Shiva-Shakti

Shiva and Shakti;

God’s dual male-female form is given various names in Hindu mythology: #Shiva and Shakti, 

Ishwara and Devi, Purusha and Prakriti. Shiva and Shakti are popular terms and are used here. The description of the Divine couple is rich in imagery. Shiva imagines; Shakti procreates. He is the legislator, she the executive. Shiva is the origin and birth of things, Shakti is the nurturer and preserver of things. He casts his seed into woman; the woman cherishes the seed and brings it forth into life. Shiva is the father of things, Shakti their mother. He is imaged as the Sun, the father of life. She is imaged as the Earth, the one who bears, nurtures and sustains.

``` Three Forms of the Divine Mother Shakti, the Divine Mother, is known by various names: Devi, Uma, Parvati, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Chandi, Durga and many other names. Three forms of the Mother are popular in India. One is her power of all embracing grace and opulence and prosperity. A second is her profound capacity for knowledge and self expression. The third is her splendid strength, her warrior mood and her world-shaking force. These three powers are named Lakshmi, Saraswati, and Durga (also known as Kali).

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Lakshmi 

Lakshmi is the Goddess of wealth and prosperity, both material and spiritual

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Saraswati 

Saraswati manifests the Mother=s power of perfection and harmony. 

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Durga 

Durga is of another nature. Not wideness or wisdom, but force and strength are her peculiar facultie

Concluding Thought 

We can only be truly human through our connection to the Sacred Feminine. She is part of us and we are part of Her. If we deny our feminine aspect, we lead incomplete lives. She helps us to integrate our body, mind and soul. It is the integration of our masculine and feminine aspects which makes us whole and holy. We can be gentle and strong, intuitive and intellectual, inward and outward, reflective and active. We can love one another and care for each as brothers and 

sisters, as husbands and wives. We need the Goddess in our lives to repair, to nurture and to heal.

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"Hindu have venerated the feminine element under its different manifestations: Mahalaxmi, Mahakali, Mahasaraswati, Maheshwari - and even India is feminine: "Mother India." She is the consciousness transcending all things, she is the emptiness beyond all emptiness, the smile beyond all smiles, the divine beauty beyond all earthly beauties. "

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```In religious matters, Hindus have elevated women to the level of divinity. One of the things most misconstrued about India and Hinduism is that it's a male-dominated society and religion. It is not. 

It is a culture whose only words for strength and power are feminine -- "shakti'' means "power'' and "strength.'' All male power comes from the feminine. The Trimurti (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva) are all powerless without their female counterparts. 

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The Goddess
gives birth to forms
and kills forms.

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``` Hindus hold rivers in great reverence. The rivers are female divinities, food and life bestowing mothers. As such, they are prominent among the popular divinities represented in the works of art of the classical period. The most holy of rivers, the best known and most honored, is the Ganga or Ganges. She is personified as Goddess Ganga. The river rises from an ice bed, 13,800 feet above the sea level in the Garhwal Himalayas.