शक्ति
Shakti
śakti
In simple words
Shakti means power. In many traditions it is the living energy of the divine, the part that creates and moves the world, and it is often worshipped as the Goddess (Devi).
What is it?
Shakti is the capacity to act, create and manifest. Shakta traditions treat the Goddess as the supreme reality itself, not merely a consort. In Kashmir Shaivism, Shiva and Shakti are two aspects of one consciousness: awareness and its self-expressive power. Vedantic writers often relate shakti to maya, the power by which Brahman or Ishvara appears as the world, though schools differ on whether that power is real or only apparent.
Scholar’s note
The Devi Mahatmya (within the Markandeya Purana) is a foundational Shakta text presenting the Goddess as ultimate. Trika distinguishes shaktis such as cit, ananda, iccha, jnana and kriya. Shri Vidya and Kaula lineages differ on ritual (samayachara vs kaulachara). Advaita's maya-shakti is described as neither real nor unreal (anirvachaniya), whereas Shakta and Trika authors insist the power is real as consciousness itself.How its meaning differs
The Goddess is the supreme reality; Shakti is not subordinate to a male deity but is the ground, power and form of everything.
Shakti is Shiva's own freedom (svatantrya) to manifest; the world is real as the self-expression of consciousness, not an illusion.
Tantric ritual and contemplation work with Shakti in mantra, breath, body and deity visualisation, understood as ways of participating in divine power.
The power of Ishvara to project the world is identified with maya; from the absolute standpoint Brahman alone is real and the power has no independent existence.
The world and souls are real modes of God; God's powers are real attributes, and the Goddess Lakshmi (Shri) is inseparable from Vishnu.
Where it appears in the Gita
भूमिरापोऽनलो वायु: खं मनो बुद्धिरेव च।
पृथ्वी, जल, तेज, वायु, आकाश (—ये पंचमहाभूत) और मन, बुद्धि तथा अहंकार— इस प्रकार यह आठ प्रकारके भेदोंवाली मेरी यह अपरा प्रकृति है; और हे महाबाहो! इस अपरा प्रकृतिसे भिन्न जीवरूप बनी हुई मेरी परा प्रकृतिको जान जिसके द्वारा यह जगत् धारण किया जाता है।
7.5अपरेयमितस्त्वन्यां प्रकृतिं विद्धि मे पराम्।
पृथ्वी, जल, तेज, वायु, आकाश (—ये पंचमहाभूत) और मन, बुद्धि तथा अहंकार— इस प्रकार यह आठ प्रकारके भेदोंवाली मेरी यह अपरा प्रकृति है; और हे महाबाहो! इस अपरा प्रकृतिसे भिन्न जीवरूप बनी हुई मेरी परा प्रकृतिको जान जिसके द्वारा यह जगत् धारण किया जाता है।
9.8प्रकृतिं स्वामवष्टभ्य विसृजामि पुन: पुन:।
प्रकृतिके वशमें होनेसे परतन्त्र हुए इस सम्पूर्ण प्राणिसमुदायकी (कल्पोंके आदिमें) (मैं) अपनी प्रकृतिको वशमें करके बार-बार रचना करता हूँ।
10.41Whatever is glorious comes from a spark of My splendour
जो कुछ विशेष है, वह मेरे तेजका अंश है
यद्यद्विभूतिमत्सत्त्वं
Wherever you see power, beauty, strength or any excellence, know it as springing from a fraction of God's splendour — not as belonging to that thing.
जहाँ कहीं ऐश्वर्य, शोभा, बल या कोई विशेषता दीखे, उसे उस वस्तुकी नहीं, भगवान्के तेजके अंशसे उत्पन्न समझो।
Where else it appears
Follow this idea
Trace the idea from one source to the next.
- 1Gita verseBhagavad Gita 7.5Krishna speaks of a lower and a higher nature (prakriti) of his own, a starting point for thinking about divine power.
- 2Traditionशाक्तShaktismThe traditions that see the Goddess as supreme.
- 3Textदेवीमाहात्म्यDevi MahatmyaThe central narrative and hymn of Goddess-supremacy.
- 4Traditionप्रत्यभिज्ञा / त्रिकKashmir Shaivism (Pratyabhijna / Trika)Shiva and Shakti as two aspects of one consciousness.
- 5Conceptस्पन्दSpanda — the vibration of consciousnessShakti as the pulse of consciousness.
- 6ConceptमायाMayaContrast: Advaita's reading of divine power as maya.
Explore related concepts
Continue exploring
Related concepts
Related texts
Different perspectives
Questions