Parvati or “Being a Goddess in a man’s world”

When we were at the town of Trichy (Tamil Nadu,India) we visited an artist at his workshop. He was the 9th generation of bronze statues sculptors.
Since my Sun & Stars has expressed an attraction towards the goddess Parvati, we bought a statue of hers .

So, to cut a long story short, I decided to create a kind of a shrine for Parvati and present it as a surprise to my Sun & Stars ( to those who are new at the Spira world, the term refers to my wife 😉 ).

What happened next was quite revealing to me…

Parvati is a goddess of love, strength & a powerful manifestation of the, all encompassing, life energy. In Hindu mythology is the wife of the god Shiva and mother of the god Ganesha.

So, after our return I begun to do some rough sketching of ideas about the shrine. Maybe place it in the garden, create a pillared space with light embracing Parvati, use a big block of glass to create an aura around her, and so on…
Needless to say that it grew in size with every new layer that I could imagine! It was as if the process itself had an enchantment I could not but abide by.

Then, yesterday I had a most beautiful meditative experience {thank you Talmage for all that you share}.
And everything fell into place…

It dawned on me that the path I was following with the shrine to honor Parvati was the path men followed over millennia…bigger, taller, richer.
Building amazing temples to house and revere their female deities but at the same time, outside of those temples, they treated the goddesses among them in a vastly different manner.
If the measure of sophistication of the temples was equal to the inner understanding of men of the essence of women, then, my friends, I tell you that human history would be a completely different book!

I read once that “ men act to make history; women are history.”

The wise of the ancients didn’t choose by chance to present the universe’s energy as female.
Yet, for once more, we neglected the actual meaning of the teachings and we kept the parts that suited us, men, in our quest of power and dominance.

Rape rates per 100000 population 2010-2012

By M Tracy Hunter – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

 

Think about it; we are living in an age where extra terrestrial  exploration coexists with rape, trafficking, children marriage, clitoridectomy  …take your pick     ……     {  Women’s Rights }

These are the words of a goddess I was blessed to meet :

“… I want to be that woman to tell them that it is neither a pedestal nor deification that women fight for.
Their struggle has always been for the right to say yes and to be given the respect they deserve.
The worst myth is that man is superior and woman is inferior. Physical power does not decide superiority.
Man and woman being complementary physically, emotionally and morally there is no scope for comparison.
One does not exist without the other. They are interdependent. Dignity of mankind is entrusted with women and women only.
Why are women subjected to acts of violence? And by whom? It is not at all fair that the “fair sex” should suffer in the hands of unfair men, unfairly thought of as the stronger sex. Ever since the days of creation Eve has been thought of as Adam’s toy.
The Adam kid has never grown up. He is becoming more and more wicked. “

So, is this a never ending vicious circle ?
I do not know.

I have seen educated men, lawyers, to justify the horrific rape/murder of a young woman and the rapists (both products of the same society) be at complete ease with their action…

But, I have also seen brave men to fight along women to break free of stereotypes and absurd traditions.

I have heard a classroom of brave 8 years old, who go to school under harsh conditions, to sing All is One.

I have seen the divine in a woman who keeps her place surrounded by men who scold her at every occasion they get, & yet not loosing her kindness.

Parvati managed to bring forth the Lord of the Dance out of Shiva, the Destroyer of Worlds.

I do not know if we will rise up to what we really are.

What I know is that Parvati‘s shrine needs to be as simple and harmonious as I can make it.
A piece of wood, a sphere of pure glass, a leaf of a banyan tree…

This is my humble dedication to you my Sun & Stars, to Archita, Sandeep, Shankar, Gowri  and to all who walk the path…
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