TantraMag.COM - The "Miss Shakti" Contest - A Contest Of Outer And Inner Beauty

T H E "M I S S S H A K T I" C O N T E S T - A C O N T E S T
O F O U T E R A N D I N N E R B E A U T Y

The international yogic camps from Costinesti have one famous, genuine tradition: the "Miss Shakti" contest.

This contest is not as it may appear a regular contest of feminine beauty. This is a truly spiritual contest in which the participants do not try to compete with each other, but rather with themselves, surpassing their own limits. This is why we can say that this contest is a quick means to awaken the energies of Shakti in a woman.

The spiritual orientation of this contest is set forth from the very beginning, through the special consecration performed even before the contest begins.

This act of consecration implies the total, unconditional offering or consecration of the fruits of the contest to Shiva or to one of the 10 Great Cosmic Powers or to other divine aspects of manifestation.

This offering performed before each "Miss Shakti" contest determines the contest to be under the protection and inspiration of one or the other divine aspect to whom the consecration was performed.

For a deeper understanding of the spiritual valences brought about by the "Miss Shakti" contest, we present to you an interview of Miss Shakti 2001 offered to the Yoga Magazin from Romania:

"Anyone who has seen a cute elephant can understand. For the Hindu, Ganesha represents more than a plump god with trump and ivory fangs. He is a warm divine presence, a close friend who ensure the perfect protection. He opens the way to any daring project, offers fabulous prosperity and is a patron of the arts.

In 2001, Ganesha was the patron of the "Miss Shakti" contest, a spiritual event that brought on the stage the most beautiful and charming women who practice yoga in Romania and in other 10 foreign countries.

Cristina Petrea was awarded the crown of queen. She is absolutely convinced that she did not take part in an ordinary beauty contest: "It was like a magic game and we are privileged to have been granted the access to it. For us, life has now more charm and more mystery."

The chosen of the god Ganesha was born in Suceava, under the sign of Pisces, is 19 years old and a student at the Faculty of International Relations in Bucharest.

If you get to meet her face to face, you are seduced by the openness she discusses. There is nothing conventional about her. Nothing predictable as well. After chess, basketball, ballet, and fashion presentations, Cristina Petrea has definitely chosen yoga: "It is all I could ever want. And a bit more. It is a gift from God."

Cristina Petrea did not think of Ganesha as a mere stage-design option. Ganesha was indeed present in the "Miss Shakti" contest. The god has answered the invocation. How? By playing, as he so much likes: "There were signs, as if he was winking at me. At the first selection, I came to support a friend, I did not want to participate in the "Miss Shakti" contest. Nonetheless, here I was on the stage, almost ready to act the selection trial, I had the feeling that it was just a game and that nothing will come out of it.

At the end of the "Miss Shakti" contest when I went off the stage with the crown still on my head, my sister reminded me that a year before, after flunking an eliminatory and preliminary "Miss Shakti" test, I left the contest saying: "It�s ok, next year I will be Miss Shakti"."

After the contest, a friend gave her a miniature statue of Ganesha, bought for her from India, without suspecting at the moment of the purchase how appropriate this gift will be.

During the show - well, the final artistic moment, before the awards were announced, took her breath away. The actor representing Ganesha�s soul was supposed to throw towards the sky five white doves.

He was up, on trump of Ganesha (the scene was designed to represent Ganesha's head). Only four doves flew away, the fifth came right behind the scenes, sat on Cristina Petrea�s shoulder, then came back on stage, on the actor�s chest and stayed in his hands for the rest of the show.

"I felt at that moment that this is the divine grace...and when I realized that my name was announced at the awards I cannot describe the feeling of gratitude."

If you ask her what she loves more in a man, she will say without hesitation: "The mystery, the seduction, the game". The gaze that says more than words. Miss Shakti 2001 is charmed when a man plays along.

For instance, one day she was on a bus, when she clearly felt a powerful masculine presence next to her. The stranger did not touch her, she did not turn around to look at him. The thought alone that he is a powerful man, and that he noticed her made her shudder.

Nobody else noticed anything, because none of the two did anything visible to the eye, but in few minutes the air between them was magnetic. If he would have touched her shoulder, she believes that sparks would have come out.

At a certain moment the bus driver hit the breaks suddenly and the stranger�s breath rested a moment on Cristina�s neck. "I melted" she admits, but I did not turn around to look at him. I felt his excitement, I liked that we both enjoyed that unseen attraction. I held tightly the bar and I am sure he noticed the firm grasp."

When she reached her destination, Cristina Petrea turned around, looked the stranger in the eyes, touched him lightly on the cheek and got off the bus without looking back.

Yoga Magazin: You do not have the standard proportions usually appreciated in beauty contests. Why do you think your curvy figure was so appreciated?

Cristina Petrea: The "Miss Shakti" contest is a special show that proposes a different view on beauty. It is about the archetypal model of woman. The woman must be vital, full of energy, voluptuous.

If she faints in the street because she has not eaten in days, how much love can she give? How intense can her erotic experiences be?

Yoga has taught me to respect my body and to live in harmony. A skeleton-like woman contradicts the laws of harmony and she cannot use her huge potential, the energy that gives birth to universes.

Yoga Magazine: Did you always looked like this?

Cristina Petrea (laughing): No. I was very thin and I wanted to be even thinner. I am glad I understood in time that I cannot grow spiritually if the flesh on my bones is inexistent.

Really, have you ever seen any representation of a faint, lean Ganesha? The orient has clearly indicated this thing. Look at the Indian women: they are curvy, and even the westerners, bombarded with images of skeleton-like women, seem to awaken from the collective hypnosis into which they have been thrown. It is not an accident that the last Miss World winners are Indians and they look differently from their colleagues.

Yoga Magazine: Do you say that the Miss Shakti contest is a special show. Why? Does it make you feel something special?

Cristina Petrea: Absolutely. The "Miss Shakti" contest has a unique flavour. I also can make the comparison. I won "Miss Innocence" when I was 14, "Miss Boboc" and "Miss Suceava", I�ve been in modelling for more than 2 years and I�ve been to many fashion presentation.

It is a spicy, colourful world, full of fun. Yet, it does not ask for much from you and it really does not offer you much. It does not solicit your deeper aspects; it does not make you search within yourself, because they will award the body only.

In the "Miss Shakti" contest on the other hand, the spectators are initiated, they look at you and are capable to see more than a beautiful woman, they see a goddess.

I looked at them and I would see the divine part of me, as well as of them. The "Miss Shakti" contest is a challenge all right, because it makes you go to the spiritual from you, you cannot cheat, and awarded or not, this experience produces an inner mutation.

Yoga Magazine: How does a beautiful woman feel competing with other beautiful women?

Cristina Petrea: I believe that none of us felt we were competing. Each of us was facing herself and God. There were not tensionate moments in which one of us wanted to be better than the rest, we were like friends, like sisters, helping each other put on make up, laughing, hugging. Even today we stayed in touch, we meet and talk.

Yoga Magazine: Did this state of a group appear spontaneously?

Cristina Petrea: The first day of preparation was important. We did a very special empathy exercise. Each of us would pass in front of all the other girls, in turns, they would hold hands and look into each other�s eyes for about two minutes and then moved on to the next girl.

This exercise helped us become united and feel each other. It was like a magical click, you looked at someone and really saw her soul. It was an unexpected and intense experience. Then it all came about naturally, we were open towards each other and I felt my soul got richer with every beautiful thing I saw in these girls.

Yoga Magazine: Which are the tests in the "Miss Shakti" contest?

Cristina Petrea: The tests are very complex. From the stage-presence trial and personal presentation (attitude, and spiritual conception) to the test of intelligence and attention, spiritual empathy, the individual test (which is different for any girl and none of us knew at least what to expect), the dance and feminity test, the video test (which we shoot on the spot, during the camp) and to the written test of erotic knowledge and masculine psychology.

Yoga Magazine: It really sounds like a challenge! Which was the test in which you had the greatest emotions?

Cristina Petrea: Unexpectedly, the dance and feminity one. I thought I would be completely relaxed, because dancing was a great passion of mine for like all my life. I was a ballet student for seven years, but for the first time in my life, before going on stage I asked myself what do I have to give to the people watching me?

At this point I had a shock, because suddenly I understood that I was just observing the other people from a safe distance and that I did not live these relationships as I should have.

I was backstage when I realized this, and right away my name was announced. I entered the stage, my knees were trembling, and I began to pray.

The people in the room applauded me with such warmth and enthusiasm, that I said: "Lord, if you made this possible, this only means that I have to respond to this with love."

Then something amazing occurred, I began to feel as if I was huge, floating in a sea of energy. I was dancing without thinking about anything else, it was like a kind of a trance, I felt free, infinite, happy to be able to offer something to the rest of the world.

Yoga Magazine: Which moment would you choose for the top of the surprises?

Cristina Petrea: The shooting for my video. We went to another resort, and instead of an elephant we intended to use, there were actually two elephants, close friends, so close they would not separate. I was not scared at all. All I did came naturally, as if I really was the master of an elephant, at a certain point.

It was awesome to be riding an elephant, like a queen, I felt protected and I felt the soul of a creature strong enough to smash a person in a second, and yet it is so devoted. I was not scared when the elephant started running with me on top of it, towards a lake nearby.

I was amazed at the speed and agility with which it moved. I leaned forward and I talked to it gently, and finally it stopped under the amazed eyes of the tamer and the curious people who had gathered around, attracted by my sexy outfit.

The tamer said it was a mystery how the elephant stopped for a person whom it did not know, doing a thing it was not trained to do: lifting me on its trump.

Yoga Magazine: The applause have stopped, the lights are out. How is Miss Shakti 2001 after the show?

Cristina Petrea: I have always loved simple, clear things: once with my first steps on the stage, I realized we need sweetness, tenderness, and warmth in my relationships with others. All my experiences during the "Miss Shakti" contest were revelations. A magical game in which you discover something and you cross your limits.

Yoga Magazine: What have you discovered? What have you surpassed?

Cristina Petrea: I gave up my distance to other people. I started seeing them as luminous fragments of God. I discovered how wonderful it is to love without confines, without limits. I understood that "Miss Shakti" is looked upon as a model and that I have a great responsibility.

Yoga Magazine: Which is the ideal portrait of Miss Shakti?

Cristina Petrea: A woman capable to give herself completely in love, to find her happiness in the yearning for her lover, for God. A woman capable of seeing the spark of divinity in every creature. A woman who is intelligent, beautiful, radiant, fascinating, effervescent, erotic, generous, noble, humble and deeply spiritual.

Yoga Magazine: Can you describe Cristina Petrea in love?

Cristina Petrea: She loves the intensity, the honey and the fire. She wastes no moment. She is not cheap in love, and she makes no bargains. She is ready to go all the way, to the infinite.

Yoga Magazine: So help you God!

Photomodelling by Cristina Petrea