The Mother

Wisdom Teachings
The Basics

The scriptures say that in the beginning there was only darkness. Here, darkness means that it surpasses our understanding and that we cannot see what is beyond. It is undefinable, unthinkable, inexpressible, without name and form. In an attempt to name it nevertheless, the Vedas speak of TAT, THAT. THAT is neither He nor She, and yet potentially both. It is also called absolute existence, the inexpressible God.

When the first manifestation happens from out of seeming nothingness, IT also manifests itself as the male-female God, as Father and Mother. The unspeakable is the basis of both. The background is the Father, the emergence is the Mother. He is understood as the existence, she is understood as the consciousness or the awareness.

The emerging consciousness, the Mother, is a re-presentation or a symbol of the presence of the One, the Father. Thus, Father-Mother appears to us as the Mother because the Father has no appearance. The form or the support is the Mother; the content of the form is the Father. The activity of each form is again the Mother. He joins her in order to create the phenomenal world, the material world. Sound and light are different stages of the first expression of the Mother, and they are worshipped as qualities of the Mother of the World. All seven planes of creation are woven as reflections of the primordial light. Astrology teaches us that the sun in the horoscope represents the Father and the moon, the principle of reflection, the Mother.

Father and Mother are also regarded as mind and matter. In the Eastern scriptures they are called Shiva and Shakti. The whole creation is their game. Shakti is twofold: she is the matter as well as the fire which animates the matter. Both together are regarded as Shakti. In the theosophical understanding, the Trinity is considered; in doing so, the matter and the fire aspect are seen separately and the fire part is taken as the Son. The fire that springs from the source, which we call the God unspeakable, conducts all this creation and once again turns to Father-Mother. This symbol is used by the Theosophical Society as the encircled serpent.

Thus, the three Logoi come out from Father-Mother. We call them the first ray, the second ray and the third ray; Father, Son and Mother; Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma. The three together are called Mahadeva, the origin of the three, and they are also epitomized in Lord Dattatreya. The joint power of the Trinity is Sri - the Mother of Will, the Mother of Love and the Mother of Light. Parvathi or Durga is the Mother of Will and Power, Lakshmi is Love and Glory, Sarasvati is the Mother of Light and Wisdom.

From the Mother, the pure consciousness, the threefold nature - will, love, activity - emerges and from this the fivefold creation develops - the five elements. She herself is the ninth and the Absolute is the tenth.

The subtle matter is also referred to in the scriptures as root matter, primordial substance, or Mula Prakriti. She is the World Mother, the primordial light. The colour of the Mother is pure radiant white, and blue in its depth. In the Vedas, this primordial light is called Gayatri, Savitri and also Aditi. Aditi is the cosmic fire that awakens the infinite space to activity and brings out the millions of solar systems, planets, and atoms. All the units begin to develop in their consciousness. On the path of evolution, they become more and more conscious. Aditi means the opposite of Diti, darkness. Aditi is the Queen of the Day, the Mother of the Gods, the Devas. The Devas are called Adityas, sons of Aditi. Aditi gives birth to the eagles, the rising energies. Diti is the Mother of the Night and of the serpents; she gives rise to the downward flowing energies. These two women are symbolically represented as Cancer and Capricorn. Cancer is Diti, Capricorn is Aditi. The light tries to expand; the darkness tries to contract. By expansion and contraction, vibration takes place. Both exist from the beginning.

When the Mother emerges, she grows and expands to full unfoldment. Then she withdraws again and fuses with the origin. As a principle of unfolding, the Mother is depicted sitting on a lotus and holding lotuses in her hands. The subtle lotuses in our bodies are also linked together by the light of the Mother which we call Sri.

Through the unfoldment of creation, the principle of the Mother descends into all planes of creation, down to the grossest material plane. It forms the activity of creation, permeated by consciousness, for which the Father is the basis. In India, there is a symbol where the Mother dances standing on the sleeping Lord Shiva. In the densest state, the mind is sleeping in matter. In the most sublime state the matter is absorbed into the mind and the Mother is in the Father. This is the stage of the universal soul or the universal light. It is our seventh existence, from where the Sons of God are born.

When the World Mother gives us her grace, she can let the light of this plane flow through all our centres. This is also called spiritual rain. When we adhere to spiritual aspiration with purity, she often disregards our limitations and elevates us through her grace from out of the veils of illusion. Grace flows through the eyes of the Mother. It is said that the love of the Mother transmits through her eyes the gaze of the Father. When we look at people with this love, the spirit sees through and transforms.

The Mother offers us many gifts out of sheer love. As long as we do not understand her gifts, we feel that nature is cruel. However, there is no cruelty in it, but she provides us protection, food and opportunities for development.

Once a great intellectual came to Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and told him in detail what was good and right in the world, and what was bad and wrong, and how to correct things. Then he asked the Master, “What do you think about the world?” The Master said, “I do not know, I do not see all that you see. I see all as the play of the Mother. The Mother plays with her nature in various ways through different beings. What can the poor souls do? All creatures came through Nature; they cannot, therefore, overcome Nature. Only through the grace of the Mother they can be raised. For me, all are my brothers, because I too am a son of Nature. I see that all of them play along according to the game of Nature.” Then the scholar said, “For you all is the Mother because you are a worshipper of the Mother, so you see everything as the work of the Mother.” The Master answered, “Maybe I see what I have inside me, as you say. Does that mean you see what you have inside you?” Everyone sees at the outside what he has in himself.

During the time of Krishna, a great Master of Wisdom, Sanat Sujata, who, in awareness, is a younger brother of Sanat Kumara, wanted to help the Pandavas, the Sons of Light, in their crisis, the origin of which was the blind king and his sons. As the crisis approached the climax, he went to the Himalayas to receive the blessing and instructions from the Mother, who lives there in the shape of a young woman, Sailaputri, with a lion. Suddenly, he heard the lion’s roar and the Mother appeared to him. She blessed him, and he asked, “Mother, when will the reign of this blind king end, when will this fool finally go?” She smiled. When asked why she was smiling, she said, “Whether stupid or wise, all are My children. Why are you angry at someone who is not as knowledgeable as you? This king is blind, even in his thinking. Don’t you have sympathy with his blindness? Help him! It is foreseen that he will become your first student in the coming time; you will teach him wisdom and give him the knowledge of how to attain immortality. You should have equanimity if you want to work with the Plan. However much you grow into great wisdom, from my point of view, you always remain children, because you also fall into the illusion.” The dimension of the World Mother is so immeasurably great and compassionate that she does not exclude anything or anybody - because the whole creation has come out of her.

It is very difficult to overcome the illusion of the Mother or of the matter. That is why she is called the impenetrable Mother who astrologically governs Libra. In the East, she is called Durga. When we contemplate on the energy of the Mother and ask her to raise us from the illusion, she will help us. Even the creator, the three Logoi and great Masters have fallen into the illusion. How is it then with us? But the worship of the Mother helps to cross the illusion.

The Mother gives her presence by a natural fragrance which forms a protective subtle layer around us. As long as we have not yet obtained this natural fragrance, we are recommended to use sandalwood, no other fragrances. Humble Indians wear sandalwood powder on their foreheads or wear a piece of sandalwood in their pockets to ensure that the protective energy of the Mother surrounds them and no evil forces attack them. Especially women who can more easily be attacked by negative forces are recommended to have sandalwood powder or sandalwood sticks with them. The fragrance of sandalwood is an entrance door through which the Mother can approach us and surround us. Coral-red is also a very protective colour; it is as much protective as the first ray. For this reason, the Indians worship the Mother with saffron powder mixed with turmeric, which has this colour, and they adorn the idols of the Mother with coral-red flowers.

Sources: K. Parvathi Kumar: Hercules / Notes from seminars. The World Teacher Trust - Dhanishta, Visakhapatnam, India