Creation: The Music of Mother’s Veena

Divine Life Society Publication: God as Mother by Sri Swami Chidananda

Om Sri Sadguru Paramatmane Namah

Salutations and adorations to the Blessed Divine Mother, the source, sustenance and the ultimate goal of all creation. Salutations to the Blessed Mother in Her knowledge-giving aspect, the originator of the entire phenomenon as well as the culmination and conclusion of all knowledge and of all creative processes.

May Her grace be upon us all.  

Maha Saraswati, the first manifestation of the pure transcendent being, in the form of the Shabda Brahman, is at once the origin and the conclusion of the entire evolutionary process of the Jiva and all phenomena. As the Brahma-Shakti, She is the Great Power that presides over the commencement of creativity. She presides over the commencement of all manifestation and all projection of names and forms from the Supreme Tattva, viz., nameless, formless, beyond the reach of the mind and the senses. And as such, She is the origin of the entire life-process, but then, as this life-process flows forth from the Akhanda Ekarasa Satchidananda and progressively involves down into greater and greater grossness of matter, becoming the countless millions of Namarupa and appearing in the realm of Maha Maya, as the illusory world-play, She recedes into the back-ground and allows the task of this progression to be carried on by Her other aspects as Vishnu Maya and the Divine Durga.

But then, when the grace of the Supreme starts the return of the Jiva and commences the completing process of this evolutionary circle and the Jiva once again commences the ascent upon the inward path of Yoga, shedding and casting back the different layers of its grosser consciousness and ascending into higher and higher stages of purity, Sattva, Daivi-Sampat and spirituality once again at the very pinnacle of his ascent in Yoga, Mother manifests Herself to the Jiva as Maha Saraswati, the Light of pure Knowledge and manifesting within his consciousness as the Knowledge of Atma—Atma Jnana or Brahma Jnana, She completes the circle of evolution and once again the Jiva is merged in the Para Brahman. Thus, as creativity, Mother Saraswati is at the origin of this process of involution from the nameless and formless Para Brahman, from the One into the many as the ultimate Jnana-Dayini as the ultimate manifestation in the form of pure Knowledge. She completes the circle. Thus we have in Her the completion of this entire world-play, and in both of these aspects the Mother is worshipped, and to the seeker—to the Sadhaka and to the Yogi—especially, the Mother is particularly significant and important as the bestower of Supreme Wisdom and Jnana by which he attains Kaivalya Moksha.

Theory and Practice of Yoga

The form of the Mother, we find, expresses this supreme dual function of Mother Saraswati. She has in Her hand the Veena, and in Her other hands we find the Mother having the spotless Sphatika Mala and the Veda Grantha (the Book). Pustaka and Mala are the two things She holds, and these signify for us the fact that Mother holds in Herself the entire knowledge of the Apara as well as the Para Tattva. The entire Vedas, as they embody the fullest knowledge of all created things as also the fullest knowledge of the Ultimate Source and Origin of all creation, i.e., Para Brahman,—this She holds in Her hand for She is the dynamic counterpart of Brahma from whom the Vedas have first emanated. Brahma is the Veda-Pita and the Veda-Data.

The Mother as Saraswati, is but the Shakti of Brahma, the Chaturmukha Brahma, and therefore She is the expression of the Vedic knowledge which Brahma represents, of which He is the supreme original repository, and as such She bears in Her hand the book of the Vedas, embodying the theory of Brahma-Jnana. In the path of Realisation, the actual Abhyasa of this Vedic knowledge of the truths thus got from the Vedas directly from the books as also from the lips of the Guru,—the theory of this knowledge thus obtained has to be made, converted, into Anubhava through Abhyasa and Nididhyasana and this practical Abhyasa of Vedic truth in the form of Yoga Sadhana is represented by the pure Sphatika Mala in the right hand of the Mother. The significance of the Mala is to be equated to Yoga Abhyasa in its practical form. So She embodies the power as it is in theoretical form of the Vedic knowledge and also the dynamic power as it is expressed in and through the practical process of Yoga and spiritual Sadhana.

Mother Is Absolute Purity

Mother is represented as being spotlessly clad in the purest white raiment and also She is Herself the spotless and unblemished and fairest of the fairest beings. Her fairness is likened unto the spotless fairness of the lily, and of the Moon as also the eternal virgin snow-chains represented by the Himalayas. This is to bring out the fact of the Mother being a mass of absolute Suddha-Sattva, because She is the first original emanation from the Para-Brahman.

Mother Is All

We know that according to the Vedas, the first original emanation from the bosom of the Absolute, the Unmanifest, the Nirakara Nirguna, was in the form of the Pranava. The first spandan, the mysterious vibration, that took place with the origination of the pure satsankalpa, the first will of the Transcendent Divine, which the Vedas express in the form of Ekoham bahusyaam prajayeya “I am one, may I become many.”

Mother Saraswati is Pranava-Rupini. In Her we find manifest the two aspects of this Shabda-Brahman or the Nada-Brahman. The Shabda is the Pranava; Nada is its original sound-form.  The Mother is referred to as both Veena Vani. She has got the instrument which produces the pure sound and She is Herself the origin of all articulated Name and in this form She is Vani. The entire Jagat, all creation, is nothing but the manifest form of the music that flows forth perennially through the Veena of Mother Saraswati. For, we know that all the visible universe is made up of form. Whatever we can see, touch and observe through our senses is in the shape of form. Rupa is the ultimate way in which the world is known to us, and each form in this universe is expressed through a certain name. These names are but a combination of certain letters or Aksharas. The Aksharas that go to make up the innumerable, different, names or Namas, are nothing but the articulate expression of sound. Sound articulated becomes manifest as Akshara, and these mysterious Akshara Swarupas when combined go to form Nama, the meaning of which springs forth in the form of Rupa. That is the Drishya-Jagat. This Nada or sound which each one of these letters or Aksharas are articulate expressions of,—this Nada is ultimately in its essence pure vibration, and this vibration is the movement of the Veena of the Mother.

She is the power behind this music. She is the Supreme Suddha Sattva, the ultimate Tattva by meaning into which we immediately pass on to a state of pure transcendence and Absolute Existence. This is what Mother is to us. Her Veena is, therefore, the Omkara Rupa and the entire world is therefore the manifestation of Her Power expressed at the origin through Her Veena in the form of pure Divine Nada.

The Light Before Which Darkness Vanishes

The Mother in Her aspect as Maha Saraswati, does not actually destroy, but by Her mere appearance Ajnana—darkness, gets destroyed by itself. Therefore the Samsara Chakra is stopped and She once for all puts an end to even the last remnant of Jadatva in the Jeeva. The Jeeva becomes one with the Suddha Chaitanya Brahman. The mere appearance and the manifestation of Maha Saraswati in the field of consciousness is enough immediately to annihilate all the darkness of ignorance, to end all Jadatva, and destroy death itself and annihilate the entire process of “Punarapi jananam punarapi maranam”, and thus Mother by Her mere appearance bestows on the Jeeva the fullness of Brahma Jnana. Thus, the entire universe is nothing but a direct expression and manifestation of Her Power expressed in the first instance as the Supreme Divine Sound. Therefore, whatever we see is but the power of Mother Saraswati become crystallised in form. While we offer our adorations to Mother, we shall be propitiating that aspect of the Supreme Power by whose grace alone we shall be ultimatelly released from the clutches of darkness of ignorance, and we shall be taken to the Transcendent Abode of Immortality, Infinite Knowledge and Perennial Bliss.

Note: Navarathri 2015 – Oct 13-Oct 22

Om Tat Sat Brahmaparnamastu

 Excerpts from: Creation: The Music of Mother’s Veena - God as Mother by Sri Swami Chidananda