the goddess in india lecture for the joseph campbell series, st. peter’s episcopal church rome, ga...
TRANSCRIPT
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The Goddess in India
Lecture for The Joseph Campbell Series,
St. Peter’s Episcopal church
Rome, GA 2/9/2005
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Part 1: The Goddess in Myth and Image
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Goddesses Represent Shakti
Shakti is the divine POWER of
Nature
Creation
Life force
Movement
Mind
Strength
DestructionSundari beneath the Mango Tree.Madhya Pradesh or southern Uttar Pradesh, mid-9th century.
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Goddesses are Represented as
• Images (murtis)
• Sacred Sounds (mantras)
• ‘Cosmo-grams’ (mandalas)
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Goddesses are Interpreted as• Multiple
• The source of all things
• The core of human nature
• The means to spiritual freedom
• Manifest in the Arts
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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
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Multiple Goddesses• 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)
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Parvati.. Chola period, ca 1100. Nagini. Bihar, ca. 100.
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Khond tribal image of Markama Orissa, spring 1997.
Devi as trimurti, contemporary
Mother Goddess Figurine Pakistan, Mohenjodaro, ca. 2,600 - 1,900 B.C.
Torso of a fertility goddess (yakshi), from the Great Stupa at SanchiCentral India, Madhya Pradesh Sunga period, 25 B.C.–A.D. 25Sandstone
Renuka, Maharashtra, painted stone
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• 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
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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
knowledge•DEVI: Empress of the Universe
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Procession image of Parvati.Kapalisvara temple. Mylapur, Chennai
Varahi Devi, Punjab Hills, Basohli, ca. 1660-70
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SitaHeroine 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
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Radha
• Beloved of Krishna
• Cowherdess (gopi)
• Represents the soul’s longing for union with the divine
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Kali • Power of time, death, destruction, and yogic transformation
ChamundaNepal, 14th century.
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Lakshmi • Prosperity, abundance, love, wealth, goodness
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Saraswati• Arts, music, learning
Jain goddess Sarasvati. Gujarat, 1153.
Gayatri Devi, contemporary
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Devi• Queen of the Universe
• Bestower of bliss
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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.
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The Goddess and Spiritual Practice
• Saktism: The Way of Power
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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,
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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
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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
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Sri Vidya: The Supreme Wisdom
• Tripurasundari, the Beauty of the Three 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
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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)
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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
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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
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Female Spiritual Role Models
• Goddesses – usually Lakshmi, Parvati, sometimes 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)
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Yogini with DiscipleWest Bengal, Murshidabad, 18th century.
Saint Karaikkal Ammaiyar Tamil Nadu, Chola period, 12th century.
Sri Amritananda Mayi Ma
Shree Ma
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Broader Contributions of Goddess Worship
• Regeneration of ecological awareness through 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
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Carrie’s Question: “Do we need a Goddess?”
Hindu answer: God is just one half of God-dess and the latter contains
the former.
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Conclusion
• Carrie’s Question:– “Do we need a Goddess?”
• Hindu Answer– God is one half of God-dess and the latter
contains the former.