Experience the Space Below

Sitting on a soft seat,
Or lying on your mat,
Experience the space below
As offering no support.

You are simply suspended,
Floating in space.

Structures of the mind release,
The reservoir of habits dissolves.
In an instant, lifetimes of patterns
Vanish.

-vijnana bhairava tantra (Lorin Roche) 

Inhale. Take a drink of infinity. Breathe in the radiant beauty of this very moment in which you exist. Exhale. Pull love into the depths of your soul. Inhale. Invite it deep into the core of your being. Exhale. Surrender to that which you are called. 

It all started with wOMp

We live in a universe of limitless possibilities. Everything and anything we could want, desire, or imagine is available to us. But it first must be created. In order for these desires to manifest into the material reality, action must be taken. Without action/growth/movement there is no possibility of creation. The layers of our universe contain vibrations.  We are all in a constant state of vibration, and so is everything around us. There is an optimum range of vibration in everything called resonance. From a vibration of sound it all began and through sound it will continue to be created. It, being existence as we know it. 

Hymn 10.71 of The Rgveda titled: "Jana Suktah" explains the origin of language. It through our vocal vibrations we send messages to the universe. What you say comes back to you, this ties into the idea of mantra. What the Jana Suktah explains is that before there was language, there was sound. Vibrations within us (lam/vam/ram/yam/ham/om), the sounds/vibrations made by animals. There is also a belief that OM was the first sound of creation. The potential for the ideas were available before sound attached to meaning and became language. When the hidden knowledge came to surface is when meaning became necessary. 

What about before meaning, was knowledge already known or was it only discovered with sound? The was the Rgveda came out of the Rishis as escatic musical chants indicates that the knowledge was already inside their hearts. 

Our 5th Chakra (Vishuda) deals with communication. If everything is vibration then moving through the layers of the Vedic universe, it would make sense that that after moving through layers (chakras) 1-4, the knowledge being downloaded to these Seven Rishis would manifest itself as speech when they reached the 5th layer. Energies manifesting through the lower chakras are evident in ancient Vedic culture though their divine universal love and ritualistic practices involving fire, chanting, and sacrifice. To ecstatically chant this knowledge is the culmination of a great deal of inner reflection and understanding, as well as an endless love of the eternal universe. 

all you need is....

"In the beginning Love arose, 

which was the primal germ cell of the mind."

- From Verse 4 of the Nasadiya Sukta, Rig Veda, 10.29

There is Shakti in Political Science

Divinely Different: The Empowerment of Women in a Man’s World

Through The Symbol of The Goddess

 Women are socially and biologically different than men. Women function, think, and take part in society in a different way than men do. When thinking about the current status of women’s rights in the United States, we see that women are not quite equal with men. Women have fair rights and treatment yet they are different than that of the male population. This being so, women are still fighting for equality in what is predominately a “man’s world”. Equality versus difference is a main debate within feminism.  Is it a negative thing for women to be considered different in comparison to men?

            To begin, it is important to understand what equal versus difference means. Joan W. Scott defines difference as “the notion that meaning is made through implicit or explicit contrast, that a positive definition rests on the negation or repression of something represented as antithetical to it. Thus, any unitary concept that contains repressed or negative material; it is established in explicit opposition to another term” (285, Scott). For equality to exist between men and women, there would have to be no difference at all, and that is physically impossible. Women function differently, think differently, and have different needs than men.  Giving women full equality to men is saying that there is no difference between the two and that men and women are capable of doing, feeling, and acting the same. Equality is a negative thing for women. Equality would take away what is most sacred and empowering to women: their femininity. To embrace difference allows women to embody their primal feminine essence and divine power, the qualities that make them (in many cases) much more powerful than men.

            In this paper, I will approach the topic of equality versus difference from the perspective of a Goddess-centered framework. The Goddess framework views being a women as a power which is both advantageous and independent, and honors the power, bodies, will, and connection of women (218, Christ). The symbol of the Goddess is one of strength, beauty, and independence, bonding women of all types. Modern women are joining together to develop a love and appreciation of the godly qualities within themselves (211, Christ).

            Looking at the feminist debate between equality and difference from this perspective allows for both psychological and political implications on women. Psychologically, according to Carol P. Christ, “it means the defeat of the view engendered by patriarchy that women’s power is inferior and dangerous” (213, Christ). Psychological “moods” have been created for women by cultural and societal influences. Politically, women are given new “motivations” in a Goddess framework, “it supports and undergirds women’s trust in their own power and the power of other women in family and society” (213, Christ).

The symbol or notion of the Goddess brings legitimacy to female power. Symbols in religion evoke a cultural attitude, which delineate the values of a society and its members (211, Christ).  What is the symbol of the Goddess? Christ gives three definitions of the Goddess: “1) The Goddess is divine female, a personification who can be invoked in prayer and ritual. 2) The Goddess is symbol of the life, death, and rebirth energy in nature and culture. 3) The Goddess is symbol of affirmation of the legitimacy and beauty of female power” (214, Christ).

            The burden of equality and difference was placed on women since the beginning of Judeo-Christian religious history. In Carol P. Christ’s essay “Why Women Need The Goddess”, she explains that biblical religion encourages one to see themself as “created in the image of God” (213, Christ). For women, this means renouncing her identification with femininity and upholding “God’s transcendence of sexual identity” (213, Christ).  The result of this is a “mood” of the redemption power of masculinity, and doubt of the female power (seeing “herself and other women as inferior or dangerous” (213,Chrsit)). This “mood” instilled for thousands of years has created a “motivation” manifested in the reality of social and political issues. Identification with the Goddess can bring women out of this socially constructed dilemma and into a more powerful position. First, society as a whole must accept that women are different from men and that their differences are not negative.

            An important difference between men and women is the powers of a woman’s body.  “In the ancient world, and among modern women, the Goddess symbol represents the birth, death, and rebirth processes of the natural and human worlds.  The female body is viewed as the direct incarnation of the waxing and waning, life and death cycles of the universe. This is sometimes expressed through the symbolic connection between the twenty-eight-day cycles of menstruation and the twenty-eight-day cycles of the moon” (215, Christ) Women are naturally attuned to the subtle energies of birth, life and death. They are biological designed to bare children, nurture, and create. Identification with the symbol of the Goddess creates a “mood” of joy and positivity in acceptance of the female body  (216, Christ). The “motivation” behind embracing the Goddess is acceptance of the body and rights of all beings, as well as an understanding of the characteristically duality between the mind and body  (216, Christ). 

            Our patriarchal society has suppressed the power of the Goddess, creating a hierarchy where men are at the top and the will of women is quieted.  We see this in statistics such as: “Women perform 66 percent of the world’s work, produce 50 percent of the food, but earn 10 percent of the income and own 1 percent of the property” (66, Tate). In addition, “females compromise only 23 percent of leadership positions within academia, 16 percent within corporations, 17 percent in politics and 15 percent in religious institutions” (66-67, Tate). Not to mention, “the typical woman working full time, all year, earns just 77 percent of what her male counterpart earns” (67, Tate).  Equality versus difference shows up a great deal in issues related to the working world.  Here, men are encouraged to take risks and speak boldly while women are often put down for similar attempts. Men are less scrutinized for their appearance, receive better health care, paid higher salaries, and held back from jobs and promotion due to motherhood. Most places of employment are “equal opportunity employers” yet women are still treated differently. Many women are fighting for equality; they want to be just as respected in the workplace as men. This is a fine goal, however, they must accept their differences.

            Let’s take a looks at some of the main differences between men and woman that stand out in the working world. Women are by nature sexually and erotic beings. The “erotic” side of all humans is feminine and connected to our repressed feelings (188, Lorde).  The appearance of women can often be considered erotic; this is an inherent quality within the divine female. The sexuality of a woman is often used against her because we have seen all through history (starting with the story of Adam and Eve) that “women so empowered are dangerous” (189, Lorde). This is why women are criticized so hard for their appearance (especially in the workplace). It is suppressing of the dive power of the Goddess. Because women cyclic beings, they need medical care at different stages of their lives: birth control, maternity, postnatal, menopause. Women require more “preventative medicine” then men and most public health care companies are not willing to support all of the needs of women. Higher salaries are given to men because our society still sees men as more powerful than women.  Motherhood may appear as a burden in the business world, forcing women to take time off work to give birth and care for a life. (Hammell) However, it is quite the opposite, women’s ability to bare children holds the key to the future sustainability of our species. It should be celebrated not looked down upon.          

            How can women rise above these obstacles? By tapping into the divine goddess that is within. Our patriarchal society is afraid of the power of women. If women were to fully embrace their beautiful differences, their possibilities could be limitless. The Dalai Lama believes western women could rescue the world (69, Tate).  He (along with several other eastern religions) understands the power of a female to take on great tasks and dive into them fearless. 

            Shakti is the “feminine power of nature” in the arising out f the Tantric movement in Hinduism, 200 A.D (17, Bailey). This new focus on “Shakti” brought about a new theory on the body and view of creation, uniting as all as “created in the image of” the Goddess.  “The worship of Shakti is the oldest of the Goddess-based religious cults of the indigenous Indian populations” (17, Bailey). In this “rediscovery on the mystery of the woman”, Tantra philosophy dismantled the rejection of the female body as sinful and erotic, and a new view of women as the ”manifestation of ultimate reality” (17, Bailey) emerged.  

While the alter ego to Shakti is Shiva, the masculine power. Shiva contains qualities of the sun and the upper half of the body while Shakti rules the moon and lower half of the body.  While there is a slightly hierarchical notion here, the feminine is not being suppressed. Shakti is being honoured for her powerful divine qualities. Just as important as a Shiva’s, yet completely different.

We all (men, women, individuals) come from the same place, yet we are all completely different, and it is those differences that bring balance to our world. Women are strong and powerful in their own right and should not be competing with men to be respected.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bailey, Shiva Rea. Hatha Yoga as a Practice of Embodiment. Thesis. University of California Los Angeles. Los Angeles , 1997.

Christ, Carol P. “Why Women Need the Goddess.” Hackett, Elisabeth and Sally Haslanger. Theorizing Feminisms. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. 211-219.

Lorde, Audre. “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power.” Hackett, Elizabeth and Sally Haslanger. Theorizing Feminisms. New York: Oxford Universitt Press, 2006. 188-192.

Scott, Joan W. “Deconstructing Equality-Versues Differece: Or, The Uses of Postculturalist Theory for Feminism .” Seidmen, Steven. The Post Modern Turn . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. 282-298.

Tate, Rev. Karen. “The Politics of Eco-Feminism Goddess Spirituality .” Hope, Angela. Goddess Theology . Heletes , 2011. 61-71.

A "Peace" of the Puzzle

An army general once had a nine year old son who was quite bright and always asking questions. One evening when the general was busy drawing up plans for war, the son came to him with more new questions. To occupy the child for a while, his father gave him a world map which had been torn into pieces, and asked him to set it right.

Expecting this to take the boy some considerable time, the father was astonished when his son returned in a matter of minutes, the map of the world restored. He asked his son how he had accomplished this so quickly, to which the boy replied, "It was very simple. I found that there was a picture of a person on the other side, and I put his pieces back together." With this, the father realized that when one sets the person right, the world will be all right.

This passage is an excerpt from A.G Mohan's "Yoga for Body, Breath, and Mind".