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Shakti (Sanskrit pronunciation: ) (Devanagari: शक्ति; from Sanskrit shak, "to be able"), meaning "Power" or "empowerment," is the primordial cosmic energy and represents the dynamic forces that are thought to move through the entire universe in Hinduism.[1] Shakti is the concept, or personification, of divine feminine creative power, sometimes referred to as 'The Great Divine Mother' in Hinduism. On the earthly plane, Shakti most actively manifests through female embodiment and creativity/fertility, though it is also present in males in its potential, unmanifest form.[2]
Not only is Shakti responsible for creation, it is also the agent of all change. Shakti is cosmic existence as well as liberation, its most significant form being the Kundalini Shakti,[3] a mysterious psychospiritual force.[4] Shakti exists in a state of svātantrya, dependence on no one, being interdependent with the entire universe.
In Shaktism and Shaivism, Shakti is worshipped as the Supreme Being. Shakti embodies the active feminine energy of Shiva and is identified as Mahadevi or Parvati.
David Kinsley mentions the "shakti" of Lord Indra's as Sachi (Indrani), meaning power.[5] Indrani is part of a group of seven or eight mother goddesses called the Matrikas (Brahmani, Vaishnavi, Maheshvari, Indrani, Kumari, Varahi and Chamunda and/or Narasimhi), who are considered shaktis of major Hindu gods (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Indra, Skanda, Varaha/Yama and Devi and Narasimha respectively).
According to some schools, there are four Adi Shakti Pith and 51 important centres of Shakti worship located in the Indian sub-continent. They can be found in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Tibet and Pakistan. These are called Shakti Peethas. The list of locations varies. A commonly accepted list of Shakti peethas and their famous temple complexes includes: Jwalaji (Himachal), Tara Tarini (Berhampur, Orissa), Katyayani (Chattarpur, Delhi), Kamakhya (Assam), Kali at Kalighat (Kolkata, West Bengal), Naina Devi (Himachal), Guhyeshwari Temple Devi (Kathmandu, Nepal), Vishalakshi Temple (Varanasi). Other pithas in Maharashtra are Tuljapur (Jagdamba), Kolhapur (Mahalaxmi), vani-Nashik (Saptashrungi) and Mahurgadh (Renukamata).
Adi parashakti or Devi Durga is a Hindu concept of the Ultimate Shakti or Mahashakti, the ultimate power inherent in all Creation. This is especially prevalent in the Shakta denomination within Hinduism, which worships the Goddess Devi in all Her manifestations. She was married with Shiva. Durga gave birth to his first child called Kartikeya.
There are many ancient Shakti devotional songs and vibrational chants in the Hindu and Sikh traditions (found in Sarbloh Granth). The recitation of the Sanskrit bij mantra MA is commonly used to call upon the Divine Mother, the Shakti, as well as the Moon.
Kundalini-Shakti-Bhakti Mantra
Translation:
"Merge in the Maha Shakti. This is enough to take away your misfortune. This will carve out of you a woman. Woman needs her own Shakti, not anybody else will do it... When a woman chants the Kundalini Bhakti mantra, God clears the way. This is not a religion, it is a reality. Woman is not born to suffer, and woman needs her own power.”
“When India and Indian women knew this mantra, it dwelt in the land of milk and honey.”
Shaktism regards Devi (lit., "the Goddess") as the Supreme Brahman itself with all other forms of divinity considered to be merely Her diverse manifestations. In the details of its philosophy and practice, Shaktism resembles Saivism. However, Shaktas (Sanskrit: Śakta, शक्त), practitioners of Shaktism, focus most or all worship on Shakti, as the dynamic feminine aspect of the Supreme Divine. Shiva, the masculine aspect of divinity, is considered solely transcendent, and Shiva's worship is generally relegated to an auxiliary role.[8]
from Devi-Mahatmya - By you this universe is borne, By you this world is created, Oh Devi, by you it is protected.
from Shaktisangama Tantra - Woman is the creator of the universe, the universe is her form; woman is the foundation of the world, she is the true form of the body. In woman is the form of all things, of all that lives and moves in the world. There is no jewel rarer than woman, no condition superior to that of a woman.
In the Smarta Advaita sect of Hinduism, Shakti is considered to be one of five equal bonafide personal forms of God in the panchadeva system advocated by Adi Shankara.[9]
Devi prakriti (a shakti) in the context of shaktis as forces unifies kundalini, kriya, ichha, para, jnana, and mantrika shaktis. Each is in a chakra.
Ichha-shakti is a Sanskrit term translating to "will-power". It is used as a technical subdivision of Shakti in Shaktism.
Helena Petrona Blavatsky in her The Secret Doctrine (1888) also introduces the concept of "Ichha Shakti":
The yupiu Shakti has a unicode representation of U+262C (☬) on the miscellaneous symbols table. This symbol is also known as the khanda used in Sikhism.
Shiva, Hinduism, Hindu mythology, Shaktism, Lakshmi
Shiva, Hinduism, Tantra, Durga, Shaivism
Durga, Shiva, God, Hinduism, Parvati