The Divine Mother is one of the

The Glory of the Divine Mother (I) SWAMI KIRTIDANANDA The Divine Mother is one of the innumerable forms through which the Hindu approaches God and worships Him, considering no sacrifice too great for the purpose. The impersonal absolute Brahman, of which the Upanishads speak, the eternal, undying, unborn, immortal Self, the pure essence of our being, informing everything in the universe, is too much of an abstraction for ordinary people to conceive of even. The Upanishads themselves describe the absolute Brahman as being extremely subtle, susukshma (Mundaka, I. i. 6), and inscrutable, durdarsham (Katha, I. ii. 12), and as being beyond the grasp of our senses, mind, and intellect (avàngmanasagocara). Many of the descriptions of this âtman-brahman Reality, given in the Upanishads, are staggering to the imagination. After listening to a discourse on the âtman by her husband, Maitreyi, the worthy wife of the Upanishadic sage Yàjnavalkya, herself a soul far advanced in the spiritual path, says in utter bewilderment: Just here, sir, you have led me into great confusion; I do not at all comprehend this (atraiva mà bhagavàn mohantamapipipat, na và ahamimam vijànàmi Brihadàranyaka Upanishad, IV. v. 14). Constituted as we are, we need something concrete to fix our minds on and stir our imagination, before we can think of subtler ideas. Therefore, for purposes of meditation and other spiritual practices in the case of beginners and the less advanced aspirants, the scriptures provide more concrete representations of Reality, which are within their reach. As the Mahànirvàna Tantra says: To facilitate concentration of mind and for the speedy fulfilment of aspirations, the glorious Kàli, the Mother of Time, who is really without form, is invested with forms consistent with Her attributes and activities (Manaso dhàranàrthàya shighram svàbhishtasiddhaye sukshmadhyànaprabodhàya... arupàyàh kàlikàyàh kàlamàtur-mahàyuteh, gunakriyànusàrena kriyate rupakalpanà). Or, in the words of Kulàrnava Tantra: Nirvishesham param brahma sàkshàtkartumanishvaràh; Ye mandàh te nukalpyante savisheshanirupanaih Those people of weak intellect who are not able to realize the Absolute who is without any attributes, are helped to think of Him through forms with attributes. Forms seen in meditation This is not to say that these forms are pure creations of man s imagination without any objective reality whatsoever. To warn us against such a misconception, the scriptures tell us that Brahman Itself takes form out of compassion for the devotees bhaktànàm anukampàrtham devo vigrahavàn bhavet. Or, as Sri Ramakrishna used to say: Through the cooling influence of the bhakta s (devotee s) love, the water of the ocean of Brahman becomes frozen at places 13

SWAMI KIRTIDANANDA into blocks of ice. God now and then assumes various forms for His lovers and reveals Himself to them as a Person (The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, p. 72, first Indian edition). These forms of God are forms realized by the great sages of the past in the depths of their meditation, and their validity has been tested and confirmed time and again by a long line of saints in subsequent ages. As the Bhàgavata (III. ix. 11 and III. xxiv. 31) says: Tvam bhàvayoga-paribhàvita-hritsaroja àsse Shrutekshitapatho nanu nàtha pumsàm; Yadyaddhiyà ta urugàya vibhàvayanti Tattadvapuh pranayase sadanugrahàya You reside in the lotus of the heart as meditated upon by devout worshippers. Whatever form they meditate upon, You appear in that form and bless them. Tànyeva te bhirupàni rupàni bhagavanstava; Yàni yàni ca rocante svajanànàmarupinah In whatever delightful or beautiful forms Your devotees like to see You, those forms are really Yours, although You are without any form. When we are thus forced by the very constitution of our mind and intellect to think of God in some form, what can be more natural than that we should think of Him as one like ourselves? Swami Vivekananda, in one of his lectures, half humorously remarks: If cows were to become philosophical tomorrow, they would have a cow universe and a cow solution of the problem, and a cow-god too. If cats were to become philosophical tomorrow, they would have a cat universe and a cat solution of the problem, and a cat-god too. So there is nothing unreasonable or illogical in man s thinking of God in human terms and attributing human forms to Him. The Bible says that God created man in His own image. The Hindu would say, with better logic, that God creates Himself in man s image. And with the same force of logic, he would also say that man casts God in his own image and, consequently, in the image of woman too. The Vedic people, for instance, prayed to and worshipped the deities Indra, Varuna, and so on who possessed human forms and characteristics, and who, they believed, controlled and directed the powers of nature, such as thunder, rain, wind, and so on. These were male deities, and it was but a step from the conception of God as male to the conception of God as female. The idea of the universal Father, coupled with the idea of creation, naturally brings to mind the idea of the universal Mother, and the two together make the picture of divinity complete. So the gods come to have their counterparts, even as human beings have, the Shaktis or Gnàs as they are called Indràni, Prithivi, the goddess of earth; Ushas, the goddess of dawn; Kàli, Karàli, Manojavà and others, representing the seven flames that shoot up from the external fire; Vàc, the goddess of speech, and so on, corresponding to Indra, Dyaus, the god of sky, Surya, the sun-god; Agni, the god of fire; Prajàpati, and so on. The Mother is supreme The next step in the evolution of the idea of God as the Divine Mother is the equating of these two aspects of divinity. Why should the universal Mother always shine in the borrowed light of the universal Father? She need not. She is great and glorious in Her own right. As the Rig-Veda (I. lxxxix. 10) says: 14

Aditirdyauh aditirantariksham Aditirmàtà sa pità sa putrah; Vishvedevà aditirpancajanà aditih Jàtamaditirjanitvam She, the infinite, all-encompassing Aditi is supreme. She is the heavens and the intermediate region; She is the father, mother, and child, all the gods and men, the born and the unborn. The Kena Upanishad goes even further and says that it is the great Mother Umà Haimavati who reveals the knowledge of Brahman to us. In the Devi-sukta (Rig-Veda, X. 125), the goddess Vàk Ambhrina declares that it is She who moves about in the form of the Rudras, Vasus, âdityas, and the Vishvedevas, and upholds the host of other gods Mitra, Varuna, Agni, and the two Ashvins. She it is who brings success to the sacrifices. She is the ruler of the universe and the bestower of wealth and the fruits of worship; She is Brahman and the foremost amongst those to whom the offerings are to be made. She assumes various forms and makes all creatures realize their own Self. He who eats food does so through Her; he who breathes does so through Her; he who hears and sees does so through Her; and those who know Her not as such go the downward way to death and destruction. She is the great teacher and disseminator of the highest knowledge. It is by Her grace that men are exalted above all, even to the position of Brahmà, and by Her grace they become wise. She is the creatress of heaven and earth and all that is within and without. She pervades the whole universe. Thus the Divine Mother was not only equated with Her male counterpart, but, in course of time, was given a higher place of honour. In the concept of yugala-murtis, developed long after the Vedic age, the male and female aspects of divinity are worshipped in combination, but importance is given more to the female aspect than to the male, as is evident from the names of the murtis Sàmba-Shiva, Umà-Maheshvara, Lakshmi-Nàràyana, Ràdhà-Krishna, Sità- Ràma, and so on. The Divine Mother has always the precedence of worship. Different aspects of the one Though the supreme Reality may be thought of, according to the predilection of the worshipper, as a male or a female, we have to remember that God in Himself is beyond all sex. He is neither male nor female nor hermaphrodite nàyam yoshit na ca pumàn na shando na jadah smritah, as Yàmala, a Tàntrika text, says. That is why the Upanishads use words of the different genders when referring to the supreme Reality, such as sà devatà, parà devatà, shàntam shivam, uttamah purushah, ishah, or param-àtmà. Other scriptures go to the extent of saying that the Divine Mother Herself may be meditated upon as a male, for She is in Herself nishkalà, beyond all attributes, and saccidànandalakshanà, of the nature of pure existence-knowledge-bliss: Pumrupam và smareddevim Strirupam và pi cintayet; Athavà nishkalàm dhyàyet Saccidànandalakshanàm. Is Shyàmà male or female? asks Sri Ramakrishna, and gives his answer in the form of an interesting parable. A man once saw the image of the Divine Mother wearing a sacred thread. He was surprised and said to the worshipper: What! you have put the sacred thread round the Mother s neck! The worshipper replied: Brother, I see that you have truly known the Mother. But I have not yet been able to find out whether She is male or female; that is why I have put the sacred thread on Her image. (The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, p. 195) 15

SWAMI KIRTIDANANDA Ràmprasàda also similarly says: Sometimes Thou art man, and sometimes woman art Thou. In another of his songs he says that She is the ten avatàras of Vishnu. One of the Tantras, the Mundamàlà Tantra, elaborates this idea and identifies the ten different avatàras of Vishnu with the ten forms of the Divine Mother Krishna with Kàli, Ràma with Tàrini, Kurma with Bagalà, Matsya with Dhumàvati, Nrisimha with Chinnamastà, Varàha with Bhairavi, Jàmadagnya (Parashuràma) with Sundari, Vàmana with Bhuvaneshvari, Buddha with Kamalà, and Kalki with Durgà thus: Krishnarupà kàlikà syàt ràmarupà ca tàrini; Bagalà kurmamurtih syàt mino dhumàvati bhavet. Chinnamastà nrisimhah syàt varàhashcaiva bhairavi; Sundari jàmadagnyah syàt vàmano bhuvaneshvari. Kamalà bauddharupah syàt durgà syàt kalkirupini; Svayam bhagavati kàli krishnastu bhagavàn svayam; Svayam ca bhagavàn krishnah kàlirupà vrajet vraje. Therefore, there is no fundamental difference between the different forms of the Divine Mother Herself, or between these forms and the other forms of God. They are all merely different aspects of One and the same Reality, and not each a separate God vying with the others for supremacy. There is no question here of superiority or inferiority among these forms. Each form, to its votary, is the most cherished object of his life, and as far as he is concerned, the most efficacious weapon to kill his selfishness and reach to the highest state of blessedness and peace, purity and perfection. There is no place here for wrangling over whether Kàli is greater or Krishna, whether the Divine Mother is greater or the Divine Father. But fanatical devotees always delight in such wrangling. Sri Ramakrishna used to say: Though Ràma and Shiva made up their quarrel long ago, the quarrels between the monkeys, the devotees of Ràma, and the demons, the followers of Shiva, is endless. Sri Ramakrishna relates an incident to illustrate how devotees quarrel to establish the superiority of their own chosen deities. A Vaishnava, it seems, once said to a Shàkta, with an air of superiority: It is Krishna who ferries us across this ocean of samsàra. The Shàkta derisively retorted: Yes, yes, that is quite true! Our Mother Kàli is the Empress of this universe; why should She bother about ferrying a boat? So She has employed your cowherd, Krishna, as Her boatman! That is the way of fanatics, and we should be careful to steer clear of their ways. So when we speak about the glory of the Divine Mother, it is in no way to belittle the glory of other forms of God. All forms are equally great. Yet, of all the forms the Lord Himself assumes for the sake of His devotees, or the devotees themselves conceive to pour out their heart s devotion, that of the Divine Mother is the sweetest, the most intimate, the most tender, and the purest, and so, according to Sri Ramakrishna, the best. Can anyone who has enjoyed the love of his mother deny that this relationship of the mother and the child is the best? Can he deny that the most memorable days in his life are those that he spent on his mother s lap, fondled by her? She, our mother, is the first object of our acquaintance and adoration. What other word is sweeter than Mother? What other sound can arouse in our breasts such thrills of joy as when the child says Mà or âmmà? That is why the Divine Mother has always the precedence of worship. 16

Under the sway of Shakti Even philosophy in India has not been able to leave out the idea of the Divine Mother. Let alone the promulgators of the dualistic systems, Kapila, Madhva, Ràmànuja, even the great Advaitin, Shankara, who in his philosophical treatises would not accept any truth other than the absolute non-dual Brahman, was compelled to have recourse to Mother conceived of as Màyà or Avidyà, in order to explain one of the main problems of Indian philosophy, namely the bridging of the gulf between the two worlds of experience the relative world of the senses and mind, the world of tension, conflict, and turmoil, in which the ordinary man lives, and the supersensuous world of peace, joy, and calmness, experienced by the great sages and saints. In other words, Shankara had to accept Màyà to explain how this world of multiplicity originated from the supreme Principle of non-duality. Shankara s description of this Màyà or Avidyà carries the emotional appeal and poetic beauty of an ecstatic outburst from Ràmprasàda: Avyaktanàmni parameshashaktih Anàdyavidyà trigunàtmikà parà; Kàryànumeyà sudhiyaiva màyà Yayà jagat sarvamidam prasuyate Avidyà or Màyà, called also Avyakta, the undifferentiated, is the power of the Lord. She is without beginning, is made up of the three gunas, and is superior to the effects (She produces). She is to be inferred by one of clear intellect only from the effects She produces. It is She who brings forth this whole universe. (Vivekacudàmani, 108) Sannàpyasannàpyubhayàtmikà no Bhinnàpyabhinnàpyubhayàtmikà no; Sàngàpyanangà hyubhayàtmikà no Mahàdbhutà nirvacaniyarupà She is neither existence nor nonexistence, nor partaking of both characters; She is neither sameness nor difference, nor both; She is neither composed of parts nor an indivisible whole, nor both; She is most wonderful and cannot be described in words. (ibid., 109) Sri Ramakrishna used to say: You may feel a thousand times that it is all magic, but you are still under the control of the Divine Mother. You cannot escape Her. You are not free. You must do what She makes you do. A man attains brahmajnàna only when it is given to him by the âdyàshakti, the Divine Mother. As long as the slightest trace of ego remains, one lives within the jurisdiction of âdyàshakti. One is under Her sway.... Even when you say, I am meditating or I am contemplating, still you are moving in the realm of Shakti, within its power. An interesting story is told of how this revelation of the omnipotence of the Divine Mother came to Sri Shankara. One day, it appears, Shankara was resting at the Manikarnikà ghat at Varanasi after a tiring discussion with the local pandits on some intricate philosophical problem pertaining to the Advaita doctrine. He had stretched himself on the steps of the ghat blocking the passage down to the river Ganga. At this time, a beautiful maiden came there to fill her pitcher with water. She requested Shankara to lift his feet so that she might go down to the water. Shankara asked her to cross over his body and go. The girl mildly protested that she could not do so, as that would be showing irreverence to a Bràhmana who was of noble birth and learned too. Shankara replied: Ignorant girl, there is nothing here in this universe except Brahman. You and I are the same; there is no difference between us. So you just pass over me and you will be committing no sin thereby. This answer did not satisfy the girl. 17

SWAMI KIRTIDANANDA So she again requested him to remove his feet. Shankara was annoyed at her insistence, and shouted: Didn t I tell you that I am extremely tired and have no strength to lift up my feet? Moreover, suddenly I feel that I have not the power even to lift them. The girl gently told him that he could very well have said so in the beginning, instead of all that eloquent talk about Brahman. Then she lifted up his feet and went down to the river. As she was coming up again with her pitcher filled, Shankara asked her for some water, as he was feeling very thirsty. The girl smiled and said: Why, you are lying at the water s edge! How is it, then, that you suffer from thirst? Shankara reminded her of what he had told her already about his inability to rise for want of shakti, the necessary power and strength. The girl then solemnly told him: Shankara, is it not you who ignore Shakti, the Divine Power? And as she spoke the sound of her voice reverberated from bank to bank of the Ganga. Shankara, startled by her words, shut his eyes, frightened like a child. When he opened his eyes, he saw a blinding light beaming forth from the girl s fearful eyes. He rushed forth to clasp the feet of the girl, crying Mother! But the girl promptly disappeared. Shankara hurried to the Mother s temple at Varanasi and poured forth his devotion to the Divine Mother in a number of beautiful verses. This story, whether true or not, is strikingly similar to what happened in more recent times in the case of two other great Advaitins, namely Totapuri, Sri Ramakrishna s guru, and Swami Vivekananda, his disciple, both of whom accepted the Divine Mother in later life. The Vaishnava scriptures speak of four ways in which we may establish our relationship with God and commune with Him. We may regard God as friend, or master, or child, or beloved, that is, as husband or paramour. Though these scriptures speak of regarding God as a child, and do not include the mother in their philosophical and theological treatises, they have been forced to give a high place of honour to the Divine Mother. For example, the Bengal school of Vaishnavism speaks of a number of Shaktis of Krishna the Svarupa Shakti, the Màyà Shakti, the Jiva Shakti, and so on. It is through the help of these Shaktis that Krishna plays His lilàs in this world, or that the world itself, this inanimate and animate universe, is brought into being. Similarly, Ràmànuja and Madhva, the promulgators of the two well-known philosophical systems, Vishishtàdvaita and Dvaita, and also the propounders of the two Vaishnava schools in the South, accept and revere the Divine Mother or Shakti. According to Madhva, Lakshmi, the divine consort of Vishnu, is the intermediate principle between the highest principle Hari and the highest soul, Brahmà. She is the presiding deity of all primordial matter, eternally free, all-pervading, and untouched by sorrow and misery. But she is dependent on Hari, who is the only independent principle and on whom alone She is dependent. She is the Mother of the universe, the acme of female loveliness and perfection, the goddess of fortune and plenty, the essence of intelligence and bliss. Ràmànuja, on the other hand, considers Lakshmi and Nàràyana as inseparably connected. They together constitute the highest Reality, Parabrahman. They always act in unison. It is, however, at Her intercession on behalf of the devotees that the Lord acts. In the Sànkhya system, the Divine Mother is known as Prakriti or Pradhàna, the primordial principle. It is She who produces 18

this universe in the presence of the Purusha, the passive soul. But in this system She is regarded as unintelligent, though active and independent. The source of the universe Though every system thus acknowledges the greatness of the Divine Mother in some form or other, it is in the Shàkta system that She is seen at Her best, in Her full glory and splendour. There She occupies a pre-eminent position. She is no more the subservient deity or principle acting in co-ordination with, or playing a secondary role to Her male counterpart Shiva; it is Shiva who lies at Her feet, inert and motionless. Here, in the Sànkhya system, She is the active agent dancing Her dance of creation and destruction on Shiva s chest, and not the unconscious or unreal principle of the nature of ignorance as in Vedànta or Sànkhya. Nor is She a passive helper of Her Lord Shiva. If Shiva is the consciousness aspect of this universe, She is the mind, life, and matter aspect; if Shiva is the Power-holder, She is Power Itself. This Shiva and Shakti, Consciousness and Power, are not two separate entities. They are one and the same reality looked at from different angles. Shiva is Shakti and Shakti is Shiva; or as Sri Ramakrishna often used to repeat, and make his devotees repeat with him: Brahman is verily Shakti and Shakti is verily Brahman. They are like the fire and its power to burn, like the gem and its lustre, like milk and its whiteness, like the sun and its rays or brightness. We cannot think of fire without its power to burn, nor of a gem without its lustre, nor of milk without its whiteness, nor of the sun without its rays. If we think of the one, the thought of the other automatically comes to the mind. Even so are Shakti and Shiva, Consciousness and Power, a single concept, inseparable from each other. Or, better, they are like a snake in motion and at rest. Whether the snake is moving or stationary, it is the same snake. So, also, when Brahman is static It is called Shiva, when dynamic Shakti. But as far as the created universe is concerned, Shakti is the master. Shiva is helpless without Her, and can do nothing in Her absence. This is symbolically represented in the Tantra literature by the figure of Mother Tripurasundari. The Mother Tripurasundari, representing the creative aspect of Shiva-Shakti, is seated in the centre of a golden orb, ready to evolve as the universe. Below Her are two inert figures, Sakala and Nishkala Shivas, lying one over the other on a six-sided throne. The lower figure, Nishkala Shiva, dark in colour, with eyes closed, is Brahman in the static state, immutable consciousness and illumination. The upper figure, Sakala Shiva, reddish in colour and wide awake, is Brahman associated with the Mother, as the material and efficient cause of the universe. This whole universe, with its animate and inanimate objects, is an evolute of the Divine Mother. She is the creatress and origin of this universe. Nay, She Herself, or an infinitesimal portion of Herself, is this manifested universe from stones and minerals up to the highest human or celestial being. But She is full in Herself, the same primordial Prakriti, and never becomes changed or reduced in any way. Avyàkrità hi paramà prakritistvamàdyà, as the Candi or Devi-màhàtmya (IV. 7) says. How does She create this universe? By the illusory power of Her màyà, consisting of the three gunas sattva, rajas, and tamas. (To be continued) * Swami Kirtidananda, who gave this lecture at the Institute in October 1962, was Joint Editor of the Prabuddha Bharata. 19