{"id":50928,"date":"2025-07-15T01:35:32","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T01:35:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eastrovedica.com\/wordpress\/?p=50928"},"modified":"2025-07-15T03:23:20","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T03:23:20","slug":"50928","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eastrovedica.com\/wordpress\/?p=50928","title":{"rendered":"The Eightfold Verse about the Mother Divine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Like Socrates who said &#8221; I know nothing, not even my own ignorance&#8221;, Sankara was also known for his humility.<\/strong><strong>&#8220;I know not Philosophy, Literature or Science &#8221; , he says in his poem, Bhavani Ashtakam. I am  one of the worst beings and my only refuge is Thee !<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Neither do I know how to donate,<br>Nor Meditation transcendental<br>Neither do I know Tantra,<br>Nor the stanzas of prayer great,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><br>Worshipping is unknown to me ,<br>Nor do I know the art of yoga,<br>Thou art my only Refuge ,\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>O Mother Divine !<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>His critics criticised him as a hidden Buddhist. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>There was no atheism or Agnosticism in him. He declared that all this is a projection of the Universal Mind and that the Eternal Triad &#8211; the Relative Universe, the<br>Relative Ego and the Relative Supreme &#8211; are all the projections of the<br>Cosmic Mind !<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-embed-handler wp-block-embed-embed-handler wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Sri Bhavani Astakam\" width=\"525\" height=\"394\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3jcb7LlPQlU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>There were other critics who criticised him saying that he championed the<br>superiority of Transcendental Philosophy ( Jnana Yoga ) over Bridal<br>Mysticism ( Bhakthi Yoga ). This was not true, as Bhavani Ashtakam will<br>prove.<\/strong><strong>&#8221; If I believe in anybody in this world, it is Sree Sankara of the East &#8220;,<br>said Max Muller. Sankara, the Exponent of Oneness, continues to be one the<br>of the greatest philosophers that ever graced this earth !<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Can I depend on any of these ?<br>The father, the mother,<br>The relation or the friend ?<br>Neither son nor daughter,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Neither servant nor husband,<br>Wife, Knowledge And Profession,<br>Are dependable in this world,<br>My only Refuge , O Mother Divine,\u00a0 is Thee !<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>I am in this ocean of worldliness,<br>I&nbsp; face sorrow, Lust, Sin,Greed ,desire,,<br>Bound am I by the useless life I lead<br>Thou art my only Refuge , O Mother Divine !<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>I know not divine merit,<br>Nor places sacred to visit,<br>Salvation I know not,<br>Union with Him is also unknown,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><br>I know not Bhakti Yoga,<br>Nor austerities divine,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Nor terra incognita&nbsp; of&nbsp; Consciousness,&nbsp;&nbsp;<br>Thou art my only Refuge , O Mother Divine !<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>I do commit heinous sins,<br>And keep company of the bad,<br>Sinful thoughts torment me ,<br>I serve masters bad,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><br>Belong I to a bad family,<br>Sinful acts dominate me,<br>See I with bad intentions,<br>Thou art my only Refuge , O Mother Divine !<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Creator I know not,<br>Or the Preserver Divine,<br>The Lord is unknown to me,<br>The lord of Celestials I know not,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><br>Unknown are the Lords of&nbsp; Day &amp; Night,<br>Neither do I know any other Gods,<br>O Mighty Goddess, to Thee I bow always,<br>Thou art my only Refuge ,&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>O Mother Divine !<\/strong>&nbsp;<strong>Whenever I am in an argument,<br>Whenever in sorrow,<br>Whenever suffering accidents,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Whenever travelling far away,<br>Whenever in water or on fire,<br>Whenever on top of a mountain,<br>Whenever surrounded by enemies,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Whenever in a deep forest,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Or in any\u00a0 calamity,\u00a0\u00a0<br>I always bow before thee, O Mighty One,<br>Thou art my only Refuge , O Mother Divine !<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Despite being an orphan,<br>Despite being extremely poor,<br>Despite affected by disease of old age,<br>I bow before Thee always<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><br>Whenever problems overwhelm me,<br>Whenever dangers threaten,<br>I always bow before thee,<br>Thou art my only Refuge , O Mother Divine !<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00a0https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6YlVnGoWVrs\u00a0https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DHcGLz1OySs\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Like Socrates who said &#8221; I know nothing, not even my own ignorance&#8221;, Sankara was also known for his humility.&#8220;I know not Philosophy, Literature or Science &#8221; , he says in his poem, Bhavani Ashtakam. I am one of the worst beings and my only refuge is Thee ! Neither do I know how to &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eastrovedica.com\/wordpress\/?p=50928\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;The Eightfold Verse about the Mother Divine&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eastrovedica.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eastrovedica.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eastrovedica.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eastrovedica.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eastrovedica.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50928"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.eastrovedica.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50928\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50946,"href":"https:\/\/www.eastrovedica.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50928\/revisions\/50946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eastrovedica.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eastrovedica.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eastrovedica.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}