Shortly before her death in 1981, she appointed
James Mackie (b. 1932) as her successor.
Further reading: Ivy Duce, How a Master Works (Wal-
nut Creek, Calif.: Sufism Reoriented, 1975); ———,
What Am I Doing Here? (San Francisco: Sufism Reori-
ented, 1966); Ivy Duce and James Mackie, Gurus and
Psychotherapists: Spiritual versus Psychological Learning
(Lafayette, Calif.: Searchlight Seminars, 1981).
Durga
Durga (One who is hard to approach) is one of
the major Indian goddesses, named perhaps for
her ferocious nature. Her role is to intervene on
behalf of the gods to defeat demons who threaten
the cosmos.
The Devimahatmya, the most famous text
to extol Durga’s deeds, shows her intervening
on three major occasions on behalf of the gods:
against the demons Madhu and Kaitabha, against
the demons Shumbha and Nishumbha, and,
most famously, against Mahishasura, the buffalo
demon.
In the first case, Durga fought on behalf of
Lord BRAHMA and VISHNU. The story goes that
Madhu and Kaitabha were born from Vishnu’s
ear wax. They threatened to kill Lord Brahma. As
Vishnu was sleeping at the time, Brahma calls on
Durga to come forth out of Vishnu as the goddess
of sleep, so that Vishnu can awaken and kill the
demons. She does so and Vishnu kills them.
In the case of Shumbha and Nishumbha, the
two demons performed austerities that com-
pelled SHIVA to give them riches and strength
that would surpass that of the gods. Thereupon,
they began a war against the divinities. Finally,
the gods had to perform religious austerities to
Durga to obtain her blessing. Hearing of Durga’s
charms (though usually ferocious in aspect, she
could change her form at will), Shumbha sent
his deputies one after another to win her favor.
After she easily destroyed the deputies Chanda
and Munda she was forced to confront their com-
mander, Raktabija, who had the power sprout
up from his own blood whenever wounded.
The angry Durga then sprouted KALI from her
forehead; Kali went forward and systematically
drank up the blood from Raktabija’s wounds
until he was defeated. Finally Shumbha himself,
along with Nishumbha, stepped forward, and
they too were defeated.
The DURGA PUJA fall festival celebrates par-
ticularly Durga’s defeat of the buffalo-headed
demon Mahishasura. The story of this ASURA
(antigod) begins when he becomes lord of heaven
after defeating all the other gods—he had wonThe goddess Durga slaying Mahesha, the buffalo
demon (calendar print)Durga 139 J