Happy Mother's Day to all Ambaa-l devotees!

[Guest guest]

Oh Divine devotees of Mata Sri Raja Rajeshweri. although it is no

doubt true that it is our Womb Mother who gave birth to us on this

earthly planet , it our Divine Mother Sri Raja Rajeshweri ( also

known as Jagat Jananni - one who created the entire universe) who

gives us spritual birth! Thus , we are all Twice-born( dwjaha!)

 

it is my pleasure to reproduce here this magnificent post from my

group Sadhana Shakti written by a great and genuine devotee of

ambaal!

 

Of all love on earth, there is no greater love than a mother's love.

She bears with joy the discomfort of carrying the embryo and the

forming baby in her womb for nine months, she bears the pain of labor

in giving birth to the baby, she goes through many hardships and

sleepless nights in nurturing the child through its infancy and

growth, through its sickness and joys and foibles, self-effacing

herself in indulging her love for her child, sacrificing her whole

life for the child's wellbeing and future, and finally, in the moment

of heart-wrenching pain when the heavens itself must surely cry, she

gives to her child, still so young and tender in her eyes, the

freedom to blossom forth and grow on its own to play its role in the

world. Can such a love be of mortal origin? Isn't the selfless love

of a mother none other than the radiant Love of Ambika shining as the

light of love on earth?

 

Today is mother's day. On this day, let us remember that in every

mother there resides the Mother of the Universe. A mother by her very

presence is humanity's worship of the Devi!

 

Who is this Devi, this Mother of the Universe, this Archetype of

Motherhood, shining like so many lamps on earth, in the feminine of

every creature small and big, in every washer woman and also in every

queen?

 

In the Prescient Dawn, when creation was about to spring forth,

Narada asked the same question to Brahma, the Creator. And the

Creator, four-faced Brahma, said:

 

 

" Only the unattached know the answer to the ultimate mystery of

Existence. Once, when the universe lay dissolved in the primal sea of

Ekarnava, Narayana lay plunged in sleep upon his serpent bed, which

floated on the waters. A golden lotus sprouted from his navel, and I

was born in it. I saw no land, no sun, no moon or stars, no mountains

or any other thing than the single ubiquitous sea. And I wondered who

has created me? Who will protect and destroy me? Whom shall I

worship? And I heard a voice speak out of the sky, 'Tapasya is your

way.' "

 

" So I sat in tapasya for a thousand years, in the lotus in which I

was born. Then the voice spoke to me again. 'Create,' it said,

simply. As I wondered what it was I must create, the danavas Madhu

and Kaitabha appeared, roaring at me, 'Come fight us, or be our

slave!' I clambered down the interminable stalk of the golden lotus,

and saw the most wondrous Being lying on a coiled and infinite

serpent upon the darkling sea. His complexion was deep blue like a

rain cloud, and he wore fulvous yellow silk. He was four-armed, a

wild-flower garland around his throat, and his four hands bore a

conch, a disc, a mace and a longbow. He was the Lord of the universe,

I knew, but the Lord lay plunged in the deepest slumber. "

 

" I remembered the Devi then, and began to laud Her. Soon, She left

Mahavishnu's body and he awoke. For five thousand years he battled

the Asuras Madhu and Kaitabha, until he finally slew them. It was

then that Rudra joined us two. Suddenly, the sky above was lit with a

blinding radiance and we saw that the exquisite Devi had appeared

within that light. She said to us in Her entirely lovely voice, 'Now

create, sustain, and destroy the universe, until the next kalpa ends. "

 

" But we asked, 'Mother, how shall we create when there are no

elements to create from? No earth, fire, water or air, but only this

endless sea?' The Devi smiled, and a shimmering vimana flew down from

heaven, a crystal ship. A jeweled stairway stretched down from that

wondrous craft and, at the Devi's word, we three climbed into it.

Without a whisper the vimana rose into the sky and flew at such speed

that our very bodies turned into a luminous vapour, until we slowed

again and saw that we hovered above the earth, blessed bhumi. The

earth was not meant to exist, for Shiva had destroyed it by calling

down the sun, and then it had rained without pause until everything

was absorbed into Ekarnava. But here we saw the familiar blue-green

world that was certainly real. There were rivers and forests there,

mountains, continents and oceans. Men and women lived on that planet,

as did plants, great and small, birds and beasts, and every manner of

living creature. We were astounded; for this was indeed another

bhumi. "

 

" Then the azure firmament parted for us like another sea, and we flew

into the marvelous world of Devaloka. There we saw Indra and his

devas dwelling in Amravati, as magnificent and like the one we

ourselves had known, which now lay plunged in Ekarnava. But here we

saw Devaloka full of unearthly, splendorous beings, eleven

Gandharvas, centurion Kimpurushas, Kinnara fauns, Vidhyadharas and

Yakshas. We saw Lord Indra with his Sachi, we saw Varuna, Soma, Agni,

Kubera, Surya, Yama and all the Devas. "

 

" We heard the Devi's soft laugh, and again the mystic vimana flew

higher up, and in the twinkling of an eye we arrived in Brahmaloka.

We were amazed to see another Brahma in that luculent realm,

ensconced in his marvelous palace. In his shabda were all the Vedas

and their angas, the nagas, the mountains, the oceans and rivers.

Narayana turned to me and breathed, 'Pitama, who is this four-faced

one?' and I had to reply, 'I do not know, Vishnu. Why I am uncertain

who I myself am now!' "

 

" Next, our vimana flitted in a wink to icy Kailasa, austere,

auspicious mountain. And in a cave of that mountain we saw the three-

eyed Lord Shiva, wearing a tiger skin and elephant-hide, seated

serenely in yogasana, meditating. We were speechless with amazement,

most of all our own Rudra. We sat in the vimana and stared mutely at

each other. All that we had taken for granted, always, it seemed was

the dust of illusion. "

 

" Again the sky-ship flashed away, and brought us to a sea of nectar,

and upon it a magical island that sparkled like jewel under the

noonday sun. We knew that isle of legend at once; it was Manidvipa.

We saw a splendid pavilion, and within it a mystic throne that is

called Shivaakara, whose four legs are Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and

Dharma. It was brilliant as a rainbow. A glimmering cover lay over

it, encrusted with gemstones of incredible radiance. But these paled

before She who reclined languidly upon that couch, bright as a streak

of lightning. Her dark body was perfect, and anointed with fragrant

sandalwood paste. She wore a crimson garment and a scarlet garland

around Her throat. Her eyes were reddish as well, and so entirely

enticing that we stood staring at Her unabashedly, for we were under

Her spell. "

 

" The Devi Bhuvaneswari sat there, a smile on Her lips; two of Her

four hands held a noose and a goad, and the others were raised in

mudras of protection and blessing. We three, Brahma, Vishnu and

Maheshwara, who create, nourish and destroy the universe had never

seen, or even dreamt of such Beauty as Hers. Why, we realized that

the birds in that blessed place sang the occult mantra, Hrim, which

belongs to the Devi whose skin is the colour of the rising sun, in

Her youth's lush bloom, and who is merciful past understanding. "

 

" Vishnu, Rudra and I had never seen the Devi Bhagavati before, and we

stood transfixed by Her Beauty, wondering who She was, and what She

was called. Ah, even as we gazed at Her, suddenly She was

transformed – the ineffable young Goddess stood before us with

infinite eyes and infinite limbs! "

 

" Then Narayana whispered, 'It is the Devi Bhagavati, the Mother of us

all, the Mula Prakriti. She is Satchitananda. Look, the shaktis and

vibhutis surround Her. I saw Her once upon the Ekarnava, as I floated

there on the banyan leaf as a child, when the kalpa began. She sang

softly to me, I remember, like a Mother to Her child; it was the song

of the universe. Let us approach the Mother; She wants us to, else we

would not be here. "

 

" We bowed at Her feet, and heard Her laugh softly. We soon realized

why. In Her crimson toenail we saw the entire universe, Narada! And

that was just the beginning of all the visions we saw in the Devi's

presence. "

 

 

 

 

Devi, the Mother of the universe, is Brahman Herself. She is

Tripureshwari, the Queen of the three worlds. What are these three

worlds She rules over? They are the seen universe of endless forms

from the minutest particle to the greatest galaxies and supernovas,

the subtle universe of the ideal where thoughts and dreams reign, and

the imponderable latency of universal archetypes lying in the

darkness of primordial sleep. And Tripureshwari is She who Reigns

Supreme over the three worlds. She is the fourth, the Turiya, the

Brahman, the beginningless and endless, the Source, the Womb, the

Timeless Time, the Mystic Speech, the Unstruck Sound, and the

Indescribable from which speech returns baffled without reaching Her.

She is Rajarajeshwari, the Empress Queen, She who was taught by Lord

Dattatreya to Parusharama in the Tripura Rahasya. She is Amba, the

Mother of even Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.

 

What would Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva be without Her? She is Vimarsha,

the unbroken Consciousness of Self, the very Self-Knowledge taught by

all the Vedas. Without Devi, Brahma would not be conscious of himself

as Brahma, Vishnu would not be conscious of himself as Vishnu, Shiva

would not be conscious of himself as Shiva. Through Devi, Brahma,

Vishnu and Shiva are conscious of their own natures. Without

consciousness of their own natures, they would not be Brahma, Vishnu

and Shiva. Therefore, She is the Mother who gives birth to even

Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

 

 

She, the Mother of the Universe, is Tripura Sundari. She is Beauty

unspeakable, unsurpassable, the very essence of Beauty. In all the

three worlds (Tripura), Beauty belongs to Her alone and to none else.

It is She that appears in all beautiful forms as Beauty. She is the

charming beauty of the girl-child, hence She is called Bala. She is

the bewitching sweetness of a sixteen year old girl, hence she is

called Shodashi. She is the Virgin Mother, Kaumari rupa, and yet the

Mother of the Universe. She is Matrika, the mystic matrix of phonemes

that form the 51 letters of the Sanskrit language. There is nothing

beyond the 51 letters. She is Matrika, the Mother of both the

conceivable and the inconceivable.

 

 

Today, at the lotus feet of the Mother of All I lay my head. O

Mother, forgive me my childish prattle. Unlearned as I am, ignorant

of the Vedas and the vidyas as I am, without bhakti as I am, I do not

know how to sing Thy praise and I do not know how to worship Thee

according to the shastras. Like a wayward child, I offer these words

to Thee knowing that the Mother is always indulgent of Her child.

 

I pray to Thee O Mother not for moksha, not for heaven, not for the

crowns of this world. O Mata, I pray to Thee that Thou may be present

in my heart always, in whatever place and time I may be. In whatever

birth you may give me, O Mother forsake me not, deny not to me

unwavering bhakti for Thee in my heart always, always, always.

 

O Jaganmata, Jagatmohini, Tripureshwari, Tripura Sundari,

Saundaryaratnakari, Devi, Mahadevi, Vishveshwari, Annapurne, Bhavani,

Bhuvaneswari, Durga Parameshwari, Maheshwari, O Sarve, O Sarvajne, O

Mata, Namaste, Namaste, Namaste.

 

 

.... from a child of the Mother

 

(author Cittaranjan Naik)

 

(Acknowledgment: The quote of the Devi's greatness is borrowed with

gratitude from the book 'Devi Bhagavata Retold' by Ramesh Menon.)

 

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with love and best wishes from an ordinary mother with an

extraordinary love for the lotus feet of Simhavahini, maa Durge!