Soft Moon Shining

Introduction to the book

WHO IS THE DIVINE MOTHER?

This introduction is a discussion about God in the feminine form - the Divine Mother. For those who are ready to go swimming in the ocean of love it may be dry reading. However, it is included here because it may be useful for some who are not familiar with the idea of a cosmic Mother. One should bear in mind that the real proof of the pudding is in the eating of it.

The Divine Mother abides in the heart of every being, universes without end. She is the divine creatrix who has manifested this country fair of consciousness as an adoration for Her beloved, the eternal formless Supreme Being – God the Father. In truth these two ancient lovers are not two. Rather, they are inseparably bound to play out their cosmic dance of love for all eternity. The Divine Mother came from nowhere meaning that there was never a time She did not exist. She is that which is immanent and accessible. Wherever there is love, compassion and mercy, we see Her direct presence. Her abode is always the present moment.

Words fail to say who or what the Divine Mother is but She can be known and experienced in a direct and personal way. This means that we can't say for sure how big She is or where She came from or what Her ultimate form is or why She is. What we can do is enter into a relationship with Her, a communion that is very intimate, close, loving and personal. She will be our best friend and confidant and our patient teacher.

Both the creation stories in Genesis and in the Hindu Rig Veda begin with the idea of the formless, the void, and the absolute. Then creation arose (or is continually arising) out of this. The Rig Veda describes this "arising" as a divine whim or play of the Supreme. The creation that occurs is Mother (maya), the divine whim (Shakti or power) is also Mother and the absolute formless ground of being is, again, Mother. We can grab hold of Her skirt at any point along this timeless expression of the Divine and, if we hold on tightly, She will dispel our illusions and deliver us to the blissful and peaceful realization of Divine Truth.

Maya, in Her potential aspect, is the divine power of the Lord. She has no beginning. She is composed of the three universal qualities (gunas), subtle, beyond perception. It is from the effects She produces that Her existence is inferred by the wise. It is She who gives birth to the whole universe.

–Adi Shankara, The Crest Jewel of Discrimination

translated by Swami Prabhavananda & Christopher Isherwood

When the Supreme Being is thought of as actionless - neither creating, sustaining nor destroying - I call Him by the name of Brahman (pure absolute formless being) or Purusha. But when I think of him as active - creating, sustaining and destroying - I call him by the name of Shakti (Divine Mother as primal energy) or Maya (the veiling power of the Divine Mother by which the One appears as many) or Prakriti (Divine Mother as primordial nature which, in association with Purusha, creates the universe).

The actionless Brahman and the active Shakti are in fact one and the same. He, who is the Absolute Existence-Intelligence-Bliss, is also the All-knowing, the All-intelligent and All-blissful Mother of the universe. A precious stone and its luminosity are one and the same, for you cannot imagine a diamond without it, and vice versa.

God the absolute (formless) and God the personal (Divine Mother; form) are one and the same. A belief in one implies a belief in the other. Fire cannot be thought of apart from its burning power; nor can its burning power be thought of apart from it. Thus God the absolute cannot be thought of apart from the idea of God with attributes (Mother).

–Ramakrishna, The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Translated by Swami Nikhilananda

For most of us, when we say "Divine Mother," we are talking about the Supreme Being as the creatrix of the universe who expresses compassion and love in a very personal, direct, and intimate way in the same way that a loving mother cares for her children.

FORMS OF THE DIVINE MOTHER

Yes, Virginia, there is a Divine Mother.

The concept of God as feminine is not new. Virtually all cultures have had a means of venerating the Supreme Being as a female form. Hindu and Buddhist cultures are rife with forms of the Divine Mother. In the Islamic tradition Allah has two principle names - Rahman and Rahim which mean Compassionate and Merciful. Both of these names are derived from the root Arabic word that denotes womb. Mahayana Buddhism recognizes the Mother as Prajnaparamita, the boundless and unfathomable Mother of all Buddhas. The early Gnostic Christians put much emphasis on the Virgin Sophia who is the feminine embodiment of Wisdom. The Chinese have Kwan Yin the Goddess of Mercy. In orthodox Judaism there is the Sabbath Queen and the feminine Shekinah. The mystical Jewish doctrine, the Holy Kabbalah, maintains that out of the Absolute emanated the three Mothers or primal elements, out of which emanated three Fathers which were primordial or spiritual air, water and fire from which came the planets and their angels. Some hold that in the Christian Holy Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that the Holy Spirit is the feminine principle. Mother Mary, the virgin mother of Jesus, continues the presence of the Divine Mother in modern Christianity.

In the following Old Testament passage God is represented as simultaneously being both male and female:

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Genesis 1:27, KJV

The logic here is that mankind was created in the form of male and female and, if that is God’s image, then that means God is both male and female.

The Goddess Isis originated in Egypt and has inscribed on Her temple in Sais, "I, Isis, am all that has been, that is or shall be; no mortal man hath ever me unveiled." By the period of the Roman Empire, she had become the most prominent deity of the Mediterranean basin. She was a formidable contender with the newly founded Christian religion and Her worship continued well into the 6th century AD until persecution pushed Her into the shadows of religiosity.

The Neolithic settlement of Catal Huyuk (c.7000 BC) in Anatolia provides archaeological evidence that the worship of the Mother Goddess experienced a long continuity. Between the 5th and 3rd millennia BC, Goddess worship became established in the Fertile Crescent in the Indus Valley, and around the Aegean Sea.

Volumes could be filled discussing the presence of the Divine Mother in all cultures from every corner of the world. In these earlier mythologies, the Mother was seen as that which gives birth to all creatures and that the earth, the elements, were not void of spirit but are in fact the living Goddess-Creator herself. To quote from Marija Gimbutas in her book The Language of the Goddess:

The Goddess gradually retreated into the depths of forests or onto mountaintops, where she remains to this day in beliefs and fairy stories. Human alienation from the vital roots of earthly life ensued, the results of which are clear in our contemporary society. But the cycles never stop turning, and now we find the Goddess reemerging from the forests and mountains, bringing us hope for the future, returning us to our most ancient human roots.

Peering back into our ancient past we see that the concept of the Divine Mother from the Indus Valley has remained intact in India to this day. The worship of Shakti, as the Divine Mother, is one of the four principle sects of Hinduism and is rich with Her influence and presence. She is also well represented in Tibetan Buddhism. Although She is only One, She appears as many forms or goddesses. Each goddess emphasizes an attribute of the one Divine Mother. This would be easy to grasp if we would consider for a moment our own earthly birth mother. When She is cooking and feeding us we might call Her Food Mother; when consoling us She is Compassion Mother; when She runs from the house with fire in Her eyes to save us from a pummeling at the hands of the neighborhood bully She is Warrior Mother; when She gives us money for the prom She is Cornucopia Mother. In the same way, centuries of contemplation by the saints on the nature of the Divine Mother have produced a marvelous and spectacular pantheon of goddesses each being a mask She wears in the drama of eternity. The Mother is not arriving empty handed to the 21st century. She has something for all of Her children.
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