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april 2019yogajournal.com.auThese sacred
powers can
help you meet
challenges
and open
your heart.
them about Durga. The girls were
entranced. One of them asked Lynda to
download a picture of Durga from the
Internet for her. “I want to make a
T-shirt,” she said. “That lady is my
hero.”
“When she said that,” Lynda told
me, “I realised that it was true for me,
too. The image of Durga has been
showing up in my dreams ever since.
She’s the image I carry with me when I
have to deal with my landlord or handle
one of those girls when she’s disrupting
the class. In some way, the image of
Durga has become a symbol of the
strength I need to keep this thing
going.”
Lynda is not the only yogi I know
who identifies with Durga. The image of
this goddess riding her lion, her eight
arms holding weapons and flowers,
might be the avatar for empowerment
and protection, especially for women.
Those of us who juggle families, jobs,
and yoga; who step up to support the
environment; or who travel to drought-
ravaged towns to help families are living
out a contemporary version of the
legend of Durga. And for men as well as
women, meditation on Durga can bring
forth warrior-like strength and
protective compassion. When you bring
her image into your inner world, she
can empower your most radical
aspirations and guide you through your
most conflict-ridden life dramas. More
than that, Durga embodies the inner
power to transform yourself—to let go
of addictions, obstacles, and the
illusions and fears that hold you back.
GODDESS POWER
You may wonder why, as a
contemporary yogi, you’d find it
worthwhile to invite the energy of
mythic beings into your meditation
practice. The short answer is that these
archetypal energies are catalysts.
Meditating on deities such as Durga,
Hanuman, Shiva, and Lakshmi can call
forth specific powers and qualities
within you. These sacred powers come
to you from beyond your limited ego and
can help you meet challenges, open your
heart, and transcend the ordinary. For
centuries, the Indian and Tibetan
Tantric traditions have taught
meditations and mantras for bringing
deity energy into the body and mind.
Goddesses are especially potent, since
they personify shakti, the subtle
feminine force that enlivens the world,
often considered the power behind
spiritual growth. So practicing with the
stories and mantras of one of these
sacred figures can literally invite
transformative energies into your life.
The images of these goddesses can serve
as keys to unlocking your own inner
potency. That’s because, though mythic,
they are not just figments of human
imagination. Goddess images represent
real forces present in the universe. Their
forms are extremely subtle, which is
why they’re not normally apparent.
Through the tales, meditations, and
mantras associated with them, you can
learn to sense their presence. The more
you connect to them, the more palpably
you can experience their inner gifts and
blessings.
Just as Lakshmi is the shakti, or
goddess, you call on for abundance,
so Durga is the shakti you call on
for strength, protection, and
transformation. Worshipped by the
ruling families of Rajasthan for help in
battle, Durga is much more than a
warrior goddess. She is also the power
behind spiritual awakening, the inner
force that unleashes spiritual power
within the human body in the form of
kundalini. And she is a guardian:
beautiful, queenly, and motherly.
Durga carries a spear, a mace, a
discus, a bow, and a sword—as well as a
conch (symbolising creative sound), a
lotus (representing fertility), and a
rosary (symbolising prayer). In one
version of her origin, she arises from the
combined strength of the male gods to
fight the buffalo demon Mahisha. The
assembled gods, furious because they
are powerless over this demon, send
forth their anger as a mass of light and
power. It coalesces into the form of a
radiantly beautiful woman who fills
every direction with her light. Her face
was formed out of the light of Shiva; her
hair came from Yama, the god of death;
Vishnu, the sustainer, gave her arms.
Shiva gave her his trident, Vishnu his
discus; Vayu—the wind god—offered
his bow and arrow. The mountain god,
Himalaya, gave her a lion for her
mount. Durga sets forth to battle the
demon for the sake of the world, armed
with all the powers of the divine
masculine.
And ever since, she has been the
deity to call on when you’re in deep
trouble. In the Devi Mahatmyam