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Thou Mother of Flames, show Thy Face, hidden beneath the veil
of Cosmic Motion Pictures |
O Mother of time, space, form, and relativity, Thou hast taken a
finite form—the Kali-Divine, colossal, symbol-idol of all-sheltering
nature. The invisible Spirit took Thy shape—a visible Mother
Divine, in whom throbs the heart of all-protecting, mothering kindness.
O Mother Divine! The beauty-mark of the moon is set between Thy
two dark eyebrows of twilight and night. Clouds of eternity veil
Thy face. Gusts of prophetic lives often have dared to blow fitfully
away Thy veil of mystery, momentarily revealing Thy face hiding
from our stares of ignorance.
O Mother Divine, in the dawn of creation I beheld Thee on the track
of time, roaming in the rustic attire of primitive culture, crowned
with wild nature, and wearing the garland of unpolished minds and
opaque, finite things.
In the noon-day of creation, I beheld Thee, wearing a garment of
sunny mentalities, scorching souls with the heat of their own material
fire. Thy body of activity sweated with restlessness. All Thy children
felt the strain of struggle, and implored Thee to send the cooling
breeze of peace.
In Thy noon-hour of fulfillment, Thou didst equally attend the forsaken
slums of misery, the halls of festive prosperity, and the shrines
of peaceful wisdom.
In Thine attire of mid-day mentalities, Thou didst travel through
the fiestas of centuries, beholding the dream of human life and
death, of the evolution and dissolution of planets, of the birth
and death of civilizations, of the drama of nebulae-molding worlds—the
dream of new-born planets and earthquakes and partial dissolutions.
Then the dark night approached, and Thou didst wear the grim, dark
veil of mourning, to put creation through the terrible but purifying
ordeal of destruction's fire. The sun burst and belched fire; the
cosmic earthquake broke the vase of the sky, dropping embers of
stars; and all creation was a furnace of flames. Everything was
fire: matter, sin, darkness, all things were cast into Thy crucible,
there to become pure, luminous.
Creation came from fire: beneath the ashes of matter, the embers
of creation slept; and, rocked by Thy hands, O Mother Divine, creation
awoke with its body of pure flames.
Thine one hand of power wakes unseen creative force to take many-hued,
fair, finite forms. Another hand holds the astral sword of preservation,
keeping all planets swinging in the rhythm of balance. Thy third
hand clutches the severed head of cosmos, representing dissolution
when all creation sleeps in Thee. Thy fourth hand stills the storms
of delusion, bestowing the rays of salvation upon seeking devotees.
O Kali, Thou deep Mother of creative activity, wearing a garland
of human minds; the rhythm of Thy wild dance of creation ceases
only when Thy feet touch the transcendent breast of Thine Invisible
Consort of Infinity—Shiva, in whom all creation has rest.
O Mother-Progress, the dance of Thy life I hear in the tinkling
bells of little laughing, harmonious lives. On the floor of my tender
thoughts, Thine inspirations softly dance in tune with the music
of the spheres.
In the hall of creation, everywhere, O Kali, I hear the rhythm of
Thy footsteps, dancing forcefully in the booming thunder, and softly
in the song of atoms.
The Infinite sleeps beneath the shroud of magic delusion, and then,
O Goddess of Forms, Thy fantastic dances of finitude begin on His
bosom. Thou hast danced nearer than the throbs of my soul, and I
have heard the symphony of Thy steps on the farthest horizon of
my mind. Divine Mother, Thou mayest dance everywhere: but O, I pray
Thee, do Thou ever play the music of Thy magic footsteps in the
sacred sanctum of my soul!
O Goddess Kali, in Thy changing robes art woven the dreams of creation,
preservation and destruction. Mother Divine, on the beauteous veil
of Thy mind a million cinemas of cosmic dramas play. Thus dost Thou
entertain and amuse Thy good children, and frighten Thy naughty
ones.
Mother Divine, draw aside Thy glittering veil of cosmic motion pictures
and show me Thy delusion-dispersing face of mercy.
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