Devi Gita-Comment on Marriage

[Guest guest]

I was reading a selection from the DEVI GITA last night before going

to sleep. It was Chapter 7 in which the Goddess is teached Himalaya

the Yoga of Devotion. She says, "There are three well-known paths of

mine leading ot liveration, Mountain King: the yoga of action, the

yoga of knowledge, and the yoga of devotion, my good sire. Of these

three the latter is the easiest to practice in all respects,

appealing naturally to the heart without distressing the body or

mind."

 

The translator and commentator, C. Mackenzie Brown, comments that the

DEVI GITA stresses the role of devotion as preparatory to knowledge

whereas the Bhagavat Purana (telling the incarnations of Vishmu

incluidng Rama and Krishna) say the purpose of devotion is to develop

dispassion which prepares one for knowledge.

 

This reminds me of Amma telling the difference between her experience

in Krishna Bhava and Devi Bhava. In Krishna Bhava she felt entirely

dispassionate toward the suffering of others whereas in Devi Bhava

she feels very much the sorrows of people.

 

Brown comments further "While the BHAGAVATA sees dispassion as the

fruit of devotion and as an essential attribute of the true devotee,

the DEVI GITA streses that devotion leads the person of passion to

sepreme knowledge, and that without knowledge, dispassion in itself

is useless. The difference is one of nuance, but reflects the

underlying attitudes fo the two texts toward the life of the

householder. the DEVI GITA and the DEVI BHAGAVATA as a whole,

understand the householding stage, even with all its distractions and

passions, as compatible with the highest spiritual attainment. The

BHAGAVATA generally regards householing as a severe spiritual

obstacle."

 

>From our Women's Spirituality trip to Kerala last year, I brought

back this book, THE DEVI GITA, translated and annotated by C.

Mackenzie Brown. It is comprised of the final ten chapters from the

Srimad Devi Bhagavatam, a puranic text compared to the Bhagavata

Purana which details the incarnations of Lord Vishnu including Rama

and Krishna. Mackenzie is a Harvard trained scholar who had

previously written THE TRIUMPH OF the GODDESS: THE CANONICAL MODELS

AND THEOLOGICAL VISIONS OF THE DEVI-BHAGAVATA-PURANA. That former

book included a description of parallels between the text and themes

in the Bhagavat Gita we may know, the conversation between Krishna

and Arjuna, and the DEVI GITA. For people who enjoy this sort of

book, it has the complete Sanskrit, a nice index, and is published by

Sri Satguru Publications, a Division of India Book Centre in Delhi.

 

The selection, even if a commentary, above seemed highly relevant to

recent exchanges about marriage and spiritual life.

 

Aikya