Welcome to the 2014 Raas Purnima issue of e-Sanai

by Sri Sandip Dasgupta

Dear fellow devotees,

Welcome to the Raas Purnima edition of our e-zine. In the last issue, I had stated that the only Guru Dakshina we can give to our Sadguru is to keep the windows of our minds open and listen to the words of the Sadguru and reflect upon those words.  In this editorial, let me attempt to provide some examples of how this can help us in our everyday lives.

Sri Sri Babathakur’s august proclamation is ‘All Divine, for all time, As It Is’. By this He has essentially stated that the same One ‘I-Reality’ is the substratum behind all of us, our actions and behaviors. In fact, Sri Sri Babathakur had asked us to use this proclamation as an axiom in everyday life.  Using this as an axiom, we are to relate all our actions, behaviors and results to the same ‘I-Reality’ that is the substratum amongst all of us.  Let me attempt to reflect on some everyday life events using this axiom:

·     I am upset with a colleague at work, or a family member. Why did I get upset? Because I thought that I had a direct relationship with this other individual.  As a result, I had some expectations out of this person, which were not met – and hence I got upset.  The reality is that I am an individual-I (Kaccha Aami, or Jiva) and my relationship is solely with the ‘I-Reality’.  This other individual also does not have any direct relationship with me – his/her relationship is with the same substratum (‘I-Reality’) that is within me!  So, what’s the point in getting upset at this other individual?
Many years ago, during one of my phone conversations with Sri Sri Babathakur, He had explicitly told me that I had no relationships whatsoever with my sons, my wife, my parents etc. I was quite taken aback by that statement, but luckily, I did not argue with Him at that time. Over the years, I was able to reflect on His words and somewhat understand what He was trying to tell me.  It also made me a stronger individual – so much so, that I was easily able to withstand the loss of my father (earlier this year), without a tear in my eyes.  Had it happened several years ago, I know I would have been devastated.

 

·    I am overjoyed at some turn of events at work or at home. This joy is temporary and false, because I believe that I have a direct relationship with the turn of recent events and therefore I think I am entitled to the rewards of the turn of events.  The truth of the matter is that I am just an actor in this world drama, which is being directed by the Supreme ‘I-Reality’ – and I am supposed to surrender all results to this Pakka Aami (‘I-Reality’) within me.  We need to not get carried away by this temporary joy – otherwise sorrow will follow immediately after that.

 

·    I am mentally very tired and go to bed – but I am not able to sleep.  I am tossing and turning in bed, because my mind is playing the same movie as the one I had been seeing during the day.  Till my mind dis-associates itself from the daily turn of events, I am not able to sleep. Eventually I am able to sleep, and I wake up fresh.  Why do I wake up fresh? Because during my sleep, my mind was not around to keep me busy!
As soon as I wake up, the same dreams begin to play in my mind again – and my freshness begins disappearing.  Where were my thoughts during the period when I was sleeping? They have been stored in the ‘I-Reality’ – much like how the state of a computer process (for our computer science readers) is stored in memory when a context switch happens.  So, during the whole day as events keep happening in life, treat them as actions witnessed in the ‘Supreme-Reality’ and performed by the individual-I (Jiva).

In the previous issue, Mr. Utsav Sen had pointed out that we are all benefitting from reflecting on His teachings during phone satsangs.  This allows us to learn from each other and strengthen our bonds with each other.

So let us please carry on with the Mananam that we have begun.  Let us take that pledge as we remember Sri Sri Babathakur on the fifth anniversary of the departure of His current body.
 

Joy Babathakur! Joy Babathakur! Joy Babathakur!

E-go -- Easy Go

by Sri P.C. Lahiri

Ego is Easy Go. How can ego go easily or how can I go easy with ego?

Conventional spiritual knowledge puts enormous stress on killing ego and prescribes innumerable different techniques to do so. Most of them are very elaborate and need special attention and time. Many of us find it difficult to find time for any activity other than our routine activities. There are voluminous books which try and explain how important it is to kill ego. Ego is dubbed as the root cause of all problems and tension. Hence they implore us to find time to go to a particular school to get rid of the demon called ego. I have so far not received a satisfactory answer to a simple question from any of these ego killers — how can you kill ego without using another ego to kill it? So, at the end of the killing exercise, an ego will always remain.

Real spirituality is all-encompassing. It kills nothing; it assimilates/dissolves all many-ness into Oneness, into Itself.  This is the most important point which we all God/Self seekers must understand first and then accept as a way of life to ultimately become one with that perfect Oneness/God.  God creates the universe, runs it and finally assimilates/dissolves it within Himself. God does not kill anyone/anything, as we understand the word ‘kill’, because the entire universe is nothing but God Himself.  Universe came into existence only because of His divine Will to become many and play with Himself by appearing as the diversified forms-names-ideas of the brahmanda (i.e. the universe).

Still each school claims to be the best and most friendly. They adjust their programs as per the need of an interested group. These programs look attractive, and many of us do attend them, stealing time from our extremely busy schedules.

I did a minor analysis after talking to a few city-based stressed out attendees of such programs conducted by different schools.  Most of them came back highly satisfied, happy and raring to get on their lives afresh. I had another meeting with them after 30 to 60 days of the program. All of them, without exception, were back to square one. The satisfaction was temporary and the feeling of ease and comfort vanished within days. They agreed, albeit after some clear cut discussions and clarifications, that in all these schools there is a special environment and routine created specifically for the programs. As an attendee gets out of that routine and environment, the old lifestyle takes over very soon. It is in fact impossible for obvious reasons to maintain the program-lifestyle, atmosphere, routine and food. Some of the attendees periodically keep going back, more out of seeking an oasis rather than an intrinsic permanent change that would make life easier under any given inner or outer circumstance.

Without proper scientific training/refinement of the inner faculties while remaining in the day-to-day routine and lifestyle, neither can there be any significant impact, nor any permanent change to bring about lasting peace and joy. 

The need of the hour is a solution through a procedure that does not create time pressure or for that matter extra pressure of any kind on the highly stressed human being of this age.  Is it possible?  Yes, it is very much possible due to the sheer un-reasoned Grace of Prajnanpurush Sri Sri Babathakur (hereinafter called the Master).

At the outset the Master says that this entire world drama is the divine game of the Absolute, being played out of exuberance of joy (ananda atisajjena prajnanbrahma vijnanamayiba, vijnanabrahma jnanamayiba, jnanabrahma ajnanamayiba) and for no other reason at all.  The world phenomenon is the game of the Supreme Divine, for the Supreme Divine, with the Supreme Divine and in the Supreme Divine only, being played out of exuberance of joy of the Supreme Divine. There exists no second entity.  Hence, it is not our game at all. If it is not our game, then where and why should there be stress, tension, fear et al.

What are you saying? How is that possible? How can I suddenly drop my world and say that everything is a divine game? No, you do not have to drop the world around you but only start “a thinking and believing process in your mind” from today that in reality the world phenomenon is the game of the Supreme Divine, not mine. I am not the doer, enjoyer, experiencer and sufferer. The feeling that I am the doer, enjoyer etc. keeps coming back to me only out of old habits cultivated through many past lives, including this one. Hence, it may take time to go. Alright, accept it and move on with life along with this new mental practice. That’s all. Keep working on whatever you are doing or want to do or not do or anything else. So no extra tension gets created in any way.  Just keep reminding that one thing to yourself time and again throughout the day. Only awareness of this simple mental practice is required without disturbing the daily routine at all. No extra time, energy or money is needed. Continued practice of this will ensure that ego has no base to stand on, no ground to play on. No need for any special program.  Come to think of it, it is magic - if there is anything called magic that is not a trick. Only have faith and belief in the words of the Master. We believe in so many intricate and difficult things in life. Why should it be difficult to believe this straightforward direction of the Master, especially when it is usable without spending any extra time, money and energy? At least we can try sincerely.

No one in this universe is getting displaced or disturbed by this internal practice. In the apparent nature nothing is changing, but in reality what is happening is much bigger than what the eyes can see or what other senses can experience.  It is way beyond the common human experience. The entire world system run by Mother Nature will start conspiring to unify the practitioner with the Supreme Truth — the Absolute Reality, thereby establishing him/her in the state of Bliss Absolute, Peace Absolute without even his/her knowing about it. Such is the efficacy, glory and majesty of following the directions of a Perfect Soul. They appear only to provide The Medicine for the universal ailment afflicting mankind as a whole.  Such incarnates are the rarest of rare.

Is it that simple? ‘Yes, it is’, says the Master, ‘Truth is simpler than the simplest.’ Years and years of tapasya (austere penance) is not needed any more. Why is it that this medicine for all ills of life was not presented in this fashion earlier? Perhaps it was not needed is the kind of answer that emanates from the lotus lips of the Master. In the kali yuga, human capability to do tapasya as prescribed by the past Masters, is very limited. Such is the design and beauty of the divine game. It has nothing to do with the fall or rise of humanity. The Absolute Itself is playing with Itself, by acting as the good, the bad and the rest, as also the yugas from satya to kali.  It is going to turn a corner at the end of kali yuga to assimilate Its own spread (the visible universe) within, only to unveil the golden age (satya yuga) again. Let us not forget as we go along that this world phenomenon is the divine game of that Supreme One Absolute to play with Itself, by becoming many within Itself only. If that were not so, how can there be the advent of such a Supreme Soul as the Master in this age? After all the august proclamation — ‘world drama is the sportful dramatic sameside game of Self-Consciousness’ — has revealed in the Master in this age only.

All we need to do is simply have faith and belief in the supreme discovery of the Master. He has done the hard work already (His life is the proof) for humanity at large and presented it freely for one and all without any exception or reservation. Why should “ego” not be “easy go” to establish us once and for all in our true divine nature ---- the Absolute I-Reality.

Guru Dakshina

by Smt. Susmita Devi

In the 2014 Janmastami edition of e-Sanai, the below quoted paragraph about Guru Dakshina by Sri Sandip Dasgupta caught my attention:

“The question that immediately comes to mind is: What Guru Dakshina should one give to a Sadguru? While it is true that all kinds of objective knowledge warrant some kind of Guru Dakshina, Sri Sri Babathakur has very categorically stated that a Sadguru never asks for Guru Dakshina.  A Sadguru has attained Supreme Realization, where He identifies Himself with the Supreme Oneness – which is the substratum of each and every object in this world.  So where is the need for Guru Dakshina?”

As you are probably aware, there are two ways to realize the Self:

a)      The path of devotion (Dwaita), which requires the concept of a worshipper and the worshipped - in other words duality, in which give and take is common

b)     The path of Knowledge (Advaita), in which only Oneness exists – and thus ideas pertaining to give and take become irrelevant

Both the paths lead to Self-realization if sincerely and thoroughly followed; however a path mixing the two concepts is often a mistake.  The mind simply gets confused, and neither path can be followed properly.  Sri Sri Babathakur once said:”The exclusive path of Knowledge can appear dry as a bone to follow, so why not sprinkle a bit of sweet devotion on it... but without forgetting that the path for you is the path of Knowledge”.   Some individual minds are best suited for the devotional path with its dual aspects, but a few may succeed in following the incomparable path of Knowledge as propounded by Sadguru Sri Sri Babathakur and a few other Self-realized souls (such as the late Ramana Maharshi whose devotees established an ashram in Tiruvanamalai).  Sri Sri Babathakur sent me there to contemplate on what I had heard at His feet during my first month in India.  Sri Sri Babathakur jokingly said:” Your time to travel a bit has come. I don’t want you to get spiritual indigestion”.

It is common for Gurus to highlight the dual aspects that the mainstream of devotees find easier to follow.  Conventional dualistic worship is also helpful in a sense as it represents a broader base of followers/devotees.  Such a base can be used as an economic support for setting up an ashram or a community which eventually may serve a wide range of people for devotional purposes and social service.

The above is the very reason why a discussion about Gurudakshina is needed.  If a person professes to follow the path of ‘Oneness of Knowledge and Knowledge of Oneness’ in its totality, the pertinent question to be asked is:  Who is giving to whom? That can be answered quite easily by remembering that the very base of any manifestation is its Essence - and that the only purpose of an essence is to provide flavor, which individuals can use to enhance their Knowledge.  In other words, one can say that in order to benefit from the Divine Lila (God’s illusive play), a materialized entity is needed in the form of a body-mind- intellect combination – an apparent individual. That concept can be superimposed on all perceptible manifestations on this earth – from ithe nanimate to the animate.  Mankind is at present, the most evolved species of all Divine manifestations.  I remember Sri Sri Babathakur once receiving a bouquet of flowers where one stem was broken.  He picked it up and ‘bandaged’ it with a thread, winding the thread around the place where the stem had broken while saying that the flower was also part of the Divine in manifestation.

The whole idea of developing a society harmoniously depends on observed rules and regulations. Since birth, an individual usually is force-fed with ideas of individuality, which again quite often prevents a child from developing an altruistic attitude.  The ‘I, me and mine’ becomes so ingrained in the mind while growing up that as an adolescent and grown up, it becomes quasi impossible to accept the idea of a fundamental ‘Oneness of all’.  For quite some time I had to use different descriptions of what was mine like:  Thank you for caring for this body (instead of saying me), or where are the shoes fitting this body (instead saying: where are my shoes) and so on.  People sniggered and thought I was not able to speak proper English.  When it came to learning how to use Bengali, I got a pleasant surprise - for the very concept of being but a manifestation of Divinity is embedded in the language.  If I was hungry, the direct translation would be:  ‘mine’ is hungry - to be understood as the body is hungry.  I’m certain many other expressions in Bengali are uttered without realizing such intricate Truths.  Also notice, that in English, the ‘I’ is always written as a capital letter, whereas in Bengali the ‘I’ consist of three letters - ‘ami’.  Unless one is open to receive - and assiduously practices - the injunctions presented to one and all by a Self-realized Guru, the path of Knowle.dge indeed seems unwieldy because one’s utterances must be practiced before they can be thoroughly embedded in the thought patterns.  Later the ‘I, me and mine' can be used more freely when talking, because the Knowledge has then become the very background for the thought pattern.

When a devotee gives anything to a Sadguru, He will graciously engage in the play of give and take so as not to upset the prevalent Divine Game.  The state of mind of the giver is the crucial juncture;  if given out of Pure Love (without expectation of any return or quest for a favor), it is but an expression of Divine Love for Itself by Itself etc. (remember the list of prepositions often uttered by Sri Sri Babathakur).  As soon as an expectation pops up in the mind, uttered or unuttered, it becomes an enticement.

To conclude, I must over and over remind both the readers and myself about what Sri Sri Babathakur often pointed out:  Who is giving and who is the recipient... if they identify with the Eternal Oneness????

      

Revealing Characteristics of Consciousness Itself

The following article first appeared in the 2006 Raas Purnima issue of Sri Sanai and is part of the 'Revealing Characteristics of Consciousness Itself' series of articles that were published in Sri Sanai (Saccidananda Society, Kolkata's quarterly spiritual magazine). 

 

Reality of duality, which is manifested eternal part of the reality of non-duality, is the source of universal creation of world appearance of diversified name and forms.  All kinds of duality, plurality and relativity have made the entire creation enriched, enjoyable to the individual lives of all categories from the gross to the subtlemost.   Reality of duality extends from the grossmost creation to the subtlemost one.  That is to say, all the visible forms of all kinds with their innumerable varieties have specific characteristics of their own.  Such characterisitics have their charming qualities like truth, reality, beauty, goodness, attraction which have their origin in the reality of non-duality.   Origin of everything always remains obscured in the background.   Hence characteristics of manifseting varieties of consciousness of both aspects, the reality of duality and non-duality, are not always intelligible and accessible, though those are however experienced in the inner nature and subtler in the central nature.  Each form has a name of its own by which it is used.   Name is sound/prana which originates in vak (speech).  Bhava (idea) of all kinds is subtler which originates in consciousness.   Form pertains to outer nature, name to inner nature and idea to central nature.  Everything of the outer nature is sensual, of the inner nature is mental and of the central nature is intellectual.  The threefold nature of life - outer, unner and central - is the object of experience pertaining to reality and duality.

Further clarification of the subject is needed.  Hence it is stated that the threefold nature of life is verily threefold aspect, of which the first two that is the outer and inner ones are both universal and individual; while the third one, the central one, is always universal. Individual is always material and the universal is always spiritual and divine. Therefore form, name and idea—the first three aspects—from a different viewpoint are prakriti, swabhava and Swabodha respectively. Of the three aspects the first two are both universal and individual and the third one is always universal.

The individual is inseparable part of the universal one. Individual owes all its beings and becomings to the universal one. Differently expressed, the universal one willingly manifests into the individual life in order to transform the individual one to universal one in and through the integral process of evolution. Both the individual nature and universal nature have one and the same origin—with the reality of non-duality. The only difference that appears in their nature is quantitative and not qualitative. That means the power and knowledge of the individual are finite, conditioned and limited; while those of the universal are infinite by nature i.e., unlimited and immeasurable. Individual life has its power and knowledge greatly attached to the gross nature of life with the thought and idea of objective pursuits and their enjoyment as well. It cannot think of anything else apart from the same. Its all aims and purposes of life are worldly prosperity and sensual enjoyment which are entirely materialistic. Its spiritual approach cannot easily develop until and unless it’s matter-fed worldly life or material life gets bored and digustful. Then and then only it aspires to get rid of that and intensely needs help from others of right experience. The more it feels for that, the more it grows dispassionate and indifferent to the worldly ways of life which is the characteristic of power-nature of life called avidya maya.

To rise above the material concept of life and be well established in the spiritual divine ways of life it gets the right help with spiritual light from spiritually experienced guide or master. He unfolds the spiritual science, vidya, to the aspirant seeker according to his/her intensity of urge.  The individual seeker thereby gets devoted to the teachings of the master and cultivates the spiritual science, vidya, as is instructed or inculcated by the master.

The characteristics of avidya are always diversified and contradictory to one another which verily are experienced to be the reality of duality. Nature of reality of duality is always experienced by the individual owing to the constitutional nature of avidya. Avidya-nature of the individual seeker (life) gets thoroughly transformed into vidya-nature in and through the process of evolution of the integral nature of the individual. All kinds of approach of the individual nature towards the individual one get successful and fulfilled not by avidya but by the evolutionary process of vidya-nature. The characteristics of vidya-nature are totally opposite to those of avidya-nature. For example—differences, inequality, diversity, plurality, duality etc. pertain to avidya; while non-difference, equality, evenness, unity, non-duality, identity etc. pertain to vidya.  As the avidya nature causes the life of the individual to be more objective, materialistic and sensualist; so the vidya nature causes the life of the individual to be more subjective, spiritual, discriminative and renunciative.

Vidya-nature makes life spiritually divine. It constitutes the upper nature of swabhava with the traits of predominating sattva wherein rajas and tamas of lower nature remain subordinate or subservient.  Rajas and tamas are predominant in avidya-nature. That is why self-generated lower nature is avidya and self-generated upper nature is vidya.  As the lower nature avidya is the cause of bondage and sufferings of life, so the upper nature vidya is conducive to liberation and balance of life. Vidya par-excellence is Paravidya which is the predominating nature of central aspect of life. The central aspect is the abode of Kutastha Chaitanya, immutable or permanent Consciousness called Self-Divine, Ishvara, Atman. It is also called Swabodhatma of shuddha sattva (pure sattva) i.e., homogeneous by nature.  Divine Self is always homogeneous by nature. That is why the traits of rajas and tamas of trigunaprakriti or lower nature have nothing to do in the shuddha sattvic (ever pure) homogeneous nature of Swabodhatma called Paka Ami. This Swabodhatma is ever non-dual Reality permanently unified and identified with the transcendental nature which is beyond all gunas and bhavas i.e., pairs of opposites, sense of differences of duality.  Hence it is beyond the sense of in and out, subject-object, creator-creation, this or that and not this and not that etc.  Thus it is said that it is the eternally non-dual One without a second, ever ‘at-one-ment’—‘All Divine for All Time, as It Is’, symptomatizing as Paka Ami—I-Absolute.

Life has got two parts. One is attributeful and the other one is attributeless.  The former is spiritual and the latter is supremely divine and beyond. The spiritual one is the combined form of subject and object and the divine one is super–subject and beyond i.e., ever-Witness of the former subjective and the objective ones. Life consists of fourfold nature i.e., outer, inner, central and transcendental.  Outer nature constitutes the physical body with material elements pertaining to outer prakriti which characterizes avidya itself, inner nature constitutes the spiritual body with the light of cidabhas pertaining to inner prakriti which characterizes vidya itself and the central nature constitutes the spiritual divine body with the light of Pure Knowledge/Consciousness pertaining to central prakriti which characterizes Paravidya itself. Transcendental nature is the eternal background of all of them which is Self-Divine, ever-Witness of all the rest.  This is Paka Ami, the I-Absolute.  

Sri Sri Babathakur

to be continued...................

Worship of the Goddess in Hinduism

 

by Sri Ajit Halder

The Hindu Goddess is worshipped in home shrines and in temples with great religious fervour. The Goddess comes in many forms such as Durga, Lakshmi or Kali; these however are manifestations of one divine principle. The Goddess is thus addressed in her unity either as Devi (“the Goddess”), or as Shakti, which is the feminine power or energy that animates the universe. This verse from Sri Sri Chandi says it all:

Ya Devi Sarva Bhuteshu Shaktirupena Sansthitaa /
Namastashayi Namotashayi Namotashayi Namo Namo //

This sloka states that Devi resides in every created object as the divine energy, ‘Shakti’ and all devotees offer their salutations to the Goddess with reverence. In Hinduism every woman is said to be an embodiment of Shakti, and the aim of this article is to explore this divine principle.

Among the myriad of Hindu Devis, Goddess Durga is the deity who is most warmly and lovingly worshipped by the Bengalis as a community religious celebration and also through modern householder worship as an integral part of family relations.  At a puja venue, the idol of Durga with her four children portrays the tender loveliness of a motherly figure and additionally represents the supreme divine power, Shakti. Devotees stand before the goddess Durga’s graceful image appreciating the loving and benevolent expression that radiates from her divine face. The clay image of Devi Durga, richly decorated and ornamented by the superb artistic skills of the potters, is placed on the platform of a puja venue. To the spectators, the deity does not appear as an inert ‘Mrinmoyee Murti’; they rather view her as ‘Chinmoyee’, full of consciousness and vibrant with divine power, bestowing her blessings as ‘Jagat Mata’ on all her worldly subjects. The entire scenario is so overwhelming that the assembled worshippers with their gaze fixed at the image, become awe-struck as they view the Durga Pratima as a mighty feminine figure in a fighting posture holding ten weapons in her ten hands.

The scripture ‘Devi Mahatmaya’ gives an account of the creation of Durga to annihilate the demon who was threatening Gods in their abode and how ten gods offered their weapons to fortify and strengthen her with their combined power. Devi Durga is engaged in a fierce battle with the demon Mahishasura, and the idol shows her foot delicately poised on the upper part of the body of the vanquished demon. This victory denotes the triumph of good over evil.  Besides Ma Durga, the pantheon of Hindu Devis is remembered by the chanting of different names for the one Goddess in the hymns of the Devi Mahatmaya and Sri Lalita Sahasranama in forms such as Sitala, Manasha, Chamunda, Kali and Tara.  During a period of adversity, the devotees pray for the holy intervention of the Devis to cure diseases, heal sufferers, and bring prosperity to all.

Devi Chamunda is Goddess of power and fierce strength who is worshipped at times of distress by chanting prayers so that she drives the evils away and protects her followers. Mention must be made of the heavy dark colored Ma Kali who is propitiated to fight and exterminate the evil forces of nature and remove the darkness of ignorance from the minds of her worshippers. The presence of Goddesses is evident even in the Rig Veda through mention of Saraswati, the Goddess of wisdom, of Usha, the Goddess of dawn, and many others.  Part of the Rig Veda is known as the “Devi Shukta” and is certainly the recognition of Shakti as a cosmic principle. One aspect of the dualistic doctrine: Prakriti (the energy of nature) and Purusha (spirit), is that Shakti cannot exist in a vacuum.  Every Goddess has a male companion, a consort, a God who is her ‘Shaktiman’ – possessor of her power. So we have Shri (Lakshmi) –Vishnu, Sita-Ram, Radha-Krishna and other Devi-Deva pairs.

It is felt that the concept of the feminine is the very manifestation of ‘Shakti’ itself.  We feel certain that the potential power of all Devis acts for the benefit of the whole world and worldly people. Religious texts mention that in the past, Indian women reached heights of power in philosophy and in spirituality. We read the commentaries of Maitreyi, full of wisdom and deep thought, in the Brihad Aranyak Upanishad thus: ‘Yenaham Amritam Shyam Tenaham Kim Kuriyam’.  This sloka means - ‘What use to me the boon by which I cannot become immortal’. This utterance expresses the longing of all Hindus to attain ‘amritam’ which means ‘not to suffer death but to be blessed with eternal life’.  As in the past, so also in the present day, Indian women hold important responsible positions of power and authority in government, in the Indian Administrative Service, in politics, education and social welfare services. In this context mention may be made of names like Madam Cama, Sarojini Naidu, Indira Gandhi and others.

We began this article with a reference to Devi Durga and we end this piece by reminding ourselves that Goddess Durga is the mother of her children (Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Ganesh), the wife Parvati of Lord Shiva and daughter Uma of the mountain king Himalaya. On the human level, the power of Shakti, the feminine principle, is directly present in the form of our mothers, wives, daughters and sisters.  Our devotional prayer and worship of Durga Ma establishes a holy bond between Ma Durga's divine family and the human family of her devotees.