Divine mother

[Guest guest]

Forgive me if this question is too basic for this group.

 

Can someone explain me who is the DIVINE MOTHER ?

I read Ramakrishna Parmahansa, Parmahansa Yogananda and many many others talk

about HER.

But is there a equivalency ? Is she Ma Parvati, Ma Durga, Ma Kali, Ma Laxmi, Ma

Saraswati?

WHo is she?

 

When we recite the Lalitha Sahasranama, are we praying to our Divine mother?

 

Also, I hear of Yakshini? Can someone create a chart for the Divine Mothers name

as referred in Zen Buddhism to the names used in Hinduism? Can we even think of

such a chart?

 

1. Kali

2. Tara

3. Shodasi

4. Bhuvaneshvari

5. Bhairavi

6. Chinnamasta

7. Bagalamukhi

8. Dhumavati

9. Matangi

10. Kamala

 

Thanks for your patience

---

Shiva Bhakta

http://www.jyotirlinga.com

SHIVAUM

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Shiva Bhaktiwrote:

> Forgive me if this question is too basic for this group.

>

> Can someone explain me who is the DIVINE MOTHER ?

> I read Ramakrishna Parmahansa, Parmahansa Yogananda and many many

others talk about HER.

> But is there a equivalency ? Is she Ma Parvati, Ma Durga, Ma Kali,

Ma Laxmi, Ma Saraswati?

> WHo is she?

>

> When we recite the Lalitha Sahasranama, are we praying to our

Divine mother?

>

> Also, I hear of Yakshini? Can someone create a chart for the Divine

Mothers name as referred in Zen Buddhism to the names used in

Hinduism? Can we even think of such a chart?

>

> 1. Kali

> 2. Tara

> 3. Shodasi

> 4. Bhuvaneshvari

> 5. Bhairavi

> 6. Chinnamasta

> 7. Bagalamukhi

> 8. Dhumavati

> 9. Matangi

> 10. Kamala

>

> Thanks for your patience

> ---

> Shiva Bhakta

> http://www.jyotirlinga.com

> SHIVAUM

>

=======================

Dear Shiva:

 

One aspect of the Divine Mother is Kali. Below is a description from

Swami Satyananda Saraswati of Napa, California. The Swami is the

most senior disciple of Shree Maa (who many percieve to be a Mahatma)

at Devi Mandir, Napa, California. Swami writes:

 

=============

 

KALI - Understanding the Divine Mother

 

'Kal' means Darkness; Kali takes away that Darkness. She takes away

the darkness from every individual who strives in the path of

perfection by performing the spiritual disciplines of purifying

austerities. Just as all the colors of the spectrum mix into black,

yet still black remains black, so too, Kali, who is completely Dark,

Unknowable, takes away all the Darkness, yet She, Herself, remains

unchanged.

 

'Kal' means Time and 'i' means the Cause; Kali, the Cause of Time or

She Who is Beyond Time, activates Consciousness to perception, allows

Consciousness to perceive.

 

She wears a garland of the heads of impure thoughts, which She has

severed from the personalities of Her devotees. She cuts down all the

conflicting concepts which debate their various ideologies within the

arena of mind, silences the tumultuous roar of mental conflict and

the anguish of egotistical attachment, takes the physical

manifestations to Herself, and makes a garland of perplexity. Thus

She wears all karma as an ornament, while She stops the chattering

voices of the active mind, so that Her devotees can experience the

purity of inner peace in the absorption of solitude.

 

As the Destroyer of Madhu and Khaitabha, Too Much and Too Little,

She puts Her devotees in the balance of divine meditation.

 

She is called Camunda, the Slayer of Anger and Passion, who cuts down

all the angry thoughts and impure passions along with their

tremendous armies. When Canda and Munda, Anger and Passion, hurled

thousands of discuses at Her, She merely opened wide Her mouth, and

all of those terrible opposing weapons entered the gateway to

infinity, absorbed into Her being without effect.

 

She took all the horses of the cavalry of thoughts, along with their

chariots and charioteers; elephants along with their drivers,

protectors and armor; and uncountable thousands of warriors of the

army of thoughts; She put them into Her mouth and hideously began to

chew. She took all the soldiers of the armies opposing divinity, the

entire army of thoughts, projections, speculations, and immediately

She digested them all.

 

Witnessing the destruction of confusion, the Gods experience extreme

joy! See how many contemplations, prejudices and attitudes from which

we have been freed! Having given up all the difficulties, all the

thoughts, the very ego itself, to Kali, the mind experiences the

utmost peace and delight!

 

Raktabija, who performed great austerities, was awarded the boon that

whenever a drop of his blood would touch the ground, in that very

same place a new Raktabija would be born with the same vitality,

courage and strength, the same capacity to captivate the mind. Rakta

means red, the color; it also means blood and passion; most

specifically, a passion for something - Desire. Bija means the seed;

Raktabija literally translates as the Seed of Desire.

 

See how he manifests in action. In order to accomplish his desire, he

multiplies into countless new desires with the same intensity, the

same capacity of captivating the mind, all of which seek fulfillment

as well. As we find desire for one thing, one drop of blood has

touched the ground, and immediately, automatically, a new 'something'

is required in order to fulfill that desire. Another drop.

 

This goes on indefinitely, causing a continual necessity to act.

Every time a Seed of Desire touches the ground, a new Seed of Desire

is born in that very same place. Ultimately the entire earth has been

filled with Seeds of Desire.

 

Seeing this and understanding fully well the tremendous import and

significance of the all-pervasiveness of desire, the Gods became

extremely dejected. In great alarm we all called to the Divine Mother

for help. 'Oh Compassionate Kali, stick out your tongue and drink up

all the desires of existence. Only your mouth has sufficient capacity

to consume all desire! And when you will have digested all desire,

then the Gods will be free from desire.'

 

This is why She shows Her very lovely, red, protruding tongue -- in

order to make all existence free from desire.

 

Kali is most often depicted as standing upon the corpse-like form of

Lord Shiva, dancing upon the stage of Consciousness. She is the

perceivable form of Consciousness. Consciousness is awareness. Rather

than the actor, Consciousness is the witness of all action. That is

why Lord Shiva is shown as a lifeless corpse: still, immobile, his

eyes are fixed, trained on the image of the Divine Mother. All that

Consciousness perceives is the dance of Nature.

 

She is dancing to infatuate Him, causing Him to direct His attention

to Her. But Shiva does not forget that it is Nature who is dancing,

not I; and He remains the silent Witness. This body is Nature. I am

Consciousness, the silent witness of the actions of Nature. I am not

the performer. This body acts according to its nature, because that

is its nature. Remembering this, I am free, one among the audience in

a theater watching the drama of life.

 

Kali is Nature personified -- not necessarily the dark force of

Nature, but all of Nature: Mother Nature, as She dances upon the

stage of Consciousness. As all the qualities reside together, the

three Gunas: Sattva, Rajas and Tamas; activity, desire and rest, Kali

embodies the Three. However, She is more frequently associated with

Tamas. Tamas means darkness, but not necessarily in the sense of

ignorance. There is a darkness which exposes the light. Kali as the

personification of Tamas, is the Energy of Wisdom.

 

She spreads Her darkness over worldly desire, makes seekers oblivious

to the transient externals, totally self-contained within. Pure

Consciousness knows that the world of matter will continue to revolve

according to its nature, in a cyclical flow of creation, preservation

and transformation - the wheel of life. It goes on of its own accord.

 

When one can reside within, without identification or attachment to

the ever-changing externals, then the supreme truth can be realized.

 

Kali is jnana shakti, the energy of Wisdom, the intuitive

illumination within, as compared with the intellectual contemplation

of the external. Knowledge is conceived, wisdom is intuited. When

Kali takes away the darkness of the outside world, She grants

illumination of the inner world. Such is Her Grace.

 

With Kali's Love we become unattached, free from reaction, the silent

witness of the stimulus and response which action and interaction

brings. We cease to react emotionally to the circumstances of life,

and rather plan our actions for the optimum efficiency; so that all

the sooner we can complete our necessary contributions to creation

according to our karmas, and spend the balance of our time delighting

in Universal Consciousness. This is the path that Kali shows.

 

Swami Satyananda Saraswati

Devi Mandir, 1989

 

Thank you the for the opportunity to share this.

 

Pranams,

 

George4Mata