THE FIERCE GODS
By Laura Plumb

Have you ever looked at an image of Shiva in his destructive aspect, or Kali with blood dripping from her mouth and from the severed necks of the freshly culled human heads she holds in her many hands, or Durga astride a fierce tiger with a weapon in each of her eight hands and wondered how can this be a “god?”

Certainly by most western explanations of God – as compassionate, benevolent, forgiving - the deities of India do not seem to qualify. In fact, so misunderstood have these gods and goddesses been that for hundreds of years western scholars interpreted them as “primitive” – an unsophisticated expression of an early people, who didn’t understand the totality of our world as we do now.

And yet, images of Shiva, Kali, Durga are more and more prevalent in our western world, showing up on clothing as well as on posters, candles, and other home decoration, so there must be a resonance, something westerners are connecting to.

So who are these fierce gods and what is it that people are connecting to?

Devas

While often referred to as “gods and goddesses,” Shiva, Kali, Durga and the extraordinary array of deities that come to us from India are called, in their home country, “devas.” This Sanskrit word is the root of our word “divine,” so the term “deva” really means a divine being. They are like angels ~ aspects or messengers of a transcendent Supreme Being that come to help us.

The multiplicity of deities has led some to accuse Hinduism, even Yoga, of pantheism. But these deities come from a tradition that ultimately believes in one Supreme reality, a transcendent divine being that is beyond form, name and gender. The “devas” are the aspects of the divine. Like angels, they are messengers of a transcendent Supreme Being that come to help us.

When we feel overcome by challenges in our life, knowing that we have the care of a fierce, all-protective goddess with the unconditional love of a devoted mother and the ability to swiftly destroy all evil is not only comforting, it is empowering. In this, the
ferocity we see in these devas becomes the comfort we seek.

Most of us don’t think we need anyone’s help to manage our lives. We only resort to asking for help when we are desperate. Some of the most beloved devas look menacing precisely because it is not until we really feel lost, or afraid, or helpless that we call out for some “greater power” to help us. It is then, when we release the ego’s need for independence that the deva arrives offering protection, strength, courage and the wisdom of our interdependence.

So the fierce gods represent a need to release the ego, the part of us that believes in the individual as a separate entity disconnected from our very source of life. The devas in this way help us enter into Pure Awareness beyond the mind’s distortions and projections of reality. If we feel anxiety, it helps us relax and release to know that we are safely protected by divine love. When we feel physically, emotionally, or professionally stagnant, a deva can come and shakes us up a bit. If we feel needy, lonely, or overly attached, a deva will remind us that we are already whole and complete and that everything we seek is already within.

When we call on the assistance of the deva, their help will come in the way that best serves us. If we are attached to our ego, our emotions, our thoughts, or another person or object, a deva’s benevolence may come in ways that seem wrathful or destructive. This challenges our habit of “interpreting” events rather than simply experiencing them.

“There is neither good nor bad but thinking makes it so,” wrote Shakespeare. The devas helps us release our need to interpret, to move beyond the ever-active thinking mind to a purer experience of being.


Working with a Deva:

Devas can be considered aspects of our own divine nature, that help us go within to realize the one Supreme Self. As such, the fierce gods represent the most direct and powerful way back to this Supreme Being.

The key to working with a deva is devotion. Devotion is the fundamental attitude of our soul and so the practice of devotion is like an elixir that cures all ills. Devoting ourselves to a deva helps personalize the practice and can benefit in specific ways.

There is a deva who can help each of us in whatever we are experiencing or hoping to grow in our lives. Shiva, Kali and Durga help when we need strength, courage, truth, or illumination. They fight our demons - primarily the distortions of the mind so we can open to the descent of grace, to the experience of divine guidance or inspiration, and live with ease, truth, compassion and creativity.

There are simple ways we can work with them and integrate their force into our daily lives:

Shiva as a representation of the forces of destruction is really the divine guidance that helps us release all that is excessive, illusory, toxic, or limiting so that we can return to the unchanging reality of our true nature – to renew ourselves in the state of pure potentiality, or the still-point from which all true action and creativity arises.

Shiva helps us navigate change with balance, equanimity and stability. When we find ourselves in transition we need experiences of peace to remind us that beyond the experience of loss, deterioration or unpredictability, is something eternal and non-changing. In this case, Shiva represents the destructive forces that clear the way for the new. Even more importantly, though, Shiva is that pure peace we find when all else has eroded or fallen away.

The easiest place to find Shiva is in nature. Observing the natural world in its cycle of life is reassuring and stabilizing. Another wonderful place to find Shiva is in the gap between the breath, especially after the exhale. Observing that emptiness can takes us to the great mystery that is beyond change, reminding us that we too, in our infinite being, are indestructible.

Kali is purifying. Her dance of death, while it seems terrifying, is really the whirlwind of disentangling the ego, the intellect, our individual identification and emotional attachment to reveal the underlying Pure Consciousness that is in all. With one foot on her husband’s heart, she shows us the way back to that state of pure potentiality, and helps us stay grounded in the truth of our own divine heart.

Kali represents the element of air. Light and weightless, air may at first seem gentle; when it whips up into hurricane winds it is the most destructive force in nature.

Because Kali is air, she also relates to breath. Breathing with awareness calms our mind and nervous system. Breathing deep and full improves our immune system, massages our digestive organs and optimizes our overall health. Breathing into areas of pain, helps move Prana (life force) to the part of the body needing the healing. When stressed, maintaining an even breath helps us stay centered and focused.

Becoming aware of our breath, wherever we are, helps us recall Kali and ask for her help to purify our heart, our mind, our body, our relationships, our life.

Durga, riding on her loyal tiger, with her eight arms and eight weapons, is the warrior goddess. She is the unlimited power we have when we are aligned with Dharma – with our truth and purpose. When we feel afraid or need to speak up for something, or need more energy to fulfill our functions, we can imagine Durga is within us, visualizing her at the center of our being, ready to destroy all doubts and open the way for our truest expression of Self. Calling on Durga increases our self-confidence and our potency for beneficial action in the world.

Embracing a deva aligns us with cosmic forces that help us move more directly to our true purpose: to know ourselves in our very essence, as we truly are, unfettered by the limitations of conditioning or false beliefs and to merge into the “ocean of infinite being.”

These devas remind us that every moment and all of life holds the essence of divinity. So we honor the deities and receive the benefit of their grace best when we remember always that life is sacred, and when we act in ways that express that truth.



Vision Magazine
July 2007