The ultimate truth is Pure Consciousness. It under goes no change when the universe manifests from It. We refer to the power behind it as Devi. God and divine power are not two; they are one and the same, just as sun and its light, honey and its sweetness, a word and its meaning.We have the freedom to worship God in any form we like. We can worship Him as Mother, Father, Guru, Friend, the Lord or as our own child. The only thing is, our worship should be based on spiritual principles. Among human relationships, the one between mother and child is highest. The child has total freedom with his mother.
He gets what he wants by crying or through willfulness. Even if the mother spanks her child, he will hold on to her tightly. “I have no other refuge than the mother”-this is his attitude. No matter what the cause of his distress, he finds consolation in his mother’s lap. This is the attitude we should have towards God.
The mother is the embodiment of patience. No matter how many times the child errs, the mother forgives him repeatedly and showers her affection on him. However, most mothers have such love only for their own children, whereas the Divine Mother’s attitude combines both love towards all beings in the universe and spiritual discipline.Some ask ‘why we refer to Devi as Maya.
Doesn’t Maya lead us to delusion, sorrow and bondage? Why then do we worship Devi’? The universe is the visible manifestation of Devi. She pervades all forms. As She is everything, Maya, too, is Devi. Devi is the one who liberates both Maya and the Mayavi (magician) from delusion. Devi is knowledge and ignorance. Knowledge leads one to Truth. Ignorance leads one to untruth and sorrow.
Because Devi is everything, She is both knowledge and ignorance, as well as the supreme truth, which is the substratum of both. Maya is nothing other than our own mind. It is not some outer force. Maya is the root form of the mind. The mind is the cause of bondage and liberation.Once, a band of thieves robbed a person of his valuables, bound him with rope, and pushed him inside a well. The victim shouted for help.
Hearing his calls, a few people went to the well. Seeing him, they threw a rope inside the well and saved him. A rope bound him. Later, another rope saved him. Similarly, the mind alone is the cause of both bondage and liberation. We can lock the door when we turn the key towards left; unlock the door when we turn towards the right. But the key remains the same. How we use it determines whether we unlock the door or not. Similarly, the mind alone is the cause of both bondage and liberation.
Most of our sorrows are caused by misconceptions. At dusk, the sun sets into the sea. A child cries, imagining the sun is drowning. Such is the case with most of our sorrows.God has assigned everything its own place in the universe. There is no great or small. See and revere everyone as God. This is also the message behind the bommakkolu (multi-tiered arrangement of idols) associated with Navaratri.
We worship even the most insignificant idol as a part of Devi. Supreme devotion is seeing, loving, serving and worshipping everything as the Universal Mother.
Excerpted from Amma’s Navaratri message, 2016. The 64th birth anniversary of Amritanandamayi Devi is being celebrated on September 27
Amritanandamayi Devi
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