God As Mother — The Feminine Divine in the World Scriptures and Spiritual Classics
As one whom his mother comforts,
so will I comfort you;
You shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
(Hebrew Bible, Isaiah 66.13)
Wisdom (Sophia) cries out in the street;
in the squares she raises her voice…
(Book of Proverbs, 1:20, Hebrew Bible)
Just now my mother, the Holy Spirit, took me by one of my hairs and brought me to Tabor, the great mountain.
(Jesus in, The Gospel of the Hebrews. Note: “ruach” is a Hebrew word for spirit and is feminine)
I rested on the Spirit of the Lord, and She lifted me up to heaven. (Odes of Solomon, 36: 1, James Charlesworth translation, Jewish Christian psalms)
A cup of milk was offered to me, and I drank it in the sweetness of
the Lord’s kindness.
The Son is the cup, and the Father is He who was milked; and the Holy
Spirit is She who milked Him;
Because His breasts were full, and it was undesirable that His milk
should be ineffectually released.
The Holy Spirit opened Her bosom, and mixed the milk of the two
breasts of the Father.
Then She gave the mixture to the generation without their knowing,
and those who have received it are in the perfection of the right
hand.
The womb of the Virgin took it, and she received conception and gave
birth.
So the Virgin became a mother with great mercies.
And she labored and bore the Son but without pain, because it did not
occur without purpose.
And she did not require a midwife, because He caused her to give life.
(Odes of Solomon, 19: 1–9, James Charlesworth translation, Jewish Christian psalms)
Three powers came forth from him; they are the Father, the Mother, (and) the Son, from the living silence, what came forth from the incorruptible Father. These came forth from the silence of the unknown Father.
(Gospel of the Egyptians, Gnostic Gospel, Nag Hammadi Library)
Behold, I have revealed to you the name of the Perfect One, the whole will of the Mother of the Holy Angels, that the masculine multitude may be completed here, that there might appear in the aeons, the infinities and those that came to be in the untraceable wealth of the Great Invisible Spirit….
(The Book of the Sophia of Jesus Christ, Gnostic Gospel, Nag Hammadi Library)
For I am the first and the last.
I am the honored one and the scorned one.
I am the whore and the holy one.
I am the wife and the virgin.
I am the mother and the daughter.
I am the members of my mother.
I am the barren one
and many are her sons.
I am she whose wedding is great,
and I have not taken a husband.
I am the midwife and she who does not bear.
I am the solace of my labor pains.
I am the bride and the bridegroom,
and it is my husband who begot me.
I am the mother of my father
and the sister of my husband
and he is my offspring.
I am the slave of him who prepared me.
I am the ruler of my offspring.
But he is the one who begot me before the time on a birthday.
And he is my offspring in (due) time,
and my power is from him.
I am the staff of his power in his youth,
and he is the rod of my old age.
And whatever he wills happens to me.
I am the silence that is incomprehensible
and the idea whose remembrance is frequent.
I am the voice whose sound is manifold
and the word whose appearance is multiple.
I am the utterance of my name……..
I am the hearing that is attainable to everything;
I am the speech that cannot be grasped.
I am the name of the sound
and the sound of the name.
(Thunder, Perfect Mind, Gnostic Gospel, Nag Hammadi Library)
The Radhasoami Faith recognizes three Grand Personages and a sincere and affectionate disciple the fourth, namely,
1. The Supreme Father,
2. The Supreme Mother or Original Spirit or Word Current emanating from the Supreme Father,
3. The Supreme Son or Sant Sat Guru, the representative of the Supreme Father in human form.
4. The disciple or the son or human spirit.
(“Radhasoami Mat Prakash” by Huzur Maharaj Rai Salig Ram, Sant Mat and Radhasoami, India)
I am Father and Mother of the world.
Bhagavad Gita 9.17, Hindu)
I’m Thy child O Thou, my Father and Mother!
(Adi Granth, Sikh and Sant Mat)
Thou art Father, Mother, Friend, Brother.
With Thee as succorer in all places, what fear have I?
(Adi Granth, Sikh and Sant Mat)
That breast of Thine which is inexhaustible, health-giving, by which Thou nursest all that is noble, containing treasure, bearing wealth, bestowed freely; lay that bare, Sarasvati [divine Mother], for our nurture.
(Rig Veda 1.164.49, Hinduism)
Love, the divine Principle, is the Father and Mother of the universe, including man.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, Christian Science)
Mother Earth have pity on us and give us food to eat! Father, the Sun, bless all our children and may our paths be straight!
(Native American Religions. Blackfoot Prayer)
O Mother of Imupa, advocate for the whole [feminine] world!
What a remarkable Mother I have!
O Mother, a pillar, a refuge!
O Mother, to whom all prostrate in greeting
Before one enters her habitation!
I am justly proud of my Mother.
O Mother who arrives,
Who arrives majestic and offers water to all!
(African Traditional Religions. Yoruba Prayer, Nigeria)
The Valley Spirit never dies.
It is named the Mysterious Female.
And the Doorway of the Mysterious Female
Is the base from which sprang Heaven and Earth.
It is there within us all the while;
Draw upon it as you will, it never runs dry.
(Tao Te Ching 6, Taoism)
Divine Mother, with the language of my soul I demand realization of Thy presence. Thou art the essence of everything. Make me see Thee in every fiber of my being, in every wisp of thought. Awaken my heart!
Divine Mother, open wide the bud of my devotion and release its fragrance, that it may spread from my soul to the souls of all others, ever whispering of Thee.
Divine Mother, I have heard Thy voice whispering in the fragrance of the rose. I touched Thy tenderness in the softness of the lily. In the whispers of my devotion, it was Thy love that answered.
In the temple of my earthly mother’s love I will worship the incarnated love of the Divine Mother.
Cosmic Mother, take this darkness away! When I sit with eyes closed, enveloped in self-created shadows, cause Thou to blaze upon me in splendor the aurora of intuition.
In the hall of creation, 0 Divine Mother, everywhere I hear the rhythm of Thy foot-steps, dancing wildly in the booming thunder and softly in the song of atoms.
I laugh at all fears, for my Father-Mother, beloved God, is attentively awake and present everywhere with the deliberate purpose of protecting me from the temptations of evil.
(verses from, Metaphysical Meditations, by Paramhansa Yogananda, SRF Books)
The thundering resonance of the Word
has liberated me while living -
Now I am entitled to serve the Lord!
How can I ever repay you, 0 my benefactor?
You are my Mother, you are my Father,
you are my generous Lord.
(Sant Namdev)
TO YOU the Lord we pray.
Soul and body are your gifts to us.
You are the Mother, and the Father,
We are your children,
With your grace,
There are countless blessings.
(Guru Arjan, Adi Granth, Sukhmani Sahib)
With hands joined in prayer
I beseech you, Radhasoami,
to listen to my supplication.
You are the true Lord, my benevolent Master!
You are Father, you are Mother,
you are the Creator of all beings.
Be merciful to me, accept me
and set me free from the snare of Kal.
(Swami Ji Maharaj, Sar Bachan Poetry)
Thou art my beloved Mother,
Thou art my only shelter;
I long for Thee,
I await Thy arrival, 0 Lord.
Thou alone art my Father,
Thou alone my loving Son,
Thou art my closest Friend and Relative.
My heart and my soul I lay
At Thy lotus feet, 0 Lord.
The whole creation without Thee,
Says Tuka is a barren desert.
(Sant Tukarama, Gatha. 2607)
Thou art our kind and affectionate Mother, O God, and bearest all our burdens. We know no fear, nor any anxiety……I cannot know the night from day, and the unceasing illumination exists at all times.
(Sant Tukarama)
Thou art our merciful Mother, O Vitthala, a shadow to thy suppliant; the milk of love ever flows in thy breast, thy sight is pure and sweet as nectar. O Mother Vitthala is like a cool shadow; her breast is ever filled with love; seated in her lap I shall seek her bosom and drink as much as I desire. 0 yield the milk of thy mercy and nourish my frame; a stream of nectar flows from thee. My spirit cannot contain this joy; what is the whole sea compared to it?
(Sant Tukarama)
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