{"id":8415,"date":"2024-05-12T08:37:54","date_gmt":"2024-05-12T15:37:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=8415"},"modified":"2024-05-12T08:37:54","modified_gmt":"2024-05-12T15:37:54","slug":"ramakrishna-is-there-anyone-in-the-universe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2024\/05\/12\/ramakrishna-is-there-anyone-in-the-universe\/","title":{"rendered":"Ramakrishna – Is there anyone in the universe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is there anyone in the universe
\nby Ramakrishna<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

English version by Lex Hixon<\/font><\/p>\n

Is there anyone in the universe,
\namong heavenly or earthly beings,
\nwho can understand what Kali is?
\nThe systems of all traditions
\nare powerless to describe Her.
\nIs Mother a feminine being
\nor greater than Being itself?<\/p>\n

Chanting Her transforming Name \u2014
\nOM KALI OM KALI OM KALI,
\nempowers Lord Shiva,
\nWho is transcendent Knowledge,
\nto drink the negativity of all beings,
\nturning His Throat dark blue.
\nWithout Her protection
\nsuch poison would be deadly,
\neven to the highest Divinity.<\/p>\n

More than Creator and creation,
\nMother is sheer Creativity
\nbeyond the notion of duality.
\nUniverse and Father-God
\nare thrilling glances
\nfrom Her seductive Eyes.
\nAlways pregnant with ecstasy,
\nShe gives birth to manifest Being
\nfrom Her Womb of primal Awareness,
\nnursing it tenderly at Her Breast,
\nthen playfully consumes Her Child.
\nThe world dissolves instantly
\nupon touching Her white Teeth,
\nattaining the realization
\nof Her brilliant Voidness.<\/p>\n

The various Divine Forms
\nthat manifest throughout history
\ntake refuge at Her Lotus Feet.
\nThe Essence of Divinity,
\nthe Great Ground of Being,
\nlies in ecstatic absorption
\nbeneath Her red-soled Feet.<\/p>\n

Is Mother simply a Goddess?
\nDoes She need a male consort
\nto protect or complete Her?
\nThe cycle of birth and death
\nbows reverently before Her.
\nIs She simply naked
\nor is She naked Truth?
\nNo veil can conceal Her.
\nHer naked radiance slays demons
\nnot with weapons but with splendor.<\/p>\n

If Mother is a conventional wife,
\nwhy is She dancing fiercely
\non the breast of Shiva?
\nHer timeless play destroys
\nconventions and conceptions.
\nShe is primal purity,
\nHer ecstatic lovers are purity.
\nPurity merges into purity,
\nwith no remainder.<\/p>\n

I am totally inebriated
\nby Her wine of timeless bliss.
\nThe wine cup is Her Name \u2014
\nOM KALI OM KALI OM KALI.
\nThose drunk on ordinary wine
\nassume I am one of them.<\/p>\n

Not everyone will encounter
\nthe dazzling darkness
\ncalled Goddess Kali.
\nNot everyone can consciously receive
\nthe infinite treasure of Her Nature.
\nThe foolish mind refuses
\nto perceive and accept
\nthat She alone exists.
\nEven the noble Lord Shiva,
\nmost enlightened of beings,
\ncan barely catch a glimpse
\nof Her flashing crimson Feet.<\/p>\n

The wealth of world-emperors
\nand the richness of Paradise
\nare but abject poverty
\nto those who meditate on Her.
\nTo swim in a single Glance
\nfrom Her three Cosmic Eyes
\nis to be immersed
\nin an ocean of ecstasy.<\/p>\n

Not even Shiva, prince of yogis,
\ncan focus upon Her dancing Feet
\nwithout falling into trance.
\nYet the worthless lover
\nwho sings this mad song
\naspires to conscious union with Her
\nduring waking, dream, and deep sleep.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a> \u2014 from Great Swan: Meetings with Ramakrishna<\/a>, by Lex Hixon<\/font><\/p>\n


\/ Image by Chobist<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

Happy Mother\u2019s Day. It is worth remembering today that Mother\u2019s Day was originally created as a day of international peace as a reminder to us all that every single person on all sides of every conflict has a mother who loves them. It was hoped that remembering this would make war difficult to justify.<\/p>\n

It is also worth remembering today that we are all children of the Divine Mother.<\/p>\n

In Hindu tradition and metaphysics, the Goddess represents many aspects of the Divine. The iconography we find in Hinduism gives us a fascinating kaleidoscope of meaning. The Goddess can represent Mother, the Great Source, the Void\/Womb from which all are born, Manifestation, Creation, Vibration, Speech, Song, the Arts, Beauty, Darkness, Mystery, all of the World (and all its Illusions). But with birth, also comes death, with manifestation, also comes dissolution; anything with a beginning also has an end. Only the eternal is eternal. So the Goddess, Mother and Manifester, is also sometimes portrayed as Destroyer. She is Life and Death both. She is the Power that brings all into being, animates and enlivens the universe, and also draws it back into non-being. But even in Her fiercest aspect, the Mother Goddess is loving. For Her, death is merely the death of illusion and the return to Self.<\/p>\n

This poem \u2014 I call it a poem, but it is more of an ecstatic utterance by the great Ramakrishna \u2014 plays with a particular descriptive challenge in the representations of Kali. On the one hand, Kali is a Goddess, often paired with the God Shiva. A popular representation of the two is with Shiva lying prone on the ground, while Kali dances upon his breast, slaying demons. It can be a disturbing image to people not familiar with the iconography of Kali. But what is it saying, and how does it fit in with the philosophy of this gentle, greatly revered Hindu saint, Ramakrishna?<\/p>\n

Hinduism often expresses the fundamental polarity of Male and Female in images of the divine couple, the God and Goddess paired together. Within this God-Goddess dichotomy, the masculine aspect of the Divine usually represents transcendent spirit, while the feminine expresses manifestation, power, and action. So prone Shiva represents the transcendent, which is inactive, but which holds the divine potential. Kali dances upon his breast, representing that potential coming into manifestation. Through Her sheer power, Kali destroys the demons that represent illusion and disharmony.<\/p>\n

But, just as this God-Goddess pairing represents different facets of the Divine, any God or Goddess can simultaneously be understood to embody the whole of the Divine. In this way, Kali can both be an aspect and also the Absolute.<\/p>\n

And this is what Ramakrishna is teasing us with here. Is Kali the consort of Shiva? Is She the feminine aspect of God, or God entire?<\/p>\n

Is Mother a feminine being
\nor greater than Being itself?\u2026<\/p>\n

Is Mother simply a Goddess?
\nDoes She need a male consort
\nto protect or complete Her?<\/i><\/p>\n

Even within Hinduism and its rich, varied depictions of the Feminine aspect of the Divine, there is still a tendency to elevate the Male forms, such as Shiva. Ramakrishna seems to delight in overturning convention. To him, one must simply follow the Mother and, as She reveals more and more of Her nature \u2014 her manifestation, her play of illusions and revelations \u2014 our vision of Her expands to encompass the All. To Ramakrishna, the Goddess is Mother and Consort, but She is equally the Totality itself. He taunts us to untangle that conundrum through our own direct perception.<\/p>\n

Whether we are talking about Kali or Saraswati or Cerridwen, Mother Mary or Shekinah, let us not forget to honor the feminine in the Divine \u2014 and in our world, and in ourselves.<\/p>\n

=<\/p>\n

I should mention that there is some question about the attribution for this poem. I know that Ramakrishna often quoted Ramprasad, but the source I found this in seems to be attributing it directly to Ramakrishna, though the attribution is not specific. In the same book, the author mentions how Ramakrishna would often break into spontaneous song, making up lyrics as insight and inspiration flooded through him, but also sometimes interweaving famous lines from Ramprasad and others, as well. So the truth is, I don\u2019t know for certain who the poet is. This poem could be by Ramprasad (though I haven\u2019t come across another version of this attributed to Ramprasad), or it could include a few lines by Ramprasad, or it could be entirely original to Ramakrishna. I\u2019d love to hear if you know any more about these verses.<\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Ramakrishna<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Poetry for the Spirit: Poems of Universal Wisdom and Beauty<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nKali: The Black Goddess of Dakshineswar<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nGreat Swan: Meetings with Ramakrishna<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Condensed Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
More Books >><\/a><\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\"Ramakrishna,<\/a>\n<\/td>\n\nRamakrishna<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

India (1836 \u2013 1886) Timeline<\/a>
\nYoga \/ Hindu<\/a> : Shakta (Goddess-oriented)<\/a>
\n<\/a><\/a><\/em>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

The great 19th century saint Ramakrishna is loved the world over. His simplicity, directness, charm, and divine madness often inspire comparisons with St. Francis of Assisi.<\/p>\n

Ramakrishna was the guru of Swami Vivekananda, one of the first popularizers of Hindu spirituality in the West.<\/p>\n

Ramakrishna\u2019s poems were spontaneously composed songs of spiritual ecstasy, often incorporating verses from popular devotional songs and poetry, especially lines from Ramprasad and Kamalakanta.<\/p>\n

More poetry by Ramakrishna<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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