Friday, June 5, 2015

The Universal Mother Kusuma Kumari Devi

The Universal Mother
Kusuma Kumari Devi
                               
         Krishna created  Jivas  after His own image to reflect His own beauty, and Jivas
         Always reflect it faithfully in their Aprakrita bodies.When the consciousness or the
         Heart of the Jiva becomes pure he sees at once Sri Krishna reflected in it.
         He is so loving, beautiful, witty, so accomplished, so clever, so complete in all the
         Qualifications which human intellect has been able to conceive.
        Sri Radha is the manifestation of Hladini Sakti of the Lord. It is for Her and Her only
        That Prakrita and Aprakrita spheres  exist. Only She can make Sri Krishna manifest
        Or known – without Her He is unknowable.
        Sri Krishna is the essence of life (Chit) and Sri Radha the Vitality in it.

When the Lord manifests Himself in the kingdom of Prakriti, Prakriti Devi and Sri Nityananda are always with Him. Nityananda is in  constant joy keeping His mind on Krishna’s Lotosfeet. That joy is faultless, has no decrease or increase, in it weeping is also happiness. He is the one and only purifier of Jivas from their state of sin. Radha (Kusum Kumari Devi) is the container of bliss, containing Krishna (Lord Haranath) in every part of Her in and out, and Krishna is the contained bliss. She gives Him taste of His own bliss. All beings which people the Aprakrita worlds are but Kusuma Kumari Devi’s  manifestations, they live and move in Her. She is the one tree of Prema and the various Jivas but the stem, twigs, leaves and flowers on it. The beings have no independent realization of the Lord  and cannot enjoy Him in any way except through Her. If the universal Mother so wills, the Lord will reveal Himself to us and we begin to weep and dance in a fit of mad love in ecstasy. In the Prakrita worlds the Jivas exist in and through Lord Nityananda. The work of Kusuma Kumari Devi and Nityananda is to keep the Lord always engaged in pleasure and pastime. Lord Haranath said at the Monghyr Janmotsav “You can never know why I have come to this world. Who says that I am present in this world only and not in other worlds, doing some work there at the same time? At another time He revealed: “This body has completely become the Lord’s body in which He now resides. There is no difference between Him and the person whom you know as Haranath. On account of Ravana Rama’s Avatar was necessary, on account of Kamsa Krishna’s Avatar and on account of you all I had to come into this world. 450 years ago I came as Gouranga, now you see me as Haranath. Don’t call me Haranath, say Kusuma Haranath. I am nothing without Her. No one is able to know or reach the Lord ignoring Her. She is the primary book of reference. Without Mother’s grace it is hard to win the Lord. Through Her we must approach the Father.To me all are equally near and dear. Whoever offers me love sees me standing at his door. Love is the greatest force, the true object of pursuit in human life .”

In His  manifestation as Gouranga He taught renunciation of the world and devotion to Krishna in a form suitable only to Vairagis or those who had given up all attachment to the forms of worldly life. In the manifestation as Kusuma Haranath He taught how man, even though remaining in the world,  might attain entry to the blissful realm of Vrindavan. (“before the grand Braja Lila Vedanta all other topics are a mere child’s amusement” were Lord Haranath’s comments about Braja Lila). The key to it lay in chanting of the Lord’s Name – any Name that melts the heart.

The world is unreal as world but real as solidified love of God. It cannot be said to exist apart from the Self (Atman) even as Haranath cannot be said to exist apart from Kusuma Kumari Devi. Of all objects Lord Haranath is the form while Kusuma Kumari Devi is the expression. The mingling and mixing of the two have decked the universe in all its beauty. Kusuma Kumari is the Ichashakti and Hladini Shakti (embodiment of will and illimitable Prema) of Lord Haranath. With this vast Prakriti (passive principle) the Lord is eternally at grand play. This, His play has no beginning nor end – it is called Maharasa. Its dramatic excitement constantly increases. It is unlimited by time and space, but if the Lord so wills He can reveal it at certain times, at certain places (so in Brindavan). His actions have no object to achieve, they are expressions of pure delight. This perpetual hide and seek is the Lila of the Lord, an activity, in which He ever delights to indulge and to the great joy of all who have realized Him. All beings were called into existence by the ocean-like Prakriti and advance towards Her – nothing can stop it. Mathusree said: You can never know who I am unless I afford you a glimpse. I am the power behind the universe, Purusha and Prakriti.” Mother is the consciousness incarnate of the world, anyone She forgets is deprived of consciousness, She is the primal energy in creating, sustaining and destroying the universe, and again that energy in form of the Mother nourishes everything. No Jiva can approach the Lord except through the.channel cut out for him by Her.  We must worship our Mother to show us the way to the place where the beloved  of our hearts  resides.  Lord Haranath and Mathusree are One in Two or Two in One, the composite personality Kusum Haranath. On several occasions Mathjusree showed Herself as Lord Haranath to devotees.  She gave Her children to understand: “My love as Mother has brought me down this time into the world. I desire that you, my children, become totally pure.When you have taken once refuge in Me don’t get dejected should you don’t find time to think of Me or  fail to love me. Have  no fear. I am always loving you in my mind and that will be enough for you. Just as heat cannot be separated from fire so love and compassion from Me. You have no separate existence from Me. I am always with you, even if I leave this body. Give me a drop of your love and I shall give you an ocean of my love. It is my permanent work to protect my children and  it delights my heart seing  all  of you bound together by one bond of love. Don’t worry about anything material or spiritual since you have your Mother as eternal savior and protector. Everything is known to Mathusree, She is ever helping us with exactly what we need, and cannot bear the slightest misery of Her devotees. But let no one be deceived by Her human garb and outward actions. She fully hides Her innate glory from mortal eyes. When once a devotee asked the Mother what She repeats on Her Mala, Mother said: “what  do I repeat except all your names?”

ladini Shakt
The Lord and His Name are not two separate things, but  only one. He is where His Name is. Who takes His Name will be merged with its vibrations, absorbed in the current of divine ecstasy which its repetition engenders, mounting to the most exalted form of divine love. Lord Haranath did not ask His devotees to chant His own name but raised no objections. On one occasion He said before a gathering of devotees “after I pass away you will realize what immense power the Lord has placed in the Name KUSUMA HARANATH. When Sri P.C. Ganguly asked Kusuma Kumari Devi if it is enough to repeat the Name Kusuma Hara. She replied “it is quite enough”. The five letter word KUSUMA HARA (the Panchakshari) is all-powerful. By repeating the combined Name Kusum Hara we are in effect invoking  the Lord’s Shakti, without Her the Lord would remain unknown. Constant Japa of Lord’s Name creates in us a liking for the Lord which in course of time develops into love, pure, transcendental love leading to divine Bhava in our hearts .Faith in the divine Name arises as result of penance and austerities. It is our priceless treasure. When taken only once Vishnu’s discuss guards us on all sides. A moments life with Kusum Hara Name on our lips is to be valued more than a million years without it. All sins fly far away if one incessantly chants His Name. Chanting His Yugal Name awakens PREMA – the Summum Bonum of human existence. Prema is the particular property of the Lord and His Shakti, no other Gods or Goddesses can know or possess it without their grace. By its very nature it overleaps all bounds and reaches Jivas to the feet of the Lord. Once Prema  reigns supreme in the heart all distinctions between God and man are altogether effaced. We are infinite nothingness filled with divine consciousness. The Lord is no longer considered as God but as most intimate, as our very own. He wants only love from us, nothing else. When we return to Him He takes us into His embrace, forgetting all our iniquities. To understand this play we have to rise above our bodies and intellect and go to the Heart Plane, the plane of love. Once the Ego (identification with the body) is gone we are no longer a person, but consciousness, formless. The Ego is the material that gives name and form, once destroyed, name and form disappear.
 Prakriti (material force) is the Guru of the Universe, her mother, receptacle of love and the main stay and shelter of worlds seen and unseen. She is the source of  various sorts of grace and beauty. Without Her this creation cannot exist. Does She ever allow anyone to know Her fully. She always conceals Her true aspects and appears in false garbs to enchant the world. She is the gate keeper of Rashmandal. Lord Haranath revealed in His letters to Her who She is: “You are the fullest manifestation of energy and love, the world so replete with trials and tribulations you filled with joy. You are the consciousness of the universe. When you forget anyone he becomes unconscious. In this world you are the cause of bondage and liberation.The world would come to an end if your powers remain suspended even for a moment. Only by virtue of your tenderness have you kept the fierce energy of males  neutralized, thus maintaining harmony of the universe. Those who have realized your nature are rare indeed. One who understood you has realized God. No one is capable of understanding the play you are playing. You are the Jamuna with her ordinary and opposite currents. Those who are not favored by you can never run against the current. It is you who throws down into immense depths and  who lifts high up. You are the sovereign of the realm of created beings, you are their Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. You give birth, nourish and destroy  in the shape of the dreadful destroyer. You are many-sides:  willful, merciful, awful and dreadful. You are the basic foundation of the world. Your primal energy is creating, sustaining and destroying the universe, and that energy again in the shape of the Mother is nourishing everybody. No Jiva can approach the Lord except through the channel cut out for him by you. All are born of you, you are the rope that has let us down from our home above into the creation below. If we cut the rope there is no chance for us of ever returning to our true home. Show us the way to the place where the Beloved of our hearts resides.”Lord Haranath charmed His hearers with sweet discourses on religious topics whereas Mother preferred to remain absolutely mute.

He revealed that he is nothing without Kusuma Kumari as he is in Her and She in Him, ever inseparable and indivisible. If Lord Haranath’s life was concealed, that of Mother Kusuma Kumari Devi was hidden beyond comprehension. She had chosen to remain in the background up to May 1927 - Lord Haranath’s departure- afterwards the two have simply merged into ONE WHOLE. The depth of Her love for Her children is indescribable. Like the Lord She took upon Herself diseases of Her children. She immured Herself  in obscurity, drew  around Herself an impenetrable veil. Very few could get an infinitesimal fraction of Her glory. She seemed an ordinary woman engaged in household duties and rearing children. Only to a chosen few  She revealed something about Herself. The Lord in Her is not visible to our eyes but He is there all the same. Whatever She says or does is the action of the composite personality Kusum Haranath. About 30 years after Lord Haranath’s demise – on the 14.8.1956 at 2:15 pm Mother departed at Tatanagar.


When an Avatar exits the world He takes care to leave all his power and glory, all his grace and sweetness concentrated in His Name. The Name therefore has no earthly limitation and is in comparison to the Avatar an even greater force.

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