Sa Ham – I am She (2017 series) – 2 (Dashabhuja)

The beautiful Goddess Durga has ten arms. Each arm carries a weapon. As a child, I wondered why she needed ten weapons when she finally strikes the demon with the lower end of the trishul. She is said to carry the conch, thunderbolt, mace, sudarshan chakra, snake, flame, half-bloomed lotus, sword, bow and arrows.

Post-NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming), I understand the complexity of Dashabhuja. As we journey from birth to death, we are faced with different challenges and emotional blocks. Whether it is while we dream, to work to make dreams a reality, or just be and grow, these challenges and blocks impede us.

Sometimes the past haunts, sometimes we are worried about the future. Sometimes we internalize social messages and limit ourselves. Sometimes through those beliefs we self-sabotage ourselves. Sometimes we are easily disturbed by the many everyday nuisance and irritants. Sometimes we lose balance in a sudden tectonic movement. Sometimes we fail and lose. Sometimes we get a sugar-high when we repeatedly succeed. Sometimes we think we are more than enough, sometimes not good enough. Sometimes we are overwhelmed and sometimes cold and listless.

We experience depression. We hallucinate. We are restless. We are moody. We become angry, jealous, sad and stay stuck in those states. We fall in love and become trapped. We walk out of love and experience heartbreak.

What challenge we will experience next moment is unknown. What block it will reveal within us is unknown. We traverse an unknown path, uncertain everyday. And we walk alone.

When we stick to only one mode of dealing with these issues, our chances of triumphing over adversity, negotiating and maneuvering through challenges, our ability to walk away from unresourceful spaces decrease.

Dashabhuja symbolizes and materializes flexibility in thought and action. Each of the weapons are symbolic and Mother wielding it to demonstrate her mastery of that area.

For e.g. the conch represents sound and mastery over sound. Mother uses sounds to bewilder and confuse the demons. The sword represents the intellect and mastery over intellectual processes. Mother strategically and intelligently fights the demons by diagnosing their moves and gaps and effectively countering and surprising them. The thunderbolt represents firmness in attitude. That when you decide on a path, remove self-doubt and negative self-talk. Assert and walk congruently.

You can study other weapons and what they symbolize. The point is, embody flexibility in all that you think and do. It helps you survive and flourish.

Read beyond your current interests. Cultivate networks beyond folks who you like or with whom your wavelengths match. Work in different situations and environments. Build that inner resilience and keep moving.

The river flows as long as there is water and is not stuck to one pattern of being. She flows deep and fast in the mountains, gurgling and jumping around. She flows serenely in the plains, enriching banks while quietly holding a powerful undercurrent. She spreads out in the delta and occupies more land and gently merges with the mighty ocean.

So it is, so it is. Flow.

You can read other posts of the Sa Ham - I am She (2017 series) here:

(1) Akaalbodhan

(2) Dashabhuja 

(3) The Battle

(4) Unconditional Love/Heal from Shame

(5) Identification

(6) she is She

(7) Battles are in our Mind

(8) Land Dreams to Earth

(9) Equation with Money
(10) The Battle that Isn't

(11) La Que Sabe/The Woman who Knows

(12) No Visarjan/Sa Ham

The Earthwoman as conceived by Namitha