The Motherhood of the Goddess

Sarvananda was fortunate in a way that very few people are. Ma came to him while he was still a boy, and he naturally related to Her as a child relates to its mother. Only a small number of people develop the desire to experience God in this way — as Mother. 

To approach Shakti as Mother is not necessarily simple. There can be a struggle between the will of the devotee and the will of Kali. When a person's own will is not strong, Her power can become frightening and overwhelming. Yet this does not come from hatred. Ma does not hate anyone. She loves and plays with Her children, although the child may not always enjoy being told what to do.

There are other ways of approaching the Goddess. Svoboda gives the example of a saint who worshipped an image of Ma as his spouse and eventually succeeded in that practice. But such a relationship can create another difficulty. If the worshipper later becomes attracted to a human woman, the devotion directed toward Ma may become mixed with attraction to the woman's physical form. The energy developed through worship can then become entangled with the physical world instead of remaining directed toward the Goddess.

For this reason, approaching Shakti as Mother is presented as a safer path.

If every woman is seen as one's mother, certain actions toward her become unthinkable. The same vision can be extended to every living being through the recognition of the Divine Mother.

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa is given as an example of such a way of seeing. He perceived the Divine Mother in everyone, including his own wife and the woman who served him.

The Motherhood of God is also connected with the wider religious world. The book mentions the Virgin Mary and the place of the Mother in Indian religious tradition. India is described as a mother who has sheltered people belonging to different religions, including Jews, Zoroastrians, Christians and Muslims.

The cow becomes another image of motherhood.

Svoboda describes the cow as having four teats and explains the traditional understanding of how her milk is distributed — to her calf, to visitors and animals, for ritual purposes, and to her master. The image is one of a mother giving from herself.

The bond between the cow and her calf is especially important. The sight of the calf can cause milk to flow, and when the calf dies, the cow may refuse to give milk. This is contrasted with the water buffalo, which the book associates with Tamas, while the cow is associated with Sattva and mental brightness. 

The distinction is also extended to Western cows. Svoboda describes the Indian cow as having a relationship with other creatures that goes beyond her own calf. She is presented as capable of mothering other small animals as well.

For him, the significance of the cow's milk is therefore not simply its nourishing quality. It is connected with the love of the mother for her young. The cow is not worshipped merely for her physical form. What is honoured is the essence represented through her.

The same image appears in the story of the infant Krishna, Gopala. The name means protector of cows. As a baby, Krishna was loved by the cows around him even more than they loved their own calves. 

From the image of Gopala, the book returns to the child.

The baby has very few of the complicated desires that govern an adult. Its needs are simple, and its dependence upon the mother is complete. A baby does not recognize the value of a diamond when something as simple as chocolate is placed before it. The diamond has no meaning for it.

This simplicity becomes important in the spiritual search. As long as a person is satisfied with ordinary human life, there may be little reason to call upon Ma. But when the desire to escape the cycle of birth and death becomes stronger than everything else, the cry for the Mother becomes intense.

The child becomes an image of this condition — before the accumulation of the desires and attachments that make the adult mind complicated.

This is why the book brings together the images of baby Gopala and baby Jesus.

The image of Jesus also leads to the Mother and Child. Svoboda reflects on the beauty of this image and on the teachings associated with Jesus, while also considering the differences he sees between Eastern and Western ways of approaching religion and spiritual life. 

The relationship between child and Mother becomes most intimate in the final image.

A mother knows the meaning of her child's cry. The child does not need to explain what is wrong. When it is hungry, it cries, and the mother understands.

Svoboda describes his own experience of Ma in a similar way. When he becomes angry or disgusted with the world, Ma comes to him and turns his attention toward something new. She teaches him something he had not expected, and the anger disappears.

The Mother knows the child.

When the child is content, there may be no need to call for Her. But when the child has become finished with the ordinary conditions of life and wants freedom from birth and death, the cry for the Mother becomes different. It is no longer a passing desire. The longing for Her must become stronger than everything else.

The Motherhood of the Goddess is therefore presented through many images: the devotee and Ma, the mother and child, the cow and her calf, Gopala and the cows, and the child who cries for the Mother.

The forms are different, but the relationship remains the same.

The child turns toward the Mother.

And the Mother remains attentive to the child.

Source & Note

This article is based on Robert E. Svoboda’s Aghora: At the Left Hand of God. The material has been edited and adapted for this publication.