Hari
OM
Story-day is for cultural exploration, puraanas and
parables and finding out about leading lights in spiritual philosophy.
Monday
is Maha-Shivraatri, the great night of Lord Shiva and His consort Parvati.
Recall that last year, for each of February's Story-days, articles were written
describing aspects of the Mighty One, He who sees to it that what is no longer
required is destroyed, in order that what is new can arise. See the side bar
for Sri Shiva label to review these.
India
has many festivals, it cannot have escaped notice. Many, though, are local to
certain geographical areas, or to specific cultural groups. There are several
to which many attend on a larger scale and this is one such. All over India, some form of worship of Lord Shiva will take place.
It
can be easy to look upon this deity and forget that the festival is about
marriage and not birth, as majority other festivals are generally about. Whilst
a significant focus is upon the Lord, Parvati is a strong figure Herself. Other
names include Maheshvari (the power of the Lord Shiva), Mahodari (the 'large
belly'...holding the universe as mother), Tapasvini (woman of austerities),
Vaishnavi (invincible)… there 108 names, as is the tradition of all deities and
gurus. Shakti (energy, power, strength) is the essence of this Goddess - that
which feeds the creative and destructive forces as embodied by the trinity.
Shakti appeared in many forms as the consort to all three aspects of the cycle
of creation as represented by Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Without the Goddess principle, the God
principle is nothing!
In Her own right, the Goddess took ten 'aspects', or forms. All these ten aspects are jointly known as Dasamahaavidyas and each
one of them is a form that She undertook to destroy evil and bless Her
worshippers.
: Kali is the first representation of Goddess Parvati and She was
known as the destroyer. She is also known as the Goddess of time.
: Tara is known as the source from which the universe evolves as She
is known to represent the power of the golden embryo. Boundless space or void
is the other thing that She is known to represent.
: Sodasi is the third representation of Goddess Parvati and is known
to represent perfection and fullness.
: The forces of the
material world are represented by Vidya
Bhuvanevari
: Desires and temptations
that often lead to destruction and death are represented by the fifth form of
Goddess Parvati known as Bhairavi.
: Vidya Chinnamasta is the sixth form of Goddess Parvati and is
known to represent the created world in a continuous cycle of creation and
destruction.
: Destroying the world by
fire is the seventh form of Goddess Parvati and is known as Dhumavati. After the world is destroyed by fire
only the smoke and ashes will remain
: Vidya Bagala is the eight form of the Goddess and is known to
represent cruelty, hatred and jealousy. These are the negative aspects of any
individual.
: The power of domination
is represented by the ninth form of Goddess Parvati and is known as Matangi.
: Vidya Kamala, who is also known as Lakshmi, is said to be the
Goddess of fortune.
Thus, in celebration of Masculine, the Feminine
as acknowledged fully; two sides of the same coin. Indeed, there is a deity
figure (murti) which represents this essential connection.
The name is अर्धनारीश्वर/Ardhanārīśvara.