the goddess is everywhere ... she's in everything, she's in everyone, she's in you. look right now and you'll see her, she sits there ... at the center of your heart. she's in everything you see and everything you experience, she's the experiencer and the experienced and that which is in between. she's in our consciousness she's in our intelligence she's in our action she's in our sleep. o divine mother ... I bow to you a thousand times over, o divine mother ... I surrender to you a thousand times over.
Last night, like most nights, I went for a stroll with my headphones on. Since, I’d been listening and reciting Tantroktam Devī Sūktam from the day of Mahalaya on September 17, it was at the top of my playlist and was a default choice.
When I looked up at the sky, I saw an ominous cloud cover with the bright red Mars (god of war) being the only celestial body visible. However, the sinister celestial plot was somewhat soothed by a faint drizzle that kissed my body.
The Devī mantra soon had its effect … and with every vibration … every step … I felt the divine mother’s presence. Several minutes passed and I was lost in the walking, the music, and the divine mother. Suddenly, a gust of wind planted an ominous thought in my mind. It was a thought that had been troubling me for quite sometime. It was an UN report on the “shadow pandemic.”
The report states that COVID-19 lockdowns have fostered domestic violence which was already one of the greatest human rights violations before the pandemic (in the previous 12 months, 243 million women and girls, aged between 15 and 49 across the world have been subjected to sexual or physical violence by an intimate partner).
The problem is widespread and is not confined to a particular continent, country, race, or community. It’s a collective failure of the human race to see the divinity in women … to see the divinity in everyone.
Come October, India and several parts of the world will celebrate Durga Puja and Navratri—the biggest of festivals for worshiping the divine feminine. Before we bow down to a man-made idol can we not learn how to bow down to a god-made woman? Is it so difficult to see the Devī in the mother who gave birth … in the partner who’s always present in sickness and in health … in the daughter who loves unconditionally?
Torturing the Devī in our lives render us worse than animals. No human can find peace, no man can grow spiritually, no nation can grow … if we continue to inflict pain on our women.
Arise … awake … light a diya in your heart and for the Devī in your life … before you light a diya for the divine mother.
Every night, before you go to bed meditate / chant / listen to Tantroktam Devī Sūktam. It’ll change your life and the lives of women around you. You’ll experience bliss … you’ll experience Devī.
