There are many who say that Devī pūjā is not for ordinary people, or outright dangerous if mahānaivedyam is not offered daily, etc. Why do people say She is an angry Goddess, and those who worship Her end up having many difficulties? Also, many people accuse, “Is it necessary to do such long pūjās? You must be intending harm to someone.” Naturally, people are frightened and do not even think of doing Devī pūjā. Also, why is Lalitā Sahasranāma made out to be secret, and people are advised by some who ought to know better that Viṣṇu Sahasranāma is “safe,” implying that Lalitā is unsafe? Is there any truth in such fears?
Most of these fears about Devī pūjā, Śakti pūjā, and Tantra are rooted in ignorance, I think. The reality is quite different from the fears. Let us try to understand who is Devī, why we should worship Her, and what happens if we do and what if we don’t. The word Devī literally means “that which lights up the world.”
Now what is it that has the power to create, sustain, and destroy the world? Let me give an example.
Suppose there is a dark room, in which we see no objects at all. It has been dark for millions of years, say. We don’t know what is in it. Now suppose we take a lighted candle into it. We start seeing the objects in it. We may think: how can this little candle have the power to remove the darkness that has been for millions of years? What would you say? It has, or it does not have the power? You will agree that light has power over darkness. Darkness does not have power over light. Light is knowing. Ignorance is not knowing.
The world has been a dark room for me for millions of years. I never knew what was in it till the little light of life came into me. I did not know the Sun, Moon, fire, or any living or non-living objects in this wide world till I was born, and life started helping me to see. So the word Devī really means life, which helps us to know, see, feel, touch, smell, etc. Life is the little candle which lights up the mighty universe that has been unseen, unknown, unexperienced. This little candle is mightier than the whole universe! So Devī means life. My life, your life, every living being’s life.
Now what is there to be afraid of life? If I am worshipping life, I am worshipping Devī. If you receive love, you are happy, are you not? Devī pūjā really means to make myself happy, loving myself. I am doing pūjā to myself when I am doing Devī pūjā.
If I have the means, I will offer Her in golden plates courses of sixty-four delicacies prepared in the most extravagant manner. I will offer Her a perfumed bath worthy of Gods. I will give Her a massage She will remember for life. If I don’t have the means, I will be happy with just bread and peanut butter. What do I care as long as I am happy? Being happy is the real Devī pūjā. Neither Devī cares, because She is my life, She is in me, She is me. She is in every limb of me.
The real point to remember in Devī pūjā is that it is for your life that the pūjā is being done. So whatever it takes to make you happy, all that undoubtedly is pūjā. Whatever makes you unhappy is not pūjā, because pūjā means adoration, love, and happiness. And Devī pūjā is adoring life, pro-life, not anti-life. It is not against life, so it does not hurt anyone.
People ask, “Can we keep Devī in home and do pūjā?” She is already there in you as life. So the question is, “Can you stay in your home?” Surely you can. Can you do pūjā? The question is saying, can you be happy? Why not? You can do pūjā, Devī pūjā most definitely. It is for your own prāṇa, life, that pūjā is really taking place. So go ahead, by all means. Power flows to you by loving yourself. Pūjā is expressing your love to yourself and to all life.
Although life is one, it manifests as different powers in different places. Life in my eyes is the power to see, in ears to hear, in tongue to taste and talk, in skin to touch and feel, in hands to grasp, in feet to run, in genitals to reproduce, in breasts to give milk, and so on. If life is missing in a foot, like a polio patient, he cannot walk. So power comes from life. Power is life.
The concept of Śakti Pīṭhas flows from this idea. There is the great Purāṇic story of how Satī, the adorable wife of Śiva, got angry when Her father did not invite Śiva for a fire ritual he was performing. He insulted Śiva, saying, “He is the erect male genital. What is so great about worshipping it?” So Satī got angry and left Her body by yoga. Śiva hears this, becomes angry, and keeping Her corpse on his shoulders, is out to destroy the world. Gods pray to Viṣṇu to save the worlds from Śiva’s anger. Viṣṇu sends his discus, which cuts the body of Satī into various pieces. They all fell at different places and became Śakti Pīṭhas, where power resides alive.
There are two lessons we have to draw from this great story. The first is that in every limb there is a Śakti Pīṭha, a seat of power. We can access, arouse, and enhance this power through attentiveness, adoration, and love. The second lesson is that when Śiva is insulted, Śakti becomes angry, and when Śiva has no chance to have intercourse (his wife, the yoni, is dead) he becomes angry. Their anger is capable of destroying the world.
Saying it in another way, sexual energy frustrated from expression destroys the world. Most of our neuroses have to do with suppressing seeking variety in sex. We want variety in food, dresses, perfumes, and environment. Why not in fun? So we should treat sex with love and adoration, not with contempt.
Hindu Tantric culture places a high value on worship of genitals in the form of Śiva, the erect male liṅga, and Śakti, the vagina. Most ancient cultures in the world do accept sex as sacred to the Goddess. There was sacred prostitution everywhere, and orgies were not uncommon. We consider Their eternal intercourse as symbolic of peace, pleasure, and bliss. We incorporate desire for sex, kāma, as the third great object of life, the others being duty, wealth, and liberation. Liberation is like living in an eternal orgasm, like Śiva-Śakti, or brahmānanda, the bliss of utter creativity.
Amṛta
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