Adi Shakti
Whatever is created in this universe, and in many universes, is the work of the Adi Shakti.... The Adi Shakti is the one who embodies the desire of God Almighty.... But Adi Shakti, being the Mother, She had Her own way of expression, that She thought She must create the mirrors for God Almighty to see His face, to see His image, to see His character and that is how this long range of evolution took place. This evolution had to work out this way because they had to know from where they came. We must know that we come from nature.... The seeking also is given to you by Adi Shakti.... If you leave it to this all-pervading power of Divine Love, to this power of Adi Shakti, Paramchaitanya, nothing is difficult, nothing is so bad that you cannot manage.... This power of the Adi Shakti, which we call Paramchaitanya, is the power that loves you. It has complete control of nature. It understands. It thinks. It knows everything. Everything about you, it knows. It works in every angle, in every walk of your life.... And what is Adi Shakti? It is the will of God. (Shri Adi Shakti Pujas 1996 & 1994)
Wikipedia
In Hinduism, Shakti (from Sanskrit shak, "to be able"), also spelled as Sakthi or Shakthi, meaning "power" or "empowerment," is the primordial cosmic energy and represents the dynamic forces that are thought to move through the entire universe. Shakti is the concept, or personification, of divine feminine creative power, sometimes referred to as 'The Great Divine Mother' in Hinduism. As the mother, she is known as Adi Parashakti or Adishakti. In her avatar as Akshara Mandhapati, her power is her uncontrollable energy. On the earthly plane, Shakti most actively manifests through female embodiment and creativity/fertility, though it is also present in males in its potential, unmanifest form.
Hindus believe that Shakti is both responsible for the creation and the agent of all change. Shakti is cosmic existence as well as liberation, its most significant form being the Kundalini Shakti, a mysterious psychospiritual force.
Shakti embodies the active feminine energy of Shiva and is identified as Tripura Sundari or Parvati.
Historical Texts
[Indra said] "You are the mother of all creatures, as that God of gods, Hari, is their father. And this universe, consisting of moving and nonmoving entities, is presently permeated by you, as well as Vishnu." (from Lakshmi Stuti in the Vishnu Purana)
Inherent in the Principle of Existence, whether manifested or unmanifested, I am at all times the inciter, the potential in all things. I manifest Myself as the Creation, I occupy myself with activity when Creation begins functioning, and I ultimately dissolve Myself at the time of destruction. I alone send the Creation forth and again destroy it. I absolve the sins of the good. As Mother Earth to all beings, I pardon them all their sins. I am the Giver of Everything. I am the thinking process itself and I am contained in Everything. (from Lakshmi Tantra)
All the gods waited upon the Goddess (and asked): ‘Great Goddess, who are You ?’ She replied: I am essentially Brahman. From Me (has proceeded) the world comprising Prakriti and Purusha, the void and the Plenum. I am (all forms of) bliss and non-bliss. Knowledge and ignorance are Myself. Brahman and non-Brahman are to be known – says the scripture of the Atharvans. I am the five elements as also what is different from them. I am the entire world. I am the Veda as well as what is different from it. I am the unborn; I am the born. Below and above and around am I. I move with Rudras and Vasus, with Adityas and Visvedevas. Mitra and Varuna, Indra and Agni, I support, and the two Asvins. I uphold Soma, Tvastir, Pusan and Bhaga, The wide-stepping Vishnu, Brahma, Prajapati. To the zealous sacrificer offering oblation And pressing the Soma-juice do I grant wealth; I am the state, the Bringer of Wealth; Above it all, place I its protector. Whoso knows my essence in the water of the inner sea, Attains he the Goddess’s abode. (from Devi Upanishad)
Mother, our tender Apirami – She brings forth the whole world; the colour of a pomegranate flower – She protects the whole world all at once; in Her lovely hands are the net, goad, cane bow, and She has three eyes: no evil will happen to those who worship Her. (from the Apirami Antati, a Tamil hymn)
