What is Shakti Sadhana?
"Saktaism believes in Siva-Sakti, Siva, Absolute, and Sakti, Divine Power-laying stress on the latte as the creator, preserver, destroyer of the world, and binder and liberator of the individual selves. Siva and Sakti are inseparable from each other, and an intregal unity. They are not two entities. Siva-Sakti is the Supreme Reality. Sakti is not a phenomenal appearance, but ontological reality. Sakti is spiritual energy, dormant in matter as coiled power, more awakened in life, more manifest in mind or consciousness, more potent in superconsciousness. Sakti pervades the world, and sustains all individual selves, atoms of divine consciousness, limited by their, adjuncts. The world is created, maintained and dissolved by Sakti, and is real to an individual self until it is liberated. It is unreal to a liberated self.”
Preface:
Saktaism believes in Siva-Sakti, Siva, Absolute, and Sakti, Divine Power-laying stress on the latte as the creator, preserver, destroyer of the world, and binder and liberator of the individual selves. Siva and Sakti are inseparable from each other, and an intregal unity. They are not two entities. Siva-Sakti is the Supreme Reality. Sakti is not a phenomenal appearance, but ontological reality. Sakti is spiritual energy, dormant in matter as coiled power, more awakened in life, more manifest in mind or consciousness, more potent in superconsciousness. Sakti pervades the world, and sustains all individual selves, atoms of divine consciousness, limited by their, adjuncts. The world is created, maintained and dissolved by Sakti, and is real to an individual self until it is liberated. It is unreal to a liberated self.
In religion Saktism seeks for the complete transformation of human life into life divine. It is not exclusive but all-embracing. It seeks to harmonise works with knowledge, , knowledge with devotion, and wordly life of enjoyment (pravrti) with ascetic life of detachment or renunciation (nivrti). It steers a middle course between gross hedonism and pure asceticism and other-wordly holiness. It seeks to harmonise individualims with humanism. It aims at divinization of human life.
Tantric meditation, Kundaliniyoga, mental concentration at the centres of mystic consciousness and meditation on the Divine Power, Sakti, awakening of the coiled Divine Energy at the basic centre by exercises in breathing, making it pierce the six esoteric centres at the abdominal centre, the navel centre, the heart-centre, the throat-centre and the eye-brow centre, and uniting it with the Absolute at the highest centre at the top of the cerebrum, is a unique method in Saktism. It is mentioned in an ancient Upanisad (Tait. U.P., vi, 1. SB) The Bhagavad Gita referes to the centres mystic consciousness (BG., viii. 12-13.) The present author has written on 'Kundalini Yoga in Advaita Vedanta' in the Chakra, a Journal Of Tantra and Yoga (New Delhi), Vol, IV, 1972. It was reprinted in History of Indian Philosophy, Vol, III, (pp. 361-62).
Saktism is as old as the Vedas. It is found in the Devisukta of the Rg Veda. Worship of gods and goddesses accompanied by drinking the intoxicating juice of a plant called Soma and sacrifice of, animals prevailed in Vedic times. Vedic warriors were not world-negating ascetics but world-affirming conquerors of black non-Aryans, enjoyed their lives and extended their kingdoms. Saktism, a cult of world-affirmation, continues this ancient tradition, sublimates and purifies it.
The Cult of Divine Power 'Sakti (Shakti) Sadhana' (Kundalini Yoga)
Jadunath Sinha
What is Shakti Sadhana?
"Shakti Sadhana is a Hindu spiritual practice that focuses worship upon Devi, the Goddess, the Divine Mother who creates and embodies all the Universe.
Many of Her devotees conceive Devi as the Shakti (Supreme Energy) of Shiva (Supreme Consciousness); both identical to and inseparable from Him. Others worship Her as nothing less than Supreme Brahman Itself, the One Without a Second, holding that all other forms of Divinity, female or male, are but Her diverse manifestations.
In his History of the Sakta Religion, N. N. Bhattacharyya writes: "Saktism is a very important religion among the Hindus of the present day. Those who worship the Supreme Deity exclusively as a Female Principle are called Sakta. Sakti is worshiped in various forms and numerous shrines are dedicated to Her images. The Saktas conceive their Great Goddess as the personification of primordial energy and the source of all divine and cosmic evolution. She is identified with the Supreme Being, conceived as the Source and the Spring as well as the Controller of all the forces and potentialities of Nature. Nowhere in the religious history of the world do we come across such a completely female-oriented system.”
Achieve worldly contentment, divine enlightenment & ultimate liberation by surrendering to Shakti, the Divine Feminine!
Who is Shakti?
Allow Her to answer for Herself:
"I am Manifest, Unmanifest, and Transcendent Divinity;
I am Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva,
As well as Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati.
I am the Earth, the Sun and the Stars,
And I am also the Moon.
I am all animals and birds,
And I am the outcaste as well, and the thief.
I am the low person of dreadful deeds,
And the great person of excellent deeds.
I am Female, I am Male, and I am Neuter.”
From the Devi Bhagavatam Purana
How is She worshiped?
The ancient sage Sri Adi Shankara best defines a Shakta's ideal devotional aspiration:
"Let my every word be a prayer to Thee,
Every movement of my hands a ritual gesture to Thee,
Every step I take a circumambulation of Thy image,
Every morsel I eat a rite of sacrifice to Thee,
Every time I lay down a prostration at Thy feet;
Every act of personal pleasure and all else that I do,
Let it all be a form of worshiping Thee.”
http://shaktisadhana.50megs.com/index.html
Shakti Sadhana
Whatever exists in this world (animate as well as inanimate) is the manifestation of Shakti (Eternal Power). At some places it appears as dormant inactivity while at others it is seen as awakened activity. All the forms of life have originated from it. It is this consciousness that is seen in all the fauna and flora. It is this energy that is responsible for all the action, growth and expansion in this world. The whole cosmos is the play of Shakti.
The play of this Shakti in human life is deeply mysterious. The awakening and strengthening of the three layers of our body physical, subtle and causal; and the five koshas (shells) annamaya, pranmaya, manomaya, vigyanmaya and anandmaya generate different types of currents of Shakti. The awakening of different subtle chakras muladhar, swadhisthan, manipur, anahat, vishuddhi, aja and sahastrar - is done for unraveling the mysterious world of this Mahashakti. In fact kundalini maha shakti is the base of human life itself. Mother Goddess Adya Shakti Herself energizes the awakened kundalini and enables a sadhak to achieve the highest goal of life.
People, who remain ignorant of this mysterious play of Shakti, are akin to a fish that is thirsty in the vast sea. Those, who strive to delve deep in this mystery and undertake appropriate sadhana, achieve the honor of being called the children of Adyashakti. They become full of spiritual power. Nothing is impossible for them to achieve and accomplish.
The supreme knowledge of this Shakti sadhana, capable of transforming the impossible into the possible, is hidden in the twenty-four letters of Gayatri Mahamantra. Advanced sadhaks realize this truth. From this point of view, the nine days of Navaratri are very significant and auspicious for Gayatri sadhana. Those sadhaks who undertake the sadhana of Gayatri Mahashakti, will become dynamos of uplifting spiritual energy which will be a boon for themselves as well as the society. Let all parijans engage themselves in intensive Gayatri sadhana during the coming Navratri Parva.
Shakti Sadhana - Amrit Chintan
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