On the Nature of the Divine Mother or Holy Spirit?

The spiritual Phenomenon called the Divine Mother has always been
deeply interesting to spiritual seekers. Known to sages and saints
throughout history, it is the Divine Mother whom we in the West
address as the Holy Spirit and Mother Nature. In India, Hindus
address Her as Shakti, Maya, Kali, and Durga. She is also known as
Wisdom, Aum, Amen, the Word of God. By whatever name we refer to Her,
She is an actual Entity that exists and can be directly experienced.
In this paper, I present a number of conjectures about Her identity
based on the recorded experiences of these saints and sages.

The Mother's nature is one of the unfathomable mysteries of life.
Nothing can be said about Her directly or positively. Almost
everything that can be said of Her must be couched in metaphors; She
is described in terms of waves, clouds, lights, fire, voices, music,
though She is none of these. I know of no other way to discuss Her
than metaphorically.

Her existence preceded language. Therefore it stands to reason that
She operates without recourse to or dependence on words. As I am led
to believe, no amount of intellectual understanding can substitute
for a direct and personal experience of Her.

The subject of the Mother's identity can be very dense. Even arriving
at the generalities presented here required the matching of many
pieces of a large and complex spiritual puzzle. In the end, all of it
must remain guesswork on my part.

If we mean to follow the case as set out here, we will have to
suspend disbelief, at least until the full argument has been stated.

Every name used in this essay, unless otherwise stated, is a name by
which the Mother has been known to an enlightened master. Towards the
end of the essay, a list of these names is given. Because all refer
to the same Entity, I could have chosen any one of them as
definitive. In fact, I have chosen to follow Sri Ramakrishna' s
practice and refer to this high power as the "Divine Mother."

If, after finishing this article, you wish to pursue the subject
further, the best source to turn to is the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna,
the recorded conversations of the Mother's greatest devotee. While
most sages knew a single facet of the Mother, the Avatar of
Dakshineswar scaled the lofty peaks of enlightenment by several
routes and displayed a sublime, multi-faceted knowledge of the Mother
which offers a standard of comparison for other accounts.

The Mother is neither a female nor a person
To arrive at a notion of the Mother, we must first put aside our
anthropocentric ways of thinking and realize that She is not a
person, and not a female either, but an agency, a power in the
universe which can only be understood as it is.

Avatars and enlightened saints and sages, who refer to the Holy
Father and Divine Mother, find themselves in a position of needing to
speak about entities which are one at the absolute level of existence
and apparently two at the relative. To differentiate between them,
they draw upon a metaphor of gender, as Kabir and Lao Tzu illustrate:

Kabir: "The formless Absolute is my Father, and God with form is my
Mother." (1)
Lao Tzu: "Nameless indeed is the source of creation [i.e., the
Father],
But things have a mother and she has a name." (2)

Both Kabir and Lao Tzu are differentiating between an absolute realm
where name and form are not to be found and a relative plane where
they are. The former is designated the Father; the latter, the
Mother.

However, down through the centuries, using the gender metaphor has
given rise to a difficulty. We ordinary people, lacking the knowledge
that accompanies enlightenment, project onto these two high powers
stereotypes and conclusions, likes and dislikes proper to actual
males and females and improper to these genderless sublime entities.
The Divine Mother becomes anthropomorphized into a woman, leading us
to distort Her true nature and enmeshing us in a web of imprisoning
thoughts.

Not a female, the Mother is nonetheless the necessary cause of
gender; not a male, the Father is its sufficient cause. Not a person
Herself, the Mother is the source of personhood; not a person
Himself, the Father is the source of existence itself.

If we truly wish to approach an understanding of Her Nature that may
help us realize Her, we must be vigilant against taking the gender
metaphor farther than its usefulness permits.

The term "Mother" refers to the relative plane of existence; the
term "Father" refers to the absolute
Understanding some basic distinctions about Her will require us to
think in vast terms. Sri Ramakrishna hinted at this to his
devotees: "The macrocosm and microcosm rest in the Mother's womb. Now
do you see how vast She is?" (3)

One of Sri Ramakrishna' s translators and biographers, Swami
Nikhilananda, explains: reality has two levels, one of which may be
called the absolute, acosmic, or transcendental level and the other
the relative, cosmic, or phenomenal. (4) It was these two levels of
Reality that saints and sages wished to speak about by using the
metaphor of a cosmic male and female.

According to Swami Nikhilananda, at the phenomenal level, one
perceives the universe of diversity and is aware of one's own
individual personality or ego, whereas at the transcendental level,
differences merge into an inexplicable non-dual consciousness. Both
these levels of experience are real from their respective
standpoints, though what is perceived at one level may be negated at
the other. (5)

Thus, the Mother, coterminous with this relative plane of existence,
includes all things, all creation, all manifestation, all matter. The
Father, the source of creation, remains ever no-thing, un-created, un-
manifest, im-material.

On the relative plane, the Divine Mother creates all there is,
preserves it for a time, and then dissolves it into the formless
Father again.
According to the saints and sages we shall hear from, it is the
Mother who operates the world; that is, who creates, preserves, and
destroys everything there is.

As Swami Nikhilananda observes, She is "Procreatrix [cf. Prakriti],
Nature, the Destroyer, the Creator." (6) His remarks echo ancient
texts. Of Her the Upanishads declared: "Thou art the creator; thou
art the destroyer by thy prowess; and thou art the protector." (7) In
the Bhagavad-Gita, Sri Krishna addresses Her as Maya.

Maya makes all things: what moves, what is unmoving.
O son of Kunti, that is why the world spins,
Turning its wheel through birth and through destruction. (8)

This knowledge is not privy to Hindus alone. The avatar Zarathustra
taught that the Mother was in sole charge of "the management of the
bodily and spiritual worlds." (9) Solomon also knew that
Wisdom "operates everything." (10)

Swami Nikhilananda used various metaphors to suggest how She
operates:

She projects the world and again withdraws it. She spins it as the
spider spins its web. She is the Mother of the Universe, identical
with the Brahman of Vedanta, and with the Atman of Yoga. As eternal
Lawgiver, She makes and unmakes laws; it is by Her imperious will
that karma yields its fruit. She ensnares men with illusion and again
releases them from bondage with a look of Her benign eyes. She is the
Supreme Mistress of the cosmic play, and all objects, animate and
inanimate, dance by Her will. Even those who realize the Absolute in
nirvikalpa samadhi are under Her jurisdiction as long as they live on
the relative plane. (11)

She is metaphorically called the Voice in the Wilderness in the Bible
because no law, no principle of organization, no structure can apply
to the formless God. Only the Mother has form; as such She gives
Voice to God and cries in the "wilderness" that the Father is.

The Mother made the body
Having created the universe, the Divine Mother dwells within it, as
King Solomon, an enlightened devotee of the Mother, suggests: "Wisdom
[Solomon's name for the Divine Mother] ... penetrates and permeates
everything that is, every material thing." (12) Sri Ramakrishna
agrees: "After the creation the Primal Power [the Mother] dwells in
the universe itself. She brings forth this phenomenal world and then
pervades it." (13) The Avatar of Dakshineswar confided to his
devotees that "the Divine Mother revealed to me that it is She
Herself who has become man." (14)

She made the five material bodies (or pancha kosas) by which we act
and know. Solomon cryptically comments that: "Wisdom hath builded her
house, she hath hewn her seven pillars." (15) It is my impression
that the "seven pillars" are the seven chakras. St. Paul too was
referring to Her role as the body's creator and in-dweller when he
said: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit
of God [the Mother] dwelleth in you?" (16) In Sri Krishna's
words: "Every human being is essentially a soul [the Child of God or
Atman, one with the Father], covered with a veil of maya [the
Mother]." (17)

Let us pause with this mention of the immortal soul. We now have
three eternal actors in our divine play. We have the Father without
form, the Mother with form, and the immortal soul, their offspring,
which the prophet Amos called "a firebrand plucked out of the
burning." (19) What is the divine drama in which all three are
engaged?

If we look at events from the standpoint of the immortal soul, then
it could be said, as I have done elsewhere, (18) that the purpose of
life is enlightenment. The purpose of life is that the undying soul
should travel out from God, into the world, where, after eons of
spiritual evolution and enlightenment, it will learn that it and God
are one. The purpose of life, viewed from the Creator's standpoint,
is that God should meet God, and, through that meeting, enjoy His own
bliss. (20) The Father created the Mother, who went on to create
trillions of forms – prodigal children, embodied souls - which left
the Father and travelled in the realm of matter, until every form
comes to know itself as God.

These three actors could be called the Transcendental (the Holy
Father), the Phenomenal (the Divine Mother), and the Transcendental
in the Phenomenal (the immortal soul or Child of God). If we alter
their order, we have what Christians call the "Trinity" – the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost. We explore the Father and Mother in this
article. The immortal soul is the unrealized "Son of God," (21) the
treasure buried in a field, the Pearl of great price, the Prince of
peace, and the mustard seed that, upon realization, grows into a
great tree. (22) The point at which Christianity and Hinduism
intersect is right here, at exactly this same Trinity, which Hindus
know as Brahman, Atman, and Shakti.

The Divine Mother made the body and the Holy Father hid a fragment of
Himself within its heart (the Child of God), which the Mother has
raised and educated until the divine spark realizes its true
identity.

The Mother arises from the Father and merges in Him again.
The Mother arises from the Father and falls back into Him again. She
is like the clouds in the sky; the Father is the sky from which the
clouds emerge and into which they melt again. Sri Ramakrishna tried
to convey Their relationship by using the metaphor of impermanent
waves forming on the ocean of Satchidananda:

These waves [arise] from the Great Ocean and merge again into the
Great Ocean. From the Absolute to the Relative, and from the Relative
to the Absolute. (23)
It has been revealed to me that there exists an Ocean
of "Consciousness" without limit [i.e., the Father]. From it come all
things of the relative plane [i.e., the Mother], and in it they merge
again. (24)

Paramahansa Yogananda also used a wave metaphor to describe the
Mother: "The storm-roar [the Mother] of the sea [the Father] creates
the waves [materiality] – preserves them for some time as larger or
smaller waves -- and then dissolves them." (25)

While the great ocean of consciousness is formless, the waves, which
are a part of it, have form. Nonetheless waves and ocean are
one. "That which has form," Sri Ramakrishna asserted, "again, is
without form. That which has attributes, again, has no attributes."
(26) "Water is water whether it is calm or full of waves. The
Absolute alone is the Primordial Energy, which creates, preserves,
and destroys." (27)

Sri Ramakrishna describes how the relative plane emerges from the
absolute and falls back into it again.

Brahman [the Father] may be compared to an infinite ocean, without
beginning or end. Just as, through intense cold, some portions of the
ocean freeze into ice and formless water appears to have form, so
through intense love of the devotee, Brahman appears to take on form
and personality. But the form melts away again as the Sun of
Knowledge rises. Then the universe [the Mother] also disappears, and
there is seen to be nothing but Brahman. (28)

She is energy, movement, vibration; the Father is an inactive,
unknowable void
According to Swami Nikhilananda, the essence of the Divine Mother is
shakti or energy; in fact, adyashakti or the primordial
energy. "Maya, the mighty weaver of [the mysterious garb of name and
form]," he said, "is none other than Kali, the Divine Mother, She is
the primordial Divine Energy, Sakti." (29)

What is Shakti and what is Brahman? What is the Mother and what is
the Father? Sri Ramakrishna says the distinction between the two is
the same as distinction between the static and the dynamic:

When inactive He is called Brahman, the Purusha [i.e., the Supreme
Person]. He is called Sakti, or Prakriti [the Primordial Energy],
when engaged in creation, preservation, and destruction. These are
the two aspects of Reality: Purusha and Prakriti. He who is the
Purusha is also the Prakriti. (30)

He equates the static Father with the impersonal God, Nirguna Brahman
(or the Father without attributes), and the dynamic Mother with the
personal God, Saguna Brahman (the Father with attributes):

When the Godhead [the Father] is thought of as creating, preserving,
and destroyinq, It is known as the Personal God, Saguna Brahman, or
the Primal Energy, Adyasakti [the Mother]. Again, when It is thought
of as beyond the three gunas [the three qualities of the phenomenal
world – sattwa, rajas, and thamas, or balance, energy, and sloth],
then It is called the Attributeless Reality, Nirguna Brahman, beyond
speech and thought; this is the Supreme Brahman, Parabrahman. (31)

Sri Ramakrishna revealed the secret meaning behind the statues of
Shakti and Shiva that show Shiva lying recumbent while Shakti dances
on His body.

Kali stands on the bosom of Siva; Siva lies under Her feet like a
corpse; Kali looks at Siva. All this denotes the union of Purusha and
Prakriti. Purusha is inactive; therefore Siva lies on the ground like
a corpse. Prakriti performs all Her activities in conjunction with
Purusha. Thus She creates, preserves, and destroys. (32)

Thus the Father is "immoveable and actionless" (33), a profound
stillness in which we discover Sat-Chit-Ananda, or Being, Awareness,
and Bliss Absolute. The Mother is the movement in this stillness, the
voice in the silence, the primordial, active energy in the eternal
tranquillity of the Father. It is this relationship between the
dynamic and the static that Jesus hinted at when he called the
totality of God "a movement and a rest." (34)

Bernadette Roberts stressed the Father's stillness when she called
him "the 'still-point' at the center of being." (35) Lao Tzu
emphasized it when he asserted that: "The Way [the Tao or the Father]
is a Void." (36)

Empty of name and form, qualities and attributes, and
quintessentially tranquil and still, the Father is in the end
inconceivable. "What Brahman is cannot be described," declared the
Godman of Dakshineswar. (37) Because ego is subdued for a time upon
attaining the Father, leaving no observer to observe, no thinker to
think, "no one has ever been able to say what Brahman is." (38)

The essence of the Mother is a universal creative vibration,
symbolized by the sacred syllable 'Aum,' which calls matter into
being, sustains it for a while, and then releases it back into the
general dissolution of the Father
Hindus symbolize the primal power - the Mother as vibration or
energy - by the sacred syllable – or rather vibration - 'Aum.' Sri
Ramakrishna makes this connection when he equates Aum with the Divine
Mother, exclaiming: "O Mother! O Embodiment of `Om.'" (39)

Paramahansa Yogananda identifies "Aum," or "Amen," with the Holy
Spirit: Christians are familiar with the Amen from Revelation: "These
things saith the Amen [the Mother], the faithful and true witness,
the beginning of the creation of God." (40)

The ancients, not versed in the polished language of modern times,
used "Holy Ghost" and "Word" for Intelligent Cosmic Vibration, which
is the first materialization of God the Father in matter [i.e., the
Mother]. The Hindus speak of this Holy Ghost as the "Aum." (41)

Holy Ghost, Aum of the Hindus, the Mohammedan Amin, the Christian
Amen, Voice of Many Waters, Word, are the same thing. (42)

Yogananda links "Aum" and the "Holy Ghost" to the primordial energy:

"The Bible refers to Aum as the Holy Ghost or invisible life force
that divinely upholds creation. `What? Know ye not that your body is
the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which we have of God,
and ye are not your own?' (I Corinthians 6:19.)" (43)
Now we know the Mother, Shakti, the Holy Ghost, as Aum. Aum creates,
preserves and destroys.

The cosmic sound of Aum creates all things as Nebulae, preserves them
in the forms of the present cosmos and worlds, and ultimately will
dissolve all things in the bosom-sea of God. (44)
Nature is an objectification of Aum, the Primal Sound or Vibratory
Word. (45)

Sage Vasistha made the same point in the Yoga Vasistha. The form of
his teaching is similar to Sri Ramakrishna' s, that waves or
vibrations arise out of the Ocean of Sathchidananda.

When the infinite vibrates, the worlds appear to emerge. When it does
not vibrate, the worlds appear to submerge, even as when a firebrand
is whirled fast a circle appears. And when it is held steady, the
circle vanishes. Vibrating or not vibrating, it is the same
everywhere at all times. (46)
Theosophist Annie Besant propagated this view as well:

The source from which a universe proceeds is a manifested Divine
Being, to whom in the modern form of the Ancient Wisdom the name of
Logos, or Word, has been given. The name is drawn from Greek
philosophy, but perfectly expresses the ancient idea, the Word which
emerges from the Silence, the Voice, the sound, by which the worlds
come into being. (47)

Have we any representations of the birth of the Mother? A recent
article in What is Enlightenment? magazine relates a vision of the
author, Maura O'Connor, a student of the Kabbalah. In it she was
taught by a rabbi, Moses de Leon, the following:

Emptiness, what the kabbalists call ayin, exists far beyond concepts
or language. It is like a pure ether that can never be grasped by the
mind. ... Emptiness is the ultimate mystery, the secret of the Cause
of Causes, and it brought everything into being. ...

I must tell you of the great rabbi, Isaac Luria. Luria was a
visionary like none other: he lived during the fifteenth century in
the holy town of Galilee.... He spent his life ceaselessly
contemplating the source of the universe, the primordial emptiness we
call ayin.... He recognized that in order for the latent divinity of
ayin to manifest its glorious potential for life, a cataclysmic
contraction had to take place. ...

Luria understood that the absolute nature of this emptiness meant
that it was so pervasive, nothing else but it could exist. In order
for life to become manifest, a seismic contraction of emptiness in on
itself had to occur, creating a space in which divine emanation was
possible. ...

Following this immense contraction, God's first cosmic act was the
emission of a single perfect ray of light. This beam pierced through
the void and then expanded in all directions. Think of it as God's
first breath ["spirit" = "breath"] exhaling into the abyss after eons
of slumber and filling it with His divinity. This is how the universe
was born. (48)

This first perfect ray of Light is the Holy Spirit or Divine Mother.
Its expansion in all directions is the birth of the universe. What we
may be hearing is a vision of the creation of the universe -- what
scientists call "the Big Bang."

Ultimately, She is one with the Father
This Light, this vibration called "Aum," the Divine Mother, is one
with the vibrationless Father. Patanjali states: "The Word which
expresses [God] is "Om" (49) "Oh, Lord, dweller within," says
Shankara, " "Om is your very self." (50) Or the Upanishads: "Om is
Brahman, both the conditioned [Mother] and the unconditioned
[Father], the personal [Mother] and the impersonal [Father]." (51)

Krishna, speaking as God, declares:

I am …
Om in all the Vedas,
The word that is God. (52)

Three Hindu masters – Swami Yukestwar Giri, Swami Sivananda, and
Paramahansa Ramakrishna explain the relationship between Brahman and
Shakti, or Father and Mother, by using a fire metaphor.

Swami Yukteswar Giri, guru to Paramahansa Yogananda

[The] manifestation of the Word (becoming flesh, the external
material) created this visible world. So the Word, Amen, Aum [the
Mother], being the manifestation of the Eternal Nature of the
Almighty Father or His own Self, is inseparable from and nothing but
God Himself; as the burning power is inseparable from and nothing but
the fire itself. (53)

Swami Sivananda

Just as one cannot separate heat from fire, so also one cannot
separate Sakti [Mother] from Sakta [Father]. Sakti and Sakta are one.
They are inseparable. (54)

Paramahansa Ramakrishna

Brahman and Sakti are identical. If you accept the one, you must
accept the other. It is like fire and its power to burn. If you see
the fire, you must recognize its power to burn also. ... One cannot
think of the Absolute without the Relative, or the Relative without
the Absolute. (55)

"Sakti is Brahman itself," concludes Swami Sivananda. (56) Sri
Ramaskrishna agrees: "Brahman is Sakti; Sakti is Brahman. They are
not two." (57) "[Brahman and Sakti] are only two aspects, male and
female, of the same Reality, Existence-Knowledge -Bliss-Absolute. "
(58)

When we speak to the Divine Mother, we are speaking to the Holy
Father. Sri Ramakrishna teaches: "It is Brahman whom I address as
Sakti or Kali." (59)

She plays a central role in enlightenment
As we have seen, the Mother is portrayed as leading the Sons and
Daughters of God to a final meeting with the Father, in what is the
culminating event of many lives. As Jesus did, so have we all come
from the Father into the world. We are all prodigal children
wandering in the domain of matter (mater, Mother), until we realize
our true nature. Many metaphors are used to suggest how this
realization of true identity happens. The Mother is depicted as
withdrawing Her veil of phenomenal reality and revealing the Father.
She is portrayed as leading the Child of God to the Father.

Hindus, like Swami Sivananda, advise us to beseech the Mother's help
in our attempts to reach the Father.

It behooves ... the aspirant [to] approach the Mother first, so that
She may introduce Her spiritual child to the Father for its
illumination or Self-realization. " (60)

The knowledge of God as the Child, the Mother, and the Father
constitutes three discrete levels of enlightenment. When we know this
Trinity in full, we have completed the human leg of our journey back
to God.

Let us examine the Mother as bringer of enlightenment and object of
enlightenment.

There is a passage in Proverbs where the Mother (as "Wisdom") is
represented as speaking directly. Her words are consistent with what
we've learned about Her so far:

Doth not wisdom cry...
The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works
of old.
I was set up from everlasting [that is, before time], from the
beginning, or ever the earth was.
When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no
fountains abounding with water.
Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they
that keep my ways. (61)

Why are they blessed who keep Her ways? Because God the Mother will
enlighten those who follow Her commands.

We see evidence of this throughout the Bible, as the Mother
enlightens those who "keep Her ways." Hebrew kings and prophets were
baptized with the Holy Spirit . Here She brings enlightenment to the
disciples of Jesus upon the Day of Pentecost, after his death.

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all of one
accord in one place.

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty
wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it
sat upon each of them.

And they were filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with
other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (62)

Sri Yukteswar explains the significance of this event. "Being
baptized in the sacred stream of Pranava (the Holy Aum vibration)"
the spiritual aspirant "comprehends the "Kingdom of God." (63)

For many years I believed that Islam recognized only Allah, the
Father. But recently I have found a passage in the Koran which
demonstrates that its author acknowledges the Mother or Holy Spirit
as well. The passage concerns the Holy Spirit enlightening the worthy
in the penultimate experience of illumination, immediately prior to
God-Realization, symbolically preparing the Child of God for meeting
the Father. The Koran says:

Exalted and throned on high, [Allah] lets the Spirit descend at His
behest on those of His servants whom He chooses, that He may warn
them of the day when they shall meet Him. (64)
The Divine Mother or Holy Ghost enlightened the 12th-Century German
saint Hildegard of Bingen, who testified:

When I was forty-two years and seven months old, a burning light of
tremendous brightness coming from heaven poured into my entire mind.
Like a flame that does not burn but enkindles, it inflamed my entire
heart and my entire breast, just like the sun that warms an object
with its rays. (65)

Following this experience, Hildegard could not stop from singing the
praises of the Holy Spirit or Divine Mother:

Who is the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is a Burning Spirit. It
kindles the hearts of humankind. Like tympanum and lyre it plays
them, gathering volumes in the temple of the soul. The Holy Spirit
resurrects and awakens everything that is. (66)

The Mother manifested to Sri Ramakrishna as clouds of consciousness
and bliss:

Suddenly I had the wonderful vision of the Mother and fell down
unconscious. (67)

It was as if houses, doors, temples, and everything else vanished
from my sight, leaving no trace whatsoever. However far and in
whatever direction I looked I saw a continuous succession of
effulgent waves madly rushing at me from all sides, with great speed.
f was caught in the rush, and panting for breath I collapsed,
unconscious. (68)

I did not know what happened then in the external world -- how that
day and the next slipped away. But in my heart of hearts there was
flowing a current of intense bliss, never experienced before, and I
had the immediate knowledge of the liqht that was Mother. (69)

And She appeared to Ramakrishna' s doubting non-dualistic guru
Totapuri, who until that moment refused to accept Her reality:

Suddenly, in one dazzling moment, [Totapuri, saw] on all sides the
presence of the Divine Mother. She is in everything; She is
everything. She is in the water; She is on land. She is the body. She
is the mind. She is pain; She is comfort. She is is life; She is
death. She is everything that one sees, hears, or imagines. She
turns "yea" into "nay", and "nay" into "yea". Without Her grace no
embodied being can go beyond Her realm. Man has no free will. He is
not even free to die. Yet, again, beyond the body and mind She
resides in Her Transcendental, Absolute aspect. She is the Brahman
that Totapuri had been worshipping all his life. (70)

She is the kundalini energy in the body and, when that energy rises
from the muladhara chakra to the sahasrara, Shakti is said to merge
with Shiva. This is another way in which the Mother can lead the
aspirant to the Father. Swami Sivananda says: Shakti "leads the
individual from Cakra to Cakra, from plane to plane and unifies him
with Lord Siva in the Sahasrara." (71)

Sri Ramakrishna and his disciples used to sing a song whose aim was
to invoke the kundalini to rise, so that Shakti would meet Shiva at
the sahasrara.

Awake, Mother! Awake! How long Thou hast been asleep
In the lotus of the Muladhara!
Fulfil Thy secret function, Mother:
Rise to the thousand-petalled lotus within the head,
Where mighty Siva has His dwelling;
Swiftly pierce the six lotuses
And take away my grief, O Essence of Consciousness! (72)

As each chakra awakens under the influence of our growing
spirituality, the Mother is heard to "knock at the door," in
Paramahansa Yogananda's words.

"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock (sound through Om vibration):
If any man hear my voice (listen to Om), and open the door, I will
come in to him." (Revelation 3:20). (73)

Many aspirants, prominent among them Franklin Merrell-Wolff and Da
Free John, were led to Brahmajnana (or God-realization attendant upon
the spiritual energy reaching the seventh chakra) by the kundalini.
Here is how Dr. Wolff described it:

The Current is clearly a subtle, fluid-like substance which brings
the sense of well-being already described. Along with It, a more than
earthly Joy suffuses the whole nature. To myself, I called It a
Nectar. Now, I recognize It under several names. It is ...
the 'Soma,' the 'Ambrosia of the Gods,' the 'Elixir of Life,'
the 'Water of Life' of Jesus, and the 'Baptism of the Spirit' of St.
Paul. It is more than related to Immortality; in fact it is Identical
with Immortality. (74)

Da Free John called it this "current of immortal joy." (75) His
energetic experiences with the Divine Energy or the Shakti are
unusual. His process, which ended in God-realization, began one day
when:

I could feel and hear little clicking pulses in the base of my head
and neck, indicating the characteristic Presence of the Mother
Shakti. (76)

The Mother knocks at the door and Da Free John hears Her and invites
Her in. Meditating in a Vedanta Society temple in Hollywood, which he
found to be a very powerful centre of Shakti:

I felt the Shakti appear against my own form. She embraced me, and we
grasped one another in sexual union. We clasped one another in a fire
of cosmic desire, as if to give birth to the universes. Then I felt
the oneness of the Divine Energy and my own Being. There was no
separation at all. The one Being that was my own nature included the
reality that is all manifestation as a single cosmic unity and
eternal union.

The sensations of the embrace were overwhelmingly blissful. It
exceeded any kind of pleasure that a man could acquire. And soon I
ceased to feel myself as a dependent child of the Shakti. I accepted
her as my consort, my loved-one, and I held her forever to my heart.
(77)

This proved to be his penultimate experience before God-Realization,
the "harbinger" of the Father. He returned to the temple the next day
but nothing happened. He simply sat in the temple. In a moment, he
became aware of his true nature.

In an instant, I became profoundly and directly aware of what I am.
It was a tacit realization, a direct knowledge in consciousness
itself. It was consciousness itself without the addition of a
communication from any other source. I simply sat there and knew what
I am. I was being what I am. I am Reality, the Self, and Nature and
Support of all things and all beings. I am the One Being, known as
God, Brahman, Atman, the One Mind. (78)

Withdrawing Her veils, moving us onward by her evolutionary coaxings,
teaching us in Her school of matter, liberating us through the rising
of the kundalini – there are many ways that the Mother leads the
prodigal child to the Father.

No other spiritual agency has received the attention She has, under
such a variety of names, and yet has been so little understood
The Divine Mother has been known to sages throughout the centuries,
around the world, in religions from Advaita to Zarathustreanism. But
the myriad names She has been called and the lack of integrated
studies of Her have sometimes proved confusing.

I'd like to summarize the names I've found linked to the Mother. I've
given one or two references for each use, though many more could have
been given. This list has been derived by starting with undoubted
epithets like "Holy Spirit," "Divine Mother," and "Shakti," and then
noting what other synonymous terms are used by the same enlightened
source.

These are full or partial synonyms for the Divine Mother:

Adyasakti (or Ancient Power) (Sri Ramakrishna in GSR, 218 and 460.)

Ahunavairya (Zarathustra in GZ, 8-9.)

Amen (Revelation 3:14; Shankara, CJD, I; Sri Yukteswar Giri, HS, 23
and 24; Paramahansa Yogananda in AY, 237n and 363n and SCC, 1, 17 and
SCC, 2, 22.)

Amin (Paramahansa Yogananda in, 237n.)

Aum or Om (UPAN 50 and 53; Sri Ramakrishna in GSR, 299; Sri Yukteswar
Giri, HS, 24; Paramahansa Yogananda, AY, 143-4, 237n, 363n, 484, and
487n and SCC, 1, 15-6 and 19 and SCC, 2, 22.)

Breath of God (Job 33:4; Solomon in APO, 191.)

Comforter or Comforter Spirit (Zarathustra in GZ, 217; Jesus in John
14:16 and 14:26 and 15:26; Hildegard of Bingen in IHB, 9; Paramahansa
Yogananda, AY, 144n and 363n and SCC, 1, 19.)

Cosmic Power or Energy (Sri Ramakrishna in GSR, 116; Paramahansa
Yogananda, SCC, 2, 22; Swami Sivananda in KYW, 25.)

Cosmic Sound (Paramahansa Yogananda, AY, 237, SCC, 1, 15 and 17 and
SCC, 2, 22.)

Cosmic Vibration (Paramahansa Yogananda, SCC, 1, 15-6, 17, and 56 and
SCC, 2, 22.)

Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer (UPAN, 37; Zarathustra, GZ, 187,
227 and 240; Sri Ramakrishna in GSR, 32, 107, 135, and 653;
Paramahansa Yogananda, SCC, 1, 15-6.)

Divine Mother (Lao Tzu in WOL, 53, 72, and 105; Paramahansa
Ramakrishna in GSR, 32, 107, 136, 200, and 299; Swami Sivananda
Sarasvati in KYW, 25; Nikhilananda in VIV, 24; Omraam Mikhael
Aivanhov, LAS, 1, 15, 21, 22, and 28; Da Free John in KOL, 132; etc.)

Divine Power (Sister Vandana, NJ, 190-1.)

Durga (Paramahansa Ramakrishna in GSR, 216.)

Embodiment of Om (Sri Ramakrishna in GSR, 299.)

The Fashioner of all things (Solomon in APO, 191.)

Holy Ghost (Jesus in Matthew 12: 31-2; John 14:26 and 20:21-2;
Paramhansa Yogananda, AY, 143-4, 363n, and 487n and SCC, 1, 15-6 and
19 and SCC, 2, 22.)

Holy Spirit (Solomon in APO, 195; Zarathustra, 217 and 227; Luke
11:13.)

Holy Vibration (Paramahansa Yogananda in SCC, 1, 56.)

Hum (Paramahansa Yogananda, AY, 237n.)

Kali (Sri Ramakrishna in GSR, 107 and 634;
Nikhilananda, "Introduction, " to GSR, 9-10;
Nikhilananda, "Vivekananda" in VIV, 24; Paramahansa Yogananda, AY,
10, 40n, and 41.)

Kundalini (Swami Sivananda in KYW, 25 and 30; GSR, 182.)

Logos (Annie Besant, AW, 44; Vivekananda in Nikhilananda, VIV, 422.)

Matrix (Lao Tzu in WOL, 105; Sri Aurobindo, SOY, 3.)

Maya (Sri Krishna in BG, 80; Shankara in CJD, 49; Sri Aurobindo, UP,
27; Nikhilananda, HIN, 42-3 and 45; Swami Sivananda in KYW, 26.)

Mother - See Divine Mother.

Mother Nature, Mother of nature (Swami Sivananda in KYW, 26;
Paramahansa Yogananda, AY, 10 and 41; Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov, CML,
19; Nikhilananda in GSR, 9-10.)

Mother of the universe (Nikhilananda, "Vivekananda" in VIV, 24.)

Natural Law (Solomon in Proverbs 1:8-9, 3:1, and 6:20; Jesus in
Matthew 12:31-2; St. Paul in Romans 8:2; Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov,
CML, 18-9; Krishnamurti, AFM, 25.)

Nature (Paramahansa Yogananda, AY,40n and 41 and SCC, 1, 33; John
Redtail Freesoul, BI, 11-2.)

Noise of many waters (David in Psalm 93:3-4; Ezekiel 43:1-2.)

Personal God or Saguna Brahman (Paramahansa Ramakrishna in GSR, 32,
149, 218 and 277.)

Power of God, Power of the Lord (Solomon in APO, 191; Swami Sivananda
in KYW, 25.)

Prakriti/Procreatri x (Sri Krishna in BG, 103, 104, and 106; Sri
Aurobindo, UP, 27; Ramakrishnananda, GDI, 1 and 8: Swami Sivananda in
KYW, 26; Paramahansa Ramakrishna in GSR, 32 and123;
Nikhilananda, "Introduction" to GSR, 9-10; Paramahansa Yogananda,
SCC, 1, 33.)

Prana (UPAN , 35-8; Paramahansa Yogananda, AY, 484; Swami Sivananda
in KYW, 26.)

Primal Energy, Primal Power (Sri Ramakrishna in GSR, 116 and 135;
Swami Sivananda in KYW, 25.)

Primordial/Primal Energy (Sri Ramakrishna in GSR, 107 and 242.)

Relative Plane (Sri Ramakrishna, GSR, 653.)

Saguna Brahman See Personal God or Saguna Brahman.

Shakti Sri Ramakrishna in GSR, 116; Swami Sivananda in KYW, 25-6.)

Sound-Brahman, Shabda Brahman, or Pranava (PR in GSR, 263; Swami
Vivekananda in Nikhilananda, VIV, 422; Sister Vandana, NJ, 190-1.)

Sound of many waters (Paramahansa Yogananda, AY, 267-8.)

Sphota (Swami Vivekananda in Nikhilananda, VIV, 422; Usha, RVW, 74.)

Spirit of the Bridegroom (St. John of the Cross, CWSJC, 580.)

Spirit of God, Spirit of the Lord (Genesis 1:2; Exodus 35:31; Isaiah
11:2; Ibn Arabi, KK, 15-6; Paramahansa Yogananda in AY, 142 and 143.)

Spirit of Truth (Jesus in John 14:17.)

Spirit of Wisdom (Zarathushtra, GZ, 13 and 187; Exodus 28:3 and
35:31; Deuteronomy 34:9; Isaiah 11:2; St. Paul in Ephesians 1:15-7.)

Spouse (St. John of the Cross in CWSJC, 75.)

Syama (Sri Ramakrishna in GSR, 271.)

Voice in the Silence (Annie Besant, AW, 44; Mabel Collins, LOP, 22.)

Voice of many waters (St. John in Revelation 14:2; Paramahansa
Yogananda in AY, 17n and SCC, 1, 19.)

Voice of one that crieth in the wilderness (Isaiah 40:3.)

Wisdom or Sophia (Zarathustra, GZ, 187 and 227; Solomon in Proverbs
3:19 and 9:1 and APO, 191 and 195; Isaiah 11:2; .Jesus in Matthew
11:19; John of the Cross in CWSJC, 75.)

Witness (St. John in Revelation 3:14 and Paramahansa Yogananda in AY,
143-4 and 237 and SCC, 2, 22.)

Womb of God, Womb of Brahman, womb of wombs; Brahmayoni (Sri Krishna
in BG, 106; Sri Ramakrishna, GSR, 870; Yogeshananda in VSR, 41; Sri
Aurobindo, SOY, 3.)

Word (Hermes, DPH, 8 and 17; Zarathustra in GZ, 8-9; John 1:1 and
1:3; Annie Besant, AW, 44; Sri Yukteswar Giri, HS, 23 and 24;
Paramahansa Yogananda, AY, 143-4, 237n, and 363n, SCC, 1, 19 and SCC,
2, 22.)

The Mother will always be incomprehensible and Her significance will
remain immeasurable

One day we shall be able to say with Solomon: "Happy is the man that
findeth wisdom... She is more precious than rubies; and all things
thou canst desire are not to be compared with her." (79) But though
we merge with Her and reap all the rewards of doings so, we can never
know Her as long as we are human.

Only those who have achieved what Jesus called everlasting life, the
immortality that the experience of vijnana, (80) or stable and
permanent realization, confers reach a high enough vantage point even
to begin to inquire into, let alone understand, Her mystery. Even
then, they can only marvel and say, with Shankara:

[The Mother] is neither being nor non-being, nor a mixture of both.
She is neither divided nor undivided, nor a mixture of both. She is
neither an indivisible whole, nor composed of parts, nor a mixture of
both. She is most strange. Her nature is inexplicable. (81)

On the Nature of the Divine Mother or Holy Spirit?

References
For full details on these sources, see Bibliography

(1) GSR, 150.

(2) WOL, 53.

(3) GSR, 106.

(4) HIN, 29; VIV, 24.

(5) HIN, 29.

(6) GSR, 9-10.

(7) UPAN, 37.

(8) BG, 80.

(9) GZ, 187.

(10) APO, 192.

(11) GSR, 30.

(12) APO, 191.

(13) GSR, 135.

(14) Ibid., 231.

(15) Proverbs 9:1.

(16) Corinthians 3:16.

(17) BG, 103.

(18) See "The Purpose of Life is Enlightenment" at
http://www.angelfir e.com/space2/ light11/purpose. html.

(19) Amos 4:1.

(20) See "The Divine Plan" at
http://www.angelfir e.com/space2/ light11/divine1. html and "Is There a
Plan to Life?" at http://www.angelfir e.com/space2/ light11/plan. html.

(21) "If you will know yourselves, then you will ... know that you
are the sons of the Living Father." That is, if you were realized,
you would know that you are Sons of God. (Jesus in GATT, 3.)

(22) See "Christianity and Hinduism are One" at
http://www.angelfir e.com/space2/ light11/hinduism 1.html.

(23) GSR, 353.

(24) Ibid., 359.

(25) SCC, 1, 16.

(26) GSR, 271.

(27) Loc. Cit.

(28) Sri Ramakrishna cited in Nikhilananda, "Shankara's Philosophy of
Non-Dualism, " CJD, 18-9; cf. GSR, 191.

(29) GSR, 30.

(30) Ibid., 321

(31) Ibid., 218.

(32) Ibid., 271.

(33) Ibid., 104

(34) GATT, 29.

(35) ENS, I0.

(36) WOL, 56.

(37) GSR, 102.

(38) Loc. Cit.

(39) GSR, 299.

(40) Rev. 3:14.

(41) SCC, 1, 16.

(42) Ibid., 19; HS, 24.

(43) AY, 363.

(44) SCC, 1, 16.

(45) AY, 155-6.

(46) CYV, 45.

(47) AW, 44.

(48) Maura O'Connor, "A People's Revolution of Enlightenment:
Kabbalah," WIE, Issue 27, Nov.-Feb. 2004, 86-7.

(49) HTKG, 39.

(50) CJD, i.

(51) UPAN, 40.

(52) BG, 71.

(53) HS, 24.

(54) KYW, 25.

(55) GSR, 134.

(56) KYW, 26.

(57) GSR, 271.

(58) Loc. cit.

(59) Ibid., 734.

(60) KYW, 25.

(61) Proverbs 8:1, 22-4, and 32.

(62) Acts 2:1-4.

(63) HS, 15.

(64) KOR, 160.

(65) IHB, 9.

(66) Loc. cit.

(67) VSR, 13.

(68) Loc. cit.

(69) Loc. cit.

(70) GSR, 31.

(71) KYW, 26.

(72) GSR, 242.

(73) Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons, Number 29, 3.

(74) PTS, 31.

(75) KOL, 157

(76) Ibid., 132.

(77) Ibid., 134.

(78) Ibid., 134-5.

(79) Proverbs 3:13 and 15.

(80) Sri Ramakrishna: "There is a stage beyond even Brahmajnana,
After jnana comes vijnana." ( GSR, 288.) Ramana Maharshi calls it
turiyatita and sahaja [permanent] nirvikalpa samadhi:

Sahaja [samadhi] is also Nirvikalpa. You are probably meaning
[Kevalya] Nirvikalpa, which is temporary, while the Samadhi lasts.
The Sahaja Nirvikalpa is permanent and in it lies liberation from
rebirths. (GR, 88.)
[The] Heart is the seat of Jnanam as well as of the granthi (knot of
ignorance). It is represented in the physical body by a hole smaller
than the smallest pin-point, which is always shut. When the mind
drops down in Kevalya nirvikalpa [samadhi], it opens but shuts again
after it. When sahaja nirvikalpa samadhi is attained it opens for
good. (GR, 96.)

This is the final goal. (SE, answer to question 40.)

This is the "final goal" in the sense that it frees an individual
from the need to reincarnate in physical matter again, but it is not
the final goal in terms of subsequent enlightenments.
See "Enlightenment is Virtually Endless," at
http://www.angelfir e.com/space2/ light11/endless. html.

(81) CJD, 49.

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GOCA : Gleanings from Orthodox Christian Authors and the Holy
Fathers, downloaded from
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GR: Cohen, S.S., Guru Ramana. Memories and Notes. 6th edition.
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GSB: Dooley, Anne, ed., Guidance from Silver Birch. London:
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GSR: Nikhilananda, Swami, trans., The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. New
York: Ramakrishna- Vivekananda Center, 1978; c1942.

GSRA: Nikhilananda, Swami, trans., The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna.
(Abridged) New York: Ramakrishna- Vivekananda Center, 1980; c1942.

GVP: Redfield, L.N., trans. Golden Verses of Pythagoras.
Wellingborough: 1986.

GZ: Greenlees, Duncan, trans. The Gospel of Zarathushtra. Adyar:
Theosophical Publishing House, 1978.

HA Thomas Byrom, trans. Heart of Awareness. A Translation of the
Ashtavakra Gita. Boston and Shaftesbury: Shambala, 1990.

HF: Gregory of Tours, The History of the Franks. Harmondsworth:
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HHC: Tzu, Lao. Hua Hu Ching. The Unknown Teachings of Lao Tzu. trans.
Brian Walker. San Francisco: Harper, 1992.

HIN: Nikhilananda, Swami, Hinduism. lts Meaning for the Liberation of
the Spirit. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1968.

HOA: Byrom, Thomas, trans., The Heart of Awareness. A Translation of
the Ashtavakra Gita. Boston and Shaftesbury: Shambhala, 1990.

HRG: Da Free John, ed. The Heart of the Ribhu Gita. Los Angeles: Dawn
Horse Press, 1973.

HS: Yukteswar Giri, Swami Sri, The Holy Science. Los Angeles: Self-
Realization Fellowship, 1984.

HSC: White, John, ed., The Highest State of Consciousness. Garden
City: Doubleday, 1972.

HSU: Tobin, Frank, trans. Henry Suso. The Exemplar, with Two German
Sermons. New York and Mahwah: Paulist Press, 1989.

HTKG: Prabhavananda, Swami and Christopher Isherwood, trans., How to
Know God. The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali. New York, etc.: New
American Library, 1969; c1953

IA: Adyashanti, The Impact of Awkenening. Los Gatos: Open Gate
Publishing, 2000.

IAT: Frydman, Maurice, trans., I am That. Talks with Sri Nisargadatta
Maharaj. ed. S.S. Dikshit. Durham, NC: Acorn Press, 1973.

IATG: Rajneesh, Bhagwan Shree. I am the Gate. The Meaning of
Initiation and Discipleship. New York, etc.: Harper Colophon, 1977;
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IC: Teresa, St., of Avila. Interior Castle. trans. E. Allison Peers.
Garden City: Image Books, 1961.

IHB: Fox, Matthew, Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen. Santa Fe:
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ILWL: Fremantle, Anne and Christopher. In Love with Love. 100 of the
Greatest Mystical Poems. New York, etc.: Paulist Press, 1978.

IWL: Collins, Mabel, The Idyll of the White Lotus. Wheaton, IL: Re
Quest, 1974; c1952.

JI: Castaneda, Carlos, Journey to Ixtlan. The Lessons of Don Juan.
New York: Pocket Books, 1972.

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JR: Wiseman, James A., John Ruusbroec. The Spiritual Espousals and
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KK: Ibn Arabi, Muhyidden, Kernel of the Kernel. trans. Ismail Hakki
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KUN: Mookerjee, Ajit. Kundalini. The Arousal of the Inner Energy.
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KYA: Lutyens, Mary. Krishnamurti: The Years of Awakening. New York:
Avon, 1975.

KYF: Lutyens, Mary, Krishnamurti: The Years of Fulfillment. New York:
Avon, 1983.

KYW: Radha, Swami Sivananda. Kundalini Yoga for the West. Spokane:
Timeless Books, 1978.

LA: Philostratus, Life of Apollonius. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books,
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LBN: …The Living Book of Nature. Frejus: Editions Prosveta, 1984.

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LOP: Collins, Mabel, channel. Light on the Path and an Essay on
Karma. Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1974. I am under
the impression that the ascended master Collins channelled was the
Master Hilarion. Cf: "Light on the Path was written in 1884. On 8th
November 1884, Mabel met Blavatsky shortly before she returned to
India. Blavatsky herself was late to say that they met on two or
three occasions during the autumn of 1884, always in the presence of
others. Theosophists were thick on the ground in London during that
autumn, and great numbers of them enthusiastically met Blavatsky. It
would have been strange if Mabel hadn't been amongst them. "Mabel
called on Blavatsky and showed her a couple of pages of the working
manuscript of Light. As far as Blavatsky was concerned the Master
Hilarion had again appeared to Mabel Collins in 1884 and had dictated
to her the conclusion of The Idyll of the White Lotus and the whole
of Light on the Path. Until now Blavatsky hadn't taken Mabel any more
seriously than any of the other theosophists. But Mabel's work was
gaining a lot of attention. Blavatsky was quick to ensure that credit
was given to the Masters before Mabel could attribute it
elsewhere. "It was to immediately become a theosophical classic.
Before being published however, Light was read in draft form to
Sinnett's group. So although Blavatsky's claims that she did not see
Light until some time after it was published bear a ring of truth,
the material contained within Light was available and talked about
some months before its publication. Untangling the story of how Light
was written is rather like trying to knit with spaghetti." (Kim
Farnell, The Many Lives of Mabel Collins,
http://www.katinkah esselink. net/his/farnell3 .html, downloaded 29 June
2007.)

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SM: Adyashanti, interview in John J. Prendergast, Peter Fenner, and
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SPKR : Lutyens, Mary, ed. The Second Penguin Krishnamurti Reader.
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SRFL: Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons. Los Angeles: Self-
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SRG: Ganapathi, Vasistha, ed., Sri Ramana Gita. Tiruvannamalai: Sri
Ramanashramam, 1977.

SRGM: Saradananda, Swami, Sri Ramakrishna, the Great Master. Madras,
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SRRM: Arunachala, Sadhu (A.W. Chadwick), A Sadhu's Reminiscences of
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ST: Ritajananda, Swami, Swami Turiyananda. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna
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STJ: Meyer, Marvin W., The Secret Teachings of Jesus. New York;
Random House, 1986.

STRM: Anon., The Spiritual Teaching of Sri Ramana Maharshi. Berkeley
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SW: William H. Gilman, ed., Selected Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson.
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SWAM: Ramachandran, U.S. Swami Satchidananda (A Thumbnail Sketch).
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SY: Yogananda, Paramahansa, Sayings of Paramahansa Yogananda. Los
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TA: Maria Pia Giudici, The Angels. Spiritual and Exegetical Notes.
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TSRM: Osborne, Arthur. The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi. N.d.,
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TCB: Burtt, Edwin A., ed., The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha.
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TG: Walsh, Neale Donald. Tomorrow's God. Our Greatest Spiritual
Challenge. New York, etc.: Atria Books, 2004.

TGML : Hoffman, Bengt, trans., The Theologia Germanicus of Martin
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TGYM: Evans-Wentz, W.Y.Tibet's Great Yogi Milarepa. A Biography from
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www.angelfire. com/space2/ light11/mother. html

Om - Aum - Pranava - Omkara
Oh, the Glories of Om! "Aum" is a variant spelling of "Om". The word can be spelled either way because the letter "o" is regarded as a diphthong consisting of "a" and "u". There is quite a division among people as to how Om is actually pronounced. Many people try to accentuate the “au” sound in aum, trying to make it sound like “ow-m” or “awe-m”. However, “aum” is pronounced “om” as in “home”. The “au” sound is an extremely subtle intonation that naturally arises, when Om is intoned, and can be heard when the pitch is increased. One does not have to accentuate the “au” sound in Om to hear it. Just intone Om as “om” and you will hear it naturally. Just intone the mantra slowly.

Information on Om and all about Om and Aum

Of all the mantras, the most powerful and the significant one is the single-syllabled incantation called the Pranava. This is the OM. The available literature upon the significances of the Vedic mantra is almost voluminous. Nowhere in the world can we meet with a more sacred symbol that has got such a vast amount of significance.

From Vedic times until the present day the word 'OM' has been taken as a symbol and as an aid to meditation by spiritual aspirants. It is accepted both as one with 'Brahman' and as the medium, the Logos, connecting man and God. The entire history of the syllable is in the revelations of the Vedas and in the declarations of the Upanishads.

There is a verse in the Vedas: 'Prajapathi vai idam agra asit' (In the beginning was Prajapathi, the Brahman): 'Tasya vak dvitiya asit' (With whom was the Word): 'Vag vai Paraman Brahma' (And the Word was verily the Supreme Brahman).** This sphota has its symbol in the word OM. The sound of OM is also called 'Pranava', meaning, that it is something that pervades life, or runs through prana or breath.

The very central theme of the Mandukya Upanishad is the syllable OM through which the mystery of Brahman is gathered to a point. The text of this Upanishad first treats OM in terms of the Upanishadic doctrine of the three states of waking, dream, and deep sleep, but then passes on to the 'fourth' (turiya), thus transporting us beyond the typical Upanishadic sphere into that of the later 'classic Advaita Vedanta'. Speaking of OM, the Taittiriya Upanishad says: "Thou art the sheath of Brahman.' That is, OM is the container for the Supreme and, therefore, invoking OM is invoking the Supreme.

In every piece of music there are three aspects, namely (1) the meaning of the song; (2) the laws of music, and (3) the sound of the song. Similarly, on OM there are three aspects. The first is the mere sound, the mere mantra as pronounced by the mouth; the second is the meaning of the syllable, which is to be realized through feeling; and the third is the application of OM to your character, singing it in your acts, and so through your life.

OM represents the Self which is the Supreme Nondual Reality. The Self is known in four states, namely, the waking state, the dream state, the deep-sleep state, and the fourth state called the turiya. All these states are represented in the three sounds of OM (i.e., A, U, M***), and the silence that follows and surrounds the syllable.

The sound A represents the waking state; the sound U represents the dream state, and the sound M represents the deep sleep state. The waking state is superimposed on the A sound because it is the first of the three states of consciousness, and so is the sound A the very first of the letters of the alphabet – in all languages. The dream is but a view within the mind of the impressions that had reflected on the surface of the mental lake during the waking state. Besides, the dream state occurs between the waking and the deep-sleep state, and comes second among the three states of consciousness. And so, U, being next to A in order of sounds, and also since it is between A and M, is treated as representing the dream state. On the M sound of OM is superimposed the deep-sleep state. The comparison between the last sound of the OM and sleep lies in that it is the closing sound of the syllable, just as deep sleep is the final stage of the mind in rest. A short pregnant silence is inevitable between two successive OMs. On this silence is superimposed the idea of the fourth state, known as turiya. This is the state of Perfect Bliss when the individual Self recognises the identity with the Supreme.

In OM, the sounds A, U, and M are called mantras or forms; there is also in AUM the common principle called the amatra-OM, that which signifies the things-in-itself, running through and pervading the threefold phenomena of waking, dream, and deep sleep. The law of memory is that the rememberer and the experiencer must be one and the same individual, or else memory is impossible. So, as we can remember all our experiences in all three planes, there must necessarily be a single common factor which was a witness of all the happenings in all the three planes. There must be some entity within ourselves who is present in the waking world, who moves and illuminates the dream, who is a distant observer in the deep sleep world, and yet who is not conditioned by any of these three realms. This entity, conceived as the fourth state (turiya), is the Real, the Changeless, the Intelligent Principle.

The syllable OM symbolizes both the spheres:(1) the phenomenal, visible sphere of the 'jagat', wherein the manifestations of time and space appear and perish, and (2) the transcendent, timeless sphere of the Imperishable Being, which is beyond and yet one with it. Thus, A the 'waking state', U, the 'dream', and M, the 'deep sleep', and the silence, 'turiya', all the four together comprise the totality of this manifestation of Atman-Brahman as a syllable. Just as the sound M manifests itself, grows, becomes transformed in its vocal quality, and finally subsides into the silence that follows****, so too the four 'states' or components of being ultimately merge into the homogeneous silence of the 'fourth' (turiya). The other three states are transformations of the one experience, which taken together constitute the totality of its modes, whether regarded from the microcosmic or from the macrocosmic point of view.

The A and U are essential to the sound as M, or as the silence (turiya) against which the sound appears. Moreover, it would be a mistake to say that AUM did not exist while the silence reigned; for it would be still potentially present even in the silence. The actual manifestation of the syllable, on the other hand, is fleeting and evanescent, whereas the silence abides. The silence, indeed, is present elsewhere during a local pronunciation of the AUM - that is to say (by analogy), transcendentally during the creation, manifestation, and dissolution of the universe.

It may be asked as to why this particular word 'OM' should be chosen as the word representative of the 'thought' out of which the universe has become manifested. The answer may be given in Swami Vivekananda's own words: "This OM is the only possible symbol which covers the whole ground, and there is none other like it. The sphota is the material of all worlds, yet it is not any definite word in its fully formed state. That is to say, if all the particularities which distinguish one word from another be removed, then what remains will be the sphota. Therefore, this sphota is called the Nada-Brahman, the sound-Brahman.

Now, every word symbol intended to express the inexpressible sphota, will so particularise it that it will no longer be the sphota. That which particularise it the least and, at the same time, most approximately expresses its nature will be the truest symbol thereof; and this is the OM, and the OM only; because, these three letters A, U, M, pronounced in combination as OM, can alone be the generalized symbol of all possible sounds. The letter A is the least differentiate of all sounds. Again, all articulate sounds are produced in the space within the mouth – beginning with the root of the tongue and ending at the lips – the throat-sound is A, and M is the lip-sound; and U exactly represents the rolling forward of the impulse which begins at the root of the tongue, continuing till it ends in the lips."

If properly pronounced, this OM will represent in itself the whole phenomenon of sound production, and no other word can do this; and this, therefore, is the fittest symbol of the sphota, which is the real meaning of the OM. And as the symbol can never be separated from the thing signified, the OM and the sphota are one. And, as the sphota, being the finer side of the manifested universe, is nearer to God, and is indeed the first manifestation of Divine Wisdom, this OM is truly symbolic of God.

OM thus represents the entire manifested world and the unmanifest, and also that which lies beyond both the manifest and the unmanifest – the Brahman, which is the changeless substratum for the changing objects of the world of experience.

To every mantra, OM, the Pranava, is added on. And without 'OM' no sacred chant has its power. Just as a living body has no vitality when the life-giving breath is not flowing through its veins, so too, a mantra has no life in it without the addition of the Pranava.

Vedantic students generally practise the repetition of and the mediation upon the symbol provided by the Pranava - this is called the Pranava upasana. OM represents, in its silent significance, both the manifest and the unmanifest, which together constitute the entire subtle and gross world. The word loka in Sanskrit is generally translated as 'world', but, in its etymological meaning, it signifies 'a field of experience'.

The entire possibility of experience in life has been terraced by the rsis into fourteen worlds; seven higher lokas and seven lower worlds. There are three worlds in which a limited ego-centre comes to play its game of reincarnation and repeated deaths: these are (1) Bhur-loka, the physical earth; (2) Bhuvar-loka, the world next to the physical and closely connected with it, but constituted of finer matter; and (3) Suvar-loka, the heavenly world. Beyond these are the four other 'worlds' wherein the ego comes to move about and enjoy in its higher evolutionary life, and they are called the Mahar-loka, Jana- loka, Tapa-loka, and Satya-loka.

In the Hindu literature we also find conceptions of other 'worlds' such as Indra-loka, Candra-loka, Surya-loka, Pitra-loka, etc., which are special 'realms of experiences' located within the above regions.

Below these seven 'worlds' there is yet another set of seven 'worlds' called the talas. They are named as Pa-talam, Maha-talam, Rasa-talam, Tala- talam, Su-talam, Vi-talam, and A-talam.

Of these fourteen 'worlds', Bhur-Bhuvar-Suvar, denoting the 'three worlds', are called the vyahrtis. In the Gayatri Mantra, when these vyahrtis are chanted, the meditator can visualise the 'three worlds' as arising from, existing in, and disappearing into AUM. He can subjectively identify them with the waking, dream, and deep-sleep conditions of consciousness, transcending which extends the realms of the Infinite. All of them are represented in the symbol OM. In this sense, the vyahrtis in the Gayatri represent in one sweep the entire 'world' of the subjective and the objective experiences of man.

Excerpted from Swami Chinmayananda
Mantra and Japa - Gayatri Meditation and Life.
Central Chinmaya Mission Trust, Bombay, India

Sathya Sai Baba said about Om:

V. MANDUKYOPANISHAD: This Upanishad is the kernel of Vedantha; it is the most profound among all the Upanishads; it is also the chiefest, having the distinction of being recommended as, by itself, enough to lead man to salvation. It is very brief, consisting of just a dozen manthras! They are divided into four sections, Agama, Vaithathya, Adwaitha and Alathasanthi. In the Agamaprakarana, the secret doctrine of Pranava which is the key to self-realisation is expounded. In the second Prakatana, the doctrine of Dualism, the great obstacle to liberation is discussed and rebutted. In the third, the A-dwaitha or non-dual Unity is propounded. The last Prakarana describes certain mutually contradictory non-Vedic doctrines and rejects them.

No sound is beyond the ken of Om; all sounds are permutations and products of Om. Brahmam too is Om, identified by It and with It. The Brahmam, which is beyond Vision, is manifest for the vision as Atma.

The distinctions of Viswa, Taijasa and Prajna are but appearances imposed on the Atma; that is to say the Atma continues the same, unaffected by the waking, the dreaming and the deep-sleep stages of man's existence. This Atma and the Atma which one refers to as 'I' are both the same. The 'I' or the Atma swims like a fish in the river, paying no regard to this bank or that, though the waters are limited and guided by them. In deep sleep, all the vasanas or impulses are suspended and though they still persist, they are not manifest or active. In dream, man follows the impulses and wins satisfaction in the process. All the manifold pulls and attractions of the sensory world, which impel man towards the objects around him, are born during the waking and the dream stages. The mind is full of agitations and these are the fertile fields where the vasanas grow, multiply and strike root. As a matter of fact, it is the agitating mind that causes Creation, that is behind all Srishti.

There is however a Fourth stage, distinct from these three: it is named Thuriya! This stage cannot be described by words or even imagined by the mind, for it is beyond both Buddhi and Manas. The experience is inadequately described as Santham, Sivam, Adwaitham; that is all. It is Peace. It is Grace. It is One-ness. The mental agitations are stilled and so there is no more mind. It is the conquest of the mind, its negation, the A-manaska stage. What a victory it is! For, in deep sleep the Mind is latent; in dream, the Mind is restless with agitations; in the waking stage, it is active and motivating. In all the three stages, Truth remains unknown. The objective world is but a delusion of the agitated mind, the super-imposition on the rope of a non-existent snake. The world is not born, nor does it die; it is born when you are ignorant; it dies when you become wise.

The AUM of the Omkara, representing the Viswa, Taijasa and Prajna aspects of the waking, dreaming and deep sleep stages of existence, have each a particular role in Sadhana. Upasana which A emphasises more, makes one realise all desires; if U is concentrated upon, then Jnana increases and if M is specially dwelt upon in the Upasana, the final merging of the Soul in the Supreme is effected. The Upasaka of Pranava will also earn the knowledge of the Truth of the world and Creation. The Upasaka, therefore, of the Pranava draws unto himself the reverence of all.

The A, U and M proceed from one to the other in the Pranava and finally merge in an A-manthra, a letterless resonance which thins out into silence. That is the symbol of the Santham, the Sivam and the Adwaitham, the merging of the individualised soul in the Universal, after the shedding of the limiting particulars of name and form. This is not all. The Karikas 24-29 of this Upanishad praise Pranava as the cause of Creation. It is extolled as quenching all grief. Why? He who ruminates on he Om, ever aware of its significance can steadily move on to an Awareness of the Real behind all this unreal Appearance, of the Paramatmathathwa Itself. ~Sathya Sai Baba

"Upanishad means 'to sit down near' because they were explained to
the students, who sat at the feet of their teachers. In general
Upanishads proclaim salvation by knowledge and realization, rather
than by faith and works. Selfish desires are obstacles to the seekers
of Truth (the Higher- Self, also called as Brahman). A seeker of true
Divinity will attain salvation when he realizes the Truth, the all-
pervasive Brahman. The universe came into existence because of a
primeval desire of Brahman. Now it is the duty of the humans to
restore it to the state of things before creation.... Honesty is
especially extolled. He who has not denounced evil will never obtain
Brahman. The worldly perceptions of smell, taste, touch, hearing and
sight makes one separate from the True Self. When one can transcend
these perceptions there is no consciousness of anything other than
Self. This is immortality.

There are six great sayings (Mahavakyas) from the Upanishads that
give the basic insight into its philosophy. They are as follows with
a brief analysis of each:

Aham Brahmasmi
"I am Brahman": Vedic knowledge teaches that our own "Self" is the
true Divinity. The Truth is within us, in our own heart. This states
the identity of the inner most consciousness of the individual with
the supreme Divine.
Ayam Atma Brahma
"The Self is Brahman": This states that not only individual soul is
Divine but all beings are identified with the Absolute Truth.
Tat Tvam Asi
"That art thou": Whatever we see or think about, we are That. We are
the ultimate Thou and I in all.
Prajnanam Brahma
" Knowledge is Brahman": Supreme intelligence is present inherently
within us and is capable of returning us to the Divine. Our
understanding of the truth is the Truth itself.
Sarvam Kalvidam Brahma
" The whole universe is Brahman": Not only the consciousness in you
and I but also the `principle of being' are all Divine. The entire
universe is Divine, which includes our Self.
So `ham
"Here am I": This identifies the Divinity in our Self in something
that happens naturally like breathing. "So" is inhalation and "Ham"
is the natural sound of exhalation.

These are the six statements of the identity of individual
consciousness with the Divine reality. They all merge into and derive
from the word "Om (Aum)" or the Divine word "I Am All". All of these
statements point to the fact that whatever or however we worship, be
it an image, book, an idea or even a God, it is the knowledge that
the Truth is within ourselves that will ultimately lead to self-
realization. Self is the true Divinity. This is the essence of
Upanishads."

Neria Harish Hebbar, MD
May 4, 2002 ]]> http://sweetnessness.wordpress.com/?p=4 Wed, 18 Jun 2008 20:35:45 +0000 Yotam Luz http://sweetnessness.wordpress.com/?p=4 I was searching for Babaji's favorite Sangeet - Pandit Jasraj - on YouTube and found that the first result is one of the Ragas he likes more. So here it is "Raga Purvi":

It'll take forever to complete this journey - writing here, and this seems like a nice way to start...

with just a simple OHM------

 

A buddhist sits still for hours on end,

repeating the same frequency: OHM

and some could say that's just the fundamental tone to all truths- the greatest teacher man could ever have: existence-

and some could say it's Christ,

some could say God

or the "elan vital"

People say a lot of things. Not enough of them sit still and listen though.

Have you ever heard water rushing down a mountain or a strong breeze?

as if life was breathing all around you?

Have you ever heard the highway cars glide like a great sudden movement of man and notice how it al happens to sound the same?

There is energy in existence, of that I am sure.

I am sure there has been a past, and the peoples of those times have said something, sang songs and left certain truths more evident for us. I'm also sure some sort of future is possible. Theres a lot of oppurtunities to act on.

But of all the things, the most certain of all things is this inherent present. It is in this time that action is only possible. Now is the oppurtunity. Now is time. Now is truth. Now. Now. Now.

Where is God? Who is God?

It isin't a person.

It isin't in a poem.

or even in a phrase.

He isin't in a book

nor has he written one.

I don't think he's left us any promises

and i don't even think it's a He.

I could think a lot of things. But of what i'm most sure is of that which i hear-

in what I see, feel and believe.

I have faith.

I am fortunate enough to fathom such an impossible term.

People tell me a lot of things.

Sometimes i just shrug, smile, and sing.

There's not much else that makes me happy except singing and dancing.

I heard Dylan say in an interview this one time that he was a song-and-dance-man. Someone asked him what that meant. He said there wasn't enough time to go into that. I believe him.

Music is the greatest metaphor we have for life.

Even in silence can one hear nature singing.

Dippanka or some buddhist or another asked his mentor what life was or something.

It is the roaring silence of a diamond.

 

and when i think of things like that, well, this little blue earth becomes a part of something so much bigger than space and time. and that's probably the most universal truth i can think of right now.

Om mani padme hum

Om mani padme hum

Om mani padme hum

Om mani padme hum

Om mani padme hum

Om mani padme hum

Om mani padme hum

Om mani padme hum é possivelmente o mantra mais famoso do Budismo; o mantra de seis sílabas do bodhisattva da compaixão: Avalokiteshvara.

De origem indiana, de lá foi para o Tibete. É o mantra mais entoado pelo budistas tibetanos.

Om Mani Padme Hum.

• Om fecha a porta para o sofrimento de renascer no reino dos deuses. O sofrimento do reino dos deuses surge da previsão da própria queda do reino dos deuses [isto é, de morrerem e renascerem em reinos inferiores]. Este sofrimento vem do orgulho.

• Ma fecha a porta para o sofrimento de renascer no reino dos deuses guerreiros (sânsc. asuras). O sofrimento dos asuras é a briga constante. Este sofrimento vem da inveja.

• Ni fecha a porta para o sofrimento de renascer no reino humano. O sofrimento dos humanos é o nascimento, a doença, a velhice e a morte. Este sofrimento vem do desejo.

• Pad fecha a porta para o sofrimento de renascer no reino animal. O sofrimento dos animais é o da estupidez, da rapina de um sobre o outro, de ser morto pelos homens para obterem carne, peles etc., e de ser morto pelas feras por dever. Este sofrimento vem da ignorância.

• Me fecha a porta para o sofrimento de renascer no reino dos fantasmas famintos (sânsc. pretas). O sofrimento dos fantasmas famintos é o da fome e o da sede. Este sofrimento vem da ganância.

• Hum fecha a porta para o sofrimento de renascer no reino do inferno. O sofrimento dos infernos é o calor e o frio. Este sofrimento vem da raiva ou ódio.

•    Tradução: Recebemos a Jóia da consciência no coração do Lótus. (O Lótus é o chakra).

     Significa - Recebemos a jóia da consciência divina, no centro do nosso chakra da coroa.

No Hinduísmo:

• O Om (ॐ) é o mantra mais importante do hinduísmo e outras religiões. Diz-se que ele contém o conhecimento dos Vedas e é considerado o corpo sonoro do Absoluto, Shabda Brahman. O Om é o som do infinito e a semente que "fecunda" os outros mantras. O som é formado pelo ditongo das vogais a e u, e a nasalização, representada pela letra m. Por isso é que, às vezes, aparece grafado Aum. Estas três letras correspondem, segundo a Maitrí Upanishad, aos três estados de consciência: vigília, sono e sonho. "Este Átman é o mantra eterno Om, os seus três sons, a, u e m, são os três primeiros estados de consciência, e estes três estados são os três sons" (VIII).

Om é a vibração primordial, o som do qual emana o Universo, a substância essencial que constitui todos os outros mantras, sendo o mais poderoso de todos eles. Ele é o gérmen, a raiz de todos os sons da natureza.

In "Wikipédia"

Yogi A male practitioner of yoga. The term also connotes a male saint and teacher of spiritual knowledge.

Yogis take many different forms and various complementary and competing schools can be found within ancient, medieval and modern Hinduism.

T. S. Rukmani notes that advanced yogis like Sankara are said to have some degree of perception of past and future, although they are not equal to brahman in this respect.¹

Yogis may also possess unusual spiritual powers called siddhis. However, these are generally downplayed and even discouraged because they are regarded as a distraction to the ultimate goal of liberation through union with the godhead.

---

¹"Untitled Review of 'The Role of Divine Grace in the Soteriology of śaṅkarācārya by Bradley J. Malkovsky'" in Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 124, No. 4, (Oct. - Dec., 2004: 813-816), p. 814.

» James (William), Karma, Karma Transfer, Mythic Eternalization, Rajas, Shakti, Yogini, Watts (Alan)

Add to this, report errors, suggest edits or voice your opinion by posting a comment

The Sanskrit word yoga derives from the root yuj, which means 'yoke,' 'bind together' or 'union.'

Hatha yoga is a set of bodily postures as well as breathing and mental exercises designed by Patanjali that ultimately aim to connect the ego and soul with God.

Although this yoga is popular in the West, there are other important Hindu yogas and the entire concept of yoga runs far deeper than fashionable stretch suits and inflatable balls.

Generally speaking, yoga for the Hindu means any technique or practice that links individual volition to the Divine Will.

The Bhagavad-Gita outlines four different but related types of yoga.

1. Jnana yoga is the yoga of divine knowledge.
2. Raja yoga is the yoga of right rule.
3. Karma yoga is the yoga of sacred duty or action.
4. Bhakti yoga is the yoga of pure devotion to God.

Depending on where the aspirant 'is at,' so to speak, in their spiritual journey, these four different yogas intermingle in various degrees and combinations.

For example, a hard working businesswoman (karma yoga) does puja in the mor