To tanmaya about Madhu and Kaitabha vs. God and the parents

[Guest guest]

Dear tanmaya ~ all that you say is so true, and it is a shame that we,

in our western culture do not have the kind of automatic understanding

of the transference of attention and devotion from our earthly parents

to our Divine Parents (and this is, of course, as you indicate, done

with still fully honoring our relationships, our "family ties," with

our birth parents. Perhaps one of the difficulties in the west is

that we have no Divine Mother as exists in Sanatan Dharma and in some

other cultures. The Virgin Mary is lifted by many to the status of

Divine Mother, but this is actually against the express teachings of

the Catholic and other Christian churches, although there is sort of

a wink and a blind eye turned toward people's devotion to Mother

Mary. Plus, as you say, we are left to figure this out on our own, or

through years of psychotherapy, or because we are fortunate enough to

be exposed to the teaching of other cultures which still hold a key

place for the Divine Mother.

Also, in the west, we have no tradition for the process of

transference of our "family ties" to the Divine Family. And so often,

so many of us are left tangled up in these threads of "family ties."

When I read Swamiji's words about this, the tangle of ties around my

body, heart, mind, soul, just dropped off. This doesn't mean I don't

honor my family of origin. In a way, it leaves me with greater

freedom to honor and relate to them, without expectations. This is an

immense gift. I keep looking around, looking at my body, looking

inside my thoughts and feelings, wondering if this immense change is

going to go away, but so far, it hasn't, and I am beginning to get

used to the sense of freedom from a life-long, self-imposed bondage.

In some ways, it is very east to regard Shree Maa and Swamiji as my

Spiritual Parents, and I believe they are. They model the behavior of

"good" parents, each in their own unique way and working in total

agreement with and respect and love for one another. Even Shree Maa,

down to the simple acts of preparing food or sewing, models, not only

the Divine Mother, but the appropriate way of approaching even the

most mundane tasks. She endlessly loves her children, as as Mitra

wrote in his song, "she takes our darkness away." And Swami models

the ideal, as a good father would, for work and worship and those

things we must all deal with as we go through our lives. Even with

all his spiritual practices, Swamiji works at putting out all these

wonderful translations of ancient texts, and from having met them,

only twice, I have seen that everything they do is done with complete

elegance, efficiency, devotion, love and joy. Then, as good parents

would, they turn our attention to our Divine Parents, through all the

spiritual practices and tools they provide for us.

Okay, I may not be tangled up in my "family ties," but I am beginning

to feel tangled up in my words, so I will quit. Thank your for

sharing your wonderful observations as well as your personal

experience with your mother. Jai Maa , Jai Swamiji ~ Linda

tanmaya wrote:

>> When the newborn baby opens its eyes, it usually sees its mother,

and>> soon it meets its father as well. To the child, the human

parents>> seem all-powerful, all providing, and all-loving, so they

very soonf>> ill that archetypal "space" reserved for Divine Mother

and Divine Father.>> Western psychology has been aware of this for a

few decades, but older>> and wiser cultures have known it for much

longer, and many of them>> have provided ceremonials and teachings

which, at the appropriate>> time, help to ween the jiva of its

relationship to the parents as God>> and Goddess, and reintroduce the

real and eternal Parents.>> In our modern cultures, we are left to do

this work ourselves...

>> The great poet of the Mother Goddess, Ramprasad, said that we are

all>> children playing and learning and loving on this beautiful

Earth, and>> that "Mother Kali is my Mother and Shiva is my Father".

[Guest guest]

Dear Linda,

 

Thank you for giving expression to your inner understandings and

forward progress, as what Sri Maa and Maharaj have been trying to

instill in the West begins to "take".

 

I don't think your words are tangled up at all; on the contrary, they

are a contributation to the first chapter of the book of dharma, of

spiritual culture in the West, which Maa and Swamiji have so lovingly

and heroically worked to inspire.

 

They cannot write that book themselves, just as a mischievous little

boy cannot write his name in wet cement, without the wet cement. We

are the wet cement.

 

Who was it recently-Devi' Daughter?-who said something like, "I love

personal stories"? A culture is composed of many "personal stories"

as the inspiration of the great ones begins to "take".

 

Affectionately,

 

Tanmaya

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

, nierika@a... wrote:

>

>

> Dear tanmaya ~ all that you say is so true, and it is a shame that

we, in

> our western culture do not have the kind of automatic understanding

of the

> transference of attention and devotion from our earthly parents to

our Divine

> Parents (and this is, of course, as you indicate, done with still

fully honoring

> our relationships, our "family ties," with our birth parents.

Perhaps one of

> the difficulties in the west is that we have no Divine Mother as

exists in

> Sanatan Dharma and in some other cultures. The Virgin Mary is

lifted by many to

> the status of Divine Mother, but this is actually against the express

> teachings of the Catholic and other Christian churches, although

there is sort of a

> wink and a blind eye turned toward people's devotion to Mother

Mary. Plus,

> as you say, we are left to figure this out on our own, or through

years of

> psychotherapy, or because we are fortunate enough to be exposed to

the teaching

> of other cultures which still hold a key place for the Divine Mother.

>

> Also, in the west, we have no tradition for the process of

transference of

> our "family ties" to the Divine Family. And so often, so many of us

are left

> tangled up in these threads of "family ties." When I read Swamiji's

words

> about this, the tangle of ties around my body, heart, mind, soul,

just dropped

> off. This doesn't mean I don't honor my family of origin. In a way,

it leaves

> me with greater freedom to honor and relate to them, without

expectations.

> This is an immense gift. I keep looking around, looking at my body,

looking

> inside my thoughts and feelings, wondering if this immense change

is going to go

> away, but so far, it hasn't, and I am beginning to get used to the

sense of

> freedom from a life-long, self-imposed bondage.

>

> In some ways, it is very east to regard Shree Maa and Swamiji as my

> Spiritual Parents, and I believe they are. They model the behavior

of "good" parents,

> each in their own unique way and working in total agreement with and

respect

> and love for one another. Even Shree Maa, down to the simple acts of

> preparing food or sewing, models, not only the Divine Mother, but

the appropriate

> way of approaching even the most mundane tasks. She endlessly loves

her

> children, as as Mitra wrote in his song, "she takes our darkness

away." And Swami

> models the ideal, as a good father would, for work and worship and

those things

> we must all deal with as we go through our lives. Even with all his

> spiritual practices, Swamiji works at putting out all these

wonderful translations of

> ancient texts, and from having met them, only twice, I have seen that

> everything they do is done with complete elegance, efficiency,

devotion, love and

> joy. Then, as good parents would, they turn our attention to our

Divine

> Parents, through all the spiritual practices and tools they provide

for us.

>

> Okay, I may not be tangled up in my "family ties," but I am

beginning to

> feel tangled up in my words, so I will quit. Thank your for sharing

your

> wonderful observations as well as your personal experience with your

mother.

> Jai Maa , Jai Swamiji ~ Linda

>

> tanmaya wrote:

>

> >> When the newborn baby opens its eyes, it usually sees its

mother, and

> >> soon it meets its father as well. To the child, the human parents

> >> seem all-powerful, all providing, and all-loving, so they very soon

> f>> ill that archetypal "space" reserved for Divine Mother and

Divine Father.

>

> >> Western psychology has been aware of this for a few decades, but

older

> >> and wiser cultures have known it for much longer, and many of them

> >> have provided ceremonials and teachings which, at the appropriate

> >> time, help to ween the jiva of its relationship to the parents

as God

> >> and Goddess, and reintroduce the real and eternal Parents.

>

> >> In our modern cultures, we are left to do this work ourselves...

> >> The great poet of the Mother Goddess, Ramprasad, said that we

are all

> >> children playing and learning and loving on this beautiful

Earth, and

> >> that "Mother Kali is my Mother and Shiva is my Father".

>