SHAKTISM
What is Shakti Sadhana?
Shakti Sadhana is a Hindu spiritual practice that focuses worship upon Devi, the Goddess, the Divine Mother who creates and embodies all the Universe.
Many of Her devotees conceive Devi as the Shakti (Supreme Energy) of Shiva (Supreme Consciousness); both identical to and inseparable from Him. Others worship Her as nothing less than Supreme Brahman Itself, the One Without a Second, holding that all other forms of Divinity, female or male, are but Her diverse manifestations.
In his History of the Sakta Religion, N. N. Bhattacharyya writes:
"Saktism is a very important religion among the Hindus of the present day. Those who worship the Supreme Deity exclusively as a Female Principle are called Sakta. Sakti is worshiped in various forms and numerous shrines are dedicated to Her images. The Saktas conceive their Great Goddess as the personification of primordial energy and the source of all divine and cosmic evolution. She is identified with the Supreme Being, conceived as the Source and the Spring as well as the Controller of all the forces and potentialities of Nature. Nowhere in the religious history of the world do we come across such a completely female-oriented system."Achieve worldly contentment, divine enlightenment & ultimate liberation by surrendering to Shakti, the Divine Feminine!
Shaktism Defined:
The religion followed by those who worship the Supreme
as the Divine Mother (Shakti or Devi)
in Her many forms, both gentle and fierce.
Shaktism is one of the four primary sects of Hinduism.
In philosophy and practice, Shaktism greatly resembles Saivism,
both faiths promulgating, for example,
the same ultimate goals of advaitic union with Siva, and moksha.
But Shaktas worship Shakti as the Supreme Being exclusively,
as the dynamic aspect of Divinity,
while Siva is considered solely transcendent and is not worshiped.
There are many forms of Shaktism, with endless varieties of practices
which seek to capture divine energy or power for spiritual transformation.
- Satguru Shivaya Subramuniyaswami (1927-2001), "A Hindu Lexicon."
Who is Shakti?Allow Her to answer for Herself:"I am Manifest, Unmanifest, and Transcendent Divinity;
I am Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva,
As well as Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati.
I am the Earth, the Sun and the Stars,
And I am also the Moon.
I am all animals and birds,
And I am the outcaste as well, and the thief.
I am the low person of dreadful deeds,
And the great person of excellent deeds.
I am Female, I am Male, and I am Neuter."
From the Devi Bhagavatam Purana
How is She worshiped?
The ancient sage Sri Adi Shankara best defines a Shakta's ideal devotional aspiration:
"Let my every word be a prayer to You,
Every movement of my hands a ritual gesture to You,
Every step I take a circumambulation of Your image,
Every morsel I eat a rite of sacrifice to You,
Every time I lay down a prostration at Your feet;
Every personal pleasure and all else that I do,
Let it all be a form of worshiping You."
From Verse 27 of Shankara's Saundaryalahari, a hymn in praise of Lalitha Tripurasundari. The image below is a modern meditational image of Lalita in her adolescent aspect as Shodashi, seated upon the inert form of Her consort Shiva, while Her throne rests on the diminutive figures of the Hindu pantheon's other major deities. (Painting courtesy of Exotic India Art.)
