{"id":4689,"date":"2026-10-13T13:54:43","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T08:24:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bharatreview.in\/?st-import=e0604d55ace505282a44a2de7817257e"},"modified":"2026-10-13T13:54:43","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T08:24:43","slug":"awareness-of-adi-shakti-is-essential-for-a-sustainable-cultured-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bharatreview.in\/?p=4689","title":{"rendered":"Awareness of Adi Shakti Is Essential for a Sustainable, Cultured World"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Historically, the observance of Navaratri dates back to the most ancient times. The worship of the Mother Goddess is found even in the Vedas and Puranas. While the Srimad Bhagavata<\/em> speaks of the supremacy of Vishnu, the Sri Devi Bhagavata<\/em> speaks of the supremacy of Adi Shakti, the Primordial Power and the Mother Power. It is said that even the Trimurtis are children of Adi Shakti. The Kannada song by Purandara Dasa, \u201cNinna taayiya toro Purandara Vittala<\/em>\u201d (\u201cShow me Your Mother, O Lord, Purandara Vittala\u201d), is famous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, from the very beginning, Sanatana Bharat has given priority to the worship of the Divine Goddesses who embody Shakti and to the supreme reverence accorded to women in family life (Matru Devo Bhava<\/em>). This tradition continues even today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worship, salutations, sacrifices, and rituals performed without the presence of girls and women are inconceivable even in imagination. There are forms of worship and vows performed exclusively by women, without men. However, Yajnas<\/em> performed by men without women are considered incomplete. A house without daughters, wife, mother, without a woman of the household, is not truly a home. A house occupied entirely by men resembles a hostel rather than a griha<\/em>, a home. It is the woman of the household who makes it a home. In reality, the woman herself is the home (Grihini Griham Uchyate<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many people today hold the mistaken notion that a grihini<\/em> means only a woman who does not work for a salary and stays at home. That is not so. In the past, occupations undertaken for money and office work were not taken into consideration. All women, whether salaried or not, are grihinis<\/em>. It is by virtue of their feminine nature that a griha<\/em> comes into being. That itself is Dharma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The worship of feminine power is not exclusive to India. In the ancient world, goddesses were worshipped everywhere. There was no narrow belief that God must necessarily be male. Even forest-dwelling communities worshipped the Mother. They regarded the forest itself as a mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The narrow and rigid position that God Himself must be male and that those who perform \u201cofficial\u201d prayers must also be exclusively male is found in the Abrahamic faiths (religions). In ancient Egypt, Greece, and elsewhere, before the emergence of these religions, there was worship of goddesses\u2014a tradition that historians today identify as the \u201cSacred Feminine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of the dominance of the three Abrahamic religions\u2014Judaism, Christianity, and Islam\u2014ancient civilizations in many parts of the world were destroyed, and the worship of goddesses came to an end. In many Asian countries where these religions did not achieve dominance, the worship of goddesses has survived even today. In India, because Sanatana Dharma continues to exist, the supremacy of the Divine Feminine has also endured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many people today hold the mistaken notion that a grihini<\/em> means only a woman who does not work for a salary and stays at home. That is not so. In the past, occupations undertaken for money and office work were not taken into consideration. All women, whether salaried or not, are grihinis<\/em>. It is by virtue of their feminine nature that a griha<\/em> comes into being. That is Dharma. <\/strong>

Because of the dominance of the three Abrahamic religions\u2014Judaism, Christianity, and Islam\u2014ancient civilizations in many parts of the world were destroyed, and the worship of goddesses came to an end. In many Asian countries where these religions did not achieve dominance, the worship of goddesses has survived even today. In India, because Sanatana Dharma continues to exist, the supremacy of the Divine Feminine has also endured.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There are no female religious teachers in Abrahamic communities, either. We see doctrines that worship exclusively the paternal power. Those who say that \u201cGod in Heaven is the Father of all\u201d do not acknowledge the existence of a Mother alongside the Father. They are compelled to say, \u201cThere is no Mother in Heaven!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, Catholics have begun emphasizing the concept of \u201cMother Mary\u201d and imitating Hindu-style practices, including chariot processions. They may be doing so in accordance with their own specific strategies. However, no such Hindu-style chariot procession takes place at the Vatican, their central seat. Nor is such a practice recognized in their religious scriptures. Mother Mary is worshipped in the form of a human mother, rather than being granted recognition at the level of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nuns serving the Church are regarded as women who have dedicated themselves to religious service, rather than being considered spiritual teachers or occupying a position comparable to that of the Pope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, what matters more than determining what is right or wrong is the pursuit of truthful understanding: seeing things as they actually are. The notion that \u201ceverything says the same thing and everyone’s teachings are alike\u201d is a misconception. There are differences and variations in teachings and practices. At times, those differences are substantial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where the Abrahamic religions have achieved complete victory, not a single temple dedicated to a female deity has been established. Temples that existed in ancient Europe, Africa, and the Americas were destroyed, and some of their ruined remains are now treated like museum exhibits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where these religions have not achieved complete victory\u2014in India and certain Asian countries such as China and Japan, for example\u2014temples dedicated to female deities still exist. Even Buddhism includes the worship of female deities, such as Manjushri, among others. However, in many places, the traditional local forms of worship have been forgotten. Only in a handful of countries, including India and Nepal, do the scriptural traditions and practices of goddess worship still survive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason is that these countries have not yet come entirely under the rule of religions that do not accept female divinity. Historically, they have faced religious rule, but that is a separate matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matru Devo Bhava<\/em> (whose correct meaning is \u201cBecome one who regards the mother as divine\u201d\u2014those who regard their mother as a deity are Matru Devas<\/em>) is the teaching of a civilization that regards other women with the reverence due to a mother and declares that women are more worthy of reverence than men. That civilization is Bharat<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the many historical developments and influences that have shaped society over time, this foundational principle has not disappeared. It continues to survive even today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since ancient times, it has been customary for every village in our country to have a female village deity. A village can function without a male deity, but it must have a temple dedicated to the Mother Goddess. The village deity must always be a female deity. This is obligatory. This is a uniquely Indian way of life. Such a remarkable tradition is found nowhere else in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since ancient times, it has been customary for every village in our country to have a female village deity. A village can function without a male deity, but it must have a temple dedicated to the Mother Goddess. The village deity must always be a female deity. This is obligatory. This is a uniquely Indian way of life. Such a remarkable tradition is found nowhere else in the world.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Recognizing the divine in every inch of the land is characteristic of India’s Sanatana tradition. Even in forest regions, there is the concept of a local forest deity, and the forest deity too is female. Every household and lineage has its own Kuladevata<\/em>, or ancestral family deity. There, too, a female deity must be present. Likewise, every region and every state worships its own female deity, its rajyadevata<\/em>, or presiding goddess of the land. At the individual level, people also retain the freedom to worship their chosen personal deity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the beginning, we have had a conception of religious and spiritual pluralism, respect for women, and freedom for different traditions to coexist. We did not have an intolerant imperialism based on a \u201csingle God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, those who rejected the religious systems built around the absolute supremacy of a single God and sought to construct a new society fell prey to ideologies such as communism and socialism. They failed to recognize the fullness of spirituality. Having escaped the embrace of the \u201csingle God,\u201d they became trapped in the embrace of a \u201csingle ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who rejected God ended up assigning Marx a position in their minds similar to that of a god. Those who rejected \u201cisms\u201d in the name of God or religion adopted \u201cisms\u201d named after individuals. Some abandoned long-established, sustainable models and began constructing their own versions of what they considered rational thought. Today, under the banner of \u201cwokeism\u201d and in the name of \u201ccritical\u201d theories, a new social or political ideology seems to be devised every week!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In India’s Sanatana tradition, everything is regarded with a sense of divinity and reverence. All of nature is respected. And by \u201call of nature,\u201d we do not mean merely the land, water, air, and plants of the Earth. According to the Sanatana religious and spiritual worldview, the entire cosmos\u2014the universe itself\u2014is nature. Even if there are infinitely many universes, or multiverses, they too are aspects of the primordial nature (Para Prakriti<\/em>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We find that India’s spiritual vision is simultaneously inward-looking and universal too. In the foundational spiritual perspective, there is no distinction between the principles within us and those outside us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sanatana tradition holds that our parents deserve limitless and unconditional love and respect. This means that the power upon which the entire creation rests is Prakriti<\/em>, the Mother Power. The supreme and extraordinary power that contains the entirety of creation within this Mother Power and causes it to grow is the power of the Supreme Self, or Paramatma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as the power of Paramatma brought the universe into existence, all of us human beings are likewise brought into existence through the natural forces called Purusha<\/em> and Prakriti<\/em>. Our parents are the reason we have life, a body, and an individual consciousness. Given this, who could possibly be more worthy of reverence than they are?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For this very reason, the worship and veneration of parents have become firmly established in our tradition without any limitations. We find nothing comparable anywhere else in the world. Perhaps, at some point in the distant past, similar values existed elsewhere too. But today, we see only altered forms of those values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Vedas, Matru Devo Bhava<\/em>\u2014\u201cBe Matru-Deva, Revere your mother as divine\u201d\u2014is the very first instruction. It is followed by Pitru Devo Bhava<\/em>\u2014\u201cBe Pitru-Deva, Revere your father as divine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Vedas also speak of three debts: the debt to the divine (Deva Rina<\/em>), the debt to one’s ancestors (Pitru Rina<\/em>), and the debt to the sages (Rishi Rina<\/em>). Together, these are known as the Rinatraya<\/em>, or the three debts. In addition, there is another debt: Matru Rina<\/em>, the debt owed to one’s mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is said that the debt to one’s mother (Matru-Rna) can never be repaid. Everyone must remain forever indebted to their mother.<\/strong> A culture (Sanatan) that says the debt to God can be repaid also declares that repaying the debt to one’s mother is impossible! What does this mean? Does it not mean that the mother is regarded as occupying a position even higher than God?<\/strong> Any ideology that fails to value the Mother Power becomes destructive because it fails to respect the universe; it becomes exploitative of nature.<\/strong> In the West, traditional family structures have long been weakened because of liberalism. In recent decades, ideas associated with \u201cLGBTQ…\u201d have increasingly been portrayed as ideals to aspire to. It is difficult to predict what further strange turns and forms these developments might take as new experiments continue without restraint<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The debt to the divine can be repaid through sacrifices, fire rituals, worship, chanting, and similar practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pitru Rina<\/em> means the debt we owe to our parents, the generations preceding them, our grandparents, and all the ancestors extending back to the origin of our lineage, as well as to the Pitru Devatas<\/em>, the powers associated with our ancestors. We can repay this debt by having good children who continue the family lineage and by performing Shraddha<\/em> rites for our ancestors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The debt to the sages can be repaid through learning, study, and austerities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it is said that the debt to one’s mother can never be repaid. Everyone must remain forever indebted to their mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A culture that says the debt to God can be repaid also declares that repaying the debt to one’s mother is impossible!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does this mean? Does it not mean that the mother is regarded as occupying a position even higher than God?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any ideology that fails to value the Mother Power becomes destructive because it fails to respect the universe; it becomes exploitative of nature. We are now witnessing the many calamities that can arise when societies devoid of spirituality are created, or when existing societies are transformed into spiritually barren ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the West, traditional family structures have long been weakened because of liberalism. In recent decades, ideas associated with \u201cLGBTQ…\u201d have increasingly been portrayed as ideals to aspire to. It is difficult to predict what further strange turns and forms these developments might take as new experiments continue without restraint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as the Abrahamic religions divided the world into those who \u201cbelieve\u201d and those who \u201cdo not believe,\u201d setting themselves the goal of ensuring that believers triumph over nonbelievers and engaging in violence to achieve that goal, the new wokeists are doing the same thing. A new \u201csecular religion\u201d of their own has emerged! It subjects the entire world to a new binary classification: \u201cliberal\u201d versus \u201cnon-liberal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can such foolish people understand the philosophical meaning of Matru Devo Bhava<\/em> or Ya Devi Sarva Bhuteshu Matru Rupena Samsthita<\/em>\u2014\u201cTo the Goddess who abides in all beings in the form of the Mother, salutations to Her\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the world genuinely needs a proper alternative to the distortions of the neo-Marxist ideologies of \u201cwokeism\u201d and \u201cwoke feminism\u201d\u2014ideologies that have no spiritual perspective, contribute to the destruction of families, and create unstable societies\u2014then that alternative can be found only in the path of the Jagatmata, the Mother of the Universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By understanding and following that path in its original, unsullied form, the world will become sustainable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If the world genuinely needs a proper alternative to the distortions of the Abrahamic religions, neo-Marxist ideologies of \u201cwokeism\u201d and \u201cwoke feminism\u201d\u2014ideologies that have no spiritual perspective, contribute to the destruction of families, and create unstable societies\u2014then that alternative can be found only in the path of the Adishakti Jagatmata, the Mother of the Universe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4691,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[391,392,303,128,393,394,92,395,396],"class_list":["post-4689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sanatan-vision","tag-abrahamic-religions","tag-adi-shakti","tag-bharat","tag-india","tag-matru-shakti","tag-nari-shakti","tag-navaratri","tag-sanatan-dharma","tag-worshipping-sacred-faminine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bharatreview.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bharatreview.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bharatreview.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bharatreview.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bharatreview.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bharatreview.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4689\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bharatreview.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bharatreview.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bharatreview.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}