This lecture was delivered on September 1, 2019 as part of the Labor Day Vedanta Retreat held in the Olema Vedanta Retreat.

1. From Ritualistic Devotion to Highest Devotion

-Disciple: "Once I had wanted to take my grandmother on a pilgrimage, but as the time was inauspicious, my grandmother refused to start. I referred the matter to the Holy Mother for her guidance."

-Holy Mother: "Son, some say that a man loses the merits that he has already earned if he visits a pilgrimage center at an inauspicious time but it is wise to perform all holy acts without much delay."

-Disciple: "I could not satisfactorily comprehend her meaning and so expressed my doubt to her once again. I specifically asked her what I should do in my present circumstances."

-Holy Mother: "People no doubt say that pilgrimages during inauspicious times are prohibited. One can postpone a holy duty out of consideration of time but look death takes no notice of time. Since death has no fixed hours, one should perform holy duties as soon as an opportunity comes, or as soon as the thought emerges in our mind."

-If there is an auspicious thing, do not delay it. If we are not so sure about something, then we can delay it. Spiritual life is a journey from faith to experience. There is an evolution from ‘Vaidhi Bhakti’ to ‘Para Bhakti.’ In ‘Para Bhakti,’ the mind automatically goes to God without any effort, without any labor on our part. Till then, we need to follow certain traditions. Those rituals are time-tested paths to experience.

2. Sri Sarada Devi and the silent transcendental language that linked her to all.

-Sister Nivedita, Josephine Macleod, Sarah Bull, Sister Devamata, Betty Leggett, and other western women came to see Holy Mother. They didn't know each other's language, but they could speak to each other in an inaudible transcendental language.

-``On 22 May 1898 Sister Nivedita wrote to her friend Mrs. Eric Hammond in London:
I have often thought that I ought to tell you about the lady who was the wife of Sri Ramakrishna, Sarada as her name is. To begin with, she is dressed in a white cotton cloth like any other Hindu widow under fifty. This cloth goes round the waist and forms a skirt, then it passes around the body and over the head like a nun's veil.” (Sri Sarada Devi and Her Divine Play, 212)

-"Holy Mother's relationship with Nivedita was sweet and touching, yet awe-inspiring. From the very beginning, Nivedita occupied a special place in Holy Mother's heart. During Nivedita's first visit to Holy Mother, Swamiji was a bit apprehensive: Holy Mother had been born and brought up in an orthodox brahman family in a village. She was not familiar with Western etiquette, and she did not know English. How would she receive his Western disciples? Swamiji sent his disciple Swami Swarupananda as an interpreter. When Swarupananda brought Nivedita to Holy Mother, she asked her name. Nivedita replied, "My name is Miss Margaret Elizabeth Noble." Swarupananda translated holy Mother's Bengali: "My child, I shall not be able to utter such a long name. I will call you Khooki [baby]." Nivedita said joyfully, "Yes, yes, I am Mother's baby." She then went to Swamiji and said: "Mother blessed me touching my head, allowed me to bow down and touch her feet, offered prasad, and said she would call me 'Khooki.'" (Sri Sarada Devi and Her Divine Play, 217)

-Holy Mother is an example of universal spiritual feminism. All aggressiveness and rivalry has to calm down in Mother's presence. Where women are honored, everything is auspicious. Otherwise, no puja or other actions can bear fruit. Holy Mother’s spiritual feminism unified all.

-Devamata, the disciples of Swamiji and author of Days in an Indian Monastery, wrote: "We had no common language, but when there was none to interpret for us, she spoke that deeper wordless language and we never failed to understand each other."

-Antāya bahuvādinam Anantāya mūkam (Krishna Yajurveda, Taittiriya Brahmana 3.4.13.1)

-The language of the finite is words, the language of the infinite is silence.

3. Holy Mother’s Appreciation of Christianity

-"One day the Mother was resting on her bed and several women devotees were near her. Someone began to talk about Jesus Christ. The Mother got up and saluted Lord Jesus with folded hands. She then said:

-“I heard many things about Jesus Christ from Nivedita. She read many beautiful stories about him to me. Ah, Jesus came to deliver people in this world and how much suffering he had to undergo. He joyfully endured all. Despite all those persecutions, he loved people and forgave them unconditionally. His own disciple betrayed him. Ah, they killed him with nails in his hands, feet, and chest. In spite of that terrible torture and pain, he ungrudgingly forgave them. He prayed to God to not take offence at what they did. Is it possible for human beings to have such love, power of forbearance, and forgiveness? Who can endure this way other than God? God came as Jesus to teach divine love to the people of the world." (Sri Sarada Devi and Her Divine Play, 223-224)

-"... in the swiftness of her comprehension, and the depth of her sympathy with these resurrection hymns, unimpeded by any foreignness or unfamiliarity in them, we saw revealed for the first time, one of the most impressive aspects of the great religious culture of Sarada Devi....

-The same trait came out again one evening, when in the midst of her little circle, Holy Mother asked Christine and myself to describe to her a European wedding. With much fun and laughter personating now the "Christian Brahmin," and again the bride and bridegroom, we complied. But we were neither of us prepared for the effect of the marriage vow.

-"For better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health - till death do us part," were words that drew exclamations of delight from all about us. But none appreciated them as did the Mother. Again and again she had them repeated to her. 'Oh the Dharmic words! The righteous words!' she said." "(Sri Sarada Devi and Her Divine Play, 222)

-Holy Mother could naturally connect with the rituals and significance of Christian faith.

4. Holy Mother: An Alternate Paradigm of Spiritual Feminism

-She embodies an alternate paradigm in spiritual feminism. Spirituality crosses all boundaries of cultures, nation, race, etc. She understood the evil of colonial rule but at the same time, she played the role of the mother of all.

-We can never pay back the debt to our own mother. She can love her children without expecting anything in return. In the Devi Sukta, the Divine Archetypal Feminine figure is the highest symbol of God.

-Everybody could see their own mother in Sri Sarada Devi when they came to her because she was identified with that transcendental divine feminine reality.

Question and Answer

Q1 - Sister Nivedita’s desire to go to India is explained.

Q2 – The presence of Shakti power in all and in Sister Nivedita is explained.

Q3 – The Divine Mother as the one who gives spiritual knowledge and also fulfills worldly needs is explained.

Q4 - Extreme attachment to wealth and biological desires stand in the way of spiritual evolution – the real meaning of the phrase in the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna.

Q5 – Giving the power of attorney to God and fervently praying can have a great effect. The prayers of a few high-spirited people will never be lost.