1000 Names of the Great Mother, Primordial Goddess, Holy Spirit or Ruh of Allah

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61) SRI SUDHA-SAGARA-MADHYASTHA

 

— Ocean of Nectar.

— Abode of Bliss.

 

Sri Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Ass. Ad and Printers, 1989.

 

http://www.adishakti.org/

http://www.al-qiyamah.org/

 

 

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" Residing in the centre of the Ocean of Nectar

(sudhasagaramadhyastha.) That Ocean is the one above (in heaven.)

The Sruti (Tai. Bra. I. 6. 2) declares, " The city is surrounded by

nectar. " Another one is in the place of bindu in the centre of the

moon in the pericarp of the thousand-petalled lotus. The third one

is, " In the city called Aparajita (unconquerable) to be attained

with devotion on the Saguna-brahman; there are two ocean-like lakes

of nectar named respectively Ara and Nya " (vide Chan. Up., VIII. 5.

4.) "

 

R. A. Sastry, Lalita-Sahasranama,

The Adyar Library and Research Centre, Madras, 1988, p. 63.

 

 

 

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Prostrations again and again to the blessed Divine Mother who is the

source, substratum and the ultimate goal of all creation. The Mother

is a mysterious, indescribable power of the Supreme Being. She is

the dynamic aspect of the Supreme, Transcendent Being, which is

infinity, eternity and ineffable peace, beyond the cognisance of the

senses and the mind. Upon this very solemn and holy occasion which

marks the commencement of the sacred annual nine-day worship of the

Deity in Its aspect as the Supreme Mother, the first day of the

Navaratra culminating in Vijayadasami, popularly known as the

Dussera, it is a great mark of divine grace and blessing that we

have the privilege of gathering together and glorifying the Mother,

speaking a few words about the Divine Mother, adoring Her and

worshipping Her and praying for Her Grace, the Grace which alone can

enable us to attain success and fruition in all endeavours be they

material or spiritual, secular or sacred; by which alone a seeker is

able to reach the end of his quest, and the Sadhaka is able to

achieve the Thing for which he strives, the soul is able to attain

perfection and to realise the Infinite. The Grace of the Mother is

an indispensable factor to attain Moksha-Siddhi. Upon this sacred

occasion, let us try to know a few things about the Indian

conception of the Divine Mother and about the significance as well

as the traditional background of this nine-day worship.

 

In India the Hindus fall under four or five broad religious

divisions. There are the worshippers of the Supreme Being in its

aspect as Siva; we call them the Saivites. Then there are the

worshippers of the selfsame Supreme Being in its aspect as Vishnu.

Them we call Vaishnavas. There is still a third section of people—

and quite a number of them—who worship the One God, the Supreme

Being, but as manifest in the form of the great Goddess, the Devi

Shakti. They are referred to as Shaktas. There again are two less-

known sects called the Ganapatyas who worship the Supreme Being as

Ganapaty, and the Souryas or the worshippers of the Supreme Being

manifest as the splendorous light as embodied in the visible orb of

the sun, the giver of light, the sustainer of the life-process in

this world of ours.

 

The Navaratra worship of the Devi is eminently a Shakta-worship, and

it has come down to us through the Shakta-tradition. A very great

section of these Shaktas are localised in the Province of Bengal and

Assam. Their supreme scripture, glorifying the Divine mother, is

known as the Durga Saptashati or the Devi Mahatmya. It is known by

the name Saptashati because it is a book of 700 verses. In Bengali

it is familiarly known as the Chandi; also in these parts — Garhwal —

people refer to the reading of the Devi Mahatmya as Chandi-Patha.

This is derived from one of the names of the Divine Mother Herself

who is called Chandika.

 

The reading of the scripture is done in a very scientific manner.

There is a strict procedure laid down by the Shastras. In the first

part which was read today there is a detailed exposition of the Devi

Tattva. The setting is in the form of a story; and the exposition is

given by a sage to a king and a merchant. It is full of deep

hilosophic truth in regard to the aspect of the Deity, Her nature,

how She is and what She is. There are sublime, elevating hymns

glorifying the Mother; and the ways of propitiating Her are given.

The very reading of the scripture from start to finish is itself a

very great and effective Sadhana in the Shakta mode of worship and

spiritual practice. I shall just give in a few words the essence of

the scripture. Essence of Devi Mahatmya It begins this way.

 

A king of the Surya Vamsa to which Lord Rama also belonged, named

Suratha, is overcome and overwhelmed by his foes, who compel him to

flee his kingdom. He takes shelter in a forest. He is deeply

afflicted and dejected, deprived of all his wealth and retinue; and

he is wandering forlorn, destitute of everything, in a very wretched

condition. His mind again and again goes back to the bitter fate

which he has suffered. Thinks of his kingdom, his wealth, his

ministers and the way in which the kingdom is likely to be governed

under the new rulers.

 

While he is in this state of mind, he happens to come to the

vicinity of the hermitage of a great God-realised sage, called Rishi

Medha. He sees the hermitage with all its beauty, the disciples of

the Rishi — everything pervaded by serenity, calmness and purity;

and he stays there.

 

While he is in this hermitage he comes across a fellow-sufferer, a

brother-in-distress, a man named Samadhi, belonging to the merchant

community, who has also similarly run away from his home because of

misfortune. He had lost all his wealth to his own relatives; and his

own family had turned him out of the house. He is thus forced to

wander into the forest. He also takes shelter at the feet of the

sage. They find that they are more or less in the same predicament,

deprived of their wealth and ousted from their home, with their own

people turned against them; and in spite of all this unkindness of

their own people, both of them are intrigued and deeply puzzled to

find that with all the hostility and enmity of their people, yet

their minds go again and again back to these very people, to the

very things which have been the cause of their sorrow, of their

grief, of their deep disappointment and dejection.

 

They try to discuss this between themselves; what is this mysterious

nature of the mind which harkens back again and again and clings to

those self-same things and people from whom they have had nothing

but pain and sorrow. Unable to solve this riddle, they go and humbly

entreat the Rishi Medha to throw some light upon this problem. They

ask the Rishi: " O Wise One, pray throw some light upon this

problem; we are greatly puzzled to find this mind still clings to

those very objects, is attached to those very persons, from whom it

has received the greatest pain and sorrow; it knows there is no

pleasure in those things, yet it will not give up its attachment to

them—what is the reason for this, how do you explain this peculiar

delusion of the mind? "

 

In answer to this query which, though it has been put into the

mouth of Raja Suratha and Vaishya Samadhi, yet is a universal

question which agitates the minds of all thinking men and women all

over the world, Rishi Medha gives his wondrous exposition of the

greatness of the Devi. He says; " O my children! A mysterious

delusion dwells in the mind of man, by which his pure reason is

blinded, by which delusion he is again and again made to cling and

go back to those very objects and persons from which he is subject

to so much pain and suffering. This delusion, this veiling power, is

really the mysterious power of the divine Mother. It is She who is

the cosmic illusion. It is She who is at the back of projection of

this very universe itself. It is with Her mysterious veiling Power

that the one seems to have become the many, the formless seems to

have taken numerous forms and the unmanifest seems to have become

manifest and this mysterious power is the indescribable power of

the Supreme Being itself. It is Brahma Shakti; it is the Mahamaya

or the great Cosmic Illusory Power which emanates from the Lord

Himself, and it is through this power that the Lord sets going this

universal drama of projection of creation, preservation and once

again the ultimate dissolution of all names and forms back into its

pristine transcendental state of Pure Being. "

 

The King Suratha and Vaishya Samadhi want to know more about the

mysterious power which Rishi Medha has referred to and to know more

about this cosmic power which is at the back of all manifestation.

In response to this request of theirs Rishi Medha goes into the

detailed exposition of the nature of the divine Mother; and the 700-

versed scripture contains this exposition.

 

In the end, having expounded the mystery and secret of the supreme

nature of the divine Mother Rishi Medha advises Suratha and Samadhi

to go and practise Yoga, worship the Divine Mother, pray to Her and

meditate upon Her and propitiate Her. Thus propitiated She becomes

manifest to them and bestows Her Grace upon both the king and the

merchant and their heart's desire is fulfilled.

 

This in short is the import of this supreme scripture of the

Shaktas—Devi Mahatmya.

 

 

MAYA AND BRAHMAN ARE ONE

 

This exposition of the Devi Tattva goes to explain to us how the

Supreme Shakti is all in all. It tells us that whatever we see,

whatever we perceive in this phenomenal universe before us, is

nothing but the outcome of this supreme power of the Para Brahman,

viz. the primal force. She is called the Adi-Shakti. She is also

known as the transcendental power—Para-Shakti. She is known as

the superlative, the great power—Maha-Shakti.

 

What exactly is the relationship between this great-Divine Power and

the ultimate Supreme Being the Almighty, is a question that is very

interesting and which occupies the minds of all great thinkers.

Varied explanations have been given but sages of realisation have

stated in illuminating terms the secret of this relationship between

the deity as they conceived of in its aspect of Supreme Mother and

the deity in its transcendental aspect.

 

We are told how the Para Brahman and His Supreme Mysterious Power of

World-illusion whom we call Maya or Devi are in fact one and the

same in essence. They are apparently different, but yet they are

one. It is a distinction without a difference in fact. That is the

relationship between them. As it were they are the obverse and the

reverse of the self-same coin. You cannot conceive of the Para

Brahman without conceiving of the Devi; and the conception of the

Devi automatically pre-supposes the conception of the Para-Brahman.

They explain to us how the Devi or the Supreme Divine Mother is the

mysterious link between the manifest and the unmanifest. She is the

medium that connects the un-manifest with the manifest.

 

For instance, there is an effect and a cause which is responsible

for this effect—but what is the thing which connects the effect

with the cause and the cause with the effect? There is some

mysterious link which connects these two and makes them one. Though

apparently two, they are in reality two terminals of the self-same

process. This process of the cause becoming manifest as the effect,

this power that makes the cause appear as the effect is known as the

Maya, the illusion or the Devi.

 

The Supreme Brahman is also described as perfectly beyond all

movement and motion because being of the nature of limitlessness and

infinity the very question of motion does not arise. The Supreme

Power whom we call Devi is described as the dynamic aspect of the

Para Brahman. They say that they are as inseparable as the whiteness

of the milk and the milk; as the heat and fire; as a snake and its

zigzag motion. The moment you think of milk, automatically you think

of whiteness. The moment you think of fire, you posit also the heat.

 

If the burning property is taken away from fire, you can no longer

call it fire. Even so, Para Brahman and Shakti are as inseparable as

the burning property of fire and fire itself. If Brahman is fire,

Shakti or Devi is the burning property of fire. A more up-to-date

analogy which we can draw to illustrate the mysterious connection

between Maya or Prakriti or Shakti and Brahman is this. We have the

power of electricity when it is inside a battery. When the power of

electricity is here within the battery, it is not manifest. It is

not dynamic. It is static. The battery can be taken from place to

place: no one will know that it holds within itself the tremendous

force. There is no indication to give us an idea that it contains

within itself this marvellous power. But the moment this self-same

electric current is made to spring into dynamism through a system of

wiring through a circuit, we find this static force springs into a

wonderful dynamism. It travels with lightning speed; it is able to

give a shock; or to make an electric bulb spring into incandescence

and manifest as light; it manifests itself as the whirling motion in

a fan; it manifests itself as freezing cold within the refrigerator

and as abnormal power of heat in an electric heater; it is able to

burn things; it manifests as sound in an electric siren—this

power which is held in a static form within a battery becomes

manifest as light, motion, heat, cold, sound and any number of

aspects manifest and tangible and perceivable through the senses.

 

Even so the Supreme Power in its transcendental motionless static

aspect known as the Para Brahman is nameless, formless, unmanifest

and the self-same supreme power when it springs into manifestation,

into creativity, is projected as names and forms, into countless

dynamic forces which pervade the entire phenomenal world. Mother is

electricity, the brightness of the sun, the depth of the ocean,

movement in the hand, the smell and fragrance in flowers, the

musical note in sound, everything in this universe, invisible as

well as visible, all motion, all force, all movements; and She is

present in the human being as intelligence, as mind, as Vrittis, as

emotions—everything that we perceive in this world either within

the individual or without in the forces of nature. She is the very

life of the universe. She is the very source, the sustainer and

ultimate dissolver of the universe. Sarvam Shaktimayam Jagat; this

is the ultimate truth. Whatever there is in the universe from the

grossest thing to the subtlest, the least to the greatest—everything

is the variegated manifestation of the Supreme Mother Herself, the

Transcendental Power of the Supreme Being. It is this cosmic Power

who appears as all names and forms, who is the very source of all

embodiment, of all manifestation. It is on account of the Mother

that manifestation is made possible.

 

It is this Supreme Force that we worship during the nine days

through the medium of certain forms. This great power of all powers

is conceived of by the devout worshipper in certain distinct

aspects — in her three aspects as Mahakali or Durga, Mahalakshmi and

as Mahasaraswati. The nine-day worship is divided into three groups

of three days each—the first three days we worship the Mother as

manifest in and through the form of Mahakali or Durga. During the

second group of three days we worship the Divine Mother as manifest

in and through our conception of the form of Mahalakshmi. And during

the last three days we worship Her in and through the form of

Mahasaraswati. This particular order of the worship has got a very

deep and very vital meaning, about which we shall refer during the

subsequent days.

 

Sri Swami Sivananda

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shriadishakti , " jagbir singh "

<adishakti_org> wrote:

 

64) SRI DEVARSI-GANA-SANGHATA-STUYAMANATMA-VAIBHAVA

 

— Gods and Seers perceived Her Cosmic Form.

— Seers realised unity of individual and Cosmic Selves.

 

Sri Lalita Sahasranama,

C. S. Murthy, Ass. Advertisers and Printers, 1989.

 

 

" The Agni Pr. Says, The first sutra (Siva-sutra, I. 1) says, " Atman

is his consciousness (caitanya) " ; the second sutra says " the

[worldly] knowledge is bondage. " Hence what is praised or

experienced by the Devas and others is the Atman; for the Tantraraja

says, " The universal form Lalita is declared to be the very Self " ;

as she is inseparable from the self, her vaibhava is all-pervading,

possessed with infinite powers, etc. "

 

R. A. Sastry, Lalita-Sahasranama,

The Adyar Library and Research Centre, Madras, 1988, p. 65.

 

 

Kash was given specific instructions on how to do Sahaja Yoga

meditation, and a mantra to recite before going into meditation. As

directed, he put his right palm on the ground and uttered this

mantra four times:

 

" Om Twameva Sakshat Shri Ganesha Sakshat Shri Adi Shakti Mataji

Shri Nirmala Devi Namoh Namah. "

 

The dormant Kundalini energy inside his sacrum bone sprang into

life, coursed through the central nervous system, and pierced the

Sahasrara. At that very instant, for the first time, he felt the

Mother Earth breathing. She was breathing very gently and every

heave of Her breath felt on his palm, going slowly up, and then down

again.

 

As he continued repeating the Mighty Mantra of Shri Ganesha the

sacred Shri Bhumidevi (Mother Earth) continued inhaling and exhaling

to reveal Her true nature. Her superconscious child was sure beyond

all doubts that Earth was breathing.

 

As he came through the celestial clouds and opened his spiritual

eyes, the Great Ancient Matriarch was there to receive him. The

sight of Her standing right in front stunned the young child. Who

was this beautiful, young Woman who had appeared out of nowhere in

this peaceful Paradise? Who was this dazzling Being, all enfolded in

a stunning red and white sari, who had come to greet him? In the

first place where was he?

 

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi smiled and held out Her Hands, with open,

upturned palms. Shri Maharajni Shri Nirmala Devi told him to do the

same and put his downturned palms over Her's. As Kash did so he

found himself being levitated a few inches off the ground. Both

began traveling towards the extremely brilliant Light, quickly

reaching their destination and slowing down to a standstill. A short

distance away was a majestic golden Throne. Kash realized it was the

same place he had seen the day before, for it was still under the

same Light.

 

The Great Sacred Mother walked to the Throne and sat on it. Kash

followed and squatted before Her, the soft luxuriant clouds

providing extreme comfort.

 

He did not even bow down to Her for he had no idea what to do. All

he knew that he had been meditating on Earth and now he was in some

strange land sitting before a very beautiful Woman on a majestic

Golden Throne. He was sure that he was not dreaming, but just what

was going on?

 

Shri Sarvaruna Shri Nirmala Devi then told him that they would

meditate. Both simultaneously raised their Kundalinis and Kash

realized that the Mater Sanctissima (Most Holy Mother) was repeating

the same method of Kundalini awakening he had been taught by his

father's friend. She brought both Her Hands together and from the

Mooladhara Chakra continuously encircled the left with the right,

slowly rising all the way to the Sahasrara Chakra. Shri Maha Avatar

Shri Nirmala Devi then tied a knot just above the Brahmarandhra (top

of head). This was repeated two more times. Then She opened Her left

palm, resting it on the left knee, and with the right hand drew a

protective arch over the entire body from left to right. This was

done seven times. She then joined both palms in Namaskar and closed

Her eyes. Both lapsed into meditation.

 

The attainment of the state of Sahaj Samadhi came instantly to Kash.

The onrushing bliss was beyond description as the thoughtless state

intensified the indescribable Joy. Wave upon wave of Paramchaitanya

buffeted him into spiritual ecstasy. The spirit had merged into the

Spirit. The human had become the Divine. The drop had become the

Ocean. The individual consciousness had become the Universal

Consciousness. Time lost its essence and he could have easily

remained suspended in this bliss for hours, even days.

 

After about 20 minutes the Spirit of the Living God Shri Mataji

Nirmala Devi tapped him on his shoulders and immediately he came out

of Nirvana. She told him that it was time to go. Kash did not even

thank Her, so dazed was he by this spiritual experience. He just

closed his spiritual eyes and descended through the thick layer of

clouds, back to this planet known as Earth. When he opened his

physical eyes he was at his home in Montreal, Canada.

 

It has to be clarified that Kash has yet to meet the human Shri

Mataji Nirmala Devi. All his spiritual experiences with Her have

been in a state of meditation which Shri Mataji confirms is " where

you go beyond the consciousness of this world, knowing that you are

not the body or the mind, and yet aware as never before that you

exist — that divine consciousness is what you are. You are that

in which is rooted everything in the universe. "

 

Kash narrates the Divine World of Reality (Lahut) of the Sahasrara

within all humans, the Kingdom of God where She resides eternally as

the Adi Shakti. It has little to do with Her temporary, illusionary,

human form as Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi who, sooner or later, will

leave Earth after having completed Her Mission to enlighten and

emancipate humanity. Yet, they are both the one and the same

Personality. The physical Shri Mataji on Earth is the drop. The

spiritual Shri Mataji in the Sahasrara is the Ocean.

 

It is very important that this fundamental difference be thoroughly

understood by all. Kash is speaking entirely of His Kingdom within

all beings. Extremely few humans in history have reached this state

of enlightenment. The word extremely few is used to determine the

number of individuals who have witnessed the Ultimate Reality (Al-

Haqqah) of the Sahasrara. Few have irrefutably confirmed the supreme

inner divinity of all humans but never with such detail, depth and

Truth. None have been to the Kingdom of God that Shri Jesus talked

about, none until the advent of the promised Messiah Shri Mataji

Nirmala Devi and the opening of the Sahasrara Chakra on May 5, 1970.

 

In his book " The Path of Love " Deepak Chopra writes: " Gyana.

Knowledge about God is of two kinds, direct and indirect. Indirectly

we can read scriptures, listen to sermons, consult authorities, and

from these sources build a reasonable case that God exists. But such

a God transmits no love to Earth. Therefore nothing substitutes for

gyana, which is direct knowledge of the divine. Instead of having

thoughts about God, you share God's own thoughts. Her thoughts

can only be about Herself. This isn't cosmic self-centeredness,

however. It confirms the fact that spiritual knowledge is essential;

truth; trust; devotion, and love are inside our thoughts. Gyana is

the mind in communion with spirit. "

 

Shri Adi Shakti: The Kingdom Of God is direct knowledge of the

divine, direct knowledge of the Adi Shakti who has incarnated on

Earth as Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi.