"She's here! The fierce daughter of Durga: Kali-Ma. She is most terrible and most compassionate. Surrender. Now. You have only your ego (and the price of this book) to lose, and infirnite riches to gain.

"The Wise Woman Way-so exquisitely brought to life by Lex Hixon in these verses-has been spinning and spiraling since time out of mind, yet its message is as fresh, vital, and empowenng as ever. She calls in these poems. She who is matter, mater, mother, mary. She calls. She calls you. Listen! You may save your life, or the earth."

-Susun Weed, founder, Wise Woman Center
author, Healing Wise, Menopausal Years-The Wise
Woman Way, Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year


"Mother of the Universe " is a fascinating example of the devotion inspired by Ma Kali, one of the very few manifestations of the ancient Primal Goddess still actively worshiped today. This book is a revelation for the uninitiated and a joy for those who already know the Goddess."

-Barbara Walker, author of Amazon, The Woman's
Encyclopedia of Myths & Secrets, The Crone,
The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred
Objects, The Skeptical Feminist, The I Ching of the
Goddess, Women's Rituals, etc.'


“Lex Hixon has made a beautiful offering at the feet of the Goddess in this timely and timeless volume. The poetry is sublime. On hearing it I am, like Shiva, 'dissolved in transparency.’ All who read should nourish their hearts with these poetic contemplations, and all who cannot read should hear. Jai Kali Ma! To the Mother, all praises."

-Penny Stinger, artist & co-author,
Sexual Secrets, Mountain Ecstasy,
In Search of the Mystic Lover


"These magnificently profound, expanding, and expansive recreations of Ramprasad by Lex Hixon not only bring to us some of the wildest and most far reaching insights into the nature of Indian civilization and the Mother and thousands of years of devotion, but also speak, sometimes unnervingly, and always extremely impassionately, right to the heart of all seekers of the truth in this burning and terribly menaced world.

"No one who wants to approach and enjoy the mystery of the Divine Feminine in its paradoxical glory should be without this book."

–Andrew Harvey, author, Hidden Journey,
Journev to Ladakh



"In this delightful translation by Lex Hixon, we hear the pillow talk of the mystic poet Ramprasad to his Goddess Kali, Mother of the Universe, Mother of Reality-a Tantric love affair with the Divine that will completely enchant the reader."

–Catherine Ingrain, author, Gandhi:
Conversations with Spiritual/Social Activists
Co-founder, Insight Meditation Society


"Lex Hixon's Mother of the Universe brings Kali's dance to us in a fluid, living way that engages our whole self and awakens us to the cosmic within us. To open to the goddess Kali through Hixon and Ramprasad is to call ourselves forth into the ultimate reality of embracing the mystery, the unknown, and the unexpected. Ramprasad's devotion is total and through Hixon's lived rewritings, we are beckoned, in this book, to find the Divine Mother's conscious core of love and wisdom that brings meaning to our lives in a time of drastic change. Her unconditional love remains a paradox only when we cling to the status quo and exterior criteria of reality.

"Kali's nonlinear tradition moves in mysterious ways in the world. I recommend reading Ramprasad's poems on a daily basis. Through a daily absorption, the terror of the luminous darkness can be blissfully embraced, enabling all other fears to be nullified. These poems are translucent vessels of divine energy pouring out the nectar-medicine that can transmute the world's poison.

–Rowena Pattee Kryder, author The Gaia
Matrix Oracle, Emerald River of Compassion



"A brilliant, lummious, free and fiery rendition of Ramprasad's verses of the Goddess. Not the "Goddess" of the ideologues, who want Her to support one postmodern position against another, but rather the true Goddess as the Ground of all positions, high or low, sacred or profane-the primordial enlightened mind that embraces the entire Kosmos with care and concern, ecstatic love and fierce compassion, the water in which all fishes equally swim, the water that is our own source, suchness, essence, being and blessing.

"As always, Lex's renditions arc a direct transmission of the Living Truth, known by many names, and most beautifully, in this case, as our divine and dearest Mother. Partake of these verses, partake of the Goddess: the reader is the actual subject of these verses; the Goddess is the one doing the reading, smiling gently to Herself, and remembering just what She did to merit such surprise."

--Ken Wilber, author, The Spectrum of
Consciousness, Grace and Grit,
The Atman Project


"Messages from the Heart! It is my feeling that male technological thought forms have ruined our world. I am excited that the feminine is rising, the feminine in each and every one of us, male and female. In this book, where Lex writes so brilliantly regarding the feminine Divinity, the feminine is being expressed through the masculine. I think that is how it is supposed to work! Aho Mitakaye Oyacin–Amen to all my Relations, all things with life."

-Mary Elizabeth Thunder, Peace Elder,
Sundancer, author of Thunder's Grace



"This extraordinary book of poems celebrating the goddess Kali is an inspiration and teaching of great value."

-Joan Halifax, Buddhist teacher, anthropologist,
author of The Fruitful Darkness



"Lex Hixon’s electrifying translations are astonishing in their literary artistry and spiritual depth– He makes the presence of the Goddess shine and dance in the words of one of her greatest poets. To read these poems is to dive headlong into the infinite depths of Her dazzling darkness."

-Miranda Shaw, author of Passionate
Enlightenment- Women in Tantric Buddhism



"I wrote a short biography of Ramprasad Sen, the floundering l8th century Bengali accountant who became one of India!s best loved saints, for the November 1992 edition of Yoga International. At the time it was extremely disappointing to me that there was no high quality English translation of Ramprasad's exquisite songs to the Goddess which I could recommend to readers who wanted to learn more about the north Indian mystic and his beloved Divine Mother. Thanks to Lex Hixon, best known as author of Great Swan: Meetings with Ramakrishna, that baneful situation has finally been remedied.

"In Mother of the Universe: Visions of the Goddess and Tantric Hymns of Enlightenment, Lex Hixon offers us Rarnprasad’s celebration of the dark Goddess in an expansive translation of the poet's terse Bengali verse that captures both the poet's ecstatic devotion to Kali and his profound understanding of the universal forces she represents. Thanks to Lex Hixon's superlative rendition of these powerful tantric hymns, we now all have access to Ramprasad Sen's awakened cry."

–Linda Johnsen, author of Daughters of the
Goddess: The Women Saints of India


"In Ramprasad's ecstatic poems we see the sacred addressed in its feminine, creative aspect, the Mother who wears not one face but ten thousand: compassionate and fierce, boundless, dancing, both naked and scarved in the beings and things of the world, radiant, plunged into darkness, and above all, free. These songs of longing and union, practice and praise, step straight into the Center. All thanks to Lex Hixon for midwiving them into our hands."

-Jane Hirshfield, poet & translator; author of
The October Palace; editor of Women in
Praise of the Sacred


"Lex Hiixon's ecstatic hymns of enlightenment carry us ... into mystical intimacy. Here in this territory of passionate yearning we encounter that God beyond all imaginings who is both poem and poet. Your songs of Kali are my songs of Christ."

–Elizabeth-Anne Vanek, author, Woman
Dreamer, Ertraordinary Time, Frost and-Fire


"In this book of song and poetry, we glimpse the mystery of the Divine Feminine and songs of spiritual humility, humor, exultation and the bliss of beatific vision. Ramprasad’s intimate experience of the Mother reveals a mysterious dance, a blissful inebriation, and a vast energy sustained by the Goddess Kali. This is a beautifully presented book celebrating all aspects of the feminine."

--DB, Napra Trade Journal


"Lex's new book is exquisite. What a fine heart! He has offered such deep song to so many. He is healing the torn heart of Western devotional practice-he makes it One."

-Stephen Levine, author, Gradual Awakening
and Who Dies? An Investigation into
Conscious Living/Conscious Dying



"Bless Lex Hixon for illuminating the dazzing darkness of the Divine Mother in a new form! Rarnprasad's astonishing hymns of love to the Mother of the Universe glow like embers to warm us all."

-China Galland, author, Longing for Darkness:
Tara and the Black Madonna and Women in
the Wilderness



"0 beloved and Divine Mother, thank you for sending these mad poets into the world. Drunk on your sacred name, Ramprasad and his sidelack Lcx Hixon are singing songs…I can see you dance to them in wild abandon. Mortal men they may be, but you are the inspiration, and to glimpse the wonder of you through the rainbow longing of their devotion, I weep with humility and delight. My body insists on moving to the rhythm of their praises. The devotees before me, like desert wanderers, refresh their world-weary heart, drinking the nectar of your inspiration. Ma Ma Ma.

-Prema Dasara, performer and teacher of sacred
dance- founder of The Tara Dance"

"Keep Mother of the Universe by your bed and read a few pages of it to your lover during one of those delicious all night love making sessions. It's magic."

-Annie Sprinkle, performance artist


"This exquisite book is a wonderful reminder of the deep wisdom to which anthropocentric, patriarchal, positivistic modem society has for long turned its back. Lex beautifully communicates with his inspiring translations that Kali, far from being some odd god of a "prescientific culture," is, rather, a fundamental force in the universe which we in the West have ignored to our peril. He performs a tremendously valuable service in making accessible this profound understanding of another culture-which is, at the same time, an understanding of ourselves."

--Wilfis Hannan, President, Institute of Noetic
Sciences, author, Global Mind Change: The
Promise of the Last Years of the 20th Century

"Lcx HIxon is a true ecstatic who possesses a divine and trancendent gift. Not only does he translate the wisdom of the ancient Goddess Kali-Ma with profound lucidity, but he never, once, interferes. In this extraordinary offering, the translator disappears. The luminous vessel remains."

-Rudy Wurlitzer, screenwriter, Little Buddha;
author, Hard Travel to Sacred Places



"A pioneering work in this field and a valuable addition to our collection. The researchers of our Institution will find this book of immense help.

-Abhaya Das Gupta, Librarian, Ramakrishna
Mission Institute of Culture, Calcutta



"The content is a brilliant, inspiring and powerfid message of a forsaken element in the integration of Divine Principles in our world: the Divine Feminine. These poems of unity are an exquisite reminder of profound value in our own self understanding."

--Carlos Warter, MD, Ph.D., author of
Recovery of the Sacred

"Lex Hixon is a poetic genius with deep knowledge of eastern wisdom. These songs are very dear to Bengalis. I wonder to see that although he is born in a different culture, he has also realized their depth. It proves that these songs have a universal appeal to humanity. Really, these songs are prasad.”

--Dr. Bhabani Gangull, Professor of Indology,
Ramakrishna. Mission Institute of Culture,
Calcutta


"Lex Hixon, who received his initiation from Swami Nikhilananda, has transcreated with devotion Jadunath Sinha!s translation of Ramprasad. His introduction gives an idea of the global presence of Mother worship, Ramprasad's celebration of Kali (Tara) as the Wisdom Goddess, the motherhood of God that assures us of the brotherhood of man, the tantric details of the Kundalini's rise, and the significance of this cosmic power. The spiritual expressiveness of some of the titles contain revelatory flashes for aspirants. Each of the poems calls for meditative contemplation."

–Prema Nandakumar, Vedanta Kesari, Vol. 81



""His introduction... is a very astute delineation of the Mother, or Wisdom-Goddess, written with scholarship as well as depth of feeling. Mr. Hixon reminds us that, ultimately, it is enlightenment itself that She finally bestows."

-Hinduism Today, October, 1994