Indian and Western perspectives regarding power

In this section we will draft a distinction between "power" and "authority".

But before entering into details, let’s see how Indian and Western perspectives regarding power are different. What interested me most in Indian philosophy is the basic difference in the concept of the generation of power. Let’s analyse this concept intellectually and not sociologically. In the western culture, for the last 2000 years or more, there hasn’t been a feminine reference of the divine. In the West, God is male. Even the Trinity is made of three male figures. Now people think in a secular manner. But mental structures last for centuries and religions have shaped the civilisations. So in the West, this only-male conception of the divine influences even those who are not religious. In the Indian culture, instead, the Goddess is extremely important. In Bengal and in Kashmir, She is even more important than the masculine God. Even where, in the rest of India, there is a prevalence of the Male God, he is not creative without the Shakti, the Goddess. This concept of Shakti could well be translated as Power. In India, this is feminine. All Westerners would figure power as masculine. But in India, if God is God it is because he is the "Shaktiman", the holder of the Shakti, of the Power. But Shakti is feminine and this "Shakti" is not produced by Him. If we go even deeper into Indian Theology, we find that all the attributes of God are his "Shakti". So, a God without Shakti would be a God without all the attributes including the very attribute of his identity, i.e. he would be without the attribute of being God. The idea is that "power" is hosted in the masculine element, but created in the feminine element. And vice versa, service, obedience, care, sweetness, etc., is hosted in the feminine element but not created by Her; they are generated by the masculine element. So, he is powerful because She gives Him power and She is kind because he makes her kind. If she cuts his power, He is powerless. But she can’t be powerful by Herself. Her power, in order to be activated, must be transferred. Vice versa, Man can create kindness, sweetness but cannot make himself sweet. That sweetness must be generated in her. So, the Goddess, untamed by God, is not sweet, but destructive. Shiva without Shakti is impotent and powerless. Shakti without Shiva is self-destructive: like an attribute without a subject.

There are many consequences of these cultural elements in psychology, etc. This concept is extremely difficult for Western audiences to understand, while you understand it in ten sentences because it is in your culture. This vision concerning power is the element most needed in the West. Here, in India, you need to import from the West, concepts like social development. We are not trying to establish who is smarter. Every culture has developed something and left something else undeveloped. That’s why we believe in the need for inter-cultural communication.