Shakti (శక్తి)

The divine feminine energy that powers the entire universe.

Shakti means "power" or "energy," and in Hinduism it is understood as the divine feminine force that makes everything in the universe actually happen. Here is a way to picture it: a lamp might be beautifully made, but without electricity flowing through it, it gives no light. Shakti is the electricity. The gods themselves are said to depend on Shakti; there is even a saying that Shiva without Shakti is "shava" (lifeless). This energy takes form as the great goddesses, and each form shows a different face of the same power. Parvati is Shakti as love, patience, and family strength, the devoted wife of Shiva and mother of Ganesha and Kartikeya. Durga is Shakti as the fierce protector; when a buffalo demon named Mahishasura became so powerful that no god could defeat him, all the gods pooled their energy together, and it blazed into the form of Durga, who rode a lion into battle and defeated him. Kali is Shakti at her most intense, the fierce destroyer of evil and ego, scary-looking to those who do wrong but deeply loving to her devotees, like a mother who becomes ferocious only when her children are threatened. The important lesson is that all of these are one energy wearing different faces for different needs, gentle when gentleness is needed, fierce when fierceness is needed. Telugu culture celebrates Shakti in a spectacular way. During Navaratri, the nine nights of the goddess every fall, families worship a different form of the Devi each night. And in Telangana there is Bathukamma, one of the most beautiful festivals anywhere: women and girls stack marigolds, gunugu, and tangedu flowers into bright cone-shaped arrangements, sing songs in a circle around them, and float them on the water, honoring the goddess as the life-giving power of nature itself. When your amma lights the lamp at dusk and the whole house seems to glow warmer, that feeling is a little taste of Shakti.

In the stories

  • Durga: Shakti as the fierce protector
  • Kali: Shakti as the destroyer of evil and ego
  • Parvati: Shakti as love and family strength

See also