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T A R A 
One of the characteristics of these deities is the fact that they are pictures riding an animal and surrounded by several entities who serve them with devotion.The complete power of the subtle sound the famous text Tantrasara describes Tara as glowing with a divine radiance and generously offering gifts to her worshippers. Among these gifts, the texts mention a profound knowledge of the mysteries of creation, a great poetical inspiration, material prosperity, and success in one's actions. The Great Cosmic Force Tara is known as the feminine counterpart of the great Buddha Avalokiteshvara, who looks upon and help all beings with his divine compassion. In the Tantric tradition, Tara resembles to a significant extent to another Great Cosmic Force, Kali. Indeed, in her aspect as Divine Creative Word (logos), Tara is the first transformation of time and of the energy of life, which is Kali. As power of the subtle sound, Tara also corresponds to Kali, who is The Great Cosmic Force of time and transformation. Between word (logos) and time (change) there is a close interdependence. We may be able to understand that the logos is like a consciousness of time, and that time is but a kind of "movement" of the Word. 
Essentially speaking, the Divine Logos (which is an endless and ecstatic creative vibration) represents the fundament of the appearance and manifestation under different forms of the energy of time. Tara represents the knowledge that enlightens from an etymological point of view. The word Tara means "the savior" and originates in the Sanskrit root "tri", referring to "passing over", as in passing over a river, a sea, a mountain, or in other words to overcome a difficult situation. Therefore, in an exoteric approach, we may say that the goddess Tara should be invoked in times of peril or misfortune, or when we need to make a decision and we are not sure about the alternatives. On the other hand, from an esoteric perspective, Tara is the knowledge that saves us. The profound meaning of the goddess is that she offers her disciples the divine endless wisdom, freeing them from the chains of the samsaric suffering - that is from the chain of the successive reincarnation. She is the Polar Star guiding us on the path of spiritual freedom. Another meaning of the word Tara is "star", in the sense that this Great Cosmic Force is just as a star of our frenetic aspiration towards God. 
Consequently, she is both our inspiration and our guide on the complex path of spiritual freedom. One of her cosmic attributions is to save or free us from the different troubles we have to face in life, and from this respect she is very much like Durga - one of Kali's hypostasis. Therefore, she sometimes bears the name Durga-Tara. However, while Durga signifies the power that destroys any obstacle, difficulty and negative force that aggresses us, Tara makes us sublimate almost instantaneously these aspects and consequently successfully overcome them. In other words, Tara is the very power that makes us transcend all the inferior and ignoble aspects of our life. From this perspective, the goddess not only saves us from the imminent dangers, but she also offers us the possibility to access more and more elevated levels of spirituality. Moreover, as the obstacle the most difficult to overcome is our mind itself, Tara helps us go beyond our very minds, beyond the waves and turbulence of our thoughts. |