Durga's Secret: Everyone Lives on the Edge in Fear

by Devdutt Pattanaik

Aham means how humans imagine themselves as against atma, who we really are. Animals do not have any doubt about who they are in terms of location in the food chain and pecking order. All they care about when they see another animal is: is that a predator, a prey, a rival or a mate? Humans are confused. There is no such clear understanding. Imagination wipes out all structures and we are forced into a struggle between our own desires (how we want to imagine ourselves) and social structures imposed upon us by others based on their desires (how others are expected to see us). More often than not we regress to our animal selves: we want to dominate or be dominated, we want to domesticate others with rules or be domesticated by them. This is Mahisha, the asura. A deva then is one who recognises, like Indra, that there are larger forces at work in the universe, embodied in Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and of course, Devi. Mahisha acknowledges Brahma but seeks to triumph over others, and in doing so lies his folly. Mahisha-asura’s defeat is not viewed as submission but as realisation: he breaks free from his limited self-indulgent view of the world and internalises the bigger picture. This is called uddhar, or upliftment.

Shakti means power that is natural. Durga evokes ‘durg’, or the fortress that is artificial. Thus Shakti embodies energy that is natural, while Durga embodies power that is cultural. In culture, power is created through laws.

Attachment is sacrificed. Attachment to what? Attachment to our delusions, what we assume to be the truth.

In the forest, no animals complain. They accept their place in the food chain and pecking order. They know that nothing is permanent. A predator in one context (snake chasing rat) is a prey in another context (hawk chasing snake). A dominant alpha must give way to a younger, stronger alpha, who invariably emerges eventually. Humans seek rules that establish a permanent world — hence the quest for the elixir of immortality (amrita) in the Puranas which creates Amravati of the devas.