Jayashri Ma and the Primordial Mother, part 1

[Guest guest]

Fusion of the Soul: Jayashri Ma and the Primordial Mother

by June McDaniel

 

[since we've been discussing (cough, sort of)

June McDaniel, I thought I'd post her essay on

a Shakta guru from the collection _The Graceful

Guru_-- which is on DB's recommended reading list

at Amazon. We almost never discuss Kali-kula here,

so it'll add a bit of variety ;-)]

 

" Bengali Shaktism or goddess worship is an ancient

religious tradition in India that is currently

commercialized in its exoteric and devotional aspects,

and that has gone underground in its mystical

dimensions. " " The tradition of the Kali-kula [is] the

tantric worship of the dark goddess Kali as primordial

mother.... " " Jayashri Ma is [an unorthodox] holy

woman (sadhika) believed by her disciples to be an

incarnation of a form of Kali known as Adya Shakti

Kali. "

 

The Graceful Guru

Hindu Female Gurus in India and the United States

Edited by Karen Pechilis

Oxford University Press, 2004

ISBN: 0-19-514537-2

 

Part 1

 

In this chapter, we shall look at an unorthodox female

guru, Jayashri Ma, who is understood by her disciples to

be a living incarnation of the goddess Adya Shakti Kali.

Jayashri is an underground practitioner, as are most

Shakta tantrika practitioners in West Bengal. The fact

that she is female is not unusual for a tantric practitioner,

nor are her periods of stress and illness, nor is the faith

of her devotees in her abilities to bless, heal, and predict

the future. There are many small-scale female gurus

with groups of devotees in modern West Bengal. What

makes her unusual is her continual state of spiritual

merger with a goddess who gained widespread attention

in the early twentieth century, Adya Shakti Kali.

 

Adya Shakti Kali was popularized by a visionary saint

named Annada Thakur. She commanded him to find her

hidden statue, to set up her worship, and eventually to

build a major shrine in her honor, named Adyapitha.

Along with Belur Math and Dakshineswar, Adyapitha

today makes up the " holy trinity " of sites north of

Calcutta most visited by Bengali Shaktas.

 

Bengali Shaktism or goddess worship is an ancient

religious tradition in India that is currently

commercialized in its exoteric and devotional aspects,

and that has gone underground in its mystical

dimensions. The tradition of the Kali-kula, the tantric

worship of the dark goddess Kali as primordial mother

(especially by tantric sadhus), has been suppressed by

the Communist government in the state of West Bengal,

India. They accuse tantrikas of being superstitious and

primitive, malingerers who are counterrevolutionary.

Many modern Shakta tantric practitioners are women. I

interviewed several of them in 1993-1994, during nine

months of Fulbright research in India. One female guru

that I interviewed while I was in West Bengal was

Jayashri Ma.

 

Jayashri Ma is a holy woman (sadhika) believed by her

disciples to be an incarnation of a form of Kali known as

Adya Shakti Kali. She describes herself as one with the

Mother. Sometimes she is fully aware of the goddess's

presence, but she states that her deepest soul (atma) is

eternally fused with Adya Shakti Kali. She is a visionary

and medium, who speaks the goddess's words in trance.

Her health is very bad and she is subject to crippling

abdominal pain, but her trances kill the pain and

identification with the goddess brings a state of bliss.

She eats little and has never married. She teaches

elementary school, and none of her colleagues know of

her religious experiences or her role as Ma (spiritual

leader or holy mother) to her devotees.

 

[to be continued]