Why is it that Shaktism is looked down upon by other sects, especially Vaishnavas? She saw a video of a priest from Kamakhya, who said that Shaktas easily accept others and allow them in the temples, but themselves face discrimination from other sects. Why is it that we reject the Divine Mother all the time?
Yes, it is true that though the Vedas have the feminine deities such as Aditi, Sarama, Ila, Mahi, Saraswati, etc, the civilisation that developed around it gave much more prominence to the masculine deities such as Indra, Agni, Varun, Mitra, Bhag, Soma, Surya, Chandra, Surya etc. Even later Puranas stressed on the masculine aspects Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma and while the feminine powers were admitted in principle, she was yet subordinated to the masculine, as we see in the Parable of the Avatars. Its subsequent result was an abandonment of Nature, Prakriti, regarding her as a snare, Maya. The tantric yogins who tried to reset the balance were regarded as avaidic and not accepted initially as part of the Vedas. Though later they too were taken in and much of Indian culture now derives from the Tantra, the orthodox school continues to look down upon it and continues to regard Prakriti as a snare and the woman as inferior. Sri Aurobindo corrected it by the worship of Durga as the guardian deity of Bharat Mata, by bringing forward the Divine Mother and Her gospel as Savitri, by regarding Nature as the executive energy and Shakti as the initiating Knowledge and Will. But unfortunately, the old divide continues with its effect of weakening of Bharat Shakti. These pundits who say such things about Devi should be gifted Sri Aurobindo’s The Mother or simply ignored as smoke from the embers of a dying past.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
(Follow-up Question:)
I am happy to see the rise of Shakti nowadays. I hope more and more people in India will regard Her as our Mother and start respecting the feminine.
It is inevitable and unstoppable now. The process has been initiated by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother; it has now been fixed in the earth consciousness by the supramental consciousness; the Mind of the race has accepted it. It is only in some hard-core orthodoxy that the old thought still persists.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
