is also important what energies we receive and what energies we
seek through the food we consume. Some energies are obstructive and
self-destructive. Some promote peace and harmony. Some promote
negativity. The Bhagavadgita therefore advises people to distinguish
sattvic, rajasic and tamasic foods and eat only those that
promote the quality of sattva which is essential for spiritual
practice and self-realization.
In our bodies the female divinities play an important role for our
material and spiritual well being. They are responsible for our successes
and failures, our states of being, our health and our inner happiness.
A myriad energies work consistently in nature and in our bodies to
keep the wheel of life moving. We can identify some of them and some we
cannot because we are not familiar with them. Some of them have become
extinct because we no more use them. These are the female divinities
of the past whom people worshipped at sometime but forgotten. Some of
them are yet to be awakened because we do not feel their need yet. These
are divinities of future who are presently awaken in only some select
individuals or some other parts of the universe and who will dominate our consciousness and that of the
earth in the times to come.
The goddesses in our bodies and consciousness play various roles.
They prepare our bodies for the interplay of various energies and
different planes of consciousness by purifying them. They maintain our energy
levels. They keep our inner balance. They control our emotional states
and ensure that our actions are in tune with our thoughts and aspirations.
They execute our wills and desires. They manifest our wishes. They
clear the passage through which the kundalini arises. They energize
the chakras as the kundalini moves through the spinal canal. They process
the information brought by the senses and submit them to the buddhi
for its processing. They quite the mind so that we can receive higher
knowledge. They facilitate our learning and memory. They are
associated with each and every activity of ours, both positive and
negative and constructive and
destructive. At the same time they also keep a record of our
activities so that the soul is subjected to the laws of karma when the
time comes. Some of them accompany us to the other worlds and help us
in our transition.
Weapons and Vehicles
The energies of the universe, that exist both in the microcosm of
an individual and the macrocosm of Brahman are personified in the
Hindu theology not only as female divinities but also as weapons and
vehicles of God. In Hinduism each god and goddess has one or more
vehicles and use one or more weapons. The vehicles are energies personified
as animals, birds and mythical beings on which the respective gods
have control. By using them intelligently or by riding upon them we
can reach their masters or attain the qualities and aspects they
represent. The vehicles are the means to arrive at some destination
with the help of its controlling divinity. Thus the swan personifies the power of discretion or buddhi.
By using this power of discretion we can attain right knowledge with
the help of Saraswathi, the goddess
of learning and knowledge. Swan is also the vehicle of Brahma the
creator. By using the power of analysis and observation, with the help
of Brahma we can cultivate creativity, the
quality symbolized by Brahma. Bull is the vehicle of Siva. It
represents the raw sexual energy or libido. In tantra we use sexual
energy to attain the consciousness of Siva. Tiger or lion is the
vehicle of goddess Durga. The tiger is a symbol or majesty and courage.
Using these energies or qualities we can seek the help of Durga to
slay the demons of darkness and depression that are hidden in our consciousness. The
owl is a symbol of wisdom and caution by using which one can attain wealth,
with the blessings of goddess Lakshmi. We
can minimize our egos to the level of a rat and seek the help of
Ganesha to overcome obstacles, doubts and hesitations in the tasks we
intend to perform or the projects we want to undertake. The weapons are also energies
symbolized as devices and tools. They exist in us and we have access
to them through the divinities who carry them and who exist in us. We
can use the weapon of perfection and wholeness (the discus of Vishnu)
to remove imperfections, inconsistencies and demoniacal qualities in
our nature. We can use the trident of of Siva or Durga to balance the
triple qualities of sattva, rajas and tamas. We can use the mace of
Hanuman to disintegrate the evil qualities of inertia and tamas.
Thus we can see that the divinities of Hinduism operate in the
manifest creation of God at different levels. As adhidaivas (divine
beings) they exist
as cosmic beings or pure souls, ruling a world or celestial sphere of
their own representing an aspect or function of God. As adibhutas
(elemental beings) they
have an elemental and material role in which they are part of the eternal
supreme Prakriti and represent a principle or quality or function of
the manifest universe. As adhyatmas (inner beings of mortals) they exist
in their microcosmic
aspect as both adhidaivas and adibhutas in our bodies and minds and assist us in our
effort to seek deliverance from the cycle of
births and deaths.
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