Great Goddess, who art thou?

[Guest guest]

Great Goddess, who art thou?

 

She replies: I am essentially Brahman

[the Absolute.]

From me has proceeded the world

comprising Pakriti [material substance]

and Purusha [cosmic consciousness],

the void and the Plenum.

 

I am [all forms of] bliss and nonbliss.

Knowledge and ignorance are Myself.

I am the five elements and also what is

different from them,

the panchabhutas [five gross elements]

and tanmatras [five subtle elements].

 

I am the entire world.

I am the Veda as well as what is

different from it.

I am unknown.

Below and above and around am I.

 

From the Devi Upanishad

.........................

 

 

She is the Light Itself and Transcendent.

 

She is the Light itself and transcendent.

Emanating from Her body are rays

in thousands - two thousands,

a hundred thousand, tens of millions, a

hundred million - there is no counting their

numbers.

 

It is by and through Her that all things

moving and motionless shine.

It is by the light of this Devi that all

things become manifest.

 

Bhairava Yamala

.................

 

 

A man once saw the image of the Divine Mother wearing a sacred thread. He said

to the worshiper: " What? You have put the sacred thread on the Mother's neck! "

The worshipper said: " Brother, I see that you have truly known the Mother. But I

have not yet been able to find out whether She is male or female; that is why I

have put the sacred thread on Her image. "

 

" That which is Sakti is also Brahman. That which has form, again, is without

form. That which has attributes, again, has no attributes. Brahman is Sakti;

Sakti is Brahman. They are not two. They are only two aspects, male and female,

of the same Reality, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. "

 

Ramakrishna

From the Gospel of Ramakrishna

................................

 

 

The Primordial Power Is Ever At Play.

 

The Primordial Power is ever at play.

She is creating, preserving and

destroying in play, as it were. This power

is called Kali. Kali is...Brahman and

Brahman is...Kali. It is one and the same

Reality. When we think of It as inactive,

that is to say, not engaged in the acts of

creation, preservation, and destruction,

then we call it Brahman. But when It

engages in these activities, then we call

it Kali or Shakti.

 

Ramakrishna

From the Gospel of Ramakrishna

 

 

The Divine Feminine

Andrew Harvey & Anne Baring - Conari Press

Berkeley, CA

ISBN 1-57324-035-4 (hardcover)

Pgs. 158-159