Transcript Worship of the Goddess in Hinduism

The Goddess in India
Lecture for The Joseph Campbell Series,
St. Peter’s Episcopal church
Rome, GA
2/9/2005
Part 1: The Goddess in Myth and
Image
Goddesses Represent Shakti
Shakti is the divine POWER of
Nature
Creation
Life force
Movement
Mind
Strength
Destruction
Sundari beneath the Mango Tree.
Madhya Pradesh or southern Uttar Pradesh,
mid-9th century.
Goddesses are Represented as
• Images (murtis)
• Sacred Sounds (mantras)
• ‘Cosmo-grams’ (mandalas)
Goddesses are Interpreted as
• Multiple
• The source of all things
• The core of human nature
• The means to spiritual freedom
• Manifest in the Arts
Historical Overview
• Indus Valley Civilization (6500 B.C.E.-3000 B.C.E.)
• Vedic Tradition (3000 B.C.E.- 500 B.C.E.)
– Prthvi: Goddess of Earth
– Vac: Goddess of Speech
– Sarawati: River/Goddess of Arts
• Pauranic Age (500 B.C.E.-500 C.E.)
– Blossoming of Multiple Major Goddess Sects
– Temple Traditions
• Tantras (600 C.E.-1400 C.E.)
– Sakta sadhana
– Goddess as Consort, Teacher, Deity
• Modern Period
– Spread of Saktis through Ammachi and others
Multiple Goddesses
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Groups of goddesses, emanations of Devi
Seven Mothers (Saptamatrika)
Eight Lakshmis (Ashtalakshmi)
Eight Yoginis (protectors, classes of speech)
Nine Durgas (Navadurga)
Ten Great Wisdom Goddesses (Dasa Maha Vidya)
Sixteen Phases of the Lunar Cycle or digits of the
moon (the Nitya Kala Devis)
• 64 Yoginis (fierce guardians of the Goddess)
Nagini. Bihar, ca. 100.
Parvati.. Chola period, ca 1100.
Mother Goddess Figurine Pakistan,
Mohenjodaro, ca. 2,600 - 1,900 B.C.
Torso of a fertility goddess (yakshi),
from the Great Stupa at Sanchi
Central India, Madhya Pradesh Sunga
period, 25 B.C.–A.D. 25Sandstone
Khond tribal image of
Markama Orissa, spring 1997.
Renuka, Maharashtra,
painted stone
Devi as trimurti, contemporary
• Saumya (Benevolent) Forms: Consort
(Radha), wife (Sita, Parvati), goddess
(Saraswati, Bhudevi, Mahalakshmi)
• The importance of marriage, auspiciousness
• Mother Forms (Protective): Kali, Sitala,
Mariyamman, Bhagavati, Durga
• Earth Forms (Power and Purification):
Rivers (Ganga), Shakti Pithas, Hills, Stones
Some Images of the Divine Feminine
in Hinduism
• DURGA:
Power and loveliness
• SITA:
Forlorn love and loyalty
• RADHA:
Delight and divine play
• KALI:
Destruction of evil
• LAKSHMI: Wealth and abundance
• SARASWATI: Arts, music, and
• DEVI:
knowledge
Empress of the Universe
Varahi Devi, Punjab Hills, Basohli, ca. 1660-70
Procession image of Parvati.
Kapalisvara temple. Mylapur, Chennai
Sita
Heroine of the Ramayana
epic
Ideal wife
Chaste, loyal, beautiful,
longsuffering
Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana in the Forest.
India, Punjab Hills, Kangra, ca. 1790.
Sita and Ram, North
Indian temple images
Radha
• Beloved of Krishna
• Cowherdess (gopi)
• Represents the soul’s
longing for union with
the divine
Kali
• Power of time, death,
destruction, and yogic
transformation
Chamunda
Nepal, 14th century.
Lakshmi
• Prosperity, abundance,
love, wealth, goodness
Saraswati
• Arts, music, learning
Gayatri Devi, contemporary
Jain goddess Sarasvati. Gujarat, 1153.
Devi
• Queen of the Universe
• Bestower of bliss
Sakta Theology
• One Supreme Goddess is source of all
– Mahadevi
– Both ‘male’ and ‘female’ and transcendent
– Unity that contains multiplicity/plurality. She is the ‘one’ in all
things.
– She takes form as the multiple gods and goddesses.
• The one Goddess is holographic and ‘tricosmic’
– Self-replicating on all levels
– Universe, self, and means to liberations
• Replicating ‘grid’ is the mandala.
• Uses ‘illusion’ (maya) to veil Herself.
• Uses grace (krpa) reveal herself.
The Goddess and Spiritual
Practice
• Saktism: The Way of Power
Worship of the Goddess in Hinduism
Yaa devi sarvabhuteshu buddhirupena
samsthitaa
Namastasyai namastasyai
namastasyai namo namaha
To that goddess who dwells within all
beings in the form of intellect,
I bow again and again and again
- Chandi Path (Devi Mahatmya),
Ch. 5, v. 20
Chola period, 8th century C.E.
Southern India,
Tantric Yogini Images
• The yogini is an adept who initiates and teaches
10th-11th
Century temple
images
Body as site of
sacred power
Esoteric
knowledge
Male initiates
Navaratri: Nine Nights Worship of
the Goddess
• Semiannual celebration, in the bright moon
fortnight of Chaitra (March-April) and
Ashwin (September-October)
• Recitation of Chandipath and Lalita
Sahasranama
• Triple goddess: Durga/Lakshmi/Saraswati
• Ashtami, Vijayadashami: Victory over evil
Sri Vidya: The Supreme Wisdom
• Tripurasundari, the Beauty of the Three
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Worlds
Rajarajeshwari, Empress of the Universe
Lalitamba: The Playful One
Lalita Sahasranama and Saundarya Lahari
Mantra, mudras, dhyana, puja to Sri Yantra
Identification with Devi, reversal of the
process of creation within oneself
Elements of Worship
• Image (murti)
• Sacred sound (mantra)
– Deity as sound
• Sacred image (mandala)
• Guru
• Identification of self (atman) with deity with
guru with mantra with mandala.
• “interweaving” (Tantra)
Power of Transformation
• Kundalini Shakti: coiled in muladhara
chakra
• Awakened through grace or spiritual
practice
• Transformation of physical and subtle
bodies
• Unification with Paramashiva in sahasrara
chakra: jivanmukti, liberation in life
Goddess in a Patriarchy?
• Priests have access to
esoteric ritual and
theological knowledge
• Priests manage spiritual
power for the welfare of
others
• Priests represent and
channel divine energies
• Priests have spiritual,
ritual, and social power
Female Spiritual Role Models
• Goddesses – usually Lakshmi, Parvati, sometimes
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Durga (Phoolan Devi, Indira Gandhi)
Heroines – Sita, Kannaki, wives
Saints (bhaktas) – Mirabai, Lalleshwari, Antal,
Karaikkal Amma, unmarried and unconventional,
extraordinary devotion to a male god/husband
Sannyasinis – Gargi, renunciants, intellectual
Gurus – Celibate, unmarried, charismatic
Yoginis – Married or unmarried, sexually active adepts
and teachers, embodiments of Devi (goddess)
Saint Karaikkal Ammaiyar Tamil Nadu,
Chola period, 12th century.
Shree Ma
Sri Amritananda Mayi Ma
Yogini with Disciple
West Bengal, Murshidabad, 18th century.
Broader Contributions of Goddess
Worship
• Regeneration of ecological awareness through
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pilgrimage and sacred geography
Sacralization of mundane existence through puja
Transform consciousness through Kundalini Yoga
and meditation on Devi as mind
Knowledge of ultimate structures of the universe
Social benefits: gender egalitarianism, upliftment
of both men and women
Carrie’s Question:
“Do we need a Goddess?”
Hindu answer: God is just one half of
God-dess and the latter contains the
former.
Conclusion
• Carrie’s Question:
– “Do we need a Goddess?”
• Hindu Answer
– God is one half of God-dess and the latter
contains the former.