Re: Re: Re: Re: Addenda: The Mother of All - The Wicked and the Virtuous!
Dear Sister Jatanti,
RE: "....the notion that it is only because of the Ramakrishna Order that Mother is known"
Perhaps your objection was based upon the fact,
that I was omitting any mention of the valuable work carried on by the Sri Sarada Math...which to my mind (perhaps incorrectly), forms an important part of the Ramakrishna Order.
Although most probably mistaken (as usual), I really don't view the Holy Mother's earthly organizations, as something 'apart' from the Order :)
Go Jayanti! You do spring like a tigress. I agree with Tom that your response is right on. Your response is exactly the heart of this particular discussion and this particular forum. And I thank you.
There is not much to add to what Jayanti has already said. Let me share with you something thoughts.
Rosemary, never doubt yourself and your relationship with the Mother. NEVER. I am confident that She will reveal Her relationship to you in time. But it will not be easy reaching that stage. It will happen at a time when Mother knows you are ready and while all of us think we are ready right now, it is Mother alone who decides. I do not know how She reaches that decision but whenever I have called Her with a sincere heart, the way you mention in the original post, I know that Mother IS listening to me. I am always attracted to the concepts of Advaita but in my heart I always remain a child of the Mother and I enjoy the duality of my relationship with Her.
Regarding the Mother and the Order, Jayanti speaks like a true child of the Mother. I was blessed to meet some of Mother’s direct disciples. One of them once mentioned to me regarding how difficult it was to get Her darshan let alone get a picture. It was a special gift to a select few. Yet those very disciples were always amazed at how people felt this unique bond to the Mother. If they felt this way when they were close to the Mother what can you and I in this time period speak of Her.
Spritual life is not easy and not for the weak at heart. You will be tested every moment of the way, more than the routine person, I am sure about that. At times such as these you will be engulfed by doubts and lack of faith. You will question yourself and give up. Don’t worry, it will come and go. You are Mother’s child. Why fear? Empty it all at Her feet. She will hold your hand, take you in Her arms and do what is best for you. Yes, you do speak the truth when you say “I have a Mother”
I'm not sure what speaking like a true child of Mother means.
But I know that in Mother's view, every one of her children are truly hers, even those who do not know her or of her. The mother who watches as a child plays happily is just as much a mother as when she takes a crying child in her arms.
I think it's time to stop making qualifications of any kind.
We come to Mother's Courtyard in order to share holy company in Mother's presense. We are Mother's children. Our practice is to try to remember this always. Our prayer is that one day we may realize this fully.
Keep in mind also that each person's relationship with Mother, or with truth or with God -- Reality however one may conceive it -- is uniquely one's own. We may encourage each other as we make our way along the Path, but we each must make our own journey.
Re: Re: Re: Who's Mother is She?: She is MY mother
Dear Sister Jayanti,
RE: "I know that in Mother's view, every one of her
children are truly hers"
Your lovely comments, about Mother's unquestioning Love:
remind me of a story remembered from
early childhood; which to this day,
brings a tear to my eyes:
"THE LITTLEST ANGEL"
A Short Story Especially For
Our Littlest Angels
Once upon a time...
Oh, many, many years ago as time is calculated by men--but which was only Yesterday in the Celestial Calendar of Heaven--there was, in Paradise, a most miserable, thoroughly unhappy, and utterly dejected cherub who was known throughout Heaven as The Littlest Angel.
His halo was permanently tarnished where he held onto it with one hot little chubby hand when he ran, and he was always running. Furthermore, even when he stood very still, it never behaved like a halo should. It was always slipping down over his right eye.
The time of the Miracle was very close at hand when the Littlest Angel at last decided on his gift for the Blessed Infant. Then, on that Day of Days, he proudly brought it from its hiding place behind a cloud, and humbly, with downcast eyes, placed it before the Throne of God. It was only a small, rough, unsightly box, but inside were all those wonderful things that even a Child of God would treasure!
The Hand of God moved slowly over all that bright array of shining gifts, then paused, then dropped, then came to rest on the lowly gift of the Littlest Angel! The Littlest Angel trembled as the box was opened, and there, before the Eyes of God and all His Heavenly Host, was what he offered to the Christ Child.
And what was his gift to the Blessed Infant? Well, there was a butterfly with golden wings, captured one bright summer day on the high hills above Jerusalem, and a sky-blue egg from a bird's nest in the olive tree that stood to shade his mother's kitchen door. Yes, and two white stones, found on a muddy river bank, where he and his friends had played like small brown beavers, and, at the bottom of the box, a limp, tooth-marked leather strap, once worn as a collar by his mongrel dog, who had died as he had lived, in absolute love and infinite devotion.
Then, suddenly, The Voice of God, like Divine Music, rose and swelled through Paradise! And the Voice of God spoke, saying, "Of all the gifts of all the angels, I find that this small box pleases Me most."
There was a breathless pause, and then the rough, unsightly box of the Littlest Angel began to glow with a bright, unearthly light, then the light became a lustrous flame, and the flame became a radiant brilliance that blinded the eyes of all the angels!