Far above the reaches of this human universe, enthroned on the throne of divine consciousness, the Divine Mother Devi Lalitambika, sat, surrounded by gods and goddesses, sages and celestial beings singing Her glories. In that divine assembly emerged a lonely form, with tears of sorrow streaming down her cheeks. She, the Goddess Earth, Bhoomi Devi begged the Mother of the Universe to free her from the burden of sin perpetrated by the denizens of earth. The supreme Shakti promised that She would relieve Mother Earth of her sorrow by re-establishing dharma.
In fulfillment of this divine promise, a little girl was born on the 4th of March 1911, to Shri Gopalkrishna Shenoy and his wife Sreedevi, in the coastal town of Mangaluru in Karnataka, South India. The parents came from a devout Gowda Saraswat family of Devi worshippers who had been staunch devotees of Devi Durga for generations. Before the birth of this child both the parents had rare experiences which heralded the arrival of the Divine Mother as their daughter. The baby was named Rama and all those who fondled the infant experienced an inexplicable bliss. An astrologer who drew up Her horoscope predicted that this baby in course of time would be worshipped as a divine being.
As little Rama began to grow , innate knowledge and also Her love for meditation began to become evident. Once when She was only three years old there was a death in the family and Sreedevi was shedding tears of sorrow, Rama climbed onto Her mother's lap and after ascertaining the cause of her grief, told her about the immortality of the soul and the futility of grief over this inevitable event.
Rama was often found absorbed in meditation in some quiet corner of the house. She would help Her father in collecting flowers for his daily worship and loved to sit with him in the pooja room.
One day, when She was four, while Her father was offering pooja to the family deity, Devi Durga, little Rama became so absorbed in Herself that although the worship was over, She remained sitting with closed eyes. After a long time, when She came to body consciousness, Her father gently questioned Her as to what She was doing so long with closed eyes. In all innocence, Rama narrated how She saw Herself seated on a lion and adorned with beautiful ornaments. The flowers that Her father was offering to the Goddess were actually falling at Her Feet. Overcome with joy at this revelation, the father, recollecting his own earlier experiences, fell prostrate before his little daughter.
This revelation of his daughter's divinity was indeed the fruition of the centuries of his family's worship of the Divine Mother.
Later, when Rama was about nine years old, She visited the Meenakshi temple at Madurai along with Her family. There, in front of the shrine of the Goddess She saw a brilliant beam of light emanating from Her being and illuminating the shrine. In that light She saw the living form of the Devi and felt Her own identity with the Goddess. The light came back and merged in Her bosom , sending Her into samadhi. The bystanders were amazed to see that Rama had assumed the likeness of the Devi in the shrine.
At the age of fourteen, Rama was given in marriage to Shri Sree Krishna Bhagat who was older to Her by thirty four years. This was in accordance with the instructions which Her father had received in a vision.
Having entered the order of grihasthashram, Divine Mother Rama Devi began to worship Her consort as God Himself. She merged Her will in His and was meticulous in carrying out His wishes. Thus She resurrected pathivratha dharma and demonstrated in Her life how by selfless service to her husband a pathivrata can convert her home into heaven.
Serving the guests as God or atithi satkar is another aspect of our Indian culture which Divine Mother demonstrated in Her illustrious life. She would not only cook for the guests who flocked to Her house but would Herself wash their clothes, draw buckets of water from the well for their bath and would also scrub the utensils they had eaten in. Such was Her motherly love that every guest was treated as a beloved child to be cared for and cherished.
From the age of sixteen, Divine Mother began Her sadhana to attain God realization. Although She was the Parashakti Herself in human garb, She accepted the role of a humble sadhaka and undertook years of rigorous sadhana which culminated in the goal of spiritual attainment viz Nirvikalpa samadhi.
These twelve years of Her spiritual quest were a lesson for every seeker of truth. They served to prove that the peak of spirituality can be attained even in the order of grihasthashram.
Soon, devotees began to come to Her attracted by Her loving nature and spiritual lustre. They entreated Her to accept them as disciples and to grant them the sacred atmopadesha. Her compassionate heart melted and She began to initiate the disciples in the mahavakya. This meant that She had to absorb the sins of these disciples and make Her own body suffer. This She did willingly and joyfully, for were they not Her children?
Various divine bhava began to manifest in Divine Mother. The devotees watched with wonder and joy as they saw Her appear before them as Sree Krishna playing on the flute, as Radha, the queen of Krishna's heart, as Sree Ram holding the kodanda bow, as Sree Hanuman, the great devotee of Sree Ram, as Sree Gauranga singing the name of Hari, as Devi Durga, the destroyer of demons. These bhavas came to Mother spontaneously and they served to strengthen the faith of the devotees in Her divinity.
The consort of Divine Mother, Sree Krishna Bhagat, was addressed as Bhagawan by the devotees. He came from a wealthy family and was highly educated. Being charitable by nature, he would always be ready to help the poor and needy. Those who came to Him for help never returned empty handed. He was a stern disciplinarian and wanted His home to be run with clockwork precision. Divine Mother was always at His beck and call and in spite of Her samadhis and divine bhavas, never swerved from the path of duty.
As time went by, Sree Bhagawan began to realize the divinity of Divine Mother. He had a vision of Her as His chosen deity, Lord Krishna. A radical change came over Him and he began to consider Himself as Her child.
Sree Bhagawan would accompany Divine Mother to various places in Kerala, Tamilnadu, Maharashtra and Karnnataka where She would meet Her devotees, initiate them and guide them on the spiritual path. The devotees too would revere Him for, He was the worshipful deity of Divine Mother Herself.
As the number of Mother's devotees began to increase, mandalis came into being, where devotees would gather to sing bhajans, pray, meditate and contemplate on Divine Mother's teachings. In course of time a central mission was formed.
In 1964, Sree Bhagawan attained mahasamadhi. Divine Mother travelled to Kerala where three temples dedicated to Her came up. In answer to the intense prayers of Her disciples and devotees, She installed Her own vigrahas in these temples at Trichur, Kayamkulam and Trivandrum. She also initiated a large number of newcomers into the mahavakya. All this had an adverse effect on Her health and Her body began to suffer. The doctors were unable to diagnose what exactly She was suffering from. It was at this crucial juncture that Tarakka (who was Divine Mother's niece) and her husband Dr. K.V.Srinivasa Pai took Divine Mother to their home in Ahmednagar and nursed Her back to health. She condescended to remain with them much to the delight of this devoted couple. The local devotees too were full of joy to have Divine Mother in their midst.
In 1972, the headquarters of the central mission came up at Kulashekhar, a suburb of Mangalore. Divine Mother along with Tarakka and Dr. Pai moved into the newly built campus, Shaktinagar. Devotees as well as seekers of truth began to flock to Her. In 1976, She performed the prana pratishtha of Her own murthy in the beautiful temple on the campus. All this strain was telling on Her health. But She paid scant attention to Her body. Her one aim was the regeneration of as many souls as possible.
Finally on the 1st of November 1978 , She gave up Her human form by an act of will. The Devi Who had manifested amidst Her human children in a motherly form merged back into Her supreme immensity.
But before She became invisible to our mortal vision, She granted an eternal gift to all humanity in the form of the Sharana Mantra which She imparted to Her successors Tarakka and Dr. Pai.
