The Story of Acquiring the Eight Powers of the Soul; The eight arms of the deities of India represent the eight powers of the soul 

Recently India is making headlines in the news due to the remarkable progress she has made since becoming independent from British rule for only 75 years. People worldwide are receiving information that India, known as the Golden Sparrow of the World, is a beautiful and ancient country in the world with a very rich heritage.  

An important land of spirituality and devotion, the entire land of India has great love for God, and has temples in every city and town for a variety of deities who are praised and worshiped. We can read and hear stories speaking of the far distant past of India being a heavenly world of pure and virtuous deities, where these divine beings happily lived, a world called Satyug, the Age of Truth, the Golden Age. 

Here’s my story of experiencing this as I had the good fortune to play the part of one of these goddesses known as Durga on one of my first visits to India.

Durga is worshiped as the Goddess of Power (shakti), who takes this power from God (Shiva), and removes all weaknesses (durgunn) within the self, and also helps to remove weaknesses of others.

A spiritual mela was organized at the Red Fort, a huge outdoor stadium in Delhi. On a magnificent stage the first thing you saw when the gates opened was a tableau of these eight major deities.

I was among them, feeling very beautiful, royally dressed and decorated with jewels. A double crown, one of light and physical crown of ruling power was on my head. I was courageously sitting on a tiger, and had acquired six extra arms, also made of wood, so in total I had eight arms!

One hand was painted a red color and assumed the posture of giving blessings and the other held a trident. Thousands thronged in when the gates opened. Suddenly, seeing this tableau of eight lifelike and living goddesses they paused and stopped to kneel and worship. 

And there I was, sitting in open eyed meditation (and amazement) as thousands started to worship us, watching, absorbing, realizing and feeling the deep spiritual love and devotion the people of India have. We sat totally still in meditation for an hour and I tell you, being a deity was one of my best experiences of this lifetime.

But the real treasure in this story is the now emerging spiritual knowledge explaining these eight arms of Durga are symbolic of eight main spiritual powers: the power to pack up, power to tolerate, power to accommodate, power to face, power to discriminate, power to judge, power to withdraw, and power to cooperate. 

They are received by the mind and intellect of the soul, connecting with God’s loving light and power. Receiving this spiritual strength over a period of time naturally fills the soul with the eight powers. In this way we also can become like Goddess Durga, a spiritually powerful child of God, full of all the eight powers by having this soul conscious connection with God in meditation.

Now, to overcome any difficult situations of life, we can check how good I was myself in remembering to call and use a spiritual power. Currently, October is the season of Navratri in India, where eight of these deities, including Durga, are honored and worshiped. 

Here are a few descriptions of their soul conscious powers for use in your daily life. (To be continued in further articles.)

Power to Withdraw, Detachment – Be like a turtle. While observing a negative scene, go within and create the needed positive vibrations of love or peace. Send healing energy.

Power to Pack Up and Let Go – Finish the negative memories of past events and experience the present. Put a full stop to mental activity with one simple thought, “I am a being of peace.” Repeated slowly and attentively, our thoughts and emotions stop expanding.

The Power to Tolerate – You are free from influences and continuing to have good wishes and pure feelings.

The Power to Accommodate or Adjust – Be sensible and accept the situation at the moment in order to benefit both myself and others. Later, negotiate a solution. 

Encircle yourself with these powers and you will be protected and experience an easy and peaceful life.

(Yvonne Risely, of Owego, can be reached via email to bkchirya@gmail.com or chirya.risely@peacevillageretreat.org. Sister Chirya is a student and teacher with the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University for over 40 years, and is published in several international publications to include the Daily Guardian in Delhi.)