Miscellaneous - Religion   

The Divine Mother

CHENNAI : The Almighty is the cause of the entire creation and in the Tantra tradition the Supreme power is Sakti (Divine Mother). All sentient beings in the universe have two distinct features: consciousness (Chit sakti) and a material personality consisting of the body and the mind (Jada sakti). It is because of Chit sakti that all the faculties of a sentient being functions and this can be understood with the example of fire. As there cannot be fire (the form) without heat so also there cannot be a sentient being without Chit sakti.

In his discourse, Sri V. Abhiramasundaram said the divine names in the Lalita Sahasranama, which occurred in the Markandeya Purana, identified Sakti as the Supreme Being. The commentary on the name Chit sakti highlights that Chit is the consciousness, which activates materiality. The name Chetanarupa indicates that it is Sakti who is present as consciousness in all beings. She is also the power of the material universe, which the name Jadasakti evokes. Jadatmika is another name that posits Her as the Self in creation.

The name Gayatri is the most celebrated of all the names of the Divine Mother. It can be said without reservation that there is no scriptural text that does not speak highly of Gayatri. In the Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna while explaining His glories said: "Among the Vedic hymns, I am the hymn known as Gayatri." Sayana in his commentary on the Vedas refers to the Vedas as a child, to know which one must approach its mother— Gayatri. This is a 24-syllable Mantra in three parts (padas). Gayatri means that which protects the person who chants it. The Divine Mother is the personification of this Mantra. The 24-syllable metre is called Gayatri and the majority of the Vedic Mantras are in this metre.

The Gayatri is a prayer to protect the person who recites it and enable his mind to dwell on the Goddess without getting distracted thereby giving the spiritual insight that a devotee must turn his quest inward to progress spiritually. As this is the Mantra chanted by all during Sandhya worship to the Sun, which is the visible manifestation of Sakti, all can be said to be devotees of the Divine Mother.

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