"Masks" of the Divine

[Sirona]

Namaste,

lately there is a recurring thought in my mind, but I didn't get it from any book or website. It's more like a mental image I keep seeing. I see the face of a goddess and the "light of Brahman" behind it, as humans tend to search for a face, but it is rather like a mask and if it was removed there would only be bright light. Funny thought, that is. Any ideas how to interpret this mental image?

Thanks for your input.

 

[SomeRandom]

Maybe that as human beings we are only capable of seeing one fraction of the true divine. As the true image of divinity would be so out of our comprehension, it might not even have what we humans perceive as a face. And therefore has a mask.
Or that the image itself is but a mask for the divine to make it easier for us to comprehend.
But that is just my interpretation, I don’t know what it could mean in terms of like astrology or what have you.

 

[DeviChaaya]

Nirguna Brahman is the mask that Saguna Brahman wears. Ma is both and wears different masks for different occasions.

 

[Martin]

Nirguna Brahman is the mask that Saguna Brahman wears.

I thought it was the other way round? Saguna Brahman "with attributes, ie the manifestation or "mask" of Nirguna Brahman?

 

[DeviChaaya]

I thought it was the other way round? Saguna Brahman "with attributes, ie the manifestation or "mask" of Nirguna Brahman?

You're right, I got them back to front. Nonetheless one is a mask that can be perceived and comprehended, the other is much harder to comprehend.

 

[Martin]

You're right, I got them back to front. Nonetheless one is a mask that can be perceived and comprehended, the other is much harder to comprehend.

No worries. I've been trying to get to grips with this terminology for a while, but I keep forgetting what's what.
I've always had a sense of something "beneath" the surface of appearances, though often it's just out of reach. I've been finding that chanting "AUM" is a way of connecting.