The Sixteen Akarshini Shaktis: Attraction, Consciousness, and Cosmic Completeness in the Sri Chakra -Drawn Toward the Divine: The Sixteen Akarshini Goddesses of the Second Avarana of the Mahameru
The Sri Chakra is among the most revered and intricate of all yantras in the Shakta tradition of Sanatana Dharma. It is a living map of creation, a geometric expression of the interplay between Shiva and Shakti — pure consciousness and dynamic power — that underlies all existence. Its three-dimensional form, the Mahameru, rises like a sacred mountain, its tiered enclosures or avaranas each housing distinct groups of Shaktis who govern different principles of cosmic and individual life. To meditate upon the Mahameru is to journey inward through layers of existence, dissolving gross experience into subtler and subtler awareness, until one reaches the Bindu — the supreme point of non-dual unity at the apex.
The Devi Bhagavata Purana affirms that the Sri Chakra embodies the entire universe and that all Devis are expressions of the one supreme Shakti: "Ekaivasham jagat sarvam." All of creation, it declares, is pervaded by her singular presence.
The Second Avarana: Sarvasha Paripuraka Chakra
The second enclosure of the Sri Chakra is called the Sarvasha Paripuraka Chakra, which translates as the wheel that fulfills all desires and aspirations. It takes the form of a sixteen-petaled lotus, a form deeply significant in Hindu sacred geometry. The number sixteen is not arbitrary. It corresponds to the sixteen kalas or digits of the moon, representing fullness and the complete cycle of nourishment, perception, and expression. Sixteen is also the number associated with completeness of human experience — the totality of perception, feeling, cognition, and identity.
Presiding over this avarana as Chakra Swamini is Tripureshi, the goddess who rules the three cities and the three states of consciousness — waking, dreaming, and deep sleep. Her sovereignty over this enclosure signals that the experiences governed here are not merely psychological but span the full arc of conscious life. The Yogini associated with this chakra is the Gupta Yogini, the hidden or secret practitioner, suggesting that the truths embedded in this avarana are not visible to the ordinary eye but must be approached through sincere sadhana and inner refinement.
The Akarshini Shaktis: Goddesses of Sacred Attraction
The sixteen Devis enshrined in the petals of this lotus are collectively known as the Akarshini Shaktis — the goddesses of attraction. The Sanskrit root akarsha means to draw toward, to magnetize, to pull with purposeful force. These Shaktis do not represent desire in the limited, ego-driven sense of the word. Rather, they embody the fundamental attractive principle that animates all of creation — the very force by which consciousness is drawn toward experience, by which the Self seeks expression, and by which the seeker is ultimately drawn back toward the Source.
Each goddess is depicted holding a bow and arrow in her upper hands — weapons that project force with precision and intention — and a sword and shield in her lower hands, representing both the capacity to cut through illusion and the power to protect the aspirant. This iconography is deliberate and layered. The bow and arrow speak of directed desire, the focused will that sends awareness toward a specific object. The sword speaks of viveka or discriminative wisdom. The shield speaks of inner protection and spiritual steadiness.
The Sixteen Shaktis and Their Domains
The sixteen Akarshini Shaktis govern specific dimensions of human experience and cosmic function.
Kama Akarshini governs divine desire — not base craving, but the primordial impulse that initiates creation itself. In the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 7, Verse 11, Sri Krishna declares, "I am desire that is not contrary to dharma." This verse points precisely to the quality this Shakti embodies — desire as sacred motivation.
Buddhi Akarshini governs the intellect and its attraction toward discernment, toward right understanding. She draws the mind toward wisdom rather than mere cleverness.
Ahamkara Akarshini governs the principle of individuation — the I-sense that makes personal experience possible. She is not merely the ego of pride, but the sacred function by which the infinite takes on a finite perspective.
Shabda Akarshini governs sound and the attraction of consciousness toward the vibratory dimension of existence. She is the force behind the power of mantra, of sacred speech, of nada or cosmic resonance.
Sparsha Akarshini governs touch and tactile sensation — the pull toward contact, toward the felt experience of the world.
Rupa Akarshini governs form and visual perception — the magnetic quality of beauty and visible appearance that draws the eye and the heart.
Rasa Akarshini governs taste — not merely gustatory sensation, but rasa in its deeper sense as aesthetic and emotional essence, the flavor of experience itself.
Gandha Akarshini governs smell, the most primal and memory-laden of the senses, governing the attraction toward the olfactory dimension of the world.
Chitta Akarshini governs the deeper mind, the storehouse of impressions, the field of awareness that underlies all thought. She draws consciousness toward its own depths.
Dhairya Akarshini governs courage and steadfastness — the attractive pull of valor, perseverance, and inner fortitude.
Smriti Akarshini governs memory — the magnetic bond between present awareness and past experience, and by extension, the link between individual life and the accumulated wisdom of tradition.
Nama Akarshini governs name — the principle that identity is anchored in sound and word. She governs the power of sacred names, of namasmarana or remembrance through naming the divine.
Beeja Akarshini governs seed — the bija or primordial syllable that contains within it the full potential of a mantra, a form, or a manifestation.
Atma Akarshini governs the pull of the Self — that deep, unspoken draw toward self-inquiry, toward turning inward and recognizing the true nature of one's own being.
Amrita Akarshini governs the nectar of immortality — the attraction toward that which does not perish, the longing for transcendence and liberation that is planted in every human heart.
Sharira Akarshini governs the body — the pull of embodied existence, and by higher interpretation, the recognition of the body itself as a sacred vehicle of spiritual realization.
Symbolism and the Architecture of Human Experience
Taken together, these sixteen Shaktis map the full terrain of conscious experience. They move from the most primal biological drives through the sensory world, through the faculties of mind and memory, into the subtlest domains of selfhood, spiritual longing, and ultimately the aspiration toward immortality. This is not a random enumeration but a structured vision of the human being as a being of desire, drawn at every level toward something — and ultimately drawn, through the grace of the Akarshini Shaktis themselves, toward the divine.
The Lalita Sahasranama, one of the most revered texts of Sri Vidya, describes the Devi as one who is worshipped through all names and all forms, signifying that every act of attraction, every pull of the senses or the heart, is at its root an expression of the one great Shakti drawing consciousness back to itself.
Relevance in Contemporary Spiritual Life
In an age dominated by distraction and fragmentation, the teaching of the Akarshini Shaktis carries extraordinary relevance. Modern human life is characterized precisely by the disordered operation of these very forces — desire without direction, sensation without awareness, memory without wisdom, identity without depth. The Sri Chakra upasana, or worship of the Sri Chakra, is a discipline of reorienting all these forces toward their highest expression.
To honor Kama Akarshini is to transform desire from compulsion to devotion. To meditate upon Atma Akarshini is to channel the restless search for meaning inward. To invoke Amrita Akarshini is to recognize that the longing for permanence — felt by every human being — is itself the seed of liberation.
The Mahameru and its avaranas offer not an escape from human experience but a consecration of it — a map by which every dimension of what it means to be alive is recognized as a reflection of the divine, and every Shakti encountered within oneself becomes a doorway into the heart of the Sri Chakra itself.