The Divine Mother and the Mind – Swami Ramaswarupananda
(Swami Ramaswarupananda Ji joined Sivananda Ashram in Rishikesh at the age of 17, and was initiated by H.H. Swami Keishnanandaji Marharaj and served for many years the President of the Ashram, Pujya Sri Swami Chidanandaji Maharaj, as his Secretary until recently he retired to Uttar Kashi, not very far from Rishikesh to continue his own Sadhana. We were fortunate to have him for about 10 days during his world tour during 2nd and 3rd weeks of our Residential Course. He has now returned to Uttar Kashi and we wish him very successful sadhana).
The following article was provided by Jenny Newman. She transcribed it from a talk by a Swami Ramaswarupananda, which she recorded during her attendance at the second week of the three week August retreat.
The Divine Mother and the Mind – Swami Ramaswarupananda Ji transcribed by Jenny Newman.)
EVERY YEAR IN INDIA A CERMONY IS PERFORMED FOR NINE DAYS TO THE DIVINE MOTHER, THIS WORSHIP IS A VERY IMPORTANT EVENT AND IS KNOWN AS NAVARATRI. The first three days are dedicated to KALI, then LAKSHMI and the last three days to SARASWATI. One of the mantras that we chanted on the course for the Divine Mother was:
OM AIM HAREEM KLEEM CHA MUNDAYE VICHE
AIM is the bija mantra for the Goddess SARASWATI
HAREEM is for LAKSHMI
KLEEM is for KALI
From this chant it is possible to receive three different boons as we invoke the Devis (Godesses).
KALI Prepares the sadhaka for spiritual upliftment by getting rid of all the evil tendencies.
LAKSHMI From Lakshmi comes wealth – both material and spiritual.
SARASWATI Gives knowledge and wisdom.
Swami Ramaswarupananda Ji Maharaj tells us the following story:
There was a demon called MAHISASURA who had the boon that none of the Gods could kill him except for a Nickeruman (a celestial figure). As it would be very difficult for a Nickeruman to kill him all the Gods sat at a round table thinking about what they could do. Then in the middle of them a Devi appeared and she said:
“My name is DURGA and I have come to help you. I am going to kill this demon for you but the only thing is YOU HAVE TO GIVE ME ALL YOUR POWER, each person has to give me all their power.” So Shiva gave his trident and all the other Gods gave their weapons also.
Armed with these weapons Durga goes to the forest where the demon was disguised as a beautiful young girl. Two of the King’s captains saw this young girl moving around in the forest and asked:
“What are you doing here a beautiful girl like you; you should be the Queen of our King.”
“Oh I am waiting for my marriage; there is nobody to marry me.”
“Why?” They asked.
“Well unless I defeat someone in battle I cannot marry.”
To this they replied “We will offer ourselves for battle.”
Their names were SUMBHA AND NISUMBHA.
They enter into a fight with her and she kills one of them (Nisumbha) and knowingly, cleverly, leaves the other one to go to the King and tells what has happened. Sumbha then goes to the King and tells him what has happened.
He says “Oh! Is that so, take one million soldiers and go and fight with her.”
WITHIN A FEW SECONDS SHE KILLS EVERYONE!
So now the King himself gets prepared to go to battle but while he is dressing a small soldier comes and pleads with him.
“Sir don’t go to battle, I am still alive why should you go?”
“But what can you do? Millions have been killed by her she is not an ordinary woman?”
“No No, my name is RAKTABIJA; Rakta means blood, Bija means from the seed of my blood. I don’t have to produce a child that will then have to grow into an adult for as soon as my blood drops on the ground it will produce another person just like me, equally strong straight away.” (Instant cloning!)
So he goes to fight with her and when the blood drops from his body, millions and millions of Raktabijas are in the battlefield and she just cannot manage them for when she kills one billions more appear. So DURGA being the all powerful parashakti invokes a Devi called KALI from her left-hand side. KALI comes, she is naked and has a very large tongue, she says:
“What can I do for you?”
“Spread your tongue on the ground for when I kill this demon the blood will drop and he will become another one as he has a special boon. So if you swallow the blood before it drops, you will swallow everything, the Raktabijas will no longer be able to multiply.”
KALI drinks all the blood, Durga is then easily able to kill the demon.
This is a mythological story of KALI where Kali swallows all the bad blood. Now what does this actually mean, what is the symbolism of the bad blood?
THE MIND IS LIKE A RAKTABIJA because when one DESIRE is fulfilled many more desires will come out of it. So desires are Raktabijas – they multiply. Therefore to tackle your desire you have to worship KALI. You need not only the Guru’s grace and God’s grace but also YOUR OWN GRACE TO HELP YOU.
THERE ARE FOUR GRACES OR FOUR BLESSINGS
1) BLESSINGS OF THE UNIVERSAL SPIRIT -GOD
2) BLESSINGS OF THE SCRIPTURES
3) BLESSINGS OF THE GREAT MASTERS
4) BLESSINGS OF YOUR OWN SELF
The last blessing is very important because if you do not make the effort to help yourself, all these other blessings will not help you. You can take a horse to water but nine people cannot make it drink. So this blessing of your own self is required, however, what tends to happen is that you become your own hindrance, your own enemy. The sixth chapter in the Bhagavad Gita explains how you are both your own enemy and your own friend.
To become your own friend you need to turn reverently to KALI and say “Please be my friend, oh Goddess save me from myself…save me from my bad mind”. For the bad mind brings you down whilst the good mind lifts you up. The bad mind is always attracted by desire, desire can be tackled in four ways.
BY ACKNOWLEDGING THAT THE DESIRE IS NOT YOURS.
This desire is not mine. In the Bhagavad Gita KRISHNA says I AM DESIRE, IN EVERY JIVA
I AM DESIRE. I am the desire that is not opposed to righteousness, to ethics and morality.
Really it is God that we are looking for but we do not realize it.
HOW TO SATISFY THE DESIRE.
Desire which is not opposed to your own spiritual growth must be fulfilled satisfactorily. For example
having a desire for proper food for your growth is a good desire, however, other bad desires do automatically arise and we do not always know why. These come from our past impressions –
samskaras, suppression of these desires will not help, transforming them into higher desires will.
DIVERSION OF DESIRES.
When certain desires come at the wrong time, divert the desire by doing some prayer or japa etc
SUBLIMATION
Sublimation is the only way to get rid of this RAKTABIJA. So KALI has to sublimate our desire into a higher desire. We have to constantly work to purify ourselves by eating the right food, prayer, meditation etc. When we worship Kali in this way it is called KALI PUJA.
WE HAVE THREE HINDRANCES IN OUR LIFE
1) IMPURITIES (Mala)
2) TOSSING OF THE MIND (Vikshepa)
3) COVERING OF THE KNOWLEDGE (Avarna)
1) MALA
The mind is always restless running here and there; it is never still and at peace with itself. This is because of the desires or demons that disturb us: LUST, ANGER, GREED, HATRED, JEALOUSY and EGOISM.
2) VIKSHEPA
Even if we have control over the negative qualities the mind will still be tossing because there is too much RAJAS, too much activity in both the body and the mind.
3) AVARNA
The discovering of knowledge. The wisdom is already there within you, you don’t have to get the wisdom from anyone else not even God or a Guru. It is within you, however, it has been covered over by ignorance.
Therefore the first thing to be removed by KALI is the IMPURITIES, followed by the TOSSING OF THE MIND which is removed by LAKSHMI. Everything we see in this world is known as prakriti or nature and it all belongs to LAKSHMI .When you worship LAKSHMI you actually get rid of the desire for wealth as you become the owner of wealth itself. The need then goes because before you only wanted something because you were not the owner. When you become the owner you do not have any cravings for prosperity and then prosperity will come by itself. When you are not affected by wealth LAKSHMI is happy with you.
FINALLY SARASWATI COMES AND REMOVES THE IGNORANCE SO YOU WILL KNOW WHAT YOU ARE.
So we can see why the PUJA to the DEVI ceremony is a very important event. The tenth day is actually known as VICTORY DAY, victory of goodness over evil and victory over the three gunas,
KNOWLEDGE OVER IGNORANCE.