God as Mother: Celebration of the Mother Principle

By PRANAV KHULLAR

Celebration of the Mother Principle

Swami Vivekananda, who had a vision of the Divine Mother at Kanyakumari said: "The calm sea is the Absolute; the same sea in waves is the Divine Mother: She is time, space, causation..."

Vivekananda's spiritual preceptor, Sri Ramakrishna's child-like adoration of the Mother brought Her alive at Dakshineshwar, initiating a spiritual renaissance in late 19th century Bengal and the rest of India. Ancient cultures worldwide worship the Mother who is the focus of ritual sadhana. Arthur Avalon talking about Tanra sums up the relevance of the Mother goddess thus: "Shiva is shava (corpse) without shakti (consciousness), represented in the Mother Form..." Vedanta views Her as the essence of the stream of consciousness - infinite, indivisible and all-pervading. Kundalini Yoga perceives the Mother as the manifestation of the inner energy, to be channelised through the Ida, Pingala and Sushumna nadis.

Durga Puja is to Bengal what Ganesh Chaturthi is to Maharashtra - an occasion to celebrate, worship, bond together, to get festive, to exhibit one's artistic abilities, and all in the name of the Divine Mother who is welcomed back as a daughter comes home from her husband's abode in the Himalayas for these few days in the month of Aswina (September - October). When the time would come for her return, she would be given a warm send-off from her maternal home.

Relating to God as Mother forges a personalised relationship, strengthening the bond between bhakta and bhagvan, as between a child and mother. Celebrated as Navratri in other parts of India, these nine nights are devoted to the worship of the Divine Mother - some do it through dancing the Garba or Dandiya Raas as in Gujarat, and some do it through austerities and fasting.

The Devi Mahatmyam or the Adoration of the Devi Mother, recited by devotees, is also known as the Durga Saptashati. It sings the glory of the Divine Mother in an anecdotal style, detailing how Shakti in her various avatars, has defeated the asuras. Sages believe that this is an allegory of the evolution of the soul to its acme point, which is the underlying nature of the worship of the Mother during Navratri. Swami Krishnananda of the Sivananda order believes that the Devi Mahatmyam, which is part of the Markandaya Purana, "...is an epic counterpart of the Bhagavad Gita in its practical implementations..." given that a "...complete transformation of outlook, attitude and constitution of our being" is sought to be achieved by this recitation in these nine nights.

The destruction of Madhu-Kaitabha, the asuras created with dirt from Vishnu's ear, represents the removal of the dirt of kama, krodha and lobha, which cover the consciousness, as coal tar would cover a glass. Mahalakshmi worship is the first stage in the search for Truth. The second stage is signified by the destruction of Mahishasura and the Raktabija by Maha Kali - getting rid of distractions of the mind. The last stage, the destruction of Shumbha-Nishumbha is the allegorical destruction of avidya or ajnana ( Avarana or Veil of Ignorance) when wisdom is sought through the grace of Maha Saraswati.

Sri Ramakrishna brought alive the grace of the Divine as Mother in his stirring saga of faith and love, forcing even his Advaita guru, the ascetic Totapuri, to acknowledge that without Her Grace it is impossible to attain liberation. Swami Chidananda brings home the necessity and meaning of Mother worship by showing that the invocation of the Divine as Mother is a powerful spiritual tool to eliminate one's pashu or animal nature, and is a call to our higher nature, teaching us viveka (discernment) and putting us on the road to vichara (self-enquiry), as the refining of one's Iccha Shakti , Jnana Shakti and Kriya Shakti .