Mother's Day Reflections - SHAKTI - The Divine Mother

Rev. Abhi Janamanchi

May 13, 2007

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS:

In the Hindu tradition, Devi is the name of the Divine Mother. She has no origin because she is self-existent. She is formless, yet all forms are hers. She is Shakti, the personification of universal energy. She pervades all that is. The Universe is but her manifestation. Even the three main gods - Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva - worship her. Though eternal and omnipresent, she also comes forth in specific ways and forms to accomplish the purpose of the gods, and then she is said to be born in the world.

The purpose of the gods is to defend the cosmic order against chaos wrought by demonic forces. To the gods it is given to see that night follows day, that the rains fall in the appointed season, that the earth blossoms and brings forth abundance, that prosperity graces every home, and that humankind abides in peace. Whenever the gods fail and evil pervades the earth, the Devi herself, who is more powerful than all the gods together, intervenes to restore order and righteousness.

What is the nature of the Divine Mother? Through her power, called maya, she gives birth to everything and fills it with her presence. She is the mother of the gods and people and every living creature. Everything emerges from her and has its being in her. Everything returns to her in the end, for hers alone is the power to create, sustain, and dissolve.

She is that reality that is beyond this world of matter and senses. She is Brahman without form that which seers call sat-chit-ananda, pure being-consciousness-bliss. At the same time, she manifests herself through her power of creation as maya or Shakti. She assumes personal forms which are more easily approached. Then she is called by other names such as Durga, Mahishasuramardhini, Kali, Chandika, Ambika, Parvati, Saraswati, Lakshmi, Meenakshi, or Kameswari depending on how she reveals herself.

MAHISHASURA MARDHINI - The Story

The goddess Durga is also Mahishasuramardini (Slayer of the Buffalo Demon) who appears to her devotees in both gentle and mild as well as frightful and terrible forms.

Long, long ago when Indra ruled the heavens, order and harmony prevailed in the three worlds of heaven, atmosphere, and earth. Under the rule of this mighty protector and doer of good deeds, the gods - the shining devas - attended to the natural order of things, each to his own duty, and peace and harmony prevailed in the universe.

But there arose, one day, a fierce demon named Mahishasura. He was called the buffalo demon, for he had assumed the powerful form of a buffalo in order to defeat the other asuras (demons) and become their chief. But the mystery of that power is that fails to satisfy, and under its spell, Mahisha craved for more power. So, he stormed the gates of heaven and challenged Indra in battle. A terrible war raged for a hundred years and Mahisha emerged victorious. He expelled the gods from heaven and proclaimed himself lord.

Indra and other gods went in search of Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu to explain their predicament.

Even as the gods spoke an intense light issued forth from the enraged faces of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. The same great light streamed forth from Indra and all the other gods creating a blazing mountain of light. Out of the unformed radiance, emerged a female form with a thousand arms. It was Devi Durga in all her glory and the gods rejoiced.

The awe struck gods realized that Devi was not their creation at all. The light that emerged from them was not their own, but the splendor of her indwelling presence, fragmented among the many gods, and now reuniting at its source. They were but the agents of her power. Everyone knelt before her in reverence.

Devi bellowed aloud with laughter over and over again. The entire atmosphere was filled with her terrible noise. All the worlds quaked, and the oceans shook. The earth trembled, and the mountains rocked. The gods, utterly delighted, cried, "Victory!" to the one who rides on a lion.

Mahisha's heart missed a beat. "What is that," he wondered. He commanded all the asuras to prepare for battle. Thus readied, Mahisha rushed headlong toward the source of the commotion and there beheld the awesome Durga, who is called Chandika because of her fierce glory.

An enraged Mahisha directed his armies to attack Durga. As the asuras, the demons, hurled weapons at her, Durga breathed hard. As she breathed, thousands of soldiers came into being from her breath and fought at her side. Her mount, the lion, strode through Mahisha's army, destroying thousands of asuras. Mahisha seethed with fury. Assuming the form of a buffalo, he charged forth snorting and bellowing.

She, the great goddess, and he, the maddened buffalo demon, came face to face, Mahisha with his nostrils flaring, the Mother calm of gaze. Mahisha advanced and Durga, arousing her own rage, threw a noose over his body and bound him tightly.

Mahisha shook himself with all his might, transformed himself into a lion and pounced upon Durga. She cut off its head, and he emerged from that body as a man, armed for battle. And then, an elephant appeared in his place. She chopped off the trunk, and the buffalo was once again before her. The three worlds trembled. Durga looked at him with contempt. Her wild hair blew over her face like the bank of a cloud; her expression grew frightful, and peals of bone-chilling laughter rolled off her lips. She leaped upon the buffalo demon and pinned his neck underfoot and pierced him through with her spear. Trapped and crushed by her might, Mahisha tried to emerge out of the buffalo form, and Durga slayed him with his sword. At his destruction, the gods rejoiced, and the great seers praised the Devi. "O Durga, upholder of virtue, destroyer of evil, we humbly salute you! O Devi, continue to protect us," they cried.

Durga calmed down to become the embodiment of peace and calm and blessed them. Peace reigned on earth. (adapted from Devi Mahatmya)

REFLECTIONS:

The battleground of this story is our heart and mind, the whole field of our awareness. The conflict between the Devi and the asuras is the struggle within our own consciousness between our higher and lower impulses. All those asuras felled in battle are our own imperfect thoughts and feelings - haughtiness, anger, rudeness, aggression, selfishness, and pride. At the same time, we recognize and feel the presence of the lion of dharma or righteousness within us and the Devi's own host of warriors - all our impulses of kindness, truthfulness, generosity, and compassion.

Let us now consider who Mahishasura is and what his destruction at the hands of Devi Durga means. In the myth, Mahisha is portrayed as a nasty brute, a violent being. A man of such disposition is called "pashu" which means a "fettered creature." You may wonder what are the fetters that bind such a man?

One is hate which causes a person to behave horribly towards others. Hatred poisons the mind of the one who hates. No matter how much destruction hatred brings to others, it destroys the hater as well. Hatred is a purely brutish instinct, bereft of reason. Moreover, we hate what we fear.

Some fears are legitimate but the fears that fetter are another matter altogether. For example, the kind of fear that causes people to hate people from a different culture, who speak a different language, who look different from ourselves, and follow unfamiliar customs.

Another fetter is the concern over always presenting the right image, always acting in what will be seen as the proper way. This has nothing to do with right conduct, of course, it is all about convention and appearance; it is letting our lives be ruled by what others expect of us.

We all know the effort that goes into keeping up appearances, in sustaining a deception which brings me to another fetter - secrecy. Secrecy is a terrible fetter; it consumes a lot of energy.

These and other fetters tie us in knots. Mahisha's demon hordes represent these. But Mahisha is far more clever and dangerous. In one sense, he represents anger - fiery rage. Look at the harm his anger unleashes - how the trampled earth broke apart under his hooves. We all know what that rage feels like. The cause of this rage is unfulfilled desire, selfish attachment, and a deep craving for power. Mahisha dwells in all of us.

At the beginning, Durga fought effortlessly against Mahisha's grimly determined forces. So it is with some faults and shortcomings. They are more easily conquered than the others.

But later the Devi faces Mahisha himself and that requires greater resolve. In fact, Durga displays benevolent rage to quell and destroy Mahisha.

Mahisha's shape shifting symbolizes what happens in the mind whenever the sense of selfhood is threatened. When our ego is threatened, it disguises its thoughts and tendencies that it feels is under attack. They seem to disappear and elude destruction but they merely come back in different forms. And for a while it works.

The lion slipped out of the noose, but the Mother assailed him again. He became a man, but the Mother destroyed his defensive sword and shield. In the same way, we cannot keep hiding from our true self and defend our faults forever.

Finally, Durga pins Mahisha down with her foot. Pinning down represents the capacity of our inner self to discern, to determine what is right and good. She pierces Mahisha with her spear, as she pierces the mind with the penetrating light of right knowledge.

In the internal struggle, as long as we allow the source of our misery to hide behind the protection of one disguise after another, it remains elusive and unconquerable. As long as we are ruled by attraction and aversion, attachment and fear, personal demons will bedevil us in one way or another.

Our life's purpose is to awaken the divine mother within and live lives of freedom, non-attachment, and compassion.

We celebrate the story of Durga's victory over Mahisha as the triumph of good over evil. Good and evil are relative, and neither can exist without the other to define it. Practically speaking, we can call evil as that which distances us from the divine wholeness that is our true self, that which causes separation and strife. And we can call good that which leads us toward the Divine, toward wholeness, unity, and peace.

Whenever evil prevails, Devi, the universal mother, protector, and savior, intervenes in worldly affairs and reestablishes good. But there is one more thing about the story. The moment before Durga slays Mahisha, there dawns on his face a look of recognition. He realizes that she is the divine Mother who dwells within himself and all human beings.

What need is there to resist anymore? The individual soul meets the Divine face to face. No longer enslaved by anger and hatred, it feels its fear slip away. It knows itself only as a child of the Mother, and from this time on the Devi herself guides the inner events of the heart and mind.

May we pray to the Divine Mother, Devi Shakti, Mahishasuramardhini, to move through our hearts in all her glory and to destroy the disquiet arising from attachment, malice, and fear. May we always meditate upon her in the surrender of pure love.