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If Nirguna Brahman is really genderless, then why it's shakti (maya) is considered feminine, while the non-shakti part is considered masculine? Doesn't that make IT an androgynous being?

It is usually thought by us that just because most of us haven't completely realized its true nature, we end up perceiving IT as a being having gender, but its not only us ordinary folks but even the self realized jnanis hold onto the belief that one half of brahman is masculine and the other half is feminine ... Even the Kashmiri Shaivites, if im not wrong, say that shiva is nirguna, nirakara brahman who's masculine in nature while its shakti is feminine.

I mean if Brahman is really nirguna then shouldn't IT be devoid of these male & female halves or aspects?

If its really nirguna (genderless) then IT should be more like the void that buddhists meditate on. The void in my opinion is the perfect example of nirguna, nirakara incomprehensible absolute.

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  • When Cosmic manifestation happens, happens from dual energies of Para Shiva/para shakti. That's why Kundalini Shakti is far away from Shiva in Sahasra. When they become one, its neither male nor female - beyond the gender! Dec 2, 2018 at 2:48
  • As far as I remember, concepts like shakti, maya (as we understand it presently in advaitic context), prakrti are not present in the earliest upanishads. Brahman alone is both the material and instrumental cause. That is the purest vedantic position.
    – user16581
    Mar 16, 2019 at 19:13
  • @Akshay S please use proper English! Your post is hardly readable!
    – Wikash_
    Mar 16, 2019 at 21:11
  • Brahman is mentioned in the Upanisads as neither male nor female, but not androgynous either. Hence, Brahman is simultaneously gendered and non-gendered.
    – Charlie
    Mar 16, 2019 at 22:18
  • @Wikash_hindu Say you cant understand. Others have understood well what I conveyed!!! Mar 17, 2019 at 2:50

2 Answers 2

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Shakti is Brahman, as long as one doesn't realize God, one sees male and female aspect.

Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna / Volume 1 / The Festival At Panihati:

GOVINDA: "Revered sir, why does the Divine Mother have a black complexion?"7

Sri Ramakrishna: "You see Her as black because you are far away from Her. Go near and you will find Her devoid of all colour. The water of a lake appears black from a distance. Go near and take the water in your hand, and you will see that it has no colour at all. Similarly, the sky looks blue from a distance. But look at the atmosphere near you; it has no colour. The nearer you come to God, the more you will realize that He has neither name nor form. If you move away from the Divine Mother, you will find Her blue, like the grass-flower. Is Syama male or female? A man once saw the image of the Divine Mother wearing a sacred thread. He said to the worshipper: 'What? You have put the sacred thread on the Mother's neck!' The worshipper said: 'Brother, I see that you have truly known the Mother. But I have not yet been able to find out whether She is male or female; that is why I have put the sacred thread on Her image. That which is Syama is also Brahman. That which has form, again, is without form. That which has attributes, again, has no attributes. Brahman is Sakti; Sakti is Brahman. They are not two. These are only two aspects, male and female, of the same Reality, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute."

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  • Right, but why two aspects of male&female. Why not no aspect at all like the void buddhists meditate on? You said that bcoz we are far away from realizing its true nature we see the genders, but its not only us ordinary folks but even the self realized ones have said that one half of brahman is masculine and the other half feminine ... Even the Kashmiri Shaivites, if im not wrong, say that shiva is nirguna, nirakara brahman who's purusha in nature while its shakti is feminine ... What makes the former male and the latter female in the eyes of the jnanis, is my question. Dec 1, 2018 at 14:54
  • @TheCrimsonUniverse correct me if I understood things wrong. I think male and female is symbolic here for Will and potential respectively.
    – yashC
    Dec 1, 2018 at 15:00
  • @TheCrimsonUniverse Jnanis do not see any gender, you can see in the above quote by Sri Ramakrishna, he has explained by giving a lot of examples like Divine Mother doesn't have black complexion, it's only because we are seeing from far away, if we come closer and close, i.e spiritual progress, we will find that Shakti is neither black nor female.
    – Pinakin
    Dec 1, 2018 at 15:11
  • like Divine Mother doesn't have black complexion, it's only because we are seeing from far away, -- This is actually a Mahanirvana Tantram verse wht Sri Ramakrishna has experienced/realized. @ChinmaySarupria
    – Rickross
    Dec 1, 2018 at 15:20
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    @TheCrimsonUniverse I dont have an answer to that yet
    – yashC
    Dec 1, 2018 at 17:17
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In addition to the answer already given,

  1. Brahman is a neuter-gender word in sanskrit. In the Isha-Upanishad, it is referred to as

A-kAyam, meaning bodiless.

The Svetasvatara-Upanishad says

naiva stri na pumaAn esha na cha eva ayam napunsakah, meaning its neither male nor female nor neuter-gendered.

  1. The Shakti or Maya are considered feminine in sanskrit. But Its not feminine in any real sense, as no gender can exist of something which is essentially formless:

na iyam yoshit na pumAn na shaNdo na jadah smritah (Navaratneswara-vachana in Tantra-Tattva.)

As per Tantra therefore Shakti also does not have any gender,

but Shakti fulfills all desires like the wish-fulfilling plant ('kalpa-latA) and so is referred to as female.

Ragahava-Bhatta too is of the same opinion.

Gandharva-Tantra also says:

yadApi lingatrayabachyA..tathApi samata-Akankha-kalpaballi parashaktishbdabAchA.

So all are of the same opinion that neither Brahman nor Shakti has any gender and referred to as male or female for different reasons.

Reference:Sastramulak Bharatiya Shaktisadhana, Upendrakumar Das, RMIC, vol.1, page 336-7.

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