karishma

I am Devoted to My Shakti

Being woman does not mean being weak, as much as being man does not mean being strong. Being woman or man, irrespective of gender preferences, is all about being one part of the whole. I consider the entire feminism movement, where women talk about equal rights, and tend to dishonour their womanhood to be a farce. To me then tire movement I making noise and disrespecting being a woman, in the first place. 

Women do best what they do best – being women, being the yin of the yang, being the Shakti of Shiva, being the prosperity of serenity, Creativity of Birth, being the reservoir of life, being the purpose of the cause, being the mother of the child, being the wife of the husband, being the moon that rests the sun, being the compassion of aggression, being the left of the right side, the past of the future, the manifest of the un-manifest, being the form of the formless, being the energy of the consciousness, being the roots of the tree, being the darkness of light, being the wisdom of knowledge, being the creation of destruction, being the beginning of the end, being the path of the destination, being the heaven of earth, being the experience of lessons, being the answer of questions, being the fluidity of  stability, being the colour of the black ‘n’ white, being the south of the north pole, being the root of the crown, being the internal of external, being the structure of the function, being the night of the day, being the cold of the hot, being the heart of the mind, being the circular of the linear, feeling of the thoughts, being the spirituality of science, being the intuitiveness of analysis, being the heaviness of lightness, being the autumn of spring, being the winter of summer, being the introversion of extroversion, being the in of the out, being the back of the front, being space of the form, being the synchronicity of cause and effect, being the intuitiveness of logic, being the ambivalence of certainty, quality of quantity, being the imperfection of perfection, the liberation of the conservative, being the curves of geometry, being the below of the above, being the valley of the mountain, being the voice of sound, being the giving of the reiving, being the half of the hole, being the stillness of movement.

Neither the feminine, nor the masculine is more superior than the other. They are two halves of the whole. Unfortunately, the priests who wrote the texts of religion placed themselves on the seats of superiority, and passed down the dictum of man being superior to woman. Their superiority complexes permeated into societies and communities, and came to become a part of the genetic coding of the genders. The man believed he was born to be superior, while woman was cursed to be born inferior. The boy became and asset and the girl a liability.

Male domination became increasingly violent through the ages, this made women increasingly submissive and fearful through the ages. This was a grave imbalance in every society that became male-dominated. Those societies, or kingdoms that were matriarchal-ly dominated also witnessed brutality where their queen mothers’ were concerned. Thus, neither male-domination, nor female domination has created a healthy society. Balance is the name of the game!

I feel blessed being a woman, and yet have never felt the need to outdo any man that I have ever known, or know, simply because I strongly feel that it always takes two to tango, and one to be solo on the dance floor. Balance is completion, imbalance is misery. 

We dishonoured mother earth and brought in so much structure in the form of technology that now were paying such a hefty price for the imbalance in our ecosystem. The battle is to go back to simplicity and search our souls for ways to make our planet a better place; leave behind an environmentally healthy earth. 

There was no happiness in a make dominant society where women were forced into submission, and there surely is no happiness in a society where feminism is all about female dominance and superiority. Emancipation of women is all about respect for women, for who they are. Walking shoulder-to-shoulder is not about feeling superior wearing the pants! Walking shoulder to shoulder is amalgamating each other to bring about completions.

Every day needs to nestle in the lap of the night, so that there is freshness in the new day. Every spoke belongs to the wheel that moves. Every beginning has to travel to the end. Every destruction, needs a new construction. Every thought needs to be felt in order to be conveyed. There needs to be harmony in the notes of music to soothe the being. Two ends of the stick make it useable. If the autumn is dry, then spring is luscious. Balance is the need.

I feel proud being woman, because I am naturally endowed with the strength of womb to create and procreate, to protect and nurture, to provide and guide. Woman is the home that a man returns to after a hard day at work. Woman is the safety deposit of the man’s income. Woman is the flexibility that births the baby, nurtures the child and sends the adult groomed into the world.

Yes, there are compulsions for women to go out and work, and return home to serve her family. It is unfair to expect her to do it all on her own. If the man needs her to go to work and earn, then she has the right to need him to return home and help her keep the home warm, loving and cosy.

With changing times, we all need to change. We need to redefine our roles not from a perspective of reversing the natural course of being, for Shakti cannot be Shiva, and Shiva cannot be Shakti; yet both without the other is redundant. The energy force gives life and purpose to the body. Shakti is the force of Shiva, the cosmic body. The complement each other, because they are opposites that merge well together. 

The emotions need to be reigned in with practicality. Spirituality can only be enjoyed by those who are comfortable in their materialistic nests. For, only when the stomach is full that it is silent. Any empty stomach can only distract a meditative mind.

In order to bring a balance around, we need to first acknowledge the imbalance within. We need to become aware of every opposite, and bring them face-to-face, merge them into a whole, ironing out every crease that maybe created. We are the yin-yang, the Shakti-Shiva, the Ardhnareeshwar. 

We are made up of the left and the right; our past is the foundation of our future, our feminine divine energy nurtures our masculine divine energy into action. The fuel of Shakti drives the body of Shiva from conception to death, and beyond. She is the infinite of infinity. She is the creative force that is conceived by the destruction. She is the darkness that celebrates illumination. 

Honour her, as much as you wish to be him. She is needed, as much as he is wanted. She is wishes, while he is desires. The difference between the two is very subtle. Wishes stems from the faith in synchronicity; whereas desires search coincidences that lead to manifestation. Wishes is the reflection of the heart, and desires stem from the mind. The feminine energy force is the confidence that all is well; the masculine force is the anxiety doubting all is well.

The feminine energy of the being is the internal energy, whereas the masculine energy is the outer structure. Shakti is the beauty that resides within the temple, being the body. Yes, your body is your temple of Shakti. Your body is the house of prayer and worship. Your body houses the divine you seek. 

When you search for the balance, you come to realize that divinity is not around you, but inside you. And when you are aware of this divinity within you, to accept that She is within all around you. When you are aware of Shakti within all, there is harmony in relationships, for there is joy in synchronicity. 

The feminine energy in its existence is neither independent of the masculine energy, nor dependent on it. However, there is definitely interdependence between both. They both serve specific purposes, and play their scripted roles. However, when one dominates the other the imbalance brings dis-ease not only to the body; but also to the relationships, career, et al.

If the feminine aspect of being dominates with her intuitiveness, then there will be no scope for invention and exploration. Intuitiveness and insight are the foundation up which all scientific inquiry is built. For it takes an open mind, intellect and ego to allow a thought to become the seed of a discovery, or invention. Thus, accepting intuitiveness to lead the way to analysis and experimentation leads to astounding findings.

The beauty of my Shakti lies in her embracing imperfection, while She celebrates the perfection of Her Shiva – her body. She guides me to being a better person each day. She inspires me to adorn, decorate, ornate and maintain her temple well. The more I listen to her, the more devoted I am to her. The more I enjoy being woman, celebrating my Shatihood, my womanhood.

Come to think of it, the word man doe not actually indicate the term of a gender. Man is actually a neutral word for a two legged creature with the body of a human. So, from the beginning of time there were two forms of the human being – the one being with the penis, and the other with the vagina. My imagination tells me that while discovering each other’s body, the man probably wondered the purpose of his hanging stick and the woman the purpose of his whole.

Their intuitiveness probably guided their experimentations of figuring out how the stick fits into the hole, albeit all the pleasure they experienced in the process. After all the pleasurable stick ‘n’ hole games, her body began to expand, they realised there is another being growing within her. Then came the child from the very whole that man would insert his stick into. Well, they would repeat their stick ‘n’ whole game repeatedly. She would keep birthing their child; but never could he. This led them to realizing that she is the womb-man – man with a womb that births the next of generations. 

He needed her, and she needed him. They completed each other, they indulged in the game of stick ‘n’ hole. There was balance and respect. He would go out to work, and bring in the raw fooder, light up the fire, as she put ingredients together making it all edible, energising her man and their children. She was the heart of his body. 

She sent a well-fed happy man to earn them a living; while he returned home to be loved, nurtured and fed. The perfect life. They were devoted to each other. But alas, like the honeymoon period does not last forever, so also the balance is replaced by imbalance. 

Survival of the fittest, meant crime, injury, harm, inflicted up the weaker. Her gentleness was considered her weakness. Her strength was considered a threat to so-called manhood. She came to be beaten, raped, tortured, burnt, sacrificed. As man tortured the woman, so also he tortured all of nature with his greedy, power-hungry, malicious ways. 

While all this seems dramatic, yet it is what it is. Man’s corrupted power hungry mind, intellect, ego decided that Shakti has to be made atrociously submissive. Through history she either revolted by becoming a merciless queen, or then victim of beastly brutality.

But then, there comes a time when revolution is the only way forward. This revolution took the name of feminism or the feminist movement. This time the tides had to change, the imbalance needed to be dominated by the woman. She had to get into the pants and move out of the home to prove her superiority. She wanted to be worshipped as Shiva, for she felt her Shakti was powerless, far too submissive for respect. Sad, pathetic, poor little thing!

Well, this is all conflict and confusion. Life is simple, balance and harmony is simple. Every war, every battle is based on confusion and conflict. Everyone loses in a battle, for victories are celebrated over dead bodies on both sides. Where there is conflict there is war. Where there is war there is plundering and looting.

I don’t want to plunder or loot myself. I am devoted to my Shakti seated within my temple. She is my inspiration. My prayerfulness to her is the healthy meals I eat, the restful sleep, the creative hobbies, the regular check-ups that ensure a strong structure housing her, patience, respect, and above all I listen to her. She is my Goddess. She belongs to me. She is mine. She is my nature. She is my inner voice. She is my dedication. She is my devotion. She is my love. She is my compassion. 

Being woman is being devoted to you Shakti. When she is pleased, Shiva is at peace. When Shiva is at peace, then healthfulness glows through every cell of the being.

We need to return home, to our inner world and bring harmony to ourselves, by respecting the yin and the yang, the imperfection that makes perfection, the internal that makes the external, the stability that brings grace to movement, the night that gives birth to day, the wisdom that spreads knowledge. We need to respect the two parts of the whole that we are. 

We need to go beyond the physical illusion of man, and woman; and embrace the reality of the masculine and feminine life forces that merge to create the seed of life. None is superior to the other, just as none is inferior to the other. 

Both need each other. They are two sides of the same coin. The body with the penis, and the body with the vagina are distinctive shapes of the body. Just as a potter moulds pots of varying shapes and sizes, so also the body is created in varying shapes and sizes, and each to serve a purpose. The space within the pot defines its purpose, so also Shakti defines the purpose of each body. She is the life force within the body of the man shape and the woman shape.

Dear woman shape, don’t rock the boat by trying to increase the proportion of the masculine energy in the space within. Instead celebrate your Shakti, worship your creativity, and cherish the wealth of your wisdom.

Shakti drives the body to serve its purpose. She is the compassion that drives humanity. She is the giving that shares happiness into the world. She is the generosity that celebrates abundance. She is the prosperity that is charitable to all. She is the wisdom that enlightens the being. She is the Goddess seated in my body, the calmness, and yet the warrior. The gentles and yet the strength. The glow that radiates from within.