"We are all in the gutter; but some of us look at the stars," says Oscar Wilde.

Sri Ramakrishna in our age looked upon God for his inspiration. He discovered the natural urge of life for the spirit. This spirit, as the Upanishad says, is sweetness indeed. That Supreme Being is Anandam, Love, Peace, which fills the whole universe. Sri Ramakrishna's spiritual realization testifies to the Truth. He lived that life of bliss. Every single word of his emanated from the magazine of spiritual experience. Grace, like radium, penetrated his soul. He was Love incarnate, seeming to drip love in his every action, thought and feeling. The milk of divine kindness spilled over on his person and soaked him through and through. We find this stamp of bliss in the charm and the glory of the God-intoxicated souls all over the world. These mystics experience the presence of Love in creation. The love, mercy, affection, justice, sympathy, forgiveness that we find in our heart, which protect us at all times, are nothing but God's presence in all such divine attributes. All goodness and love on earth are but a faint reflection of His Infinite Goodness. All happiness, all the purity of the soul flows from His grace. Notwithstanding our evil designs which alienate us from God, He remains with us every moment of our life as our merciful Mother taking care of us and leading us on and on in the path of eternal progress.

Sri Ramakrishna had had his own suffering, and that too, terrifying. Frail Sri Ramakrishna was not a sickly saint. His manliness helped him gain the realm of Beatitude, Mother Kali with all her terrible appearance, was his infinitely compassionate Mother. In the midst of excruciating paint he was unconcerned and sang always, "Though She slay me, yet will I trust in Her." It is not at all surprising for us to see God as Mother.

Vedanta accepts Absolute Brahman as the final ground behind this world of name and form. To the highly exalted Vedic mystics, the unseen world was a matter of direct experience and immediate perception. They realized the existence, in and beyond this known universe, of an invisible, intelligent, self-existent, eternal, all-pervading, indwelling, super-human Being. That Being, Sat-Chit-Ananda, the One without a second, through Its infinite Power has manifested Itself as the personal God, Soul, and the world of multiplicity. That Spirit, the fundamental Reality, pervades and perpetuates all. Its power is behind the creation, sustenance and re-absorption of the universe. It irradiates our mind with the light of consciousness in unbroken continuity. It's power makes cosmic forces possible and animates, quickens and interpenetrates, them all. This Being is formless and nameless and cannot be comprehended by the senses, but through our purified heart and mind, and through meditation it can be experienced in our heart.
The Absolute without any name and form, and the God with attributes having name and form, are identical. Two aspects of the same Being are seen from different stand-points. The feeling for both aspects balance and supplement each other and both are indispensable to the health and fullness of spiritual life.

The most difficult question that has racked the greatest intellectuals is how the indeterminate, changeless Being can be subject to change and transformation, and thereby produce the world. Vedanta says that the Power of Brahman has projected itself as the world. The Absolute and Its inherent Power are identical. The Supreme Being is Existence, Sat, Absolute, the very rock-foundation of the whole universe. The Supreme self-acting, self-consistent, self- determining and self-directing creative Will-Force penetrates every atom and governs every motion, every thrill and vibration from the stellar world to earth.

These two aspects of Divine Nature are not mutually contradictory. With maturity in spiritual knowledge we come to know that Transcendence and Immanence are complements to each other. The God of Transcendence is equally present in everything, comprising the far-off nebulae and the flower at hand. The fragrance of the flower and the light of the star are mere modulations of Its beauty. Essence and its manifestation are identical. In the words of Sri Ramakrishna,

"When I think of the Supreme Being as inactive, neither creating, nor preserving, nor destroying, I call Him Brahman or Purusha, the Impersonal God. When I think of Him as active, creating, preserving, and destroying, I call Him Shakti or Maya or Prakriti or Kali, the Personal God. He who is the Absolute Existence, Intelligence, and Bliss is also the all-knowing, all-intelligent, and all blissful Mother of the universe. But the distinction between them does not mean difference. The Personal and the impersonal are the same Being, in the same way as milk and its whiteness, or the diamond and its lustre, or the serpent and its undulations. It is impossible to conceive of the one without the other. The Divine Mother and Brahman are one."

Satyam, Jnanam, Anantam in His unmanifested and transcendent essence, comes out and becomes immanent in the world. This personal God, the Power of the Impersonal in manifestation, or sakti in action, is not an empty theory. Sri Ramakrishna in our time gave eloquent testimony to this truth. It is a verifiable truth. His actual "living experience" can be realized by anyone. Brahman is not only the Originating Cause, the ever real Creator, but also the ever vivifying and loving Protector and Preserver, the all-harmonizing and merciful Redeemer and the everlasting benevolent Guide.

The Supreme Spirit may be worshipped in different forms - as Father, Mother, Friend, Guru, Beloved, and Child. In India, the concept of the Motherhood of God has been in vogue from the Rig- Vedic period; the Hindu mind has been conditioned by this attitude and hence it is a very important feature of the culture. It had wide prevalence in Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, Greece and lustre of ancient civilizations. Research scholarship has revealed that Istar the chief Goddess of Babylon and Assyria, was identified with the Sumarian Mother Goddess Innini, the Lady of Heaven, having no connection with a male counterpart, similar to our Virgin or Kumari. The Goddess Astare, the Queen of Heaven, had been mentioned in the Jewish Bible. But this idea was rejected by Jewish prophets.

"According to an eminent Jewish scholar, the fact that the Shekinah as a feminine element in Divinity obtained recognition in spite of the obvious difficulty of reconciling it with ... the absolute unity of God, and that no other element of Kabbalism won such a degree of popular approval, is proof that is responded to a deep-seated religious need." (Gershom Scholem, Major Trends In Jewish Mysticism, p. 229).

The cult of the Virgin Mary is gradually growing among the Christians of late.

"Theologians and common folk agree that she plays a needed mediatorial role between alienated souls and the God they find so difficult to approach directly." (Erminie Huntress Lantero, Feminine Aspects of Divinity, p. 23).

"For every yearning God has made provision for its satisfaction. There must be a Divine Mother ... The Catholic Church, wise to recognize this need, has made provision for such approach through Mary . . . But every Christian should have the mother love of the Holy Comforter." (Genevieve Parkhurst, Healing and Wholeness Are Yours, p. 34).

"She, like an understanding mother, can make allowances for the inadequacies of human nature. As Christ becomes more to be feared, trust is transferred to Mary. Devotion to her can guarantee that even the worst sinner has a chance for salvation. A mother's heart is much too tender to allow even the worst wayward child to be cast off irrevocably. (Fathers apparently are not so forgiving!)." (Rosemary Radford Ruether Mary) - The Feminine Face of the Church, p. 64).

"if you will not be submerged by tempest, do not run away your eyes from the splendour of the star! If the storms of temptation arise, if you crash against the rocks of tribulation, look to the star, call upon Mary. If you are tossed about on the waves of pride, of ambition, of slander, of hostility, look to the star, call upon Mary ... Let her name not leave your lips, nor your heart, and that you may receive the help of her prayer, do not cease to follow the example of the conduct ... If she holds you, you will not fall, if she protects you, you need not fear." (St. Bernard and Mary's Universal Mediation from The Devotion to Our Lady, by Hilda Graef, p. 44).

It may not be concluded that all Hindus have accepted the Motherhood of God. The Father element is predominant in many cults. But if God can be a grave 'He', why not also a sweet 'She'? Actually, we try to think of God in our own way by superimposing on Him these familiar concepts. But to the Hindu mind God is never equated with anthropomorphism. Due to our inherent weakness it is extremely difficult for us to circumvent the anthropomorphic concept of God. Hindu mystics, from the very ancient times to the present day, realized and exhorted the sublime grand truths encompassing all conceptions of Godhead, from the lowest to the highest, and certainly human-God and super-human-God. Motherhood of God is one of the spiritual experiences. Sri Ramakrishna in our time demonstrated the truth behind this discipline by actually "living it".

There are certain advantages in Mother Worship. Worship is our natural impulse. We attain perfection in spiritual life by associating ourselves with the thought of God. Details of the disciplines help to purify us and to heighten the spirituality in our being. Again, we are to cultivate the sweet relationship with our chosen ideal, or Istam. The impact of relationship is very vital in our life. Worldly relationships hardly give us genuine intimacy. We have our reservations. We have our secrets, and top-secrets, vested interests, special loves and hatreds which are never revealed even to our closest ones. But unlike such attitudes, our mind wants to be absolutely free with God. The most cordial relationship is found between a devotee and God. This unreserved sweet and frank and fearless relationship is the key to the crux of spiritual life.

"Mother worship is a distinct philosophy in itself. Power is the first of our ideas. It impinges upon man, at every step. Power felt within, is the Soul, without, Nature. And this battle between the two makes human life. All that we know or feel is but the resultant of these two forces. Man saw that the sun shines on the good and the evil alike. Here was a new idea of God as the universal Power behind all. Then Mother worship was born." (Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Vol. VIII, p. 252).

God has two aspects; He is the ultimate authority, and in the other aspect, God is actually associated with the world of becoming, and as a person, comes closer to man to respond to the call of man. This second aspect of God is the Mother aspect of God - God condescending to the seeking aspirant out of infinite love and grace.

"The Soul that worships, becomes always a child. The Soul that becomes a child finds God, often as Mother. But it is in lndia that this thought of the Mother has been realized in its completeness." (Nivedita, Kali the Mother).

The fundamental fact that religion evinces itself in three ways - in our conception of God, in our conception of ourselves, and in our conception of the relation between God and ourselves ... is to be understood fully. This universe has emerged from and is sustained by the Impersonal God. By this fact "mothering" the world, Reality is looked upon as Cosmic Mother. Cosmic Power and Motherhood are twin ideas which have remained inseparably associated in our consciousness. To a child, mother is the repository of trust, protectiveness, sweetness, mercy, forgiveness, forbearance and wisdom. Hence mother remains with us every moment in our life as our benevolent guardian notwithstanding our sinful propensities and disobedience.

"There should not be any awe in love (for God)," says Swami Vivekananda.

Two great obstacles in spiritual life have grown centering round the ideas of "sex and ego". The child is free from these insurmountable impediments. From the aspirant's point of view, the attitude of a child is the surest guarantee in overcoming them. The strongest bondage and deepest delusions are created by the maya of ignorance. 'Maya is nothing' said Sri Ramakrishna, "but the egotism of the embodied soul. This egotism has covered everything like a veil." That which creates attachment, delusion and worldliness is termed avidyamaya (the maya of ignorance) by Sri Ramakrishna, and that which helps in getting rid of its sinister noose is termed vidya-maya (the maya of knowledge). One deludes and the other gives us spiritual excellence in the form of devotion, purity, faith, steadfastness and love which ultimately lead one to God. Even the gods are not free from the poisonous ego. This is illustrated in the story of Mother Uma in the Kenopanishad. lndra got spiritual illumination through the grace of Divine Mother Uma, a fact hinted by Sankara in his commentary. (Kenopanishad, III, 12).

Sri Ramakrishna's words and his very life emphatically state that a divine Incarnation is actually an embodiment of the Divine Mother. He says,

"The greatest manifestation of His Power is through an Incarnation ... It is Sakti, the Power of God, that is born as an Incarnation." (The Gospel, p. 702).

In another context he says,

"It is Sakti alone that becomes flesh as God Incarnate. According to one school of thought, Rama and Krishna are but two waves in the ocean of Absolute Bliss and Consciousness." (Ibid., p. 212)

Echoing his Master's sentiments, Swami Vivekananda once stated in America,

"A bit of Mother, a drop was Krishna, another was Buddha, another was Christ ... Worship Her if you want love and wisdom." (C.W. Vol. p. 27).

It was his hard realization - a fact of experience - and hence incontestable and verifiable. Swamiji said to a western group:

"The future, you say, will call Ramakrishna Paramahamsa an Incarnation of Kali? Yes, I think there's no doubt that she worked up the body of Ramakrishna for Her own ends. You see, I cannot but believe that there is somewhere a great power that thinks of Herself as feminine, and called Kali and Mother. . ." (C.W. VIII, p. 264).

The Chandi, a very popular and authoritative treatise on Mother worship, says that the Devi is the Power of Supreme Being and of inexhaustible valour.

"She is the seed of the universe and its pervader. If She becomes gracious, She brings about our final liberation from all worldly bondage." (Chandi XI, 5). "it is the Divine Mother, who when propitious, becomes a boon giver to human beings for their final liberation." (Ibid. 1, 56).

It is our stubborn ignorance of this fact of Grace - that though we are ever so rebellious, so ungrateful, so unworthy, the Divine Mother holds us dear.

Genuine hunger and thirst after Mother often finds articulation in the heart-felt prayer of a devotee welling forth from the depths of his bosom. These prayers of the mystics help us in our journey in spiritual life. A Vedic sage praises Durga, the Divine Mother, thus,

"I take refuge in Her, the Goddess Durga, who is fiery in valour and radiant in ardency, who is the Power belonging to the Supreme who manifests Himself manifoldly, who is the Power residing in actions and their fruits rendering them efficacious, O Thou Goddess skilled in saving, Thou takest us across difficulties excellently well.- Our salutations to Thee." (Taiftiriya Aranyaka, X, 2).

Acharya Sankara composed a hymn to Her:

"O Mother, in this world, in the midst of Thy numerous worthy sons, I happen to be rare specimen of wantonness. Yet, O thou beneficient One, it is not proper for Thee to have abandoned me, Thy child. For a bad son may sometimes be born, but never has there been a bad mother."

Sri Ramakrishna, the winsome child of the Divine Mother once gave vent to his pent-up emotions in the presence of a number of devotees in order to bring home to the wavering mortals the depth and intensity of a sincere earnest and devoted aspirant. He addressed Mother in this way,

"O Mother, I throw myself on Thy mercy; I take shelter at Thy hallowed feet. I do not want bodily comforts; I do not crave for name and fame; I do not seek the eight occult powers. Be gracious and grant that I may have pure love for Thee, a love unsmiften by desires, cherished by no selfish ends - a love craved by the devotees for the sake of love alone. And grant me that favour, O Mother, that I may not be deluded by Thy world-bewitching maya, that I may never be attached to the world, to "woman and gold" conjured up by Thy inscrutable maya. O Mother, there is no one but Thee whom I may call my own. Mother, I do not know how to worship; I am without austerity; I have neither devotion nor knowledge. Be gracious, O mother, and out of Thy infinite mercy grant me love for Thy lotus feet." (The Gospel, p. 707).

To accept God as Mother is, according to Sri Ramakrishna, the final word in spiritual striving. It is indeed, to some at least, the smoothest and surest way of having God-vision. Sri Ramakrishna never condemned any form of approach to God but insisted that the one of a child to its mother was the purest, safest and best. Let us accept any attitude towards God according to our mental predilections, and develop the helplessness, restlessness, intensive longing, faith and surrendering attitude of a child for its mother's arms. Sincere prayer never goes in vain and through genuine prayer we may get spiritual illumination.

History is pre-eminently a revelation of God. In their infinite mercy and boundless grace, Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda have testified to the truth of divine love for suffering people in recent history. Their life is one continuous narration of divine grace, released through untold channels for the guidance of common people. How intimate, how enduring, how affectionately they are interested in each one of us individually! In numerous special ways they are available to us with the solace and the joy of love and grace. Unto the erring, how eager in reclaiming; unto the wayward how gracious in forgiving; unto the fallen, how assiduous in uplifting - thus they came forward to demonstrate the Motherhood of God. Shri Ramakrishna, sometimes in the evening when the temple garden of Dakshineswar echoed with the sound of bell and conch, would M out at the top of his voice, writhing in anguish, for his devotees, voicing such utterances as, "Come, my boys. Oh! where are you ? I cannot bear to live without you all!" This intensity of desire to elevate men, the force of this throbbing sympathy of his love for the aspirants, thrills us even today when we read of them. Holy Mother stayed with us a long thirty-four years after the demise of Sri Ramakrishna to demonstrate the love of God as Mother. She could not refuse anybody when approached as "Mother". Swami Vivekananda dedicated his divine life at the alter of the Divine Mother and preached this gospel of divine love through his life to people all over the world.

Down the ages, these great messengers of God felt the constitutional necessity to set before us the lofty ideal of divine love through their actions of self-abnegation, seff-denial and self-sacrificing love. This exemplification of divine intoxication is the very foundation of the whole edifice of human faith. It is the great lighthouse to guide erring humanity across the wilderness of this world, "it" is the unerring clue to the perplexing labyrinth of this life. The worst of us, in times of depression and trying situations, have been tempted to read this grand epic of our salvation. May we we look upon God as our compassionate Mother and take shelter in Her loving embrace for consolation, inspiration and peace.

This article is from Swami Tathagatananda's book, Meditation on Shri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda

Comments on this article can be sent to: VedantaSoc@aol.com

Books by Swami Tathagatananda:

1. The Vedanta Society of New York -- A Brief History, 2000
2. Mahabharat--Katha (Bengali), 1998
3. Ramayan Anudhyan (Bengali), 1996
4. Healthy Values of Living, 1996
5. Meditation on Swami Vivekananda, 1994
6. Meditation on Shri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda, 1993
7. Glimpses of Great Lives, 1989
8. Shubha Chinta (Bengali), 1988
9. Smaran--Manan (Bengali), 1987

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