Mother of All Things

O Mother, Saviour of the helpless, Thou the Slayer of sin! 

In Thee do the three Gunās dwell-sattva, rajas, and tamas. 

Thou dost create the world: Thou dost sustain it and destroy it; 

Binding Thyself with attributes, Thou yet transcendest them; 

             For Thou, O Mother, art the All. 

Kāli Thou art, and Tara, and Thou the Ultimate Prakriti; 

Thou art the Fish, the Turtle, the Boar, and all other Avatars 

Earth, water, air, and fire art Thou, and Thou the sky, 

             O Mother of the Absolute! 

The Samkhya, Patanjala, Mimamsaka, and Nyaya 

For ever seek to fathom Thee and know Thine inmost nature; 

Vedānta and Vaiseshika are searching after Thee; 

            But none of them has found Thee out. 

Though free of limitations, beginningless and without end, 

Yet for Thy loving bhaktas' sake Thou wearest varying forms. 

The terrors of this world Thou dost remove, and Thou dost dwell 

              Alike in present, past, and future. 

Thou dost appear with form, to him who loves Thee as a Person; 

Thou art the Absolute, to him who worships formless Truth. 

Some there are who speak alone of the resplendent Brahman; 

Even this, O Blissful Mother, is nothing else but Thee! 

Each man, according to his measure, makes his image of the Truth,  

            Calling it the Highest Brahman. 

Beyond this does Turiya shine, the Indescribable: 

O Mother of all things, who dost pervade the universe, 

          Everyone of these art Thou! 

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 872 (23 October 1885)