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Mexico Rising: The Gods Are Alive 41
his forehead. Their rays joined at one point, and
slowly the blazing concentration of light took
the form of a mother goddess. The gods prayed
to her and worshipped her with praise, ornaments,
and weapons. ‘Victory to the Mother,’
they shouted as the goddess killed the demons
and restored peace and tranquillity.
This story from the Chandi, India’s famous
scripture, has a deep meaning. The demons to
be killed are not only outside ourselves, they
also reside within us as anger, lust, and greed.
Lust for more power and more wealth is a sign
of materialistic thought. There never is enough
money, never enough power to satiate human
desire.
Greatness may be forgotten for some time
but, sooner or later, it will rebound. Will Mexico
be able to revive its ancient traditions and
make them relevant for the present and future?
Many years have gone by since I first visited
Mexico City, but I still clearly remember the
voice that taught me the ancient way—by situation
rather than through books. I learned
through experience and am grateful that I was
introduced to Our Lady of Guadalupe through
the ancient Mother Coatlicue. I humbly placed
red roses at her feet.
The gods are waiting for worship. There is
room for all gods and goddesses. In India there
are so many temples dedicated to different
manifestations of the same mother goddess.
Churches exist side by side with Hindu temples
and Muslim mosques. Sri Ramakrishna used
to say: ‘God can be realized through all paths.
All religions are true. … Devotees call on God
alone, though by different names. They call
one Person only. God is one, but His names are
many.’ The Divine Mother Coatlicue is ready to
come out of the museum, ready to nurture and
protect her children living in the holy land of
Mexico.
P
PB July 2011
(Continued from page 493)
2. To understand the process of kāyasiddhi see A
Brief History of Tantra Literature, 26.
3. A Brief History of Tantra Literature, 454; see also
Swami Harshananda, A Concise Encyclopaedia
of Hinduism, 3 vols (Bangalore: Ramakrishna
Math, 2008), 2.311–12.
4. For khecarī mudrā see Hatha Yoga Pradipika,
3.32–53; Gheranda Samhita, ‘Tritiyopadesha’,
mudrā prakaraṇa, verses 25–32. Cf. Shritantraloka,
5.361–2.
5. For vajrolī mudrā see Hatha Yoga Pradipika,
3.82–9; Gheranda Samhita, verses 45–8.
6. For plāvini kumbhaka see Hatha Yoga Pradipika,
2.70–8.
7. For details on the awakening of the kundalini
see Hatha Yoga Pradipika, 3.97–123; Gheranda
Samhita, ‘Tritiyopadesha’, mudrā prakaraṇa,
verses 49–60. See also Arthur Avalon, The Serpent
Power (Madras: Ganesh, 1958); V G Rele,
The Mysterious Kundalini, (Bombay: D B Taraporewala,
1929); Gopi Krishna, Kundalini: Path
to Higher Consciousness (Delhi: Orient Paperbacks,
1976); and Mary Scott, Kundalini in the
Physical World (London: Routledge and Kegan
Paul, 1983).
8. For the specific legend relating to Matsyendranatha
and Gorakhanatha see Georg Feuerstein,
The Yoga Tradition, Its History, Literature,
Philosophy and Practice (Delhi: Bhavana Books
and Prints, 2002), 512.
9. George Weston Briggs, Gorakhnāth and the
Kanphaṭa Yogīs (Calcutta: YMCA Publishing
House, 1938), 228–50.
10. Benjamin Walker, Encyclopedia of Esoteric Man
(London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1977), 77.
11. See Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Chapter 4.
12. Saiyid Athar Abbas Rizvi, A History of Sufism in
India, 2 vols (Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal,
1983), 1.332–3.
13. See Hatha Yoga Pradipika, 1.61–6.
14. Cf. Shritantraviloka, 11.33–8.
15. Census of India 1961, 5: Gujarat Part VII-B, Fairs
and Festivals (Superintendent of Census Operations,
Gujarat), 217–18. For sites and Yogashramas
of Gorakhanatha in Nepal see Kalyāṇa
(Yogānka) (Gorakhpur: Gita Press, 1935), 784.
16. See Hatha Yoga Pradipika, 1.56–7.
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