– Smt.Chandrakala P.Shenoy, B.A., B.L., Kayamkulam.
‘Mother’- a very small word, but how significant it is! It sounds small and sweet. Nevertheless, if one wants to know the meaning and depth of the significance, one has to go to Shaktinagar, a paradise of peace and power, which is being visited by all, rich and the poor, the sinner and the saint, the depressed and the downtrodden, irrespective of caste and creed. Shaktinagar is a retreat par excellence for adhyatmic sadhana. It is an asylum for those who seek and for those who suffer.
A casual visit to that blessed place would clearly show that it is something uniquely distinct from a home and an ashram. The worldliness associated with home and the sense of isolation associated with the ashram, both are not there. It is an ever-expanding divine Gurukula, where the Divine is the guiding preceptor and the presiding deity. It is an island of peace in this turbulent world and people from all walks of life go there for peace and salvation.
Shaktinagar is a veritable Kingdom of God on earth, where we can see our Creator and enjoy the bliss of divine presence. So overwhelming is Her presence that even untutored minds are brought into order by just being in the precincts of Shaktinagar. Beholding the divine splendour so tangibly revealed, we can surrender at those Lotus Feet and be saved from the cycle of births and deaths. Shaktinagar is really a ‘Moksha dham’.
This whole world, is as Shakespeare puts it, a stage where everyone has to act the drama of life. But acting life is not so easy as it appears to be. We should act well if we are to be applauded. For this, we should study the art of acting. This technique of acting life can be taught only by one who is well-versed in that art.
Divine Mother Sree Rama Devi, whom today thousands worship as their Deity, has brought about a revolutionary change amidst thousands of Her devotees through Her unsurpassed love and unique teaching.
Mother’s advent in this world is for the uplift of whole mankind. Her power and grace is boundless. It is not circumscribed. Mother’s path is unique. In short, Mother is incomparable.
People who worship Mother do so out of their own experience, faith and conviction. In Her kingdom, there is no compulsion, no force, no threatening. Everything is controlled through Her unseen power. Hers is a reign of love.
What is the secret behind this gigantic power of Mother? This is an open secret which has been proclaimed time and again by saints and mystics. Divinity, experience and exemplary life of dharma constitute Mother’s spiritual authority. No man can describe Mother’s divinity, Her supernatural powers, superconscious states and divine bhavas. They are beyond human comprehension.
In Her role as the Sadhaka, Mother practised all the yogas. But the peculiarity with Her yogas is that She did not retire into any cave or forest or hermitage for the pursuit of yoga. She built Her yoga in the privacy of life’s teeming problems. Home and seclusion both appealed to Her. Even in apparent involvement in life around Her, She was alone and aloof inwardly. Smile and serenity never left Her. Alert always to the call of duty, She was in constant communion with Her own Self. Any time She could withdraw into a splendid isolation of being within Herself. Her spontaneous samadhis, divine bhavas and magnificent personality carry credentials of Her supreme divinity.
Viewed in this context, Shaktinagar is also a vast temple where we worship our Deity. But our worship is not based on hearsay knowledge. Before coming to Divine Mother we did worship gods and goddesses seen in photos-the inspiration of the artist who drew or painted them. But the Deity in Shaktinagar is not the imaginary expression of any artist. You can see the Divine whom you worship and also be convinced of what you see.
Mother’s path is an open path suited for all. It is a path of dharma, a path which Mother has trod Herself. Mother does not command any one to take shelter in caves and woods for the sake of Realization. We can have Realization remaining where we are, provided we have shraddha in Her Teaching and intense yearning in our heart. Mother does not put Her disciples to any test. She does not demand their services. Selfishness, petty-mindedness, love for indulgence, these flee the minds tuned to Divine Mother.
Mother teaches us how to install our home-life on the pedestal of yoga, how we should convert our homes into sacro-sanct ashrams and thereby usher in the Himalayan peace in our homes. According to Her direction, we are not to discard association, for life means association, co-operation, co-existence. What is to be given up is attachment to objects, persons, conditions. Illusionism of the world and escapism from action find no place in Her dynamic teaching. Her advaita is permeated with the elixir of Bhakti. The supremacy of God, Grace and Dharma forms the dominating theme in Her discourses and writings. She is the embodiment of all these three. Mother’s clarion call to seekers is to take active participation in life with constant remembrance and consciousness of the Divine.
The great spiritual movement that has been initiated by Her grace is gradually gaining recognition by the society and revealing little by little its global significance. Mother’s mission is not restricted to any particular region or section of population, not even to our country, India. It is universal in nature, scope and function. Her Teaching like ancient scriptures is valid for all times. Faithful and honest application of Her moral and spiritual commandments will lead us to the vision of the highest. Universal fraternity can emerge only from universal vision.
Messengers of God have made their appearances in the world from time to time. They have sung the glories of God. Devotional literatures that are an inspiration even today constitute their heart’s outpouring. But Mother has come to reveal a path for mankind to follow which is suited to modern conditions. Reinstatement of the dharma, ‘dharmasthapana’ is possible only for Divinity.
The devotional link with Mother has enabled Her devotees to create within their own homes a spiritual paradise. Home as Heaven according to Mother, is not a field for enjoyment, ‘bhogakshetra’; it is a dharmakshetra. Mother’s message of salvation is a standing promise to those who fulfill the law of dharma under Her guidance. Unconditional surrender to God is the pathway to salvation. The electrifying currents of Mother’s spiritual power and message have started operating not only in India but even abroad, as a result of which even foreigners have begun to take refuge at Her Lotus Feet even though Mother has not physically gone to any foreign country.
Inward renunciation is the sine qua non of spirituality according to Mother. the ego, the sense of ‘I and Mine’, the violent passions like anger, greed, attachment, etc, should be eradicated through devotion and discrimination. These are our only enemies who prevent us from feeling the presence of God. Inner manasic prapancha is the main cause for our suffering and deterioration.
Wherever Divine Mother has visited, an adhyatmic centre called the ‘Mandali’ has sprung up and these mandalies where Her devotees congregate for worship and meditation, have become the source of comfort, strength, inspiration for Her devotees. By participating in the Mandali activities we grow spiritually, our devotion to Mother increases, our selfishness diminishes, and we develop the feeling that we are all children of the same Universal Mother.
What the world needs today is the transformation of hearts. The working of the brain alone will not be sufficient to root out the evils. Bothe the brain and heart must work simultaneously for this purpose. In Mother’s system of sadhana, the place is for synthesis, the synthesis of brain and heart. This is what She exhorts Her audience whenever She condescended to address. Mother responds to the call of a child, adult, poor, rich, the sick, the destitute, the sinner, all alike. These differences are in our vision only, not in Mother. for Mother, all are children only. Mother recognizes no sin. Her teaching and discourses abound in positive stress on purity, divinity, holiness, perfection, immortality and omnipotence of the Atman. The sweep of purification automatically comes over us when we give a place for Divine Mother in our heart. Who else other than God incarnate could control and direct the destiny of countless disciples spread all over India and abroad?
Deterioration steps in not because gods are feeble, but because our prayers are powerless. We should not try to weigh God with our worldly possessions. All worldly objects are perishable. As such we can never see God so long as we are slaves to these perishable objects.
Mother’s presence on earth is the greatest boon to mankind. To deny Mother’s all-pervasive divinity perishable. As such we can never see God so long as we are slaves to these perishable objects.
Mother’s presence on earth is the greatest boon to mankind. To deny Mother’s all-pervasive divinity is indeed a sin. We need not sacrifice anything to see Mother. No one who has seen Mother once, ever returned disheartened. Having seen Her and having glimpsed Her divine nature, Her devotees do not have any further urge for wanderings here and there in search of God and peace. Having listened to Her discourses and personal instructions in sadhana, they do not stand in need of any holy book for guidance. Every word of Mother is a gem of wisdom. Her teaching contains the essence of Vedas and Upanishads.
Brothers and sisters, we are but tiny ripples on the surface of water, which could burst at any time. Man’s life is short, but it is long enough to lead a good life. Within this limited time, let us strengthen our faith, deepen our devotion and stabilize our inner link with the Omnipotent Mother and get freed from the shackles of samsara. Now is the golden opportunity for us, for God is in the form of a Mother accessible to man and woman alike, who approach Him with simplicity of a little child. Our Deity is now before our vision. The ancient yogis and sages had to perform intense tapas to behold a ray of divine radiance. Now with naked eyes, with no strength of tapas to our credit, we are beholding the Divinity and receiving guidance direct from Divinity. Realization of God is the ultimate goal. Where is the question of realization when we have God in our midst! We have only to open our eyes to Truth. Darshan of Mother is a spiritual vision, if there is the enlightenment as to who Mother is. To those who have got this enlightenment, there is no seeking. They revel in their attainment, in their love for God, as Uddhava, Akrura and Sudama and Gopis of Brindavan did in days of yore.
Denial of Truth is man’s fundamental folly. But we should remember that Truth never ceases to be Truth merely because it is denied or ignored. Mother is Truth. She is in all hearts. And She manifests Herself in everyone. But we should also remember that She manifests only in pure hearts.
God is not a concept. He is the Reality. Existence proclaims Him. Every breath of ours is nature’s prayer to her Lord. God is controlling, directing and steering the course of the universe. It is He who has come down to earth, this little planet of ours, in the garb of a Mother. Let us pray to our Deity to tear asunder the veil of ignorance and cement in us the conviction that there is no other God than the One who is with us.