Female Empowerment in Goddess Worship
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Female Empowerment in Goddess Worship, by saroj Cbawh ways becoming, and the focus needs her life to Krishna. She could come to remain on what is desired rather homeifwejoinedKrishnaConscious- Apartir dcses mph.imccspmonnef&s, than what it is. When caught in situ- ness. It would mean changingour life l'auteurc maminc ks gets apratiques ationsofvulnerability, it is legitimate style completely, becoming vegetar- et tbkrapeutiqws~du cultc dr h dicsse for Hindus to appeal to the divine to ian, shunning alcohol and tobacco, Durga. help them in gaining control. and all that I regard as normal social The ~oddessis supposed to fulfil1 life. My husband was expected to the wishes and desires ofher devotees manage temple accounts, and I to irrespective of their sex or the gender propagate Iskcon ideas and books in appropriateness of their wishes. The the university. Goddess fulfills the wishes of all be- We made not very fruitful visits to lievers who worship her devoutly. In lawyers and psychiatrists. The law- the court (dzrbar) of the Goddess, yer's opinion was that the age be- there are no men or women; they are tween 1G and 18 was legally a gray just beings asking for favours (sawali area. He could try to intimidate the or ~achak). temple authorities by arguing that The contemporary scientific they were unlawfully keeping a juve- worldview might label Hindu wom- nile away from school and home, but en's belief in the Goddess as supersti- said that it would be difficult to re- tion. But in most religions of the strain a 1G-year-old from going to the world the divine can be evoked to act temple, The psychiatrist, who knew as an intercessor for believers. Most the Iskcon very well, told us that the religions accept that psychic acts in temple was trying to emotionally the form of prayer and ritual per- blackmail us into its fold. His advice formed in the name of the divine can was also to let the influence wear off. be directed toward achieving desired At this juncture I suspended my ends. Popular Hinduism firmly be- European educated self and exam- lieves in the effectiveness of material ined-my predicament as a Hindu and nonmaterial efforts. For Hindus mother. I sincerely believed that the words and images have magical com- followers of a male God Krishna had ponents. The magical component brainwashed my daughter. No Hindu might help them to avoid unhappy beliefsystem sanctioned temple lead- experience and attain desired results ers to live off the earnings of young of a very concrete nature. boysandgirls. By this time my daugh- ter was selling incense, candles, and Personal testimony flowers on the street. She was also collecting funds for Iskcon charity. I My rational-agnosticexistencewas thought that my daughter should live shaken one July when my 16-year- like an average Canadian teenager, old daughter went jogging and did albeit under a little parental supervi- not return home. She had been visit- sion. To bring her back to the fold, I Goddess Kali, Naggar, Himachal Pradesh, India, 1996. ing Iskcon temple in Toronto for the needed the iifluence of a Goddess, Photo: Brenda Cranney past six months. My husband and I especially Goddess Durga-the one Hindu philosophy conceptualizesre- drove to the temple; awoman leaving who rides a tiger, bears arms in six of ality as in a state of constant change the temple informed us that she did her eight hands, and is willing to and as indeterminate, experiential, see a young girl of our daughter's destroy the enemies ofher devotees. I and context specific. From the Hindu description with the temple head remembered how my mother used to point of view no person, man or priest. The head priest informed us worship Durga. woman, is born powerful or remains that our daughter, a Grade 12 stu- TheMarch Navratra ("ninenights" powerful forever. According to the dent, was a simple person, not inter- devoted to goddess worship) were Hindu concept of time, reality is al- ested in studies; she wanted to devote near. I bought two shallow earthen CANADIAN WOMAN STUDIESlLES CAHIERS DE LA FEMME or Goddess Worship in Toronto dishes and filled them with potting before the Navratra-period was to The worship during the Navratra soil. In the living room I created an begin, I had made all the prepara- brought power into my house. My altar. The picture of Durga sat in the tions: the altar with the Durga pic- husband did not want the Durgaaltar middle, flanked by the earthen dishes, ture, the earthen dishes, the incense, in the living room. He wanted it barley was to be sown in them. I the lamp, the food offerings, the flow- moved to the spare bedroom on the collected the items necessary for ers were all ready. second floor. I wanted to keep the altar in the living room so that I could "feel" her presence frequently. He also insisted that the household mem- bers follow a vegetarian diet during the nine days. In his mother's home there was abstention from egg, meat, poultry, onion, and garlic for nine days. My mother was managing, a household of staunch meat-eaters, so that she could not impose such di- etary restrictions without risking major strife in the household. She kept the discipline of remaining veg- etarian herself, and meat, poultry, eggs, onion, and garlic were available to other members of the household. To avoid dissension I agreed to main- tain a vegetarian kitchen during the nine days. On the third Navratra, my other daughter, the second twin, phoned me at the university. She had a crav- ing for meat; she did not like this vow ofvegetarian diet. I thought for asplit second. It did not make sense that I observe Navratra to regain closeness ofone daughter and alienate her twin by denying her wishes. Very calmly I told her that she could take meat out ofthe freezer, cookit, eat it, andclean the dishes. The vow ofvegetarianism was suspended to meet my daughter's wishes. I could sense my daughter's relief at my response. That episode made me realize the distinction be- Goddess carved in wood, Bhima Kali Temple, Sarahan, Goddess would affect me. On the tween dogma and the essence of reii- Himachal Pradesh, 1996. Photo: Brenda Cranney second day of the Navratra my aunt gion. When formal rules and indi- Durgaworship: incense, flowers, food visited me and noticed the two dishes vidual needs conflict, individual needs offering of nuts and raisins; a small sown with barley. She asked why two take precedence. bowl filled with clarified butter, with dishes--one is more than enough? Did my Goddess worship have the a cotton wick sitting in the middle, My response was that the two barley desired effect? On the second day of was a lamp, and it accompanied a planters represented my twin daugh- the Navratra, I spotted my daughter hymn book. I phoned the Vishnu ters-I was praying for their well- in a crowd on the street. A week after temple to make sure when the being. She thought I was crazy. I paid I had submerged the barley shoots in Navratra was beginning. The night no attention. the flowing water, the Iskcon head VOLUME 17, NUMBER 1 priest (under pressure from the corn- keep a vegetarian household during understand my constraints, but I munity) did persuade my daughter to the Navratra, and I do not observe avoid explaining this to devout wor- come home. She stayedwith me until fruit-fast @hakahar) meaning only shippers. I do not want them even to her eighteenth birthday, when she fruit can be eaten during the fast. And mention the idea of the wrath of the rejoined the temple. But, over a pe- I do not perform Kirnya Puja, literally Goddess. Their criticism of my style riod oftime, she began to understand "the worship of young girls." My of Goddess worship will disrupt my the ways of the temple. The wedge mother on the eighth day of the personal relationship with the God- created by the temple wore off. Now Navratra invited five or seven young, dess. Since criticism by devout wor- she phones to ask me to pray to the unmarriedgirls to the house. Younger shippers may have negative impact Goddess so that her wishes are hl- than nine was the most auspicious upon me, I avoid their mention of the filled. I continue to perform Durga age. She washed their feet, tied red Goddess's wrath. worship during the spring and au- cotton thread on their right wrists, tumn Navratra. And I repeat the and adorned their foreheads with red Other voices names of the four Goddesses (Durga, powder. Auspiciously and reveren- L&hmi, Saraswati, and Tara) morn- tially she fed them a meal of fried flat Since last July I have interviewed ing and evening using the phalanges bread, vegetables, and sweets andgave women in their homes and in the of my four fingers as the count. Over them a cash gift. Kirnyapuja is held in temples about why they worship the the years I have noticed that when I Toronto temples and in some house- Goddess. Most ofthe interviews were raise my voice against perceived in- holds that can bring together young conducted in a casual and unstruc- justice my voice comes out calm and girls of the appropriate age.' Person- tured manner. The responses can be firm, as if it is not Saroj but the ally I find it difficult to prepare an classified in two categories. The first Goddess speaking.