Glory To The Divine Mother

The Devi Mahatmayam tells us about the struggle to attain heaven on the celestial and human levels. A king and a merchant who are both in exile learned from a sage that there exists a Supreme Power that when concentrated upon can grant us either worldly success or spiritual liberation. The sage narrates three ancient stories of how the Divine Mother manifested to reestablish the gods in heaven by slaying Madhu and Kaitabha, Mahisasura, and Shumbha and Nishumbha. On the human level the demons represent the uncontrolled ego which wants to seize and dominate the material world. The Divine Mother brings victory to the gods only when they surrender their ego and acknowledge that there is one Supreme Reality of which they are just a part. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa has taught that when man adopts in his sadhana the attitude of a baby cat clinging to its mother, then he is fit to receive the Divine grace.

Madhu and Kaitabha are slain when the Devi awakens Vishnu from his cosmic sleep. This in man’s spiritual quest reflects the arising of the Kundalini from the muladhara center. Next Mahisasura takes the forms of a buffalo, lion, man, and elephant but is still slain by the Devi’s spear. Mahisasura represents man’s changing emotions of the heart. Now Devi as the Kundalini in man’s spiritual evolution has arisen to the heart center. Finally Nishumbha and Shumbha are slain by the Devi to reestablish the gods in the kingdom of heaven. This means that the Kundalini has ascended within man to his thousand petalled head center and spiritual realization has dawned.

The ancient sages of India have always presented the scriptures with two meanings, first for the popular mind of the masses and then for the spiritual initiates. After listening to the Sage Medhas’ story of the Devi’s three cosmic exploits, the King Suratha and the merchant named Samadhi both worship the Devi for three years. Finally the Devi appears and grants the king his worldly kingdom and the merchant spiritual liberation. The choice is always up to us about what we want to attain. When prayed to, the Devi can either grant us seeming success in this world of Maya’s illusion or liberate us by spiritual knowledge that reveals the soul’s union with God.

Jay Mazo, www.boloji.com

 


If this page was accessed during a web search you may wish to browse the websites listed below where this topic titled "Glory To The Divine Mother" or related issues are discussed, commented, criticized or researched in detail to promote global peace, progress in religious harmony, and spiritual development of humanity:

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