Adya means first.

Shakti is usually associated with the idea of power or energy, but here it would be more appropriate to associate it with the idea of Presence or Existence. 

We are in the presence of the first power, the initial presence, the first energy, mother of all energies, mother of all creation, because it is the initial basis for all subsequent processes.

Adya Shakti or Adi Shakti can be understood as the mother tincture from which all that has existed, exists and will exist proceeds. 

If we have to put into words a principle that lies beyond words, let's say it's the first principle, unborn, beyond all contingencies of time, space and energy, free of all constraints, the fundamental and eternal Principle, source of all powers.

This principle has been known to human beings since time immemorial. All cultures and religions in all latitudes know and venerate this principle. Many names have been given to it, which in its subtlest state cannot be named, because it is beyond all names, all forms and all concepts. 

Anything that can be said about Adya Shakti will only reduce it to what it is not. 

Talking about Adya Shakti is like walking away from Adya Shakti, and continuing to talk about it takes us further away from it.

The best tribute we can pay him is in humble, respectful silence. 

Nevertheless, as humans, we need representation, words and symbols to understand, appropriate and conceptualize. So we've given it names born of the perception of human beings patiently prepared for this purpose. 

Adya Shakti reveals herself to them, like a jewel whose presence is revealed through the transparency and stillness of a mountain lake. 

Cultures, traditions and civilizations followed, and the cult took root, competing with speculative thought. 

Religions have emerged, lived and transformed in a constant effort to get as close as possible to the Source. Adya Shakti, Aïn Sof, Allahoumma, God, Great Spirit, Ultimate Reality, Brahman, Mahakali, so many names, so many attempts to explain and express the inexplicable and the inexpressible. 

What if the best way to approach it was to simply love it? 

Time passes... generations and civilizations pass... Adya shakti remains what it is: pure, simple, offered to pure hearts. 

"Without feet, you move faster than air; without ear, you do hear; without nostrils you do smell; without eyes, you do see; without tongue you do taste all tastes" 

The Mahakali Stotram-

"My only prayer is to try to experience the Adi-Shakti that dwells in every individual."

Daaji (Heartfulness global guide)