Leaper (Sanskrit: श ा क ् त ं, Ś ā kta ṃ;Literal meaning of the doctrine of dogma or goddess) of strength isThe HinduOne tribe, specially in shakti worship or devi, the virgin of Hinduism, as absolute, the ultimate godhead.The factions set with shiva, Vishnu and make for the Hindu three big pie.Split from shiva sent Hindu one of three big pie.

When shakti worship of the goddess durga, mother soul, auspicious, speed, having, etc.Sexual leaper main doctrines is, the power of these sexual from male god goddess is the birth of the universe has created and source.Classic is the Tantra (Tantra), with the same period the puranas late about, very old it is said that there are 64 kinds of, many have lost, remaining number is the product of the 7th century, with the same period the puranas late about.

Sexual leaper

Leaper (Sanskrit: Ś ā kta ṃ, श ा क ् त ं;Lit., the doctrine of "power goddess" or "dogma") is a measurement unit of Hinduism that focus Shakti worship or Devi - India - the mother of god as absolute, the divine.It, together with Saivism, Vishnu sectarianism and one of the four elementary Smartism Hinduism.

Leaper think Devi (lit., "goddess") the supreme brahman itself, "that no one second", and other forms of divine, female or male, think she only different shows.In its philosophy and practice details, leaper similar Saivism.However, Shaktas (Sanskrit: Ś akta, श क ् त sex leaper's), internship, focus or all worship in Shakti, as dynamic female sovereign divination.Shiva divine masculine aspects, being single consider of excellence and his worship generally be transferred to a secondary role.[1]

Sexual leaper breakdown of root deep into India's prehistory.From the emergence of the earliest known in the Indian goddess of paleolithic to solve more than 22000 years ago, through her worship of refining in the Indus GuWenMing during her during the partial eclipse in added and she came back and extension in Sanskrit tradition, it is suggested that, in many ways, "the Indian tradition of history can see as renewed female".[2]

In its historical leaper inspired in the great work of Sanskrit literature and Indian philosophy and it continues to strongly affect the popular Hindu today.Sexual force sent by practice in the Indian subcontinent and the outside, in the form of numerous, Tantric and two Tantric;However, it is two of the largest and most visible school is strongest in south India and Sri Srikula or family Kalikula Kali or family in the north and east India.[3]

The profile

Shiva and Shakti

Shaktas goddess idea as to god, is the origin of the cosmos and the energy management and control it.But "nowhere in religious history of the world we encounter such a system completely for women".The focus of [4] sex leaper women suggest that men not in god or neutral divine refused;However, two is considered not lively without Shakti.In Shakta worship Shiva, in a "dependency role of inferior or fused cast as the servant of the goddess or the porter".Shaktas said Shiva is a shava (The bodyLead him, without the power of the goddess.This doctrine in stand of images of dead on the surface of Shiva's Kali was emphasized.[5]

Such as start Adi Shankara 's glaring Shakta hymns, Saundaryalahari (c.800 ce), "Shiva, when the unity of Shakti infiltration and inherit the universe, but [his] there can be no iota of the event, when from Shakti dissociation.This is the basic and fundamental principle in force."[6]

Shakti (the supreme goddess as a force or energy) in the phenomenon of cosmos is thought to stimulate the strength after all action and existence.Cosmos is brahman, yes all the ground of the same god, infinite, inner and the concept of excellence in reality.Male potential dynamism by women become fact, implementation are in the final settlement into a most of the goddess.[7]

The famous historian of v.R. Ramachandra Dikshitar [8] it express: "leaper is dynamic Hinduism.Sexual leaper good Shakti in it must be as consciousness and Shakti and the identity of brahman.Brahman is static, in short, Shakti and Shakti are dynamic brahman."[9] in the religious art, this powerful dynamic universe with half Shakti, half god Shiva is expressed in the famous Ardhanari. [10]

Sexual force sent to watch Devi as the origin, essence and material, in fact, everything in creation, see or not see, including Shiva.Indeed, the Devi - the Bhagavata Purana a central Shakta bible, Devi says:

"I am obviously divinity, Unmanifest divinity and divine.I am the Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, and Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati. I am the sun, and I am a star, and I am the moon.I am all the animals and birds, and I am outcaste and thieves.I am low frightening behavior and good behavior of the wonderful people.My woman, I am tired, and I'm neutral."[11]

Religious scholar C.MacKenzie explanatory force sent brown "clearly insist, two gender, women on behalf of the ruling power in the universe.If it really is the last, in the last two gender must be included.Men and women are god, the remarkable aspect of reality, in addition to, but still contain them.Devi, in the form of her ultimate as perception and transcend gender, but not her suffering except her inner."[12]

Brown's analysis is continued, "suffering and the internal unity of this must constitute the mother of god [and] she the essence of the final victory.It's not, finally, she was in the male god is infinitely superior - although she is that, according to the force sent [sex] -, but rather she was beyond her own female natural Prakriti didn't deny it."[13]

Association with Tantra

A widespread misunderstanding of leaper aspect is its close association with tantra - all Suggestions from orthodox in southern IndiatempleWorship, to a magical and ambiguous, be loaded in northern India, the concept of the secret practice is ritualized sex in the west.[14] in fact, are not all is in the form of Tantra Shaktic essence, not all forms of sexual leaper is Tantric nature.[15]

When regulation "Tantra" about the use of authentic Indian sex leaper, it often mentioned classes and etiquette guide - more broadly - to the goddess was the focus of spiritual disciplines and mysterious methodology (sadhana) involved in buddhist scriptures, yantra, nyasa, mudra and some elements of traditional kundalini yoga all practice under the guidance of a qualified guru (diksha) after delivery of the enlightenment and verbal instructions added a variety of written sources.[16]

In its social interaction, Tantra is "from a variety of hereditary caste and paternalistic bias.Women or a shudra [master] role in qualified works.All women are thought to show Shakti and they are respect and love.Who violate the goddess they incur great anger.Each [male suitors] must experience potential female principle only within his own and through [therefore] 'become women' is he to the right to worship the ultimate survival "[17]

More controversial elements, such as "five ladies" or by some Tantric panchamakara use in certain circumstances Shakta factions.However, these elements tend to be too much emphasis on and by information about tunnel doctrine and practice is not well informed commentators sensationalized (friendly and hostile).With wide view and, even within the traditional differences about appropriate explanation panchamakara and some seed reject them altogether.[18]

Anyhow, Tantric and Tantric element, complicated social and historical relationship between the sex leaper - general - and Hinduism is a extreme anxiety and nuanced discussion topic.[19], however, in general:

"Common paint ideas and practice tantra diffuse classical Hindu [and] it is want to consider the error of tantra in addition to its complex relationship with the Tantric tradition.Literary history show that added -position brahman in the Shakta tantra intervention from its first development stage, that is, from at least the 6th century.When the Shakta tantra launched in May] [added before harvest goddess worship, all in an attempt to alienate Shakta tantra from Sanskritic traditional Indian [...].Will lead us toGet lost."[20]

The main god

Shaktas in May be close to the Devi any form of a huge number.Devotees worship of the main forms of Devi (i.e., their ishta, Devi) can depend on many factors, including family traditions, local practice, the grand master descent, personal connection, and so on.Literally tens of thousands of goddess forms, most associated with special temple, the geographical characteristics and even their own village.However, they all think, but a different aspect of the supreme goddess.[21]

But, a few highly prevalent form of goddess know and worship in India in the world, and in fact every woman in the Hindu god considered one or more display the "basic" form.Popular Hindu most renown goddess of mercy include: [22]

Goddess of Adi Parashakti: as the original of the universe, the source of excellence.

Goddess Durga (Amba, Ambika) : Mahadevi to god.

Sri - Lakshmi, the goddess of material performance, wealth, health, fortune, love, beauty and fertility, etc.);Consistent (shakti) of Vishnu

Parvati (Gauri, toe edge lizards) : the spirit of the performance of the love of god goddess;Consistent (shakti) Shiva

Goddess Saraswati: culture performance (knowledge or education, music, art and science, etc.);Brahma (shakti);Identify and Saraswati rivers

Mother goddess Gayatri: as a buddhist sutras

Goddess Ganga: as the river of god;Identification and the Ganges

Sita: goddess of Rama 's consistent

Radha: goddess of Krishna \ 's

Sati: contact the goddess of marriage;The original agreement (shakti) Shiva

Tantric god

Main article: Mahavidyas Matrikas and Yogini

Goddess group - "nine Durgas" (Navadurga), for example, "eight Lakshmis" (Ashta - Lakshmi) or "15 Nityas" - it is very common in Hinduism.But no team better is better than ten Mahavidyas show sex leaper elements (Dasamahavidya). Through them, Shaktas in ten different xiaopingfacesLetter, "a truth feeling;The mother of god was worshipped and close to personality as ten kind of universe."[23] Mahavidyas considered Tantric nature and often be identified as follows: [24]

Goddess Kali: as the universe of time damage, death, or "glutton" (to god Kalikula system)

Tara: goddess as a guide and protector or who saved

Lalita - Tripurasundari (Shodashi) : is the goddess of "beauty in three world" (to god Srikula system);"Tantric Parvati"

Goddess Bhuvaneshvari: when the mother or the body is the cosmos

One: severe goddess

The goddess of Chhinnamasta: self is decapitated

Dhumavati: widow goddess

Bagalamukhi: paralysis of the goddess of the enemy

Matangi: Outcaste goddess (in Kalikula system);Lalita prime minister (in Srikula system);"Tantric Saraswati"

Kamala: lotus goddess;"Tantric Lakshmi"

Another major goddess group is Sapta - Matrika (" seven little mother "), "who is the main energy and described as god help different great Shakta Devi in her battle with the evil spirit".[25] according to Bhattacharyya:

"The importance of the growth of leaper [matrikas and yoginis in] was led them into greater prominence and cerium and wide distribution in their worship of the one thousandth.[...].Original Yogini worship because of the influence of increase also revived by seven mother worship.In Sanskrit literature Yoginis represents as a flight attendant or display a variety of Durga participate in combat with [] all kinds of evil spirit and the principal Yoginis identification and Matrikas. "[26]

The development history and philosophy

Main article: history of sexual leaper

Sexual leaper starting point in prehistory, the mist was covered.In India unearthed the earliest mother goddess figurines, belongs to the upper paleolithic is carbon label date to about 20000 BCE.[27] tens of thousands of female figurines as early as in c. appointment.5500 BCE restored in Mehrgarh one the most important neolithic site of archaeology in the world.[28] when precise reconstruction in time so far to cancel the religious beliefs of civilization is impossible, according to archaeological and anthropological evidence it is widely believed, great Indus GuWenMing probably modern Shakta religion a direct predecessors.[29]

Indus GuWenMing down and spread slowly, mixed with other groups of people to enhance added to civilization (c.In 1500-600 BCE).Leaper, because it exists today since added to the age of the literature;During the formation of the Indian epic promote evolution;In the period, reached its full flower Gupta age (300-700 ce), and continue to then expand and develop.[30]

The most central and most important text in the sexual leaper is Devi Mahatmya (also known as Durga Saptashati, Chandi or Chandi road), composed of about 1600 years ago."Here, for the first time, all kinds of myth, cultic and theological elements related to the different female divinity in what be brought anything to weigh the goddess of the traditional 'crystallization.'" [31]

Other important text including standard Shakta Upanishads, [32] and in view of the Shakta Puranic literature such as Devi Purana and Kalika Purana, [33] Lalita Sahasranama (from Brahmanda Purana), [34] Devi Gita (from Devi - Bhagavata Purana), [35] Adi Shankara 's Saundaryalahari Tantras. [36] and [37]

Recently, Bhattacharyya notes, leaper has, so it has the certain aspects of "stop is a sectarian religious is the mainstream of the Hindu", because it does not put forward the essence of "difficult for anyone to accept it".[38] new development including birth associated with sexual leaper Bharat Mata (" mother India "), symbolism, Indian women increased visibility and master of the saints, [39] and huge rise of "new" goddess Santoshi Mata Indian film followed the release of the Jai Santoshi Maa (" hail to happy mother ") in 1975.[40] Johnsen note:

"Today is 10000 years ago, the goddess of image everywhere in India.You in the truck's side wall will find they are painted in the shop, was taped to the rental car dashboard, postered.You will often see the goddess of the home highlighted in India shows the color of the painting.Usually pictures hanging on the wall is high, so you have to crane your neck backward, locate at her feet.[...].In India, the goddess worship is not 'worship', it is a religious, [...].Special mental and psychological mature traditional.Hundreds of thousands of people every day turn to sincerely regret for the mother of the universe."[41]

worship

Leaper contains practice almost endless varieties - from the primitive animism, through the philosophical speculation highest - access considered the nature and form of Devi Shakti that seek (god of energy or power).[42] it two of the largest and most visible school is strongest in south India and Kalikula Sri Srikula or family or family Kali is located in the north and east India.[43]

Srikula: Sri family

Srikula (Sri) family tradition (sampradaya) focus on the Devi Lalita - in the form of the goddess worship Tripurasundari idea as the great goddess (Mahadevi). Rooted in Kashmir, one thousand Srikula in south India no later than the seventh century became the power, and today is the national practice of sexual force of popular forms of south Indian state of andhra pradesh, for example, state of kerala, Tamil candidly and Tamil Sri Lanka. [44] goddess Sri or Lakshmi Srikula "family", unlike Kalikula, leaper another school, respect brahminical traditional (respect hereditary caste and pure rules) the mainstream of the Indian tradition and is the strongest in south India.[45]

Is the most renown school Srikula Srividya "a Shakta tantra is the most important and complex theological movement.It in the middle of the image, Sri available is probably the most famous visual image of the total Tantric tradition of India.Maybe it's literature and practice than [that] Shakta other school system."[46]

Srividya goddess like "benign (saumya) and beautiful (saundarya)" a contrast to the goddess Kalikula understanding, such as "fear of (ugra) and fear (ghora)" Kali or Durga.However, every aspect of the goddess - malignant or soft - identify and Lalita.[47]

Sri available is a subtle form of worship when Lalita, or as a two-dimensional figure (temporarily sometimes draw as part of worship;Sometimes permanent engraved metal) or in three dimensions, pyramidal form famous Sri Meru. It is not uncommon to find a available or Sri Sri Meru installed in a south Indian temple, because - because modern interns assertion - "there is no dispute this is the highest form of Devi, and some practice can be done in public.But not what you see in temples srichakra worship you see when it privately."[48]

Broad Srividya paramparas can be further be subdivided into two river, Kaula (a) vamamarga practice and Samaya (a dakshinamarga practice).Kaula or Kaulachara "first appeared in central India as a coherent etiquette system" in the eighth century, the champion of the [49] and it is 18 th-century philosopher Bhaskararaya is widely considered the best party number "" Shakta philosophy.[50]

Samaya or Samayacharya commentators, in the 16th century Lakshmidhara work find its root, and is a "rigorous [in] it violently in an attempt to reform the Tantric practices with high based on hereditary caste brahmanical criterion to bring it."[51] many Samaya interns explicitly, in fact, deny Shakta or Tantric;Creek, however, argue that they worship of technology is still two, "even if Samayins will reject the name".[52]

Outside the circle brahamanic Kaula descendants are still alive and good -- the person although they generally like to worship in private, keep up with the Indian maxim, "when in public, is a Vaishnava.To be with friends, is Shaiva.But privately, always Shakta."[53] Samaya - Kaula division within India tantra indicate" old dispute ", [54] and continue vigorous debate to a so far.[55]

Kalikula: family of Kali

Kali Kalikula (families) in the form of sexual leaper is the rule in the north and east India, and is widely popular west Bengal and Assam, west part and Orissa and maharashtra and Bangladesh. Focusing on Devi Kalikula seed (vidya) as a source of wisdom and liberation (moksha). They stand in opposition to general "they watch as" overly conservative and denied religious experience of the brahmanic tradition "".[56]

Some scholars have stated Kalikula schools refused to brahminical traditional thoroughly.[57] these views are hard to reconciliation with the plural of opinion within the greater Indian tradition in Kalikula outside schools;Great Indian saint, Ramakrishna, probably one of the most famous admirers Kali was born in a traditional brahmin family and worship her mother as a god;In addition, he is no followers kalikula schools, but would rather followers smarta advaitic tradition, consider Devi is one of the five is equal in the form of god.[58].[59]

Kalikula main god is Kali, Chandi and Durga. Enjoy respect other goddess Tara and all the other Mahavidyas and local goddess, such as snake goddess Manasa, and Sitala smallpox - the mother of god goddess all be considered.[60]

Sex leaper Kalighat are the two main center in west Bengal in Calcutta and Tarapith in Birbhum district. In kolkata, a focus on love (bhakti) of the goddess Kali:

She is "to protect her child, and fierce guard their loving mother.She frighten outward - and darkness of skin, pointed teeth and skull necklace -, but in the inner beauty.She can ensure a good rebirth or great religious insight, and her worship is often common - especially in festivals, such as Kali life and Durga life. The devotees worship may be involved in the joint with or the goddess of love, she is in the form of the visualization of meditation, sing psalms to [her] buddhist prayer or yantra before her image and give [] oblation."[61]

In Tarapith, Devi shows Tara (" she kept ") or Ugratara (" rough Tara ") is rising, as the liberation (goddess kaivalyadayini). [...].Form to perform more yogic and tantric sadhana here than dedication and they often intervention sitting alone in cremation ground, gathered by the ash and bone.Have shamanic element joint Tarapith tradition, including the "goddess", exorcism, spirit trance, and control of occupation."[62]

All such ritual philosophy and dedicated to the base plate, however, is still Devi's vision as the supreme, absolute divinity.Such as expressed by the saints in the 19th century Ramakrishna one of the prominent figures in the modern Bangladesh sexual force:

"Kali is brahman.That really is called Brahman Kali.She is the original energy.When the energy is still not active, I call it brahman and, when it creates, candied or damaged, I call it Shakti or Kali.What do you call brahman I Kali.Brahman and Kali is not different.They are like fire and its power to burn: if you think that you must think it is the power of fire to burn.If you recognize Kali you must also accept the brahman;Again, if you recognize you must recognize Kali brahman.Brahman and its strength is the same.It is the speech I as a brahman Shakti or Kali."[63]

holiday

Shaktas celebrate most major Indian festival (although sometimes in slightly different focus), and all sorts of places, temples, specific and/or specific obey god.[64]

Is the most important festival of the Shakta Navratri (" nine night festival "or" Sharad [fall] Navratri "), together with the first 10 days, famous Dusshera or Vijayadashami memorial to all kinds of evil spirit Devi victory in Devi Mahatmya. [65] in the first four days in Bangladesh Navaratri celebrate Durga life buffalo spirit indicated killed Mahishasura by Durga. [66]

Other Navaratris including Vasanta Navaratri (" nine night festival "or Chaitra Navatri) - celebrate during the late spring to summer month Chaitra (march, April) in India and Ashada Navaratri (" nine night summer holiday") in India on Ashadha. Celebrate Vasanta Srividya seed Navaratri Lalita as the goddess 's Navratri with Durga Navratri relatively in the autumn.Vaishno Devi in this period, observe its main temple in Jammu Navaratri celebration.[67] Ashada Navaratri as the goddess of the boar toward Varahi, devotee is particularly important, one of the seven Matrikas Devi Mahatmya.[68]

Most Shaktas worship ritual Lakshmi at home here, following the Durga life full moon which is called Khojagiri Lakshmi life. [69] another holiday to Lakshmi is Diwali (or Deepavali;"Lantern Festival").Main India holiday Diwali, north Indian New Year, in the new moon night in India on a "said Kartik (usually in October or November).Shaktas (and many non - Shaktas) it another Lakshmi life as, put a lamp outside their home and pray to the goddess to bless them.[70] Diwali consistent with Kali celebrate life, common in Bangladesh, when some Shakta centralize their worship in Devi as Kali rather than as Lakshmi Devi.[71]

Jagaddhatri life in Navaratis celebrated for the first four days following Kali life.It in the Durga life is very similar in its details and abide by, and is particularly common in Bangladesh and other parts of the east India.

Gauri life after the fifth day execution Ganesh Chaturthi during Ganesha life in the west Indies, to celebrate the coming GauriGanesha mother, to bring her son back home.

Have different date for Saraswati life depends on the regional and local traditions.Collectively, the fifth day of the month in India Phalguna (January February), students for Saraswati in their study with their books and Musical Instruments and praying for her blessing.In some parts of India, Saraswati life in month Magh celebrate;On the other, during the last three days Navratri. [72]

Main Shakta temple festival is Meenakshi Kalyanam and Ambubachi Mela. Meenakshi Kalyanam observation Devi auspicious occasions (Meenakshi) and Sundareshwara your marriage (Shiva) was concentrated in near Meenakshi Oman temple in Madurai, Tamil candidly. It runs 12 days, counting from the second day of the lunar calendar month Chaitra or in April.[73] Ambubachi Mela is the goddess of year after year period of celebration, held in June or July (during the monsoon season) at Kamakhya temple Guwahati, Assam.Here, in the form of a Devi was worshipped the vagina - like a spring flow naturally red color stones.[74]

temple

Details: Shakti temple list and Shakti Peethas

Tens of thousands Shakti temple;Big or small, famous or dark.And, numerous cities and towns, villages and geographical landmarks to be named for various Devi.[75] "means in this vast country, the goddess of holiness is numerous, and her worship proved popular even in India where name".[76]

In different time, different writers tried to organize some of them into the list of "Shakti Peethas";"Devi seat" word by word, or more broadly, "power".Number anywhere from four to 51 (in the list of the most famous, the discovery of the Tantra Cudamani), "peethas [became] writer a common theme of the middle ages, many who in manufacturing place names, goddess took the greatest freedom and they bhairavas [agreement]."[77]

Criticism and misuse

Sexual leaper often dismissed as almost no qualified as a true religious superstition, the practice of the black magic being harassed.Characteristics of such criticism is Indian scholars publish this wide edge in the 20 s:

"Tantras is sex leaper, recognizes all power to the female principle in nature and teach Shiva and Vishnu's wife excessive worship of [...].Ignore the bible to their male counterparts.[...].It sure as residents of India a vast Numbers in their daily lives are guided by the Tantrik teaching, and in slavery to inculcate the words in the total superstition.And indeed it may lack the land was skeptical leaper Hindu arrived in its worst and most corrupt development stage."[78]

This kind, white notes, according to some outside observers ignorance, misunderstanding and prejudice primarily, and some insider unscrupulous practices."In this context many Hindus in India today denied Tantra correlation with their traditions, through the gift, or to identify what they called Tantra sutras such as very large mumbo."[79]

Further muddying the water, "a lot of Indian and western spiritual entrepreneurs for a major American and European customers' Tantric sex in the past few years.Put forward the whole history of Tantra as into an organic whole, whole 'worship to occupy and assumptions in the Indian culture been smacked by definition Tantric sex that all of the new age of Tantra compromise the Indian erotics, massage techniques are mixed together, Ayurveda and yoga to only be invented by traditional [...].Treat 'Tantric sex voted in as seekers free civilian consumer goods."[80]

Also not uncommon to meet school cause moksha Shaiva and Vaishnava Hinduism or spiritual liberation, and sexual force only sends siddhis (hidden strength) and bhukti (things) - or, best (according to some Shaiva interpreter), Shaivism;For example, a Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami stated that in the sexual leaper, emphasize give women by which men of the United Nations reflect Parasiva was finally arrived.[81] such requirements by serious theologian within sexual leaper rejected: [82]

"Every mother's god vidyas [form] wisdom aspect, namely. Is a Brahma Vidya road to the supreme wisdom.Sadhaka any one of these [Shakta road] finally won, if his ambition is to this, the ultimate purpose of life - and [for] experience self-realization of the goddess and god know not with [experience]. Different from already."[83]

Extension in South Asia

Sexual leaper practice is not limited to South Asia.Traditional Shakta temple in the southeast Asia America, Europe, Australia and elsewhere - some by the Indian enthusiastically attended the Indian diaspora jews and Hindus severely.Examples in the United States include Kali Mandir in Laguna beach, California.[84] and Sri Rajarajeshwari Peetam, [85] a Srividya Shakta temples in the countryside, New York. Hasty temple is, in fact, recent topics to explore the diaspora in the Hindu "dynamics" to a further academic study, including the indians serious entry and intervention in a traditional Indian religious practices.[86]

Sexual leaper has become the focus of some western spiritual seekers trying to build new goddess was concentrated.[87] western Kali enthusiasts a academic study notes, "like all the comparative cultural history, religious transplant Kali devotionalism shows in the west must bear its own native form, if it is adapted to its new environment".[88] however, the east and the west fusion may also complex and worrying questions exclusively to culture.

Writers and thinkers, "famous feminist and participants were drawn to the worship of the goddess" new age spirituality, in a new light to explore the Kali.She was considered as a Wolf and healing power "signs, particularly with suppressed women and gender related".These new interpretation study in close to the background of Kali Indian originated in the "source of women's rights, almost no, including base their explanation"."Goddess worship of imported from another culture is hard: when embedded in the local culture of profound symbolism is not yet available, religious association and the content must be knowledgeable, imagine or by intuition."[89]

Strong stimulation after western interest on sexual force sent by Linda ・ Johnsen, a popular writer in the eastern spiritual advice, assert that sexual force sent many central concepts - including the kundalini yoga and worship of the goddess - used to be "intercommunity of India, the chaldeans, Greek and Roman civilization," lost to the west, but the main and near and Middle East, to increase the Abrahamic religion:

"The four great ancient civilization, revelation knowledge of operation of the internal force on a mass scale to survive only in India.Only the goddess of the intrinsic traditional stand in India.This is India's teaching is very precious.They offer us a glimpse of what our own ancient wisdom must be.The indians saved we lost heritage.[...].Today it is to find and restore traditional we decided living goddess.We will do it very well in India to start our search, not the total living goddess children a moment in human history have forgotten their mother of god."[90] Shaktism

Shaktism (Sanskrit: Ś ā kta ṃ, श ा क ् त ं;Lit., doctrine of "power" or "doctrine of the Goddess") is a denomination of Hinduism that focuses worship upon Shakti or Devi - the heading Divine Mother - as the absolute, the ultimate Godhead. It is, along with Saivism, Vaisnavism, and Smartism, one of the four primary schools of Hinduism.

Shaktism regards Devi (lit., "the Goddess") as the Supreme Brahman itself, the "one without a second", with all other forms of divinity, female or male, 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 his worship is generally relegated to an auxiliary role.[1]

The roots of Shaktism penetrate deep into India's prehistory. From the Goddess's earliest known appearance in Indian paleolithic settlements more than 22,000 years ago, through the refinement of her cult in the Indus Valley Civilization, her partial eclipse during the Vedic period, and her subsequent resurfacing and expansion in Sanskrit tradition, it has been suggested that, in many ways, "the history of the Hindu tradition can be seen as a reemergence of the feminine."[2]

Over the course of its history, Shaktism has inspired great works of Sanskrit literature and Hindu philosophy, and it continues to strongly influence popular Hinduism today. Shaktism is practiced throughout the Indian subcontinent and beyond, in countless forms, both Tantric and non-Tantric; however, its two largest and most visible schools are the Srikula, or family of Sri, strongest in South India, and the Kalikula, or family of Kali, which prevails in northern and eastern India.[3]

Overview

Shakti and Shiva

Shaktas conceive the Goddess as the Supreme Deity, who is the source of the cosmos and the energy that governs and controls it. But, "nowhere in the religious history of the world do we come across such a completely female-oriented system." [4] Shaktism's focus on the Divine Feminine does not imply a rejection of Masculine or Neuter divinity; however, both are deemed to be inactive in the absence of Shakti. In Shakta worship, Shiva is cast in an "inferior or dependent role as a servant or gatekeeper of the goddess". Shaktas declare that Shiva would be a shava (corpse) without the power of the goddess to guide him. This doctrine is emphasized in the images of Kali standing on a seemingly dead Shiva. [5]

As set out in Adi Shankara's renowned Shakta hymn, Saundaryalahari (c. 800 CE), "Shiva when united to Shakti permeates and sustains the Universe, but [he] cannot have an iota of activity when dissociated from Shakti. This is the basic and fundamental tenet in Shaktism."[6]

Shakti (the Supreme Goddess as Power or Energy) is considered the motivating force behind all action and existence in the phenomenal cosmos. The cosmos itself is Brahman; i.e., the concept of an unchanging, infinite, immanent and transcendent reality that provides the divine ground of all being. Masculine potentiality is actualized by feminine dynamism, embodied in multitudinous goddesses who are ultimately reconciled into one. [7]

The noted historian V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar[8] expressed it thus: "Shaktism is dynamic Hinduism. The excellence of Shaktism lies in its affirmation of Shakti as Consciousness and of the identity of Shakti and Brahman. In short, Brahman is static Shakti and Shakti is dynamic Brahman."[9] In religious art, this cosmic dynamic is powerfully expressed in the half-Shakti, half-Shiva deity known as Ardhanari.[10]

Shaktism views the Devi as the source, essence and substance of virtually everything in creation, seen or unseen, including Shiva. Indeed, in the Devi-Bhagavata Purana, a central Shakta scripture, the Devi declares:

"I am Manifest Divinity, Unmanifest Divinity, and Transcendent Divinity. I am Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, as well as Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati. I am the Sun and I am 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."[11]

The religious scholar C. MacKenzie Brown explains that Shaktism "clearly insists that, of the two genders, the feminine represents the dominant power in the universe. Yet both genders must be included in the ultimate if it is truly ultimate. The masculine and the feminine are aspects of the divine, transcendent reality, which goes beyond but still encompasses them. Devi, in her supreme form as consciousness thus transcends gender, but her transcendence is not apart from her immanence."[12]

Brown's analysis continues, "Indeed, this affirmation of the oneness of transcendence and immanence constitutes the very essence of the divine mother [and her] ultimate triumph. It is not, finally, that she is infinitely superior to the male gods – though she is that, according to [Shaktism] – but rather that she transcends her own feminine nature as Prakriti without denying it."[13]

Association with Tantra

One widely misunderstood aspect of Shaktism is its close association with Tantrism – an ambiguous, loaded concept that suggests everything from orthodox temple worship in the south of India, to black magic and occult practices in North India, to ritualized sex in the West.[14] In fact, not all forms of Shaktism are Tantric in nature, just as not all forms of Tantra are Shaktic in nature.[15]

When the term "Tantra" is used in relation to authentic Hindu Shaktism, it most often refers to a class of ritual manuals, and – more broadly – to an esoteric methodology of Goddess-focused spiritual discipline (sadhana) involving mantra, yantra, nyasa, mudra and certain elements of traditional kundalini yoga, all practiced under the guidance of a qualified guru after due initiation (diksha) and oral instruction to supplement various written sources.[16]

In its social interactions, Tantra is "free from all sorts of caste and patriarchal prejudices. A woman or a shudra is entitled to function in the role of [guru]. All women are regarded as manifestations of Shakti, and hence they are the object of respect and devotion. Whoever offends them incurs the wrath of the great goddess. Every [male aspirant] has to realize the latent Female Principle within himself, and only by [thus] 'becoming female' is he entitled to worship the Supreme Being"[17]

More controversial elements, such as the "Five Ms" or panchamakara, are employed under certain circumstances by some Tantric Shakta sects. However, these elements tend to be overemphasized and sensationalized by commentators (both friendly and hostile) who are ill-informed regarding authentic doctrine and practice. Moreover, even within the tradition itself there are wide differences of opinion regarding the proper interpretation of the panchamakara, and some lineages reject them altogether.[18]

In sum, the complex social and historical interrelations of Tantric and non-Tantric elements in Shaktism – and Hinduism in general – are an extremely fraught and nuanced topic of discussion.[19] However, as a general rule:

"Ideas and practices that collectively characterize Tantrism pervade classical Hinduism [and] it would be an error to consider Tantrism apart from its complex interrelations with non-Tantric traditions. Literary history demonstrates that Vedic-oriented brahmins have been involved in Shakta Tantrism from its incipient stages of development, that is, from at least the sixth century. While Shakta Tantrism may have originated in [pre-Vedic, indigenous] goddess cults, any attempt to distance Shakta Tantrism from the Sanskritic Hindu traditions [...] will lead us astray."[20]

Principal deities

Shaktas may approach the Devi in any of a vast number of forms. The primary Devi form worshiped by a devotee (i.e., his or her ishta-devi) can depend on many factors, including family tradition, regional practice, guru lineage, personal resonance and so on. There are literally thousands of goddess forms, many of them associated with particular temples, geographic features or even individual villages. However, they are all considered to be but diverse aspects of the One Supreme Goddess.[21]

Nonetheless, several highly popular goddess forms are known and worshiped throughout the Hindu world, and virtually every female deity in Hinduism is believed to be a manifestation of one or more of these "basic" forms. The best-known benevolent goddesses of popular Hinduism include:[22]

Adi Parashakti: The Goddess as Original, Transcendent Source of the Universe.

Durga (Amba, Ambika): The Goddess as Mahadevi, Supreme Divinity.

Sri-Lakshmi: The Goddess of Material Fulfillment (wealth, health, fortune, love, beauty, fertility, etc.); consort (shakti) of Vishnu

Parvati (Gauri, Uma): The Goddess of Spiritual Fulfillment, Divine Love; consort (shakti) of Shiva

Saraswati: The Goddess of Cultural Fulfillment (knowledge/education, music, arts and sciences, etc.); consort (shakti) of Brahma; identified with the Saraswati River

Gayatri: The Goddess as Mother of Mantras

Ganga: The Goddess as Divine River; identified with the Ganges River

Sita: The Goddess as Rama's consort

Radha: The Goddess as Krishna's consort

Sati: The Goddess of Marital Relations; original consort (shakti) of Shiva

Tantric deities

Main articles: Mahavidyas, Matrikas, and Yogini

Goddess groups – such as the "Nine Durgas" (Navadurga), "Eight Lakshmis" (Ashta-Lakshmi) or the "Fifteen Nityas" – are very common in Hinduism. But no group better reveals the elements of Shaktism better than the Ten Mahavidyas (Dasamahavidya). Through them, Shaktas believe, "the one Truth is sensed in ten different facets; the Divine Mother is adored and approached as ten cosmic personalities."[23] The Mahavidyas are considered Tantric in nature, and are usually identified as:[24]

Kali: The Goddess as Cosmic Destruction, Death or "Devourer of Time" (Supreme Deity of Kalikula systems)

Tara: The Goddess as Guide and Protector, or Who Saves

Lalita-Tripurasundari (Shodashi): The Goddess Who is "Beautiful in the Three Worlds" (Supreme Deity of Srikula systems); the "Tantric Parvati"

Bhuvaneshvari: The Goddess as World Mother, or Whose Body is the Cosmos

Bhairavi: The Fierce Goddess

Chhinnamasta: The Self-Decapitated Goddess

Dhumavati: The Widow Goddess

Bagalamukhi: The Goddess Who Paralyzes Enemies

Matangi: The Outcaste Goddess (in Kalikula systems); the Prime Minister of Lalita (in Srikula systems); the "Tantric Saraswati"

Kamala: The Lotus Goddess; the "Tantric Lakshmi"

Another major goddess group is the Sapta-Matrika ("Seven Little Mothers"), "who are the energies of different major gods, and described as assisting the great Shakta Devi in her fight with demons."[25] According to Bhattacharyya:

"The growing importance of Shaktism [of the matrikas and yoginis in the first millennium CE] brought them into greater prominence and distributed their cult far and wide. [...] The primitive Yogini cult was also revived on account of the increasing influenced of the cult of the Seven Mothers. In Sanskrit literature the Yoginis have been represented as the attendants or various manifestations of Durga engaged in fighting with [various demons], and the principal Yoginis are identified with the Matrikas."[26]

Historical and philosophical development

Main article: History of Shaktism

The beginnings of Shaktism are shrouded in the mists of prehistory. The earliest Mother Goddess figurine unearthed in India, belonging to the Upper Paleolithic, has been carbon-dated to approximately 20,000 BCE. [27] Thousands of female statuettes dated as early as c. 5500 BCE have been recovered at Mehrgarh, one of the most important Neolithic sites in world archaeology.[28] While it is impossible to precisely reconstruct the religious beliefs of a civilization so distantly removed in time, it is widely believed, based on archaeological and anthropological evidence, that the great Indus Valley Civilization is probably a direct predecessor of the modern Shakta religion.[29]

As the Indus Valley Civilization slowly declined and dispersed, its peoples mixed with other groups to eventually give rise to Vedic Civilization (c. 1500 - 600 BCE). Shaktism as it exists today began with the literature of the Vedic Age; further evolved during the formative period of the Hindu epics; reached its full flower during the Gupta Age (300-700 CE), and continued to expand and develop thereafter.[30]

The most central and pivotal text in Shaktism is the Devi Mahatmya (also known as the Durga Saptashati, Chandi or Chandi-Path), composed some 1,600 years ago. Here, for the first time, "the various mythic, cultic and theological elements relating to diverse female divinities were brought together in what has been called the 'crystallization of the Goddess tradition.'"[31]

Other important texts include the canonical Shakta Upanishads,[32] as well as Shakta-oriented Puranic literature such as the Devi Purana and Kalika Purana,[33] the Lalita Sahasranama (from the Brahmanda Purana),[34] the Devi Gita (from the Devi-Bhagavata Purana),[35] Adi Shankara's Saundaryalahari[36] and the Tantras.[37]

In recent times, Bhattacharyya notes, Shaktism has so infused mainstream Hinduism that it has in certain respects "ceased to be a sectarian religion," in that it presents "no difficulty for anyone to accept its essence."[38] Recent developments related to Shaktism include the emergence of Bharat Mata ("Mother India") symbolism, the increasing visibility of Hindu female saints and gurus,[39] and the prodigious rise of the "new" goddess Santoshi Mata following release of the Indian film Jai Santoshi Maa ("Hail to the Mother of Satisfaction") in 1975.[40] As Johnsen notes:

"Today just as 10,000 years ago, images of the Goddess are everywhere in India. You'll find them painted on the sides of trucks, pasted to the dashboards of taxis, postered on the walls of shops. You'll often see a color painting of the Goddess prominently displayed in Hindu homes. Usually the picture is hung high on the wall so you have to crane your neck backward, looking up toward her feet. [...] In India, Goddess worship is not a 'cult,' it's a religion, [...] an extraordinarily spiritually and psychologically mature tradition. Millions of people turn every day with heartfelt yearning to the Mother of the Universe."[41]

Worship

Shaktism encompasses a nearly endless variety of practices – from primitive animism through philosophical speculation of the highest order – that seek to access the Shakti (Divine Energy or Power) that is believed to be both the Devi's nature and form.[42] Its two largest and most visible schools are the Srikula, or family of Sri, strongest in South India, and the Kalikula, or family of Kali, which prevails in northern and eastern India.[43]

Srikula: Family of Sri

The Srikula (family of Sri) tradition (sampradaya) focuses worship on Devi in the form of the goddess Lalita-Tripurasundari, who conceived as the great Goddess (Mahadevi). Rooted in first-millennium Kashmir, Srikula became a force in South India no later than the seventh century, and is today the prevalent form of Shaktism practiced in states of South India such as Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Tamil Sri Lanka.[44] The Srikula "family of the Goddess Sri (or Lakshmi)," , unlike Kalikula, the other school of Shaktism, respects the brahminical tradition (a mainstream Hindu tradition which respects caste and purity rules) and is strongest in South India. [45]

The Srikula's best-known school is Srividya, "one of Shakta Tantrism's most influential and theologically sophisticated movements. Its central image, the Sri Chakra, is probably the most famous visual image in all of Hindu Tantric tradition. Its literature and practice is perhaps more systematic than [that of] any other Shakta sect."[46]

Srividya perceives the Goddess as "benign (saumya) and beautiful (saundarya)", a contrast to Kalikula's perception of the Goddess as "terrifying (ugra) and horrifying (ghora)" Kali or Durga. However, every aspect of the Goddess - malignant or gentle - is identified with Lalita. [47]

The Sri Chakra is worshiped as Lalita's subtle form, either as a two-dimensional diagram (sometimes drawn temporarily as part of the worship ritual; sometimes a permanent engraving in metal) or in the three-dimensional, pyramidal form known as the Sri Meru. It is not uncommon to find a Sri Chakra or Sri Meru installed in South Indian temples, because – as modern practitioners assert – "there is no disputing that this is the highest form of Devi and that some of the practice can be done openly. But what you see in the temples is not the srichakra worship you see when it is done privately."[48]

The Srividya paramparas can be further broadly subdivided into two streams, the Kaula (a vamamarga practice) and the Samaya (a dakshinamarga practice). The Kaula or Kaulachara, "first appeared as a coherent ritual system" in the eighth century in central India,[49] and its champion is the 18th century philosopher Bhaskararaya, who is widely considered "the best exponent of Shakta philosophy."[50]

The Samaya or Samayacharya finds its roots in the works of a 16th century commentator, Lakshmidhara, and is "fiercely puritanical [in its] attempts to reform Tantric practice in ways that bring it in line with high-caste brahmanical norms."[51] Many Samaya practitioners, in fact, explicitly deny being either Shakta or Tantric; however, Brooks argues that their cult remains technically both, "even if Samayins would reject this appellation."[52]

Outside brahamanic circles, Kaula lineages remain alive and well – though their practitioners generally prefer to worship in private, in keeping with the Hindu adage, "When in public, be a Vaishnava. When among friends, be a Shaiva. But in private, always be a Shakta."[53] The Samaya-Kaula division marks "an old dispute within Hindu Tantrism,"[54] and one that continues to be vigorously debated to this day.[55]

Kalikula: Family of Kali

The Kalikula (family of Kali) form of Shaktism is most dominant in northern and eastern India, and is most widely prevalent in West Bengal, Assam, Bihar and Orissa, as well as parts of Maharashtra and Bangladesh. Kalikula lineages focus upon the Devi as the source of wisdom (vidya) and liberation (moksha). They generally stand "in opposition to the brahmanic tradition," which they view as "overly conservative and denying the experiential part of religion."[56]

Some scholars state outright that the Kalikula school rejects brahminical tradition. [57] These views are difficult to reconcile with the plurality of views within the larger Hindu tradition outside of the Kalikula school; the great Hindu saint, Ramakrishna, probably, one of the most famous worshippers of Kali, was born in a traditional brahmin family, and worshipped Her as the Divine Mother; furthermore, he was not a follower of the kalikula school, but rather an adherent of the smarta advaitic tradition, which considers Devi to be one of the five equal forms of the Divine. [58];[59]

The main deities of Kalikula are Kali, Chandi and Durga. Other goddesses that enjoy veneration are Tara and the all other Mahavidyas as well as regional goddesses such as Manasa, the snake goddess, and Sitala, the smallpox goddess - all considered aspects of the Divine Mother. [60]

Two major centers of Shaktism in West Bengal are Kalighat in Calcutta and Tarapith in Birbhum district. In Calcutta, emphasis is on devotion (bhakti) to the goddess as Kali:

She is "the loving mother who protects her children and whose fierceness guards them. She is outwardly frightening – with dark skin, pointed teeth, and a necklace of skulls – but inwardly beautiful. She can guarantee a good rebirth or great religious insight, and her worship is often communal – especially at festivals, such as Kali Puja and Durga Puja. Worship may involve contemplation of the devotee's union with or love of the goddess, visualization of her form, chanting [of her] mantras, prayer before her image or yantra, and giving [of] offerings."[61]

At Tarapith, Devi's manifestation as Tara ("She Who Saves") or Ugratara ("Fierce Tara") is ascendant, as the goddess who gives liberation (kaivalyadayini). [...] The forms of sadhana performed here are more yogic and tantric than devotional, and they often involve sitting alone at the [cremation] ground, surrounded by ash and bone. There are shamanic elements associated with the Tarapith tradition, including 'conquest of the goddess', exorcism, trance, and control of spirits."[62]

The philosophical and devotional underpinning of all such ritual, however, remains a pervasive vision of the Devi as supreme, absolute divinity. As expressed by the nineteenth-century saint Ramakrishna, one of the most influential figures in modern Bengali Shaktism:

"Kali is none other than Brahman. That which is called Brahman is really Kali. She is the Primal Energy. When that Energy remains inactive, I call It Brahman, and when It creates, preserves, or destroys, I call It Shakti or Kali. What you call Brahman I call Kali. Brahman and Kali are not different. They are like fire and its power to burn: if one thinks of fire one must think of its power to burn. If one recognizes Kali one must also recognize Brahman; again, if one recognizes Brahman one must recognize Kali. Brahman and Its Power are identical. It is Brahman whom I address as Shakti or Kali."[63]

Festivals

Shaktas celebrate most major Hindu festivals (albeit sometimes with a slightly different emphasis), as well as a wide variety of local, temple-specific, and/or deity-specific observances. [64]

The most important Shakta festival is Navratri (The "Festival of Nine Nights", or "Sharad [Autumn] Navratri"), which together with the tenth day, known as Dusshera or Vijayadashami, commemorates the Devi's victory over various demons in the Devi Mahatmya. [65] In Bengal, the last four days of Navaratri are celebrated as Durga Puja, marking slaying of buffalo-demon Mahishasura by Durga. [66]

Other Navaratris include Vasanta Navaratri ("The Spring Festival of Nine Nights" or Chaitra Navatri) - celebrated during late spring to summer (March-April) in the Hindu month of Chaitra and Ashada Navaratri("The Summer Festival of Nine Nights") in the Hindu month Ashadha. Srividya lineages celebrate Vasanta Navaratri as goddess Lalita's Navratri as opposed to Durga's Navratri in the autumn. The Vaishno Devi temple in Jammu observes its major Navaratri celebration during this period. [67] Ashada Navaratri is particularly important for devotees of the boar-headed goddess Varahi, one of the seven Matrikas of the Devi Mahatmya.[68]

Most Shaktas worship Lakshmi ceremonially at home on this, the full moon night following Durga Puja this is also called as Khojagiri Lakshmi Puja.[69] Another festival dedicated to Lakshmi is Diwali (or Deepavali; the "Festival of Lights"). The major Hindu holiday of Diwali, the North Indian New Year, is held on the night of the new moon in the Hindu month of Kartik (usually October or November). Shaktas (and many non-Shaktas) consider it as another Lakshmi Puja, placing small oil lamps outside their homes and praying for the goddess to come and bless them. [70] Diwali coincides with the celebration of Kali Puja, popular in Bengal, with some Shakta traditions focusing their worship on Devi as Kali rather than Devi as Lakshmi. [71]

Jagaddhatri Puja is celebrated on the last four days of the Navaratis, following Kali Puja. It is very similar to Durga Puja in its details and observance, and is especially popular in Bengal and some other parts of Eastern India.

Gauri Puja is performed on the fifth day after Ganesh Chaturthi, during Ganesha Puja in Western India, to celebrate the arrival of Gauri, Mother of Ganesha, to come and bring her son back home.

There are variant dates for Saraswati Puja, depending upon region and local tradition. Commonly, on the fifth day of the Hindu month of Phalguna (January-February), students offer their books and musical instruments to Saraswati and pray for her blessings in their studies. In some parts of India, Saraswati Puja is celebrated in the month of Magh; in others, during the final three days of Navratri. [72]

Major Shakta temple festivals are Meenakshi Kalyanam and Ambubachi Mela. Meenakshi Kalyanam observes the auspicious occasion of Devi's (as Meenakshi) marriage to Lord Sundareshwara (Shiva) is centered around the Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. It runs for 12 days, counting from the second day of the lunar month of Chaitra, in April or May.[73] Ambubachi Mela is a celebration of the yearly menstruation of the goddess, held in June/July (during the monsoon season) at Kamakhya Temple, Guwahati, Assam. Here the Devi is worshiped in the form of a yoni-like stone over which a naturally red-tinted spring flows. [74]

Temples

Further information: List of Shakti Temples and Shakti Peethas

There are thousands of Shakti temples; vast or tiny, famous or obscure. Moreover, countless cities, towns, villages and geographic landmarks are named for various forms of the Devi.[75] "In this vast country, holy resorts of the goddess are innumerable and the popularity of her cult is proved even in the place-names of India."[76]

At various times, different writers have attempted to organize some of these into lists of "Shakti Peethas"; literally "Seats of the Devi", or more broadly, "Places of Power". Numbering anywhere from four to 51 (in the most famous list, found in the Tantra Cudamani), "the peethas [became] a popular theme of the medieval writers, many of whom took the greatest liberty in fabricating the place names, the goddesses and their bhairavas [consorts]."[77]

Criticism and misuse

Shaktism has at times been dismissed as a superstitious, black magic-infested practice that hardly qualifies as a true religion at all. Typical of such criticism is this broadside issued by an Indian scholar in the 1920s:

"The Tantras are the bible of Shaktism, [...] identifying all Force with the female principle in nature and teaching an undue adoration of the wives of Shiva and Vishnu to the neglect of their male counterparts. [...] It is certain that a vast number of the inhabitants of India are guided in their daily life by Tantrik teaching, and are in bondage to the gross superstitions inculcated in these writings. And indeed it can scarcely be doubted that Shaktism is Hinduism arrived at its worst and most corrupt stage of development."[78]

Statements of this kind, White notes, are based principally on the ignorance, misunderstanding and prejudice of some outside observers, as well as the unscrupulous practices of certain insiders. "It is in this context that many Hindus in India today deny the relevance of Tantra to their tradition, past or present, identifying what they call tantra-mantra as so much mumbo-jumbo."[79]

Further muddying the waters, "a number of Indian and Western spiritual entrepreneurs have been offering 'Tantric Sex' to a mainly American and European clientele for the past several decades. Presenting the entire history of Tantra as a unified, monolithic 'cult of ecstasy' and assuming that all that has smacked of eroticism in Indian culture is by definition Tantric, New Age Tantra eclectically blends together Indian erotics, techniques of massage, Ayurveda, and yoga into a single invented tradition [...] pitched at a leisured populace of seekers who treat 'Tantric sex' as a consumer product."[80]

Nor is it uncommon to encounter assertions that the Shaiva and Vaishnava schools of Hinduism lead to moksha, or spiritual liberation, whereas Shaktism leads merely to siddhis (occult powers) and bhukti (material enjoyments) – or, at best (according to some Shaiva interpreters), to Shaivism; for example, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami has stated that in Shaktism, emphasis is given to the feminine manifest by which the masculine Un-manifest Parasiva is ultimately reached.[81] Such claims are dismissed by serious theologians within Shaktism:[82]

"Each of the [Divine Mother's] vidyas [aspects of wisdom, i.e. forms] is a Brahma Vidya [path to Supreme Wisdom]. The sadhaka of any one of these [Shakta paths] attains ultimately, if his aspiration is such, the supreme purpose of life – self-realisation and God-realisation, [for] realising the Goddess is not different from [realising] one's self."[83]

Expansion beyond South Asia

The practice of Shaktism is no longer confined to South Asia. Traditional Shakta temples have sprung up across Southeast Asia, the Americas, Europe, Australia and elsewhere – some enthusiastically attended by non-Indian as well as Indian diaspora Hindus. Examples in the United States include the Kali Mandir in Laguna Beach, California;[84] and Sri Rajarajeshwari Peetam,[85] a Srividya Shakta temple in rural Rush, New York. The Rush temple was, in fact, recently the subject an in-depth academic study exploring the "dynamics of diaspora Hinduism," including the serious entry and involvement of non-Indians in traditional Hindu religious practice.[86]

Shaktism has also become a focus of some Western spiritual seekers attempting to construct new Goddess-centered faiths.[87] An academic study of Western Kali enthusiasts noted that, "as shown in the histories of all cross-cultural religious transplants, Kali devotionalism in the West must take on its own indigenous forms if it is to adapt to its new environment."[88] However, these East-West fusions can also raise complex and troubling issues of cultural appropriation.

Writers and thinkers, "notably feminists and participants in New Age spirituality who are attracted to goddess worship", have explored Kali in new light. She is considered as a "symbol of wholeness and healing, associated especially with repressed female power and sexuality." These new interpretations have originated from "feminist sources,almost none of which base their interpretations on a close reading of Kali's Indian background". "It is hard to import the worship of a goddess from another culture: religious associations and connotations have to be learned, imagined or intuited when the deep symbolic meanings embedded in the native culture are not available." [89]

A powerful motivation behind Western interest in Shaktism has been suggested by Linda Johnsen, a popular writer on Eastern spirituality, who asserts that many central concepts of Shaktism – including aspects of kundalini yoga as well as goddess worship – were once "common to the Hindu, Chaldean, Greek and Roman civilizations," but were largely lost to the West, as well as the Near and Middle East, with the rise of the Abrahamic religions:

"Of these four great ancient civilizations, working knowledge of the inner forces of enlightenment has survived on a mass scale only in India. Only in India has the inner tradition of the Goddess endured. This is the reason the teachings of India are so precious. They offer us a glimpse of what our own ancient wisdom must have been. The Indians have preserved our lost heritage. [...] Today it is up to us to locate and restore the tradition of the living Goddess. We would do well to begin our search in India, where for not one moment in all of human history have the children of the living Goddess forgotten their Divine Mother."[90]