Last week, while travelling with my family to Rameshwaram on a short temple vacation that included Kanyakumari and Madurai, I found myself reflecting deeply—almost without effort. Perhaps it was the rhythm of the road, or perhaps the stillness that ancient spaces naturally invite. I had just written an article titled “The Planning Routines We Forget — and the Prosperity We Lose Because of It”, and I was still carrying those thoughts with me.
As we moved from temple to temple, what struck me was not just the palpable energy many of us feel in such places, but something quieter and more profound: the central presence of female deities. These were not marginal figures. They were powerful, revered, and foundational. It led me to a simple yet unsettling question—one that stayed with me long after the temple bells faded.
Why did modern-day “women empowerment” even need to begin, when more than 2,000 years ago, women were already standing shoulder to shoulder with men in our civilisations?
This question took me down a path of reflection and research, not to judge the present or glorify the past, but to understand what changed—and what we may have forgotten along the way.
A civilisational memory worth revisiting
Sanathana Dharma is often described not merely as a religion, but as a way of life—one rooted in the search for truth through righteous living and disciplined self-reflection. Within this way of life, the feminine was never an afterthought. Shakti, the feminine principle, was seen as the very source of energy, creation, wisdom, and transformation. The Divine Mother was not symbolic; she was central.
What surprised me further was realising that this was not unique to India.
Across ancient civilisations, the worship of female deities was not unusual—it was normal. From the temples of Egypt and Mesopotamia to the shrines of Greece, Rome, Japan, Africa, and the Americas, goddesses embodied fertility, wisdom, protection, justice, compassion, and even war. They were not confined to domesticity; they governed cosmos and kingship alike.
This does not mean ancient societies were free of patriarchy or that women always enjoyed equal social status. Yet, at a civilisational level, the feminine principle was acknowledged as essential, powerful, and worthy of reverence.
Where did the shift occur?
As my inquiry deepened, a pattern became clearer. Many ancient traditions were pluralistic in their understanding of the divine. Gods and goddesses coexisted, each representing different dimensions of reality and human experience.
In contrast, the later traditions evolved around strict monotheism. One God, beyond form and gender in essence, yet described linguistically and symbolically in masculine terms. In this framework, goddess worship was not merely sidelined; it was actively rejected as incompatible with religious truth.
This was not a universal or linear “progression” of history. Even today, many spiritual systems, and many indigenous traditions continue to honour female divinity. Rather, it was a significant civilisational divergence—one that shaped not just theology, but culture, institutions, and everyday life.
Understanding this nuance helped me see the issue with greater compassion and clarity. This is not about one tradition being right and another being wrong. It is about recognising how certain ways of seeing the world emphasised balance, while others prioritised unity through exclusion.
From civilisation to organisation
At this point, my thoughts naturally returned to the world of work and leadership.
Organisations, like civilisations, are living systems. They operate on explicit structures—targets, hierarchies, KPIs—but also on an implicit subconscious made up of beliefs, values, and routines, doHow® Prosperity Routines. When balance is lost at this deeper level, performance eventually suffers, no matter how advanced the systems appear on the surface.
In ancient traditions, reverence for the feminine symbolised balance—between action and reflection, strength and compassion, logic and intuition, power and responsibility. In modern organisations, excellence requires the same balance.
This is where the doHow® Prosperity Routines resonate deeply with me. At their core, they are not about tools or techniques. They are about righteous living in a contemporary sense—acting with integrity, clarity, and accountability—and about disciplined reflection—creating space to think, learn, and course-correct regularly.
Without reflection, action becomes noise. Without righteous intent, efficiency becomes hollow. Prosperity, whether personal or organisational, emerges only when both are present.
Perhaps the real question is not why empowerment became necessary, but what we lost when reflection gave way to speed, and balance gave way to domination—of numbers over people, of results over purpose, of doing over being.
Ancient civilisations remind us that humanity flourishes when we honour all dimensions of life, not just the loudest or most visible ones. Modern excellence demands the same humility.
If we can relearn the discipline of reflection and the courage of righteous living—at work, at home, and within ourselves—we may find that prosperity is not something we need to chase. It naturally follows.
That, to me, is the enduring wisdom worth carrying forward.
Happy reading!