Learning to Love All of Devi's Forms ( A repost )

04-16-2002, 01:54 AM

devi_bhakta

Thanks for sharing the beautiful tale of Akkamahadevi; the story
itself and the excerpts of her devotional poetry are just gorgeous!
Where ever do you find all of these wonderful treasures?!

And of course, the message of her tale is as true as it is beautiful.
When I referred to Lajja Gauri's "shocking" posture, what I had in
mind the "shock" of first impression -- the sort of jarring effect
that can "jolt us out of our complacency" and help us progress along
our spiritual path.

In fact, of course, there is nothing inherently "shocking," erotic,
scandalous or wrong about Lajja Devi's pose. However, She does force
us to confront those reactions within our own selves. If we look at
Her image and say, "Well, this is just terrible! This is wrong!" --
we are not responding to the Goddess, but to the emotions and
feelings that this particular form of the Goddess has dredged up
within us. She has taken us by surprise! Disturbed us! And She has
made us think harder about how we conceive Her and Her Divinity! In a
word, Devi has done Her job.

The next step is up to us. We can choose to look at Lajja Devi and
simply dismiss Her, saying, "That is awful; I don't want to think of
Devi in that way!" But then we close our hearts and minds, and the
lesson is lost.

And this reaction can be provoked not only by an explicit genital
display like Lajja's, but also by other "un-Goddess-like" depictions -
- Dhoomavati, the yellow-toothed, scowling, soot-covered widow;
Maatangi, the outcaste meat-eater with Her "blood-smeared mouth";
Camunda, the corpse-like crone, crawling with scorpions; even the
more familiar Kali and Tara, brandishing blood-splattered swords and
wearing severed human body parts.

The temptation can be strong to turn our backs on these
uncomfortable depictions, and appeal to more pleasing (and equally
powerful) images of the Feminine Principle; and if a devotee chooses
to do this, s/he should not be condemned for it. There are so many
beautiful and adorable depictions of Devi, and deep meditation upon
these lovely forms -- Lakshmi, Saraswati, Tripurasundari, etc, etc --
will yield Her truth as well.

But nonetheless, it seems to me a worthwhile exercise to
occasionally turn to a form of Devi that repulses or disturbs you,
and resolve to make Her the focus of your devotions for a while.
Study Her iconography, read Her holy narratives, contemplate Her
image, meditate upon Her form -- and one day soon, probably more
quickly than you would have imagined, You will find yourself adoring
this form as well. Suddenly Lajja will not seem "shocking"
or "pornographic," but rather a subtle and powerful depiction of the
primordial Feminine Principle; Camunda and Dhoomavati will no longer
seem repulsive crones, but will become loving grandmother figures.
And Ramakrishna so loved the fearsome Kali that She became to him a
cheerful toddler sitting on his lap.

What a wonderful exercise it is! By learning to adore and worship
those aspects of Devi we find most "un-lovable", we open our hearts
and souls more widely to Her than we might ever have thought
possible. By slowly removing the psychological and
emotional "limitations" we place upon Her "acceptable" imagery, we
begin to see (and to concretely experience) that She is everything in
the world -- "the good, the bad, and the ugly," as the saying goes --
and, more importantly, we learn to really, truly love it all.

Aum Maatangyai Namaha