The Mother of Songs

The Mother of Songs -- the mother of our whole seed, bore us in the beginning. She is the mother of all races of men and the mother of all tribes. She is the mother of the thunder, the mother of the rivers, the mother of trees and all kinds of things. (Song of the Kagaba Indians of Columbia) Swami Vivekananda, the great prophet of modern Vedanta has declared that the fastest way to spiritual growth is through the worship of the Mother -- the sum total of Shakti, the dynamic feminine aspect of God or Brahman. Says the Swami, "If you want love and wisdom, worship the mother." In this book, nine goddesses or Great Mothers are examined, not for their Pagan idiosyncrasies, but for their humanism and their motherly devotion to humanity. In reality, all are one Mother, appearing to different peoples according to their traditions and understanding throughout historical time. Various comments pertinent to the divine Mother are provided by Swami Vivekananda, Vedanta sages, Christian and Sufi mystics. The Mother aspect has also had some bearing on modern psychology and psychoanalysis, especially in the context of the Jungian approach.