The Loving Aspect of Holy Mother
Written By Swami Tathagatananda
Impersonal God or Brahman in association with Maya becomes personal God. This universe of names and forms streams forth from God. The power behind this creation, maintenance and absorption is called Maya. Shri Ramakrishna worshipped Maya as the Divine Mother. He taught that Brahman and Maya are not different, like ice and its coldness, fire and its burning power, or a diamond and its effulgence. Throughout the world, God is regarded as Father, Mother, Counselor, Friend,—as everything. But the Indian tradition wants to look upon God as Divine Mother in view of the fact that all living beings emerge from mother. Swami Vivekananda says:
Mother-worship is a distinct philosophy in itself. Power is the first of our ideas. It impinges upon man at every step; power felt within is the soul; without, nature. And the battle between the two makes human life. All that we know or feel is but the resultant of these two forces. Man saw that the sun shines on the good and evil alike. Here was a new idea of God, as the Universal Power behind all—the Mother-idea was born.
Mother is the first manifestation of power and is considered a higher idea than father. With the name of Mother comes the idea of Shakti, Divine Energy and omnipotence, just as the baby believes its mother to be all-powerful, able to do anything. The Divine Mother is the latent power sleeping in us; without worshipping Her we can never know ourselves. Every manifestation of power in the universe is Mother. She is life, She is intelligence, She is Love. . . . A bit of Mother, a drop, was Krishna, another was Buddha, another was Christ . . . worship Her if you want love and wisdom.
The human mind, however, normally gravitates to the material plane and ordinary people nurtured in secular, sensate cultures find it impossible to fathom the Divine Mother. Though we cannot understand the inscrutable grace of the Divine Mother, we can understand an infinitesimal part of her glory if She is worshipped with devotion.
Down the ages, India has been worshipping God as Mother, as Devi. This worship is particularly popular in Bengal during the different religious festivals, when thousands of images of the Divine Mother are worshipped. Holy Mother Shri Sarada Devi was born as an incarnation of the Divine Mother. To meet the need of this age, the Divine Mother manifested her gentle aspect of the redeeming power and universal love of divine motherhood to the highest degree in Holy Mother, who demonstrated her divinity during her exemplary life of sixty-seven years. She belongs to all nations, to all races. This universal appeal of Holy Mother is easily understood due to the fact that Holy Mother is the living embodiment of the Eternal Feminine. Her divine love is extraordinarily expressed through her profound, intimate motherly compassion free from bondage and attachment. The Divine and human, the infinite and finite, are fused in her. Infinite Divinity assumed the finite form of Holy Mother. She was sweetness incarnate and grace abounding. Her simple words went right to the heart of listeners, giving them complete solace and satisfaction. Her pure, immaculate nature radiated purity and utter tranquility.
Holy Mother’s all-pervading love may be described as a vertical love for God and a horizontal love for the suffering humanity. Born to a poor family in rustic surroundings and with no chance of schooling, Shri Sarada Devi raised herself to the highest stature of spiritual sublimity, which commanded respect and adoration from Shri Ramakrishna himself, who worshipped Holy Mother as the Mother of the Universe, Shodashi, at Dakshineswar in 1872. Moreover, Shri Ramakrishna prostrated before the Deity and offered the fruits of all his spiritual practices as well as his rosary at the feet of Holy Mother.
Shri Ramakrishna left Holy Mother behind to exhibit the Motherhood of God. God as Savior is full of love. As a mother loves her children, the great Mother-Heart of God loves all. The expression, “Motherhood of God,” conveys to us that God, as Mother, loves His children infinitely more than a human mother. The foremost disciple of Shri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda was the first to understand Holy Mother and articulated this in a letter from the USA in 1894: “To me, Mother’s grace is a hundred thousand times more valuable than Father’s. Mother’s grace, Mother’s blessings are all paramount to me.” The monastic and lay disciples of Shri Ramakrishna as well as common persons also revered her and worshipped her as Divine Mother. She was in reality the Divinity, the Guru, a nun and a wife, all in one. Her words, “I am the Mother of all. I am the Mother of the good. I am the Mother of the bad, too,” gives us the reassurance that every one of us is near to her, not far. She is an enigma. The world has never seen anyone like her. To think of her lovingly and reverently will make our mind purer.
In this short essay, we are presenting only a few of the innumerable anecdotes describing Holy Mother’s all-encompassing love for the suffering devotees. God feels our pain, anxiety, and so on. When genuine devotees wholeheartedly, sincerely and consistently seek God’s grace to tide over the situation, He comes to their aid. One particular event at the Dakshineswar Temple gives a beautiful illustration of the infinite love of God gushing forth through Holy Mother. Holy Mother used to bring Shri Ramakrishna’s food to his room. One day, a woman suddenly appeared and requested Mother to give her the plate, which she carried to Shri Ramakrishna and then left immediately. On many occasions during the Master’s life, it had been observed that Shri Ramakrishna was unable to touch any food defiled by the touch of a human being of immoral character. This time also, he did not touch the food. After a little while Holy Mother came to his room. She was gently reprimanded by Shri Ramakrishna for handing his lunch over to that woman and spoiling it. He tried to extract a promise from Holy Mother that she would always bring his food to him herself. Although Holy Mother was ever obedient, vigilant, and dedicated in the service of Shri Ramakrishna, she had to tell Shri Ramakrishna that it was impossible for her to refuse anybody who addressed her as “Mother.” Shri Ramakrishna felt immense inner joy as he observed the flowering of her universal motherly affection. But this is not the only such occurrence. Readers of her enigmatic life will invariably find out that she was the living embodiment of Vedanta and rooted in Divinity—she moved and had her being in the Divine and the Divine alone. Being the Universal Mother, she did not refuse anyone who approached and addressed her as “Mother.” Actresses and other women of immoral character also received her abundant love and sympathy. When some intimate devotees of Shri Ramakrishna did not approve of Mother extending her love to undesirable types of people, she ignored their advice and remarked, “Everybody can be the mother of the good, but who will accept these dregs of society and console them? I am the mother of the wicked as well as the mother of the good.”
Once, an elderly maidservant carrying a bundle came to Holy Mother at Jayrambati, on behalf of Akshay Kumar Sen, the author of Ramakrishna-Punthi. As usual, Holy Mother received her with the full affection of a compassionate mother and made her sleep at Jayrambati that night. Holy Mother’s regular habit since her days at Dakshineswar was to arise at early dawn. At dawn the following day she entered the maidservant’s room and found the poor woman burning with a fever and in the pathetic condition of having soiled the bed. Holy Mother was very affectionate with the maidservant. She encouraged her to avoid the scorching heat of the sun by starting early on her return journey. Then Mother immediately cleaned everything herself so that no one would find any trace of the soiled bed.
Another time, a woman belonging to the Bannerjee family at Jayrambati was in a precarious condition. She had no one to look after her and had developed a disease in her ears. Her condition was so pathetic that pus was exuding from both ears and she had a fever. Learning about it, Holy Mother nursed her and gave her hot milk. She also approached Brahmachari Varada (Swami Ishanananda) in an effort to find shelter for her at Koalpara Ashrama, where they used to take care of some patients. Varada went to Koalpara, consulted with the Head of Koalpara Ashrama and returned to take the patient to Koalpara. Revealing her immense concern for this unfortunate woman, Holy Mother sent her to Koalpara in a bullock cart. The attending doctor at Koalpara gave the woman some medicine but in spite of the best efforts of the inmates, she passed away. When Holy Mother heard of it, she told them, “You acted as her own children in serving her and I am happy that she received this humane treatment at the end of her life.”
Holy Mother’s divine love was always conspicuous. Due to the fact that she was born and raised in a rural society, Holy Mother often encountered issues generated by caste consciousness. When the collapse of their trade deprived Amzad and other Muslim weavers of their basic needs, they were forced to resort to theft and highway robbery. But this did not provide them with enough means to take care of their families. In their desperate condition, they went to Holy Mother for help. Though she was fully aware of their unlawful behavior, Holy Mother’s heart was deeply touched by their pitiable condition. Despite the local prejudice against Muslims, Holy Mother treated them as her own children. Like the most affectionate mother, she provided them with some opportunities to work. Every one of these Muslim weavers regarded Holy Mother as their Guardian Angel.
In another example, Holy Mother’s niece Nalini harbored a strong sense of the superior purity and social status of Brahmins accorded by the Hindu caste system. On one occasion when Nalini found Holy Mother removing the left-over scraps of a meal. This sight naturally horrified her and she cried out, “Ah me! She’s removing the leavings of a multitude of castes!” But the universality of Holy Mother’s love which knows no division immediately revealed itself. She responded, “What if they are from various castes? They are all my children.” Removing leftovers was actually a part of Holy Mother’s daily routine. Although she was steeped in the Orthodox tradition of Hinduism, Holy Mother never allowed devotees or the Swamis to remove their leftovers themselves. By her own example, she relieved them of their stigma of division that was associated with their caste-consciousness. When Swami Vishweshwarananda resisted and offered to remove his own plate after the meal, Holy Mother persuaded him to allow her take it instead and said to him, “What indeed have I done for you? A child even soils its mother’s lap and does so many other things. You are rare jewels to be sought for by gods.” With these sweet words she expressed the grace of her divine Motherhood. Some other women who had the good fortune to live near Holy Mother nevertheless criticized her for this. Her pure and natural response was, “Well, I am their mother. If a mother shouldn’t do it for her children’s sake, who else should?” Yet another time, Holy Mother caused great joy in the heart of a man from a lowly caste by allowing him to offer flowers at her feet on the second day of Durga worship at Jayrambati.
These are not the only cases demonstrating Holy Mother’s lack of prejudice. We have seen that throughout her life of infinite universal love, she consistently transcended the limitations of social convention, even with foreigners. These and many other similar events bear eloquent testimony to the ease with which she endeared herself as Mother. Her motherly affection removes all timidity and doubt from any devotee inclined to approach Holy Mother with hesitation or reservation.
Holy Mother gave shelter to giant souls like Swamiji and others. Her simple word was final to them. Whereas these great disciples had the innocent habit of arguing with Shri Ramakrishna, they never dared to think of arguing with Holy Mother. Every word of Holy Mother’s was a command to them. Swami Vivekananda ceremonially purified himself before going to Holy Mother and shook with pious emotion in her presence. Her word was their command. We would like to cite one instance of Holy Mother’s guidance of the Mission in times of crisis.
