Diverse are the ways in which we worship God and the majority of the Hindus worship the Supreme being a the world Progenitrix, Mother Sakthi. According to Vedas we are instructed to worship Mother first as there is no God equal to mother. That is why the Taittiriyopanishad also says: “Matru Devo Bhava” and then “Pitru Devo Bhava”. Mother is entitled to a greater honour than the father or Guru. Mother aspect is considered to be higher in our religion and that is why they have put mother first in order of precedence for worship. Swami Vivekananda says: Mother is the first manifestation of power and is considered a higher idea than father. She is the sum total of the energy Shakthi in the universe. All power in the universe is “Mother”. She is Life. She is Intelligence. She is Love. She is in a person, (as we find in our Sri Amma) and she can be seen and known as Sri Rama krishna Paramahamsa saw and knew Her in the form of Kali dancing mad with joy. If we are firmly established in the idea of Mother we can get anything. She quickly answers our prayer. By saying that it is easy to invoke her blessings one should not be under the wrong impression that whatever one does wrongfully knowing that it is a wrong act will be pardoned by Her. One must always conduct oneself with child-like innocence harbouring no wrong notions, evil designs, or craving for things that are not legitimately ours. One should have a blank mind just as that of a newborn babe..
I used to ponder over the two namas In the Lalitha Sahasra namam Sri Maatha and Sri Mahaa Raagni and pose to myself the question why the Vasinyadi Vaakdevis began the recital of Sri Devi’s namas with the first one Sri Maatha while they were seeing before them Sri Devi in all Her resplendent glory sitting on the magnificent throne as Srimath Simhasaneswari. With all the pharaphernalia of a royal court, courtiers attending. ministers like Manthrini, Varahi, Dandini, arrayed in full regal splendour there she presides as Sri Mahaa Raagni, naturally they ought to have Started saying anyone of the latter two namas. But neither have they started praising her as an intellectual Queen nor as one sitting the throne. They see Her first as a benevolent kind mother and hence the spontaneous outpouring hegins with Sri Maatha and goes on melliflously, in a continuous stream till we reach the end, to tind Her united in and merged with Siva and become one as mentioned in the last but one nama “Siva Sakthyaikyaswaroopini” the natural blending of the mother-father role. What a ground depiction of the God as Mother! Here I am reminded of n English poet’s writing. He sings:
…. the rich winds blow
the birds for joy, and the trees for prayer,
Bowing their heads in the sunny air
All make a music, gentle and strong,
Bound by the heart into one sweet song;
And amidst them all, the mother Earth
Sits with the children of her birth.
(Here I would like to make a slight alteration from the original. Instead of Mother Earth the word Sri Amma may be put and further reading continued, so that we may feel nearer and closer drawn to the situation).
Go forth to her from the dark and the dust
And weep beside Her, if weep thou must;
(not necessarily, unless you are chased by weal and woe)
If she may not hold thee to her breast
Like a weary infant, that cries for rest;
At least she will press thee to her Knee
And tell a low, swete tale to thee
Till the hue to thy cheek, and the light to thine eye,
Strength to thy limbs, and courage high
To thy fainting heart return amain.
Sri Subramanya Bharathi a great Tamil poet has sung about our Lord Krishna calling bio by the name Kannan, placing him in many a role, claiming an intimate relationship as father, friend preceptor. disciple. King and also as Mother. As mother we find Her giving solace to weary souls, Motherhood is the ideal and natural relation to the world. She is selfless and utterly incapable of jealousy. The word Mother is an endless shore on which all of us find harbour. In moments of anguish and great agony it is not we say “My God!” but “Oh Mother!”. As Mother Earth Dhathri Matha, she embraces you with her outstretched hands of space and fondles you in her lap of earth
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So long as there is a gunabheda in us, it is immaterial whether we have varnabheda or not.