"Just as Visnu ... Devi, too, promises to return if needed."

Lynn Foulston, <i>At the Feet of the Goddess: Divine Feminine in Local Hindu Religion</i>

"Devi originated at a time of cosmic crisis and, consequently, her role seems very similar to that of Visnu in his many avataras (incarnations). Just as Visnu promised to manifest himself in order to protect the cosmic balance, Devi, too, promises to return if needed...
I am Nirguna. And when I am united with my Sakti, Maya, I become saguna, the Great Cause of this world. This Maya is divided into two, Vidya and Avidya. Avidya Maya hides me; whereas Vidya Maya does not. Avidya creates whereas Vidya Maya liberates. Devi-Bhagavatam 7. 32. 7-8"

The Metaphysical Goddess
The Devi-Mahatmya

Two texts in particular have been most influential in establishing the all-inclusive nature of feminine power. The first and most popular goddess-centred text is the Devi-Mahatmya, originally a section of the Markandeya Purana. The importance of this text, and its uniqueness, are apparent in its independence from the parent text. Thomas Coburn comments that while there are very few complete manuscripts of the Markandya Purana, those of the Devi-Mahatmya are countless. The recitation of the text is still an integral part of goddess worship, where, according to Coburn, it forms a part of “daily liturgy in temples of Durga” and “a central place during the … festival of Durga Puja”.

It is here, in the Devi-Mahatmya, that the concept of an all-inclusive Goddess is fully elucidated. Within a mythical framework of the Goddess’s martial deeds, is the assertion that she is the Ultimate Reality, an idea transmitted by inference rather than in direct terms. Mythically, in order to conquer the asuras (demons) that threatened the very existence of the devas (gods), a supremely powerful goddess was created from the combined anger of the gods.

Then from Visnu’s face, which was filled with rage, came forth a great fiery splendor (tejas), (and also from the faces) of Brahma and Siva.
And from the bodies of the other gods, Indra and the others, came forth a fiery splendor, and it became unified in one place.
An exceedingly fiery mass like a flaming mountain did the gods see there, filling the firmament with flames.
That peerless splendour, born from the bodies of all the gods, unified and pervading the triple world with its lustre, became a woman.

Devi Mahatmya 2. 9-12

The vital power that emanated from the gods took shape in the feminine form, and from there on was accepted as the Mahadevi, a supreme Goddess in her own right. She is entirely separate from the gods, the embodiment of sakti, and able to produce further powers of her own. When her work is done, she disappears; she does not return to her source, the gods. The text reinforces the conceptual notion of a Great Goddess, Mahadevi, the embodiment of power…

One of the most interesting facets of Devi`s character in the Devi-Matahmya is her independence and her challenge to the stereotypes of goddesses previously presented. The Goddess here does not depend on a male consort, and successful manages male roles herself. In battle, for instance, she does not fight with male allies; if she needs assistance, she tends to create female helpers, like Kali, from herself. Her role as Sakti also differs from that of the puranic goddesses as she does not empower the male deities. “Unlike the normal female, Durga does not lend her powers or sakti to a male consort but rather takes power from the male gods in order to perform her own heroic exploits. They give up their inner strength, fire, and heat to create her and in so doing surrender their potency to her.``

The Devi-Mahatmya makes clear that the conceptual goddess cannot be easily categorized. The “Goddess” so carefully outlined in the text leaves the reader in no doubt of the fluidity of her character. She is the personification of all aspects of energy, being simultaneously creative, preservative and destructive.

By you is everything supported, by you is the world created; by you is it protected,
O Goddess, and you always consume (it) at the end (of time).
At (its) emanation you have the form of creation, in (its) protection (you have) the form of steadiness; likewise at the end of this world (you have) the form of destruction. O you who consist of this world!
You are the great knowledge (mahavidya), the great illusion (mahamaya), the great insight (mahamedha), the great memory, and the great delusion, the great Goddess (mahadevi), the great demoness (mahasuri).

Devi-Mahatmya 1. 56-8

This verse makes it clear that the all-encompassing Goddess in this text represents all aspects of power and energy, both positive and negative, as she is described as devi (goddess) and asuri (demoness). The Devi of the Devi-Mahatmya is fully equated with Ultimate Reality, presented as the power behind the functions of the trimurti, the triad of deities – Visnu, Siva and Brahma – who are responsible of the preservation, dissolution and creation of the universe respectively:

You are the primordial material (praktri) of everything, manifesting the triad of constituent strands, the night of destruction (periodic dissolution), the great night (final dissolution), and the terrible night of delusion.

Devi-Mahatmya 1. 59

Devi originated at a time of cosmic crisis and, consequently, her role seems very similar to that of Visnu in his many avataras (incarnations). Just as Visnu promised to manifest himself in order to protect the cosmic balance, Devi, too, promises to return if needed.

The Devi-Bhagavatam Purana

The Devi-Mahatmya is not the only text to offer an all-inclusive concept of female divinity, equated with the principle of Ultimate Reality. The later Devi-Bhagavatam presents a Sakta response to a variety of puranic strands of thought. According to Cheever Mackenzie Brown, its original parts were written in response to the Bhagavata Purana. The Devi Gita, which comprises skanda (book) 7, chapters 30-40 of the Devi-Bhagavatam, is based on the style of the Bhagavad Gita, but is presented from a Sakta perspective. The ninth skanda, according to Brown, is almost a verbatim copy of the “Praktri Khanda” of the Brahmaraivarta Purana, which Brown describes as “a kind of encyclopedia of goddesses”, associating them with praktri. The Devi-Bhagavatam also encompasses a version of the Devi-Mahatmya and retells a number of puranic myths. The text is more consistently metaphysically oriented than the earlier Devi-Mahatmya, frequently eulogizing the conceptual goddess who is the power behind all other deities.

That Goddess is Eternal and Ever Constant Primordial Force…
She is the source of Brahma, Visnu and the others and all of these living beings
Without Her force, no body would be able even to more their limbs.
That Supreme Auspicious Goddess is the preserving energy of Visnu, is the
Creative power of Brahma, and is the destroying force of Siva.

Devi-Mahatmya 3. 30. 28-30

It is also significant that in the Devi-Bhagavatam, the Great Goddess is explicitly shown to be independent of any male authority and control. Indeed in the previous verses it is the gods that are completely subject to her will, being totally reliant on her power. The goddess/ses of Devi-Bhagavatam are repeatedly portrayed as eternal, the basis of everything, identical with Brahman.

When everything melts away i.e. there comes the Pralaya or general dissolution, then, I am not female, I am not male, nor am I hermaphrodite. I then remain as Brahma with Maya.

Devi-Bhagavatam 3. 6. 2

The Adya or Primordial Sakti is explicitly shown to be the source of all goddesses, from the highest to the lowest forms.

Maha Laksmi is Her sattvaki Sakti, Sarasvaati is Her Rajasik Sakti and Maha Kali is Her tamasik Sakti, these are all feminine forms.

Devi-Bhagavatam 1. 1. 20

The highest forms represent the major facets of her power or energy, the three gunas, encompassing both positive and negative energies. In the Devi-Bhagavatam, the essential character of the Mahadevi encompasses both praktri (material nature), in its unmanifest and manifest forms, and purusa (pure consciousness) – the dual realities of Sankhya philosophy. Unlike Sankhya and other schools of thought, particularly Advaita, the Devi-Bhagavatam portrays praktri in a more positive light; as an integral feature of the Goddess’s power. Similarly, the concept of maya (illusion) is also presented positively rather than negatively, as an integral energy inherent in the act of creation. I am Nirguna. And when I am united with my Sakti, Maya, I become saguna, the Great Cause of this world. This Maya is divided into two, Vidya and Avidya. Avidya Maya hides me; whereas Vidya Maya does not. Avidya creates whereas Vidya Maya liberates.

Devi-Bhagavatam 7. 32. 7-8

Brown points out an interesting and important difference between the conception of maya in the Bhagavata Purana, in which Visnu is the supreme deity, and that in the Devi-Bhagavatam. Whereas in the Bhagavata Purana, Visnu is the “controller and possessor of maya”, the Goddess of the Devi-Bhagavatam, as well as wielding the power of maya, actually is maya. There appears to be a much more intimate relationship in the Devi-Bhagavatam between the Goddess and the workings of the cosmos, for as Visnu and Siva resort to their respective saktis for assistance, Devi resorts to no one but herself.

Lynn Foulston, At the Feet of the Goddess: Divine Feminine in Local Hindu Religion
Pages 11-15, Sussex Academic Press 1999
ISBN: 1902210441
EAN: 9781902210445

QUOTES OF SHRI MATAJI

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

"Today is the nineteenth Sahasrara Day, if you count the day the Sahasrara was opened as the first. I have to tell you the story about the Sahasrara Day, about which it was decided long time back, before I incarnated. They had a big meeting in the heavens. All the thirty-five crores of gods, the Deities, were there present to decide what is to be done. This is the ultimate that we have to do to human beings — to open their Sahasrara, to open their awareness to the Spirit, to the real Knowledge of the Divine, to remove the darkness of ignorance. And it had to be spontaneously because it has to work the living force of God. Also it had to be very quick.

So all the Gods requested that I, the Adi Shakti, has to take the birth. They all tried their best. They did whatever was possible. The saints were made by them but very few. They incarnated and people made religions out of them which were perverted and brought them a bad name. No Reality in those religions. These religions were money oriented or power-oriented. There was no Divine Force working, actually it was all anti-divine. How to now turn human beings away from these superficial religions, these perverted paths of destruction? How to tell them about all these established organizations? For ages they have been ruling, making money, making power.

It was a tremendous task; it had to be done with great patience and Love. It was very delicate work also because they believed in those religions — innocent people, simple people — to blast them that this is all nonsense, they are not religions, they are against the Incarnations, against all the prophets, against all the saints. That's why all the real saints had to suffer.

It's a powerful work that was to be done, and that's why the Adi Shakti had to take birth on this Earth."

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi
Fregene, Italy — May 8, 1988

"This is the first time the Puja of the Adi Shakti is being done. All the Shaktis arise from the Adi Shakti. And also the Shaktis of Mahakali, Mahalakshmi, Mahasaraswati. All these Shaktis get absorbed back in Her. Only the Adi Shakti can do this work because She has supremacy over all the Chakras. She is the One who controls the various permutations and combinations of the Chakras...

Till mankind does not get Self-Realization till then he cannot go straight for very long. After Lord Jesus Christ the ordinary people started following the religion started by Paul and then everything started going wrong. In this way in every religion things went wrong because religion became difficult and inaccessible. In Modern Times people spoke very wrongs things about Kundalini.

Now the question arose how mankind should be told that there is God, there is Truth, and it is in the form of the Spirit. So it was necessary for the Adi Shakti to incarnate because only She could do this work. She had to come amongst mankind and take the birth of a human being, by which She could understand what are the problems and faults in human beings...

This new Job was such that all the Deities, the saints, the Incarnations and all great people had to come. They had to come into the bodily form of the Adi Shakti who had to incarnate. And that is why this Incarnation has come, that the whole world can rise, can evolve. The Divine which has made this Universe, this world, would never want His creation be destroyed at the hands of humans. And that is why this Work is so tremendous."

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi
Calcutta, India — April 4, 1990

"So I said at Sahasrara I had to be Mahamaya. I had to be Mahamaya. I had to be something that people cannot recognize Me easily. But Deities? No.

This Mahamaya had to come on this Earth, not the Adi Shakti in Her purest form. It's too much. So She was covered with this."

Fregene, Italy — May 8, 1988

"They say that at Sahasrara when the Goddess will appear, She will be Mahamaya. Is it possible to be anything else in the world of today to come on this Earth? Any type of Incarnation could have been in great trouble because human beings in their ego are highest in Kali Yuga. So they are quite stupid and they are capable of doing any kind of harm or violence to a Divine personality. It is not at all possible to exist in this world as anything else than Mahamaya...

It has no power or any intention of giving you wrong ideas or something that is false. It is there whatever, it is Truth. So in a way to say that Mahamaya is the one which deludes is wrong...

I need not be before you; I can be just here in Nirakar, in formless, but how to communicate? how to have a rapport? For that, one has to come in the form of Mahamaya so that there is no fear, there is no distance. One can come close and understand, because if this Knowledge has to be given, if Realization has to be given, people have to at least sit before the Mahamaya.”

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi
Cabella, Italy — May 8, 1994

NOTE: If this page was accessed during a web search you may wish to browse the sites listed below where this topic or related issues are discussed in detail to promote global peace, religious harmony, and spiritual development of humanity:

www.adishakti.org/
www.al-qiyamah.org/
www.adi-shakti.org/  — Divine Feminine (Hinduism)
www.holyspirit-shekinah.org/  — Divine Feminine (Christianity)
www.ruach-elohim.org/  — Divine Feminine (Judaism)
www.ruh-allah.org/  — Divine Feminine (Islam)
www.tao-mother.org/  — Divine Feminine (Taoism)
www.prajnaaparamita.org/  — Divine Feminine (Buddhism)
www.aykaa-mayee.org/  — Divine Feminine (Sikhism)
www.great-spirit-mother.org/  — Divine Feminine (Native Traditions)

"Now, the principle of Mother is in every, every scripture - has to be there." Shri Mataji, Radio Interview 1983 Oct 01, Santa Cruz, USA