Acharya Shunya is a truth teller who facilitates authenticity, self-remembrance, and Divine Feminine pathways to awakening within. The first female head of her 2,000-year-old Indian spiritual lineage, Shunya reinterprets and recontextualizes ancient teachings for modern times, empowering people everywhere to lead fulfilled, fearless, and enlightened lives. She is president of The Awakened Self Foundation in California and author of “Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom” and “Sovereign Self.” Her new book “Roar Like a Goddess: Every Woman’s Guide to Becoming Unapologetically Powerful, Prosperous, and Peaceful” is a rallying cry for women everywhere to break free from the shackles of patriarchy and awaken their true nature, brought to life through India’s primary goddess archetypes. (Amazon, 2022)

“Roar Like a Goddess” – In the Prologue, Acharya Shunya starts by defining patriarchy as “a system of beliefs that put men first [and] promotes a society dominated by men: sexually, emotionally, economically, religiously, and of course politically.” It is this type of environment that makes it hard for women to trust their true voice, which she compares to a ‘roar. After centuries of living in patriarchal societies, many women do not realize how powerful they are―or how much they have been enculturated to keep their true nature hidden.’ In this book, she offers an in-depth exploration of the Hindu goddess archetypes to help readers break free of patriarchal conditioning and let go of internalized misogyny. She also focuses on legendary humans, beasts, demons, gods, and the goddess herself in the hopes of transforming lives by giving spiritual insights and psychological tools to help readers “roar with your true voice.” The book is divided into three parts, the three chief goddess manifestations of the Supreme Hindu/Vedic Goddess Shakti: Part I Durga (goddess of power and self-determination), Part II Kakshmi (goddess of abundance and inner contentment), and Part III Saraswati (goddess of wisdom, peace, and self-actualization. Each chapter ends with contemplations/affirmations to summarize the topics discussed.

Life is not always kind to women and sometimes it can be frustrating feeling like you do not have a voice. In her inspiring new book “Roar Like a Goddess,” trailblazing Vedic spiritual teacher Acharya Shunya empowers women everywhere to step into their divine immensity and lead powerful, abundant, and wise lives through her revolutionary revisioning of ancient India’s primary goddess archetypes: Goddess Durga, Goddess Lakshmi, and Goddess Saraswati. At first this might seem like a complicated subject matter, but she expertly explains the background for each archetype and how they relate to modern life. The language is easy to understand and pragmatic, without being condescending to readers who may not be familiar with Hindu beliefs. Some of the highlights include Chapter 2 When Raging Is a Goddess Thing To Do: under Roaring Durgas Existed in Every Culture, where the author lists a sampling of stories of warrior women across history and around the world including warrior women of Mongolia, The Mino, who were an all-female military regiment of the present-day Republic of Benin, and Queen Nzinga Mbande, a powerful seventeenth-century ruler of the Ambundu kingdoms in modern day Angola and Chapter 11: Lakshmi Shows The Path To Generosity where the Vedas suggests five ways to act generously and put the dharma of accommodation and kindness into action, including acting conscientiously towards Mother Nature, acting big heartedly towards the less privileged, and acting gratefully towards the teachers in your life. Overall, “Roar Like a Goddess” is an empowering guide to awakening the many faces of the goddess within that will inspire women to find their voice and stand tall. It is recommended for readers searching for spiritual and emotional guidance and who appreciate books about spiritualism and women’s studies.

“One of the central dharma values is nonviolence, or ahimsa. Ahimsa can be, in a simple way, translated as ‘harmlessness’ – to not wish or do harm to any living creature.”

*The author received a copy of this book for an honest review. The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to her.