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Divine Mother
Dear Friends:
In the SBG, God said that He seeds His Mahadbrahma (read Divine Mother)
to create the creation, and He also said that at the end of every
ahorAtra, He returns the creation to Her in the form of the elements
the creation is made of. We all have heard how Lords BrahmA, Vishnu and
Maheshvara are involved in the creation, maintenance and dissolution of
the creation. Is this in conflict with the SBG?
In the Vedic upanishads (the 12 cannonized by Sri SankarAchArya), as far
as I have read, references to 'three Devas' are not references to Lords
BrahmA, Vishnu and Maheshvara, but to the three worlds. In
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Rishi Yajnyavalkya too elaborated the three
Devas to be so. Guru NanakDevji said that God (aKAlapurusha) created
three excellent disciples, so who are the three?
I chanced on this reference by accident, which to me, solves the puzzle.
brahmANI kurute sR^ishtiM na tu brahmA kadAchana.
ataeva maheshAni brahmA preto na saMshayaH.
vaishNavI kurute rakshAM na tu vishNuH kadAchana.
ataeva maheshAni vishnuH preto na saMshayaH.
rudrANI kurute grasaM na tu rudraH kadAchana.
ataeva maheshAni rudraH preto na saMshayaH.
brahmAvishNumaheshAdyA jaDAschaiva prakirtitAH.
prakincha vinA devi sarve kAryAkshamA dhruvaM. (kubjikA tantra,1 patal1-4).
This is extraordinarily simple sanskrit, nevertheless, the translation is:
BrahmANI is the creator, not brahmA; therefore, maheshvarI! brahmA is preta
(dead body), there is no doubt about that. VaishnavI is the maintainer,
not Vishnu, therefore, maheshvarI! vishnu is preta, there is no doubt about
that. rudrANI is the devourer, not rudra, therefore, maheshvarI!, rudra
is preta, there is no doubt about that. brahmA, Vishnu and Mahesha are
described as non-functional (jaDa), because surely, they can not function
without Prakriti.
The Divine Mother is the Shakti of God, She is the parAshakti. I read
that Her jnAnashakti is brahmANI, icchAshakti is vaishnavI, and
kriyAshakti is rudrANI. I have also found this reference about the
definition of brahmANI.
brahmANI brahmajananAd.h brahmano jIvanena vA. (devipurAna).
(She is known as brahmANI since She is the mother of brahmA, that is, She
gives life to brahmA).
This is expanded in the very well known verse:
shR^ishtisthitivinAshAnam shaktibhute sanAtani
guNAshraye guNamaye narayaNI namo.astute.
(O personality of Shakti, involved in creation, maintenance and
destruction, hostess and embodiment of the (three) guNas (Prakriti),
I bow to you.)
Guess why Swami VivekAnanda, the advaitin that he was, also was such a
devotee of the Divine Mother! No brainer, is it not?
With best regards,
Dhruba.
