I had been remembering some words of Cicero:

'Glory follows virtue as if it were its shadow'

To connect the nimbus or aureole around the head of saintly people with the shadow is rather arresting, isn't it?

I browsed a bit, thinking about the famous chorus about the 'Glory of the Lord' from Handel's Messiah, and came across a modern translation from Isaiah ch. 60 v1-3 NWT which is directly translated, without the familiar King James version from neutered Latin;

'Arise, O Woman, shed light for your light has come. The glory of Jehovah shines on you. For look! Darkness will cover the earth and thick gloom the nations; But on you Jehovah will shine and on you his glory will be seen. Nations will go to your light and kings to your shining splendour.'

The insertion of the vocative feminine startled me. The old translation read simply - "Arise, shine, for thy light is come" obviously the 'thy' was feminine in the Hebrew version but the Romans had no such understanding of the Holy Feminine Power.

The language of the King James version still captivates me so I went back to the old book and read further on ... the people who recognise this Glorious Woman are promised God will -

...'give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called the trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.'

I had also been pondering the mystery of how scholars have constantly overlooked the feminine in translations of many scriptures throughout the centuries. The attribution of gender to inanimate objects in some languages may have led some to think it is not important. Or perhaps, as in Jesus' lifetime, the fact that his Mother was the incarnation of the Holy Spirit has had to remain hidden until recent times when she appeared among us.

The honorific "Shri" in front of the name of every deity is a similar case of overlooking.

Many do not realise it is distinctly feminine (having a long 'ee' sound at the end) because the Shakti is inseparable from the God.

'Shri' then translates as 'splendour, glory: 'Glorious Shiva' and we are now conscious that this glory is his Shakti, the Power which is inseparable from God.

In these modern times, the darkness covering the Earth and the gloom of nations which Isaiah forsaw, we see how Rakshasas are following their inclination to disrespect and undervalue the Shakti everywhere. They can only view women as objects of lust.

In contrast we have the great model which Shri Sita/Rama exemplify. That deep respectful love for each other, in the light of which all others are seen as either parents or siblings or children.

This is the great Dharma which is given us as Sahaja Yogis, a whole new way of viewing the world: we are translated - "trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord ..."