September 2006 Zushi Retreat

Worship of God as Mother
A Talk by Swami Medhasananda

Today's subject is three-part; worship, God and Mother. As we have discussed before, God has four aspects; the absolute or transcendental aspect, that is God with no qualities; the second aspect is God with qualities, but no form; the third is God with both qualities and form; and the fourth, when God incarnates as human beings. We shall see that in the worship of God as Mother, all these aspects have been reconciled or harmonized.

We should also remember there are four ways or paths to realize God; the path of Bhakti Yoga or devotion, the path of Jnana Yoga or knowledge, the path of Karma Yoga or selfless work, and the path of Raja Yoga or psychic control and meditation. But here we are mainly concerned with the path of devotion or Bhakti. The devotee directs his emotions to God in worship to realize Him.

In the absolute sense, God has no gender, but the worshipper in the relative plane imagines God with form. As such, we generally chose to imagine a masculine or feminine form with human-like qualities. As Swami Vivekananda once remarked, "If a buffalo were to imagine God with form, the buffalo would imagine a huge buffalo as its image of God." It wouldn't be possible for a buffalo to think of God as a human being, God with human qualities suits a human being's imagination.

In Christianity there are generally two aspects of worship of God; God as the Father and God as His only son, Jesus. But at the same time the Motherhood of God is also practiced in the worship of the Virgin Mother in Catholicism. In many places there are festivals dedicated to the worship of the Mother Mary. There are also rare cases of the attitude of God as sweetheart, such as in Solomon's Songs of love.

In Hindu tradition and scripture there are references to five attitudes toward God. First is looking upon God in a calm and quiet attitude; secondly, the attitude of looking upon God as master and oneself as servant; thirdly, looking upon God as a friend; fourthly, God as a child; and finally, God as one's sweetheart. In addition to these two more attitudes are possible; looking upon God as father or mother. Looking upon God as mother has become very popular, especially in the Indian states of Kirala, Gujarat, Kashmir and Bengal, and behind the worship of Divine Mother a great philosophy has been developed.

Although the ancient Upanishads are generally discussions on the nature of Brahman, the Supreme Reality, there is reference to the Divine Mother in the Kinau Upanishad. It is mentioned that there are eternal battles between  gods and demons, in which the gods sometimes win and sometimes the demons win. On this one occasion the gods were victorious and bragging about their strength and powers. Suddenly a goddess appears and warns them not to think it is by their power that the battle has been won, but by the power of Brahman, the Supreme Reality, working through them.

In the age of epics, the Ramayana and Mahabarata, again we see reference to the Divine Mother. Rama worships the Divine Mother as Durga and by Her grace destroys the demonic King Ravana in the Ramayana. Then in the age of the Puranas, there are some wherein the glory of the Divine Mother has been narrated. As the Bhagavad Gita forms part of the epic Mahabarata, there is also a very popular scripture, especially in Bengal, the Chandi, that is part of the Markandeya Purana. Here wonderful hymns to the Divine Mother are found.

Then later in the age of Tantra, the worship of God as Mother has been greatly highlighted. Here not only the philosophy of worship of the Divine Mother is discussed, but also the details of ritualistic worship. Here two aspects are necessary; Shiva is referred to as the transcendental aspect of God and Shakti as the human aspect of God. Thus, in Tantra these two aspects of God have been harmonized as Shiva and Shakti.

But there is yet another case in which the Divine Mother, or Kali, represents both the absolute and the relative aspects of God. To Sri Ramakrishna, Mother Kali represented both absolute and relative aspects. In Her relative aspect, Mother Kali creates the universe, sustains it and destroys it. Sri Ramakrishna had a wonderful vision showing these two aspects of Mother Kali. Once while sitting in the Panchavati garden at Dakshineswar he saw a beautiful woman arise from the Ganges. That woman slowly began to show signs of pregnancy, then eventually gave birth to a child, and tenderly nursed it for a time. Then the same woman took on a terrible aspect and devoured that very child.

We may shudder at this vision, but truth is truth. We never want to see the terrible aspect of God, we only want to see the benign aspect, the kind aspect, God as loving and merciful. But isn't God's hand behind the earthquake, the tsunami, the famine? This is reality. God is not only the creator and sustainer, God is also the destroyer. Of course, in Hinduism this destruction is really only a transformation, a change of state or form from subtle to gross and gross to subtle.

In Sanskrit Pralaya is derived from the word laya or dissolution. It is not the absence of something, however, but where the gross becomes the subtle. It is merged into the subtle and manifests again later as the gross. Behind this change of state works the compassion of Mother, as Her final objective with regard to Her children is our attainment of Nirvana.

One of Ramakrishna's disciples asked him to explain the different roles played by Mother Kali, or how She sports within Her lila. He answered that first there is Nitya Kali, the aspect of the transcendental or absolute, wherein Kali and Brahman, the Supreme Reality, are the same. Then there are Shyama Kali and Raksha Kali representing the two aspects of creation and destruction of God. Then there is Smashana Kali or Kali of the cremation ground, the destroyer. So when the critics of Hinduism say that Hindus worship dolls, it is because they don't understand the lofty philosophy behind the worship of Mother Kali.

That is why one devotee taunting Sri Ramakrishna said, 'Oh, you say your Mother Kali is the creator of this universe, how is this possible? She looks so small and the universe is so big. It is impossible, illogical. Sri Ramakrishna replied that the sun in the sky also looked like a small disc, but it is much larger than the earth. The reason for this is that we are very far away from the sun. Likewise, because we are so far from Her, not by proximity, but in understanding, She appears small. The more you understand, the more you approach Her, you will realize the infinite nature of Mother Kali.

Quoting now from the Chandi we can get some idea of the nature of the Mother: 'O Devi, O Goddess, by Thee always is everything supported. By Thee always is this world created, sustained and, finally, destroyed. At the time of creation You are the act of creation and all created things. You are that which is sustained and the act of sustenance. At the end of the cycle, Thou art the thing destroyed and the act of destruction.' In other words, there is nothing other than the Mother.

As we see in the Upanishads; like the spider that creates his web from himself and dwells within that web, Brahman creates this universe of Himself and then dwells within it. Mother Kali has been described in the same way. 'Thou art the Supreme Knowledge, Maya, intellect, memory, delusion and the great prowess of the gods, as well as the demons. Thou, the Self of everything, of whatever thing existing in whatever place or time, the cause or effect. Thou art the power behind that.'

'O Divine Mother, Your energy pervades the entire universe. You embody the powers of divine, diverse deities. You are the object of worship of all the gods and sages. Please bestow on us what is auspicious. We bow down to You in devotion. When called to mind in a difficult pass, You remove the fear of every person. When called to mind of those in happiness, you bestow a mind still further pious. O dispeller of poverty, remover of pain and fear, who has an ever sympathetic heart for everyone in distress.'

You see, here are two very interesting aspects: Inside the heart, She has sympathy and compassion for everyone, while on the outside, She strikes fear in demons and enemies who are very terrified  of Her. This means that even when Mother kills a demon, that demon will be liberated, because Mother Kali has killed it, and everyone is the child of Mother Kali. It is not written that only saints and sages, but evil minded persons too, are children of Mother Kali.

When the child misbehaves, the mother chides, scolds and even spanks the child. The child may cry, but behind this punishment there is the good motive of the mother. So when Mother Kali punishes there is also the compassionate heart of Mother Kali behind it, because the consequence will be something great. This may be difficult to understand. You may say, 'but the person died.' Yes, but death is not the end. Because we believe in the doctrine of reincarnation or emancipation, death is not the end of being, just the passing from one stage to another. If we can't understand this, then surely for us death is not an act of compassion, but if can, we see see that death in not an end but just a gateway.

She binds us, and again, it is She that frees us from that bondage. You'll see this concept of the Divine Mother in the many songs of the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. She binds us, and being gracious, She releases us too. The realization of the devotee is not possible unless She grants it. The grace of the Divine Mother is something very important for the devotee. She not only protects us in this life, but also in the hereafter.

We see that this concept of looking upon God as Mother is becoming popular even in the West. This is because the relationship between the child and the mother is the sweetest and purest, it is lifelong, and in most cases it is unconditional. So to superimpose the relationship of mother to God is something which appeals to the hearts of the devotees. It is also very interesting that quite a few devotees in the West look upon Mother Kali in Her true aspect, despite cultural differences.

Though there was initial doubt as to whether Hindu rituals would be accepted in the West, we see our Hollywood Center attracting so many Western devotees to celebrations such as Kali Puja. You may be surprised to know that they come to pray and really enjoy and appreciate such events. In Laguna Beach one lady devotee installed an image of Mother Kali in her house which is regularly worshipped. Now open to the public as the Kali Mandir, on the day of Kali Puja, a Hindu priest from the Kali Temple at Dakshineswar comes all the way to Laguna Beach, California to perform the puja.

We have been speaking of worshiping God in the image of Mother. As I mentioned earlier, there is another aspect in which God incarnates as a human being. For an example of this we have the Holy Mother, Sri Sarada Devi, representing this aspect. It becomes more comfortable, easier, when we can look upon God as Mother in the form of a human being. The relationship becomes more natural, more spontaneous, sweeter, because communication is possible here. It may not be that easy to communicate with an image, but it is very natural to communicate with one who has appeared as a human being.

That is why we can communicate with Sarada Devi more readily and spontaneously and She is always ready to respond to our prayer. Sri Ramakrishna stated clearly and emphatically that Sri Sarada Devi represents the Divine Mother. It is not only that He said so, He actually worshiped Sri Sarada Devi as the Divine Mother. As human beings we have our limitations, our drawbacks, our failings; we have our aspirations, our ambitions, all these things we can just present to the Holy Mother and wait for Her grace. As we know Sri Ramakrishna would not entertain any worldly prayer, but to the Holy Mother there is no such restriction.

One very senior monk of the Ramakrishna Order once told me, 'To Sri Ramakrishna you should only pray for devotion and divine knowledge, but you can pray to Holy Mother for anything.' She will not judge as to whether this is a secular or spiritual prayer; whether this will do good for you or bind you. She doesn't discriminate. Whatever you want, She will fulfill.

Of course no one wants something that will bring problems upon oneself, but the thing is this; as ordinary devotees, we have so many things to ask for and She has the power to grant that prayer. In my own experience I have seen that whenever I pray to Holy Mother, today or tomorrow, Mother grants that prayer. She is our protectress here in this world and in the hereafter, so let us pray to Her, let us submit to Her, looking upon Her as the Divine Mother, Herself. ･