Kavach

[Guest guest]

Namaste All ! – Here are some of my thoughts and

feelings about the Kavach. As I familiarize myself with the Chandi more and

more it is becoming like a living entity that contains all of manifested reality

as well as the Absolute. It is full of light and vision, such a gift, and such

a blessing for me. I tried to study it before I knew of Swamiji’s

translation but found it not very accessible. Maa and Swamiji have infused it

with their wisdom, realization and grace and their gift to us is immeasurable.

I feel that Chandi can take me to the ultimate reality in

which is contained the dual world in unmanifested form as Mother. Both are eternal

and real, but whereas the absolute is unchanging, matter constantly changes. So

Mother can manifest as the evolutionary ( consciousness and moving toward the

absolute), as well as the involutionary (conscious and moving toward duality)

force. The state that contains both those realities as One, is a concept beyond

the mind.

One of the visions of Sri Ramakrishna that had a deep impact

on my mind was the one where he saw Mother Kali emerging out of the Ganga, then She gave birth to a baby and then immediately

began to devour this baby. Mother manifests and then withdraws this

manifestation into herself. Pondering Thakur’s vision always gives me a “felt-sense”

of that cycle.

So – when I contemplate the chanting of the Kavach –

why is it part of the Chandi ? - why have the Rishis given us these

Mantras ? – how come that it is still so powerful centuries after it was

given as revelation and vision to realized Sages ?

For me, the Chandi, just like the Gita seems to be a mirror

held up to our inner eyes which perfectly reveals the workings of our minds

filled with samskaras and illusion of grandeur. It then also gives real help,

light and grace, for us to begin to purify and to start to “see”

with a crystal clear prism of a purified mind.

I am shown that, yes, in this mind through which reality manifests

for me, there is present all the illusion, fear and vice of many births. So,

when “I” ( the Ego that is also a creation in the mind) encounter

the Generals in the army of the “Great Ego” called by many

names such as Fear, Superstition, Vacillation etc., etc. – “ I “

identify and let them take over my consciousness.

I am lost !!!!!! But wait -

Mother has given me a Kavach, a golden shining armor of her love and promise –

with HER HELP ONLY- no matter by which name we call it, i can defeat these

enemies.

This mind of mine contains all these realities, all these

archetypes, all the manifestations of Mother – but it will also dissolve

in Mother. “ I “ ( the part of the mind that feels the pull of the

Divine” ) must be constantly reminded, I must be constantly on guard against

identification and the very real enemies within ( manifesting without also). I

need Mothers Armor of Light and Protection, give Her drinks of energy in the

form of my devotion. I need Her to always guard every molecule of my physical

and subtle bodies. I need Her help to swim in the river of evolution and not

involution. I need Mother’s Kavach !!