Very interesting presentation at the Vedanta Society of Providence by Sister Gitaprana : ...when the Master of the house sleeps, the mistress plays the role of both and when he awakes, the house disappears. My read on this one statement: when the man of the house sleeps, the wife of the house continues to work; when the man wakes, he forgets all about the house (and the wife continues to work). Ah from the ancient Vedic texts comes the traditional roles of men and women~ Songs on Divine Mother - Pravrajika Gitaprana - Oct. 20, Sunday Shakta tradition of spiritual practice worships Divine Mother as the power (Shakti) associated with the unbounded, transcendental Consciousness called Shiva. Although very similar to Vedanta philosophy, the Mother tradition does not reject the universe perceived by the senses as mere illusion (as Vedanta does), but accepts it as actual, deliberate transformation of the Divine; the Divine Mother expressing herself through all of us and everything around. Indian saint Jnanadeva, a follower of the school of Kashmir Shaivism, in his poem of Union of Shiva and Shakti says that - Shiva and Shakti are the primal parents of this universe, and live together even in the smallest particle of this universe; when the Master of the house sleeps, the mistress plays the role of both and when he awakes, the house disappears. This explains the duality of the universe which the Mother is enacting as all of us and the non-dual nature of the ultimate reality. Durga Saptashati, a text from the Shakta tradition, describes Divine Mother as the warrior and slayer of the demons. The demons here allegorically represent our ego-bound emotions and thoughts, that separate us from the ultimate reality. Divine Mother, the Self of all, slays them and liberates us to realize that we are none other than the Divine Mother herself. Shyama-sangeet, a group of devotional songs in Bengali language, describes the glory of Divine Mother in the form of Durga and Kali. Shakti-sadhana as described in some of these songs tells us that whatever actions we do, let us perform them as an offering to the Mother. She is everything, bestower of happiness as well as suffering. Accept everything as her play. Dive deep in spiritual practice and experience the Mother as the Self of all.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 01:38:19 +0000