The Never Not Broken Goddess

Here’s a chapter from my upcoming book BEST BREAKUP EVER!

To be human is to be broken and broken is its own kind of beautiful.

-Robert M Drake

         Have you met Akhilandeshvari, The Never Not Broken Goddess? Well, let me introduce you to her. Instead of shaking her warm brown hand, give her a respectful Namaste with palms pressed together in front of your chest. This gesture means, “I bow to the divine in you.”

         This lesser-known Hindu Goddess gets her name because she is not striving for wholeness. She is willing to break things open to find the deeper truth.  As yoga teacher Julie “JC” Peters says:

“Akhilanda derives her power from being broken: in flux, pulling herself apart, living in different, constant selves at the same time, from never becoming a whole that has limitations.” 

         Perhaps this was what Leonard Cohen was getting at with his lines: “Ring the bells that still can ring, forget your perfect offering, there is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” After major life changes we feel broken into pieces and we judge ourselves for that. Some of the events of late have left you clutching your mala beads.

         All the gems, and mirrors, and ribbons, and brocade of you are lying on the floor. But what a sumptuous mosaic you can make out of it. A new life. But wait. Akhilanda wouldn’t tell you to fashion it all into a statue and then decide to be whole again. Remember, she is never not broken. That means that only in pieces do the fresh possibilities come through. Only in flux, only by being spun around by the crocodile she rides on do we get to be open and dizzy enough to remain in the eye of possibilities. We can learn from this badass Amazon warrior Goddess. We can be fierce and fearless and full and limitless and never not broken.