GOD AS MOTHER

S. KRISHNA RAO
Magazine : Matrusri English
Language : English
Volume Number : 2
Month : October
Issue Number : 7
Year : 1967

“THE mother not only governs all from above, but she descends into this lesser triple univese. She has stooped to descend here into the Darkness that She may lead to the Light, into the falsehood and error, that She may convert it to the Truth, into this death. that She may turn it to Godlike Life, into this world-pain and its obstinate sorrow and suffering that She may end it in the transforming ecstasy of her sublime Ananda”, Sri Aurobindo. “Can there be any conceivable self-renunciation deeper and more complete than that of the Supreme Spirit? Posing this question, writer says “Man triumphantly mes the resources and orders of nature, he prospers, lives, and dies, as if there is no Moral Governor of the world.” To quote him further in extenso, “it is those who have very little of the world that tind what little they have taken away from them; the poor are downtrodden, the mourner goes un consoled, the friends and lovers of God are hounded to death. Apparently, God places the whole machinery of the physical and moral world at the disposal of such as dishonor him. In the cease less war between God and man, the Eternal often surrenders all that Lelongs to him: providence submits, truth is subdued, good is returned with evil. Yes, but only for a fleeting time that in the end the Divine may-hine all then ore gloriously, and wickedness may voluntarily return the price of blood, and fall dead headlong in self-reproach. Our unrighteousness is all the more terrible because the rhteous God submits the world to be stained by the blood of the innocent, submits, though She could crush all evildoers in a moment, Sacrifice is a law of life. For a woman, to have children entails an interminable series of sacrifices, says Dr. Alexis Carrel. In the words of W. M. Thackeray in his look “Pendennis, there must be some sort of pleasure, which we men don’t understand in women which accompanies the pain of being sariliced,” All submission, all surrender, sacrifice, renunciation, made in the name of God, will surely conquer in the end. Pride is never a power on the side of truth, but the lowliness of love is an unconquerable power, All these are in the nature of things happen as one stooping to conquer ultimately. So it is no wonder to see Sri Devi as “Balipriya”, sacrifice all in the cause of Her children, as She Herself is highly pleased with the offerings made to Her at the altar of sacrificial fire.

In my book of poems In Communion”, there is one piece of poetry Might and Right which I would like to quote here

“A wild falcon swooped in search of its prey;

There on the wall. a lizard leapt at a cockroach:

 An unmerciful archer aimed at a cooing bird,

 Hit at it a good marksman as he was. and laid down

 To eternal rest. the poor thing, its sonorous voice and song.

 These set me to thoughts Is might all right!”

 Or right will score the triumph ultimate over might?

 Then all on a sudden the archer fell down bitten by a snake,

 And the falcon fluttered. caught enmeshed in a net,

 While the prowling lizard was gulped by a wild bird;

 Now my thoughts in reverse, moved. Yes, to right fall the might.”

Sri Devi in Her March allows wrongdoers to go on with their wicked acts for a certain specific time only. She is ever watchful and She knows when to put an end to them. She won’t brook those that defy and dare transgress Her laws. She is by a code ordained, rules, as the great universal Queen, Sarvanullan yasasana”. Her orders cannot be viewed very lightly as they are commands, and those wrong doers who defy are punished as She is “Dandaneetista.”

The unseen and unknown is infinite which we all believe. What we see and know is comparatively a small circle only. The awe felt in a gloomy forest after nightfall, or in a graveyard with its creeping dead silence, or in the solitude of the mid sea, the involun tary tremor which we feel at every minute sound, has its root in the tacit, in our belief in a higher power, call it providence or anything. Sri Devi dwells always in that dead silence. “Nissabda Dese Sada Sancharanthim” says Acharya Sankara in Yoga Minakshi Stotra. That very silence imparts the Highest knowledge. If you, standing from the heights of a mountain, cast your eyes around and look down the precipice, you feel something awe-inspring and there you feel you are in presence of something before which you are too small and helpless. In that deep stillness of the thicke on the quiet banks of a gentle flowing river, we feel the littlenes and also the greatness of human nature. We forget all our cares and vainless joys of the world and there is room within us for devo tion. The still calmness that abounds there, makes you feel the living presence and the wonder makes you how before it. There, you see the mysterious power which pervades the whole universe, Dead silence is more eloquent than all your lively speeches. That is why Sri Devi appeared as “Dakshinamurti Roopuni”, to initiate the highest knowledge, Brahma Vidya” to the Rishis Sanaka Sanan danas. By Her silence, She taught the disciples and cleared all their doubts with the symbol of “chinmudra”. She who as “Srushti karthri” has created this universe by Her mayasak: hi and the notion of time and space, to Her we offer our salutations. She manifests herself as the universe of movable and immovable objects “Nityabhathi Charaacharathmakamidam” says Dakshinamorthi Stotra, We see Her cosmic form manifest in might, huge moun tains. revers and in thickets which are dense and impenetrable. That is why we must seek solitude to have a glimpse of that Divine Mother. Says one writer “Every seeker of God must retire at times into solitude within nature’s sanctuaries, that the spirit of God may there speak to him through symbols which His own breath has called into beeing. The voice of nature speaks more audibly to the heart than the most impassionel eloquence of human lips. Flight of night birds in locks or a gust of wind. flowers of the valley or the veil of night who is described as “Dark daughter or day or the light of dawn allegorized as that which wipes away darkness like a debt’ all these suddenly recall to the seers memories and responses which strangely slumber in us and overlooked by us.

Sri Devi has Her abode in Mahakailasa, as She is called Mahakailasanilaya’. The Divine presence there has taught us many a lesson of unearthly solitude and ever enduring life, of tenderness and liquid sweetness and transcendent communion with the Infinite above. All these the hoary Himalayas teach. Let us hear what a poet says: Trees, and flowers and streams are social and benevolent; and he who oft communeth in their language pure, roaming among them at the cool of day, shall find like him whe Eden’s gardien dressed, His Maker there, to teach his listening heart. Commune with the Mother, ask and search, penetrate from sanctuary to sanctuary plunge from depth to depth in spiritual absorption. You will find in nature revelations of the spirit of God.

Nature has not yet unfolded the full measure of God’s presence in it. The mines have not yielded yet a tithe of their ores. She has in abundance precious metals in Her bosomuch as gold, Swarnagarbha.” The sca has not given up a tithe of its treasure The water of existence by Thee is whirled and tossed in mighty waves ‘Agunitham bhava jalam prabalomihangai says Amba stotram. So, how can one dare with his limited span-attempt to unsea, I mean, to fathom the deep bottom of the ocean, to find what all it contains underneath. The stars lave neither been counted, nor their glory discerned. Says Swami Vivekananda “What thou art! The Mother! The All! How praise? My understanding is so little worth.” Twere like desire to seize with hands of mine the sole supporter of the universe; Kvaamba Sarva Kva grunanam mama hinabuddle, Dhartam Dorbbhyamiva Mathir Jagadeka Dhathrim.” Yet man thinks himself as 100 big coating all his achievements and looks down the world around from his perch, pride of place, with the monarch of all I survey attitude.

It is only the empty drum that makes more noise. The great ones never trumpet out what they do for the world. A good philanthropist will never say what all he gives as charity, His left hand will be ignorant of what his right hand gives. The trees that droop with the weight of their fruits, clouds charged with the first rain that extend far and wide, and those who are good do not become haughty by the possession of much wealth. This is the nature of the doers of good to others.

Bhavanti Namrastarava Phalothgamair

Navambubhir Duravilambino Chanal Anuthdath

 Satpurushah Samruttibih

Swabhava Evaisha Paropakarinam.

Like-wise, Sri Devi who bears the weight of all that goes to feed the worlds at large stands as ‘Shatodari’ with Her nectarine milk contained in Her and with Her very slender waist that seems no match for the very weighty upper portion of Her body. She wears a golden belt to protect Herself from being broken down “Sthana bhara dhalan madhya Pattabandhavalitraya.” Here valitraya is actually not a golden belt but the three folls that are seen in Her waist itself.

Figuratively we speak about one who is kindhearted as ‘Ocean of Mercy’. Mother is described as ‘Visa halochanim’ the large eyed one, eye as big as to contain the ocean within itself so that She may in Her grace grant all prosperity to all as She is Dayavibavakarinim’. O the joys, that come down shower like from Her blessings and make us sing Her praise Karuna Samudra Kavave Nanun’ O! Mother bathe me with thy waters of Mercy, who am forlorn in the wilderness of the miseries of this. world. ‘Samsara Dukha Gahana’ says Sri Sankara and while invoking the blessings of Lord Siva he summons He Parvathi Hridaya Ballabha! From the words of the great Acharya’s call we understand where the springs of Mercy are hidden. As one who is the embodiment of Merey Sri Devi is praised as ‘Dayamurthi’. Mercy is an attribute synonymons of fluidity.

To quote Shakespeare here;

The quality of mercy is not strained;

It droppeth, as the gentle rain from heaven

 Upon the place beneath: it is twice blessed:

 It blesses him that gives, and him that takes

 Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes

The throned monarch better than his crown;

 His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,

The attribute to awe and majesty

 Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of Kings

 But mercy is above this sceptered sway,

 It is enthroned in the hearts of Kings

It is an attribute of God Herself.

To know the extent of mercy we are shown by Mother. we must imagine for a while the plight of a blindman. What would he give to see the hill and dale, flowers and fountains, if he could obtain, at least for a day, his sight! Should he, luckily by the blessings of the Mother, get his sight and happen to see first the glory of the rising sun or waxing moon. he would be instantly transported to elysian heights. But we, who daily enjoy like. experiences by Her Mercy. we forget to pay the due prize for it, at least in the shape of remembering the Great One. All Merciful Mother, “Premaroopa” who is also “Priyankari and who has in Her kindness, endowed all this and many more, and made it possible for us to see and enjoy.

A COMPLAINT

Thou hast created me with unequal legs;

 And when I limp on my legs of pleasure and pain

, Thou laughest to Thy hearts’ full!

 And wavest the staff of faith o’er my head;

 Mother, don’t you give me it till I fall?

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