Skip to main content

Mother Goddess and Navratri


Jai Mata Ki. Hail the Great Mother of Universe

Every thing that we can perceive in the universe as well as everything that we cannot perceive is a manifestation of God. In fact this may be taken as a definition of God and by this definition everyone believes in God. His consciousness runs through everything in the universe and we as humans share an infinitesimally small part of this consciousness. The female side of it flows as the divine love of every mother, human, animal or gods. We also share an infinitesimally small part of His free will that all living things share in various degrees making them alive as well as responsible for their own individual actions as well as the consequences.

Because of His infinity, God cannot have any form that can be imagined by any human mind or any other living mind in the universe. God alone knows God fully. However human and human like forms of the Universal spirit have been worshiped through the ages for simplicity and one of the primal forms is as Lord Shiva who embodies within his undifferentiated self, both the male and female principles. His differentiated female side is viewed in human and human like form as the Mother Goddess, as a representation of the purest and most divine motherly love.

The consciousness of the Mother Goddess runs not just through living things but also inanimate matter. Because of this some also view the mother goddess as mother earth. It is the womb of all things on earth. Some also see her spirit in specific mountains such as the Nanda Devi and Sunanda Devi, daughters of the Himalayas.

The mother goddess, through the history of humankind, has manifested for brief or long periods through ordinary humans beginning with Eve, the first human female, in order to express her will amongst humans. This period can be as brief as a moment or as long as an entire lifetime. When the manifestation is for a full lifetime in a human body then that human is recognized as a reincarnation of the goddess. There have been innumerable reincarnations of the mother goddess on earth and different devotees worship her as one or more of these reincarnations as a human representation of the divine consciousness. The mother goddess also manifests elsewhere in the universe in non-human forms such as a four, six or eight armed goddess. In these heavenly forms, she has appeared to chosen devotees in visions and in brief appearances through the ages. The mother goddess has thus been depicted by such devotees in numerous non-human forms too.

Truly the representational forms of the goddess are infinite as indeed must be for an infinite spirit. While the worship of the mother goddess has disappeared from some parts of the world such as the Middle East and Persia who were at one time great worshipers of the goddess at the peak of their civilizations, her worship continues in other parts of the world, especially the eastern parts of Asia.America honors her as the Statue of Liberty and the Christian revere her as mother Mary. Many amongst the Hindus of India continue to be devout worshipers of the goddess. Not all Hindus worship the Universal Spirit as a goddess though, because Hinduism allows freedom of belief and some worship the universal spirit in other male or female forms or even as the formless God.

Amongst those Hindus who worship the loving mother Goddess for some the two nine day periods in the year, one in the beginning of spring and the other in the beginning of autumn are especially celebrated. These nine day periods are called the Navratris or the nine nights. The date is decided by the Hindu lunar calendar. Some Hindus celebrate Navratri five times a year in five different seasons. The mother Goddess in the nine days of this festival is worshiped in nine specified forms chosen from amongst her numerous forms. The nine human or human like forms are not chosen because they are the most important ones because each appearance of the goddess in human or human like form is equally important, although representing a different quality or side of the goddess, but rather the nine forms have been chosen because these nine representations taken together represent most of the qualities of the mother goddess as significant to humans.

For the purpose of worship throughout the year a human being may choose any form of the mother goddess that they especially like, from amongst these nine representations or from any one of the other numerous appearances of the goddess. Each human is unique and it is expected that their choice will differ just as it differs in deciding which of the numerous flowers that the mother goddess has sprinkled throughout the universe is the most beautiful one. The nine representations taken together represent most of the qualities of Mother Universe as relevant to humans including the power of creation. Mother Kushmanda the goddess of the fourth night created the universe merely with her smile. It does not need a complicate method for the Infinite power to create the universe. Just as a complex fractal may unfold from a simple formula the entire universe unfolds with all its complexities from a simple smile.


May the Mother Goddess bring Peace, Truth, Love, Beauty and happiness in the lives of all Humans on Earth, while eradicating everything that is ugly and evil, as she has been doing since the beginning of time. The evil emerges as a result of the free wills the father of the universe has granted living beings. It has been permitted by the Universal Consciousness because evil is needed to fight evil that is inherent in a creation made up of a play of opposites, when it cannot be fought with good. If humans fight evil with evil and not just good they tend to gather evil karma.When the balance is disturbed and evil spreads to encroach on the domain of the good the mother goddess sheds her gentle form, adapting temporarily a dreadful form she commissions her weapons to destroy such evil while the lion she rides lets out a terrible roar. The mother goddess loves all her off springs, like any mother,  even those temporarily overcome by evil. She nevertheless eradicates evil to protect the good and restore justice.

Hail Divine Mother. Jai Mata ki.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Goddesses Nanda and Sunanda of Kumaon

S ome of the earliest mentions of divine Nanda and Sunanda are found in ancient Sanskrit texts. It cannot be confirmed if these references have any connection with more recent worship of these goddesses in Kumaon region but they deserve mention for the probable origin of these glorious goddesses. The Bhāgavata Purāna also known as Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, is one of the Puranic texts of Sanskrit literature. It includes  many stories well known in Vedic tradition. The text credits Veda Vyasa, the revered ancient sage, with its authorship. Here is a verse from this text,  “ Also, Srutadeva, Uddhava and others, Nanda, Sunanda and other leaders of liberated souls who are constant companions of the Lord ” Canto 1 Chapter 14 According to this verse, Nanda and Sunanda are close to the eternal lord with the same position as the highest of Angels of the Lord and amongst the leaders of liberated souls that are constantly engaged in serving God. A story in chapter 12 of the same text

Who was Babaji or Baba Haidakhan?

Article Updated May 6 , 2019 If one were to select a likely abode of Gods on our planet, it would likely be highest mountains on the planet, Himalayas- including its greener hills, valleys and caves in lower ranges fed by pristine waters of melting snows of the highest peaks and lakes. Here the air is fresh, cool and crisp and because it is relatively close to equatorial regions, not so cold as to be inhospitable even in the depths of winter. Indeed, fresh air, pure water to drink, green fields, wild flowers and groves of Oak or Pine have created areas within these vast ranges that might be most akin to what one might imagine of heaven. However, over centuries, even the Himalayas have not remained untouched by greed and lust with its associated evils. It is a process that seems to have been set in motion several thousands years ago. Just as it is in the nature of humans to begin forgetting God and goodness with prosperity so it is with civilizations made up of them. As

Sunanda the Goddess - An Embodiment of Divine Love

A Comprehensive view of Mother Goddess as known in South, East and Himalayan Asia Jai Mata Ki (Praise the Mother Goddess) While it is a purpose of every life form to evolve to yet higher states and eventually attain God and become a part of Him, some godly beings, (known as bodhisattvas in Buddhism, and angels in Christianity)  choose to remain as created beings in the universe in service of Universal Consciousness and out of compassion for others, and in order to assist the latter in their evolutionary journeys towards enlightenment. One significant thing that is paradoxical to outsiders is that while Hindu philosophy upholds monotheism and a single Almighty in the Universe, many Hindus (although not all sects) also follow the worship of numerous gods and goddesses. The reality is that since the Almighty is formless and infinite, any finite divine portion of the Almighty may be personified as a facet or personification of the Infinite Lord and that is the reas