Sa Ham – I am She (2017 series) – 7 (Battles are in our Mind)

Photo by Rupam Sarma

The Goddess is celebrated for her triumph over the demon-king in the battle. I know there are many sociological counterpoints to the story detailed in Devi Bhagwat Puran and mythologists and scholars butt head over underlying assumptions.

Leave that aside.

As per the story from this source, the Goddess appeared in the outskirts of the capital city of the Demon King, bedecked, armed and roaring. That the demons who saw Her reported what they saw to the King. The King decided he had to possess her.

From that moment, the battle started.

What were the issues here? The King believed a woman is weak and harmless. That she was to be desired. Since Goddess was a beautiful woman with a magnetic personality, and he was the King who defeated the Gods, he had to possess her, in any which way.

The King was stuck. Instead of reading the Goddess as She was, he reached out to his old memories of women as wives and lovers and transposed it on the Goddess. Then because he was not anchored within, he needed constant affirmation that he was powerful. To feel significant, he had fought the Gods and then the Trinity (Bramha, Vishnu and Shiva) and won. However, because he needed a battle and conquest to prove himself, he was seeking new venues to reaffirm his status.

It was a behavioural pattern in him. The Goddess triggered that pattern in him and provoked him to a battle he could have easily avoided.

You seek new venues to affirm your status when you are not sure of yourself, when you doubt yourself.

Some of us do that. We fight unnecessary battles to prove ourselves as “right”, “awesome” or become “famous”. You want to prove yourself “right” before and as per someone. You want to look awesome in the eyes of someone. Being famous is another way of saying “I am acknowledged and adulated by a lot of people.” Each of these cases show that you need an Other to make you feel okay about yourself.

Men and women do this. Women try to prove themselves as superwoman, independent woman, terrific mother, I-could-be-MissUniverse-beautiful, loyal wife, terrific bed partner. These days it also includes being highly educated, published and very intelligent. Women also want to appear successful by being married to prospering men and nag them to death if they don’t earn enough to maintain status. I find it funny when I hear of women becoming more depressed about their husband not receiving a promotion than the man himself. They also pick up as many status symbols – the Louis Vuitton bag, Jimmy Choo shoes, make up from Forest Essentials, underwear from Victoria’s Secret. Or a job in XYZ place. And through this, they attempt to acquire a presence before others.

There is nothing wrong in liking and wanting to wear/own a thing. Own it. Wear it. Celebrate yourself wearing and owning it. There is nothing wrong in wanting to work in a certain place. If you like the job, work. However, if the purpose is to be affirmed by an Other and thereby feel good about yourself, you have stepped into an unnecessary battle within yourself. And the battle will become more vicious as you become more invested in the appearances.

Women feel drained, irritated, angry, restless. They are constantly worried and anxious about a future that has not happened. They are afraid they will lose what they have. They become either hyperactive or depressed as they wage this battle to be someone.

You are someone. You are you. The sunflower is a sunflower, the mogra a mogra, the rose a rose. There is no battle amongst flowers to be more beautiful, more exquisite, more fragrant, more young and lasting. You are you.

The Goddess merely appeared and roared. The destruction that followed was self-inflicted by the Demon-King. Stop injuring yourself by restlessly seeking this and that to achieve an appropriate status in your community. Stop fighting unnecessary battles.

You are the Goddess. You don’t need to possess something to become Her. You are always Her.

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