shakti means the Hindu concept or personification of the divine feminine aspect, sometimes referred to as 'The Divine Mother'. Shakti represents the active, dynamic principles of feminine power.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, shakti ranks #2,328 of 14,438 for Most Storied Words, #2,517 of 14,440 for Most Satisfying to Say, #2,580 of 14,456 for The Improbable, #2,592 of 14,423 for Most Sublime Words.
Why “shakti” is a great word
The conscious, dynamic force that animates and drives the universe, personified as the divine feminine creative power. From Sanskrit शक्ति (śákti, "power, energy"), from the root śak- ("to be able, to be strong"), it is the active energy that transforms potential into actuality. Unlike Prakriti, the passive, undifferentiated material substrate, or Brahman, the static, transcendent absolute, Shakti is the indispensable pulse that brings matter to life and makes the absolute knowable. It is the serpentine surge of kundalini rising, the fierce love in a mother’s protective roar, and the terrible beauty of the goddess Kali dancing on the void—the world not as object, but as act, ongoing, intimate, and fiercely alive.
Etymology
From Sanskrit शक्ति (śákti, “power, energy”).
name
- The Hindu concept or personification of the divine feminine aspect, sometimes referred to as 'The Divine Mother'. Shakti represents the active, dynamic principles of feminine power.“In yoga the feminine principle is Shakti, the Great Goddess experienced by all initiates of the Tantric process of transformation.”
noun
- the divine force that pervades the universe.
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- maya 85% match — Magic; supernatural power as held by the gods. vs shakti →
- pradhana 85% match — In Indian philosophy, the creative principle of nature. vs shakti →
- tattva 85% match — An element or aspect of reality conceived as an aspect of deity, forming the basis of human experience. vs shakti →
- prana 84% match — Respiration, breathing, seen as a life principle or life force. vs shakti →
- matrika 84% match — A mother figure in Indian art. vs shakti →
- kundalini 84% match — An energy said to lie coiled at the base of the spine and to be released by yoga. vs shakti →
- yogini 84% match — A female yogi. vs shakti →
- jagat 84% match — The material or physical world as subjectively experienced. vs shakti →