Who is Adi Shakti?

Adi shakti, also known as Adi para shakti or Mahadevi, is the ‘param bhram,' the supreme being, the empyrean goddess, or the ultimate reality. 

The Vedas are the source of integral wisdom, science, and tradition, and according to Vedic science, Adi shakti is the ‘Bindu’ (singularity) which contains energy, mass, time, and space. 

The Bindu, or the singularity, is the ultimate cataclysm beyond which our cosmic ancestry cannot extend. Maa Adi Shakti or Para Shakti is the primordial cosmic energy that has given birth to time (Brahma), space (Maha Vishnu), and mass (Shiv). Param Bhram is an ever-existing, unchanging reality amidst and beyond the world, the transcendent and immanent ultimate reality of Supreme power...Adi shakti. 

 Adi shakti comprises all three qualities of ‘sattva’ (balance), “rajas’ (imbalance) and ‘tamas’ (inertia). She is the primordial matter (Mula Prakriti) and the power by which the universe becomes manifested (Mahamaya). 

In Sattva Guna, she is Goddess Maha Saraswati, 

In Rajas Guna, she is Goddess Mahalaxmi. 

And in Tamas Guna, she is Goddess Mahakali. 

 

The Devi Suktam of the Rig Veda declares that the ultimate reality is none other than Devi Adi Shakti. 

 Devi explains herself to the devas... 

 “I have created all worlds at my will without being urged by any higher Being and dwell within them. I permeate the earth and heaven, and all created entities with my greatness and dwell in them as eternal and infinite consciousness.” 

— Devi Suktam, 10.125.8 

The Shakta Puranas and the Upanishads declare the Goddess the supreme, ultimate eternal reality of all existence. She is the source of all creation, its embodiment and the power that animates and governs it, and that into which everything will ultimately dissolve. Mahadevi is the cosmos herself – she is the embodiment of energy, matter, and soul, the motivating force behind all action and existence in the material universe.

 

In Devi Bhagvat Purana, Maa Adi Shakti has been described as Mahadevi. 

The Goddess possesses both aspects of the param bhram, the ‘nirguna’ (without form) and ‘saguna’ (with form). In her saguna form, she is the mother of the universe, residing upon the highest abode called ‘manidweep.’ She is seated on a jeweled throne, her face contains the radiance of millions of stars, and her celestial beauty is beyond any comprehension. 

Goddess Adi Shakti expresses herself as ‘Prakriti,’ which means the universal nature. She is energetic in the feminine form and immobile in the masculine form. All Gods and Goddesses are her partial expansions and are under her jurisdiction, and they perform and govern the universe according to her will.

 In the Devi Gita of the Shri Devi Bhagavatam, Adi Shakti, before incarnating as Devi Parvati, explained herself to King Himavan. 

 In the words of the Vedas, she tells him that she has no beginning or end. She is the only eternal truth. The whole universe is her creation, and she is the only victor and the manifestation of victory herself. She is a manifested, unmanifested, and transcendent divinity. 

 Maa Adi Shakti also displayed her rarest form to King Himavan: 

 Satyaloka was located on her forehead, the universe was her hair, the sun and the moon were her eyes, the four directions were in her ears, the Vedas were her words, affection..emotion, and death were her teeth, and Maya was her smile. 

Adi Shakti is the energy that exists before creation and after the destruction of every universe. 

 Maa Adi shakti is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent. She is a ceaseless existence. She is associated with everyone and every object to accomplish various tasks of the world and keep the universe in operation. Adi Shakti is beyond any practical observation, she is not the subject of assumption and perception.