About this episode
On the 8th day of the waning moon in the Vedic calendar month of Mrga?irsha, we celebrate the birth anniversary of Holy Mother S?rada Dev?. This an exceedingly auspicious a day for our lineage especially if not also for all worshippers of the Divine Mother everywhere in every lineage. It is a special day for everyone, actually, because today, we celebrate the "avatarahood" of the Divine Mother Herself! In 2023, we gave the talk The Tantra of Holy Mother Sarada Devi exploring Holy Mother's central teaching, "don't find fault with others/no one is a stranger to you/the world is your very own": we tried our best there to point out the non-dual teaching embedded in this seemingly innocuous, but actually theologically dense, teaching. Then, we asked Who is Holy Mother S?rada Dev?? in 2024. With the disclaimer that ??????? ??????? ? ????????? ?????, "even the gods do not understand her true nature", we tried to sketch out a brief biography of this mysterious avat?ra of M?. Also, I thought it would be helpful to contemplate Holy Mother both as the ideal student as well as the Guru in S?rada Dev? as Tantrik Guru. In this talk we encounter her emphasis on japa, that is, the recitation of the holy name as the centerpiece of spiritual practice. This year, I thought we'd do something a little more esoteric: let's explore the link between Holy Mother and various forms of the T?ntrik Goddess, with a special emphasis on the red-hued Jaggadh?t? (who is very likely Holy Mother's ishta besides Ramakrishna and certainly her kula-dev?, family deity) and the red-hued Lalit? Mah?tripurasundar? (or ?o?a??).We also make a few etymological claims also about Her name and about S?rad? as the patron deity of Kashmir and also Adi Shankara's ?r? Vidy? stronghold in the south: Sringeri Math. You'll find all of our talks on Holy Mother all in one place here. Today is also the Feast Day of the Lady of Guadalupe! Last year, we gave a lecture called K?l? = The Lady of Guadalupecomparing the two! It is to this day one of my favorite talks ever! But ultimately, what can we say about She who becomes the very words we use to praise Her? Who can praise Her here? By Her power Brahma, Vishnu and I have taken our embodied forms! Who then can truly praise You, You who are prior to all of us? And yet, futile though it may be, here is our attempt to try to fit the ocean of your limitless Being into the teacup of our limited understanding! May all these clumsy words be like so many hibiscus flowers placed one by one at Your lot
