The Mother of Seven Languisheth

The Pesiqta Rabbati, a Palestinian Midrash dating probably from the 7th century, contains the following passage on Mother Zion:

Jeremiah said: When I went up to Jerusalem, I looked up and saw a woman sitting on top of the mountain, clad in black, her hair dishevelled, crying and hoping that someone would comfort me. I approached her and spoke to her and said to her: "If you are a woman, speak to me, and if you are a spirit, get away from me!" She responded and said to me: "Don't you recognize me? I am she who had seven sons. Their father went overseas, and while I went up and cried about him, behold another [messenger] came and said to me: 'The house fell upon your seven sons and killed them' [Job 1:18-19]. Now I do not know for whom I should cry and for whom I should dishevel my hair!" I answered and said to her: "You are not better than my Mother Zion, who has become a grazing ground for the beasts of the field." She answered and said to me: "I am your Mother Zion. I am the mother of seven, for it is written, 'She that hath borne seven languisheth' (Jer 15:0).1

In man there are seven subtle centres, each one reflecting a different quality of G_d. As it is said: "G_d created man in His own image, in the image of G_d created He him; male and female created He them." [Gen 1:27]. The mother of the seven is the divine love that created these centres in man. By our sins we have dirtied these seven lamps of G_d within and they no longer show their light in our thoughts and actions. For this tragedy the mother of seven sorrows.

1) The Hebrew Goddess, 3rd Enlarged Edition. by Raphael Patai, Foreword by Merlin Stone. Pages 211-212. Detroit: Wayne state University Press, 1990 (1967).

The Mother in Judaism

G_d is limitless and cannot be described. When we praise the Divine we must understand every praise falls short of His greatness. She is greater than any name or form and yet the names and forms of G_d are important. They raise our consciousness to the unlimited all-pervading: the sacred YHVH.

In Judaism G_d is understood to be both beyond masculine and feminine qualities and yet encompassing them both. The mothering aspect of the Divine has been called by many names:
Shekhinah, Matronit, the Queen, Binah, Chokhmah, Zion, Torah, Mishnah and Jerusalem.

In most Kabbalah teachings there is a distinction between the Higher Mother and the Lower Mother. The Higher Mother is refferred to as Imma or Binah (Understanding) while the Lower Mother is referred to as the Shekhinah,the Daughter, or Zion. The Higher Mother is the creator of the world while the Lower Mother is the redemptive power.

Ruach HaKodesh and Self-Realization

There is a beautiful Midrashic teaching where the Holy Elijah said,

"I call heaven and earth to bear witness that any person, Jew or Gentile, man or woman , freeman or slave, if his deeds be worthy, then Ruach HaKodesh will descend upon him" (Tana DeBei Eliahu Rabba 9)

and from the Ari:

"The spirit known as Ruach is thus the Breath of God that enters into man's being".¹

Ruach HaKodesh is commonly translated in the Tanakh (the Old Testement) as "the Holy Spirit". Ruach means "spirit" but this word also means both "cool" and "wind". This describes the experience of self-realization; we feel a cool breeze as the Shekhina blesses us and our attention ascends to a beautiful unification with G_d.

The word ruach is also very closely related to the word reach, a fragrance.² Many when they achieve self-realization get a beautiful fragrance of rose or sandlewood.

This self-realization is available to everyone regardless of race, sex, or social status. According to your deeds and your pure desire you will be blessed.

1 and 2) From "Meditation and the Bible" by Aryeh Kaplan. Samuel Weiser, Inc., York Beach, Maine. 1978.

The Wonders of Your Torah

"Open my eyes, and let me gaze at the wonder of your Torah" (Ps 119:18)

The Torah contains wonders not seen by all. There are many ways of reading and interpreting the Torah. One way is to consider that each verse corresponds to a year (where the first verse corresponds to the first year in the Jewish tradition) and therefore has a special message for that year.

Using this method the verse corresponding to the year Shri Mataji was born (1923) is:

“You are stationed today, all of you,
before the presence of YHWH your God:
your heads, your tribes, your elders and your officials,
all the men of Israel,” (Deut 29:9)

This is the only verse in the entire Torah where it says that the people are in the presence of YHWH.  How appropriate that the year the Holy Spirit was born on this earth the Torah tells us that now all of us are in the presence of God!

The next most significant year for Sahaja Yogis after Shri Mataji’s birth year is the year 1970, when she opened the primordial Sahasrara. On this year the Torah tells us:

“And YHWH, he is the one who goes before you,
he will be with you;
he will not fail you, he will not abandon you;
you are not to be overawed, you are not to be shattered!”

This is without a doubt the strongest promise in the Torah. This verse tells us that we will be with God and looked after by God without fail. These promises are made possible by the great event that occurred in 1970. By opening the Sahasrara Shri Mataji has removed the last separation between man and God. With this primordial center opened it is now easy to achieve union with God.

Thus the Torah leads us in the way of recognizing our Holy Mother, the modern Messiah.