The Journey from Strī to Śrī

For a Hindu, every woman is considered the manifested form of Devī, the Divine Mother. Every woman has it in her to awaken into her divine form. But why does the divinity within need awakening? What does it take to unleash this potential divinity?

The path prescribed for a woman as per the Veda-s and the śāstra-s will enable her to make the journey from Strī (human female) to Śrī (divine feminine) by awakening the Śakti within. Let us understand these foundational principles to interpret the Strī Dharma Paddhatiḥ correctly.

Śiva and Śakti

Strī, a woman, is considered the gross manifestation of the primordial creative force, Śakti, in its feminine aspect. Similarly, Puruṣa or man, is the manifestation of the masculine aspect of Śakti. Śakti is neither male nor female but contains both attributes within itself in an unmanifested form, that is, nirguṇa rūpa. This tattva (principle) of Śakti does not exist in isolation. It is contained within another tattva called Śiva, which is also beyond gender. When it is time to create, there is an unmeṣa - an outward projection of Śakti from Śiva - resulting in various forms of creation. The play of Śiva-Śakti during creation is such that its feminine attributes take an outward manifestation in the female form, while its masculine attributes are manifested in the male form predominantly.  

All the rules, rituals and the dharmic way of living prescribed for humans as per Sanātana Dharma enable them to awaken this dormant Śakti within and become the original pure form of Śiva-Śakti. This is an essential step towards what we call mokṣa. Since that is where we came from, it should be fairly easy to trace the way back, isn’t it?

Evolution of humans

To understand the human form's capabilities in returning to its divine source, let us first explore how the human evolved to its current form and what is next in its journey of evolution.

Just as Śakti gives form to humans, it also creates sub-humans and super-humans. The sub-humans are all beings that are lower in their level of consciousness compared to humans. According to Padma Purāṇa,[1] the human form itself is said to be possible after the ātma journeys through 84 lakh wombs in lower forms to raise its consciousness to become worthy of human birth.

But the human form, even with its raised consciousness, has an inherent fault. Its raised consciousness allows it to act out of choice, unlike sub-humans that act out of instinct. Due to this choice, humans often make decisions rooted in the body-mind identity and, consequently, build what is called karma. Karma is the total of all the saṃskāra-s, which refers to our accumulated mental impressions, passions, desires and habits resulting from actions in many births. This karma acts as a cloud covering the ātma, making it operate as though it is blind to its original pure form. This blindness is sometimes called Māya. It is only by transcending the body-mind identity, also called the aham, I-ness, ego or self-centredness, that the cloud of karma dissolves, enabling humans to break free from the influence of Māya and awaken the divinity within.

What would happen if humans managed to break free from the veil of Māya?

They would then evolve to become super-humans with a consciousness raised beyond the ordinary human form. When humans attain that state devoid of māya and self-centredness and thus become beings full of compassion for all of creation, they transform into Guru-s and Ṛṣi-s, who are then capable of facilitating this process for other humans. When human consciousness thus evolves beyond the body-mind complex, they become one with the Devī and Devatā Śakti-s. When that process happens for a Strī, she transforms into Śrī - the māyātīta saguṇa rūpa of the nirguṇa Śakti.[2] 

[1] जलज नव लक्षाणी, स्थावर लक्ष विम्शति, कृमयो रूद्र संख्यक:।

पक्षिणाम दश लक्षणं, त्रिन्शल लक्षानी पशव:, चतुर लक्षाणी मानव:।। (78:5 पद्मपुराण श्लोक)

The meaning of the verse is that 9 lakhs of aquatic animals, 20 lakhs of plants and animals, 11 lakhs of insects, 10 lakhs of birds and 30 lakhs of land animals and remaining 4 lakhs of human race. In this way the total number of yonis (wombs) has been told as 84 lakhs.

[2] māyātīta – beyond māyā, saguṇa rūpa – form with attributes, nirguṇa – without attributes. Note that enlightened Guru-s have said that the final state of mokṣa involves going beyond even the state of devi-devatā-s to fully merge into the one Brahman. For one who has thus merged into Brahman, there will be no more births and re-births.

Read the full chapter in Introduction to Part 1 of Stri Dharma Paddhatih