Parashakti

She is Sakthi ( Power ) who drives this world. She is the mother of the mankind.
She is not only worshipped by men but also by the devas. She is present in everything we see. She is represented in plants, the animals, the birds, the sea, the sky and the holy river.

In the Devi’s Supreme Cosmic Form,
The Satyaloka is situated on the topmost of Her head;
The Sun and Moon are her eyes;
The quarters of the sky are Her ears;
The Vedas are Her words;
The Universe is Her heart;
The Earth is Her loins;
The space between earth and sky is Her navel;
The constellations are Her Thighs;
The Maharaloka is Her neck;
The Janarloka is Her face;
Indra and the Devas of the Svarloka are her arms;
Sound is the organ of Her ears;
Fire is within her Face;
Day and Night are Her wings;
The mountains are Her bones;
The rivers are Her veins,
And the trees are the hairs of Her body.
Childhood, youth, and old age are Her finest modes;
The two twilights are Her raiment;
And the Moon is the mind of the Mother of the Universe.
~ Devi Bhagavata Purana, VII.33.1-21

The vedic people worshipped female deities along with gods such as Indra, Varuna, Agni and Brahmanaspati.
Aditi was the mother of gods. She gave birth to the Adityas or the solar deities.
Saraswathi was the goddess of learning who was compared to a river.
Lakshmi was the goddess of wealth. She brought happiness and prosperity through harmony, bestowing cattle and good crops on people who invoked her.
The earth was compared to a mother while the heaven to Prajapathi, Indra or Brahmanaspathi.
Usha was the goddess of dawn. She symbolized awakening consciousness and heralded the arrival of the sun in his golden chariot yoked by seven ruddy horses.
Uma Haimavathi of the Katha Upanishad, was the mysterious companion of the supreme Brahman, who acted as His emissary and imparted knowledge of Brahman to Indra, Agni and Vayu and helped them become the first and the foremost among the gods of devaloka.
Then there was Yami, who desired the companionship and physical union with her own brother Yama, who was the Lord of the netherworld and epitome of justice.


In our bodies the female divinities play an important role for our material and spiritual well being.
They are responsible for our successes and failures, our states of being, our health and our inner happiness.
A myriad energies work consistently in nature and in our bodies to keep the wheel of life moving. We can identify some of them and some we cannot because we are not familiar with them. Some of them have become extinct because we no more use them.
These are the female divinities of the past whom people worshipped at sometime but forgotten.
Some of them are yet to be awakened because we do not feel their need yet.
These are divinities of future who are presently awaken in only some select individuals or some other parts of the universe and who will dominate our consciousness and that of the earth in the times to come.

The goddesses in our bodies and consciousness play various roles.
They prepare our bodies for the interplay of various energies and different planes of consciousness by purifying them.
They maintain our energy levels. They keep our inner balance.
They control our emotional states and ensure that our actions are in tune with our thoughts and aspirations.
They execute our wills and desires. They manifest our wishes.
They clear the passage through which the kundalini arises.
They energize the chakras as the kundalini moves through the spinal canal.
They process the information brought by the senses and submit them to the buddhi for its processing.
They quite the mind so that we can receive higher knowledge.
They facilitate our learning and memory.
They are associated with each and every activity of ours, both positive and negative and constructive and destructive.
At the same time they also keep a record of our activities so that the soul is subjected to the laws of karma when the time comes.
Some of them accompany us to the other worlds and help us in our transition.

THE SHAKTIS

Anima Devi

Amaa-Kalaa

Adi Parashakti
Aditi
Ardhanarishwari
Bala Tripurasundari
Bagalamukhi [Mahavidyas]
Brahmacharini [Navdurga]
Brahmi[Khadgamala & Saptamatrikas]
Bhairavi[Mahavidyas]
Bhuvanesvari[Mahavidyas]
Bhukti [Khadgamala ]
Camunda[Khadgamala & Saptamatrikas ]
Chandraghanta [Navdurga]
Chinnamasta [Mahavidyas]
Dakini
Durga
Dhumavati [Mahavidyas]
Gayathri
Haakinii
Iccha [Khadgamala ]
Isitva [ Khadgamala ]
Kakini
Lajjah Gauri
Kali [Mahavidyas]
Kamala [Mahavidyas]
Katyayani [Navdurga ]
Kaumari [ Khadgamala ]
Kundalini
Kushmanda[Navdurga ]
Laghima [Khadgamala ]
Lakini
Lakshmi
Mahagauri[Navdurga ]
Mahishasura Mardini
Mariamman
Matangi [Mahavidyas]
Mahalakshmi [ Khadgamala ]
Mahima [ Khadgamala ]
Mahendri [ Khadgamala & Saptamatrikas ]
Maheswari [ Khadgamala & Saptamatrikas]
Parvati
prapti [ Khadgamala ]
Radha
Rakini
Saakiinii
Saraswati
sarvabije[Khadgamala ]
Sarvakama [ Khadgamala ]
Sarvasanksobhini [Khadgamala ]
Sarvavidravini [Khadgamala ]
SarvAkarsini [Khadgamala ]
SarvamahAnkuse [Khadgamala ]
sarvakhecari [Khadgamala ]
Sarvatrikhande [Khadgamala ]
Sarvavasankari [Khadgamala ]
SarvonmAdini [Khadgamala ]
Sarvayone [Khadgamala ]
Shailputri [Navdurga ]
Siddhidatri[Navdurga ]
Sita
Skandamata[Navdurga ]
Tara [Mahavidyas]
Tripura Sundari [Mahavidyas]
Pratyangira
Prakamya [ Khadgamala ]
Vaishnavi [ Khadgamala & Saptamatrikas]
Varahi
Vana Durga Haven
Varahi [Khadgamala & Saptamatrikas]
Vasitva [Khadgamala ]
Vigneshwari

Saraswathi-Goddess of Wisdom

Saraswathi literally means "one who gives the essence (sara) of our own Self (swa)
She is considered as the personification of all knowledge - arts, sciences, crafts and all skills.

Saraswathi is the goddess of light who dispels our ignorance and inner darkness through her grace.
Even gods worship her for developing proficiency in different fields.
She is addressed with different names by her devotees. Sarada (giver of essence), Vagesvari (controller of speech), Bharathi, Kalavathi, Brahmi (consort of Brahma) and Veenadhari (holder of the Veena) are some of her most popular names.

Saraswathi is the goddess of learning.
She is extolled in the Vedas as the sacred river with seven sisters, who helps the gods by destroying their foes.
The early Vedic Aryans worshipped not the Ganges, but the Saraswathi river, which is mentioned several times in the Rigveda, while there is no specific reference to the river Ganges.
Saraswathi river used to flow in western India through what is now the Thar desert. It dried up eventually with changes in the climate.

Saraswathi actually means "the one who flows".
Saraswathi is a river of knowledge that flows in the highest heavens of Brahma and descends into our minds through the doors of learning to become established in us through self effort.
She is worshipped by all students. Saraswathi grants wisdom, knowledge, creativity and intuition for the flowering of our minds and refinement of our character. Saraswathi is vagdevi, speech personified. Speech is central to our lives and activities on earth.
It also distinguishes us from rest of the animal kingdom. Speech was also at the root of all Sanskrit mantras and religious activity. One can therefore understand the importance of this divinity in Hindu pantheon.

She is generally depicted as a beautiful and graceful goddess in spotless white clothes, seated on a lotus seat, holding a Veena on her lap or in her hand, with a beautiful peacock or a swan wandering near by. probably enjoying the celestial music coming from her.
In her images, she is shown with four hands, holding a Veena, a book, a rosary and lotus respectively.
These objects sometimes vary, but they generally symbolize her connection with learning and knowledge. Her vehicle is generally either a swan or a peacock. The swan symbolizes beauty, grace and wisdom, while the peacock symbolizes the same in addition to its ability to deal with desires and ignorance (snakes)

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Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth

According to the puranas, she was incarnated as the daughter of the sage Bhrigu and his wife Khyati.
She was later born out of Ksheer Sagar (ocean of milk) while being churned. Hence, her appellation, Ksheera Samudra Raja Kanya.
As consort of Vishnu, she is born as his spouse whenever he incarnates.
When Vishnu appeared as Vamana, Parasurama, Rama, Krishna, she appeared as Padma or Kamala, Dharani, Sita and Rukmini, respectively.
She is as inseparable from Vishnu as speech from meaning or knowledge from intellect, or good deeds from righteousness.
Her four hands represent the four ends of human life: dharma or righteousness, "kama" or desires, "artha" or wealth, and "moksha" or liberation from the cycle of birth and death.


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Lakshmi: Goddess of Fortune
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Goddess Durga represents the power of the Supreme Being that preserves moral order and righteousness in the creation.

"Durga" in Sanskrit means a fort, or a place which is difficult to overrun.
Another meaning of "Durga" is "Durgatinashini," which literally translates into "the one who eliminates sufferings."

There are many incarnations of Durga: Kali, Bhagvati, Bhavani, Ambika, Lalita, Gauri, Kandalini, Java, Rajeswari, et
The Nine Forms of Goddess Durga:Skondamata, Kusumanda, Shailaputri, Kaalratri, Brahmacharini, Maha Gauri, Katyayani, Chandraghanta and Siddhidatri.

Durga's Many Weapons

1. The conch shell in Durga's hand symbolizes the 'Pranava' or the mystic word 'Om', which indicates her holding on to God in the form of sound.
2. The bow and arrows represent energy. By holding both the bow and arrows in one hand "Mother Durga" is indicating her control over both aspects of energy - potential and kinetic.
3. The thunderbolt signifies firmness. The devotee of Durga must be firm like thunderbolt in one's convictions. Like the thunderbolt that can break anything against which it strikes, without being affected itself, the devotee needs to attack a challenge without losing his confidence.
4. The lotus in Durga's hand is not in fully bloomed, It symbolizing certainty of success but not finality. The lotus in Sanskrit is called "pankaja" which means born of mud. Thus, lotus stands for the continuous evolution of the spiritual quality of devotees amidst the worldly mud of lust and greed.
5. The "Sudarshan-Chakra" or beautiful discus, which spins around the index finger of the Goddess, while not touching it, signifies that the entire world is subservient to the will of Durga and is at her command. She uses this unfailing weapon to destroy evil and produce an environment conducive to the growth of righteousness.
6. The sword that Durga holds in one of her hands symbolizes knowledge, which has the sharpness of a sword. Knowledge which is free from all doubts, is symbolized by the shine of the sword.

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