“The origin of the 1000 names attributed to the Great Primordial Mother were composed aeons ago. Her 565th. is Mitra-rupini: “Of the form of friend or sun” and Her 570th. is Maitryadi- vasana-labhya: “Can be obtained through good tendencies like Maitri.”
C. Suryanarayana Murthy informs in the Sri Lalita Sahasranama that Maitri-Mudita-Karuna Upeksanam Sukha-Dukha-Punyapunya means “Friendship with those who are happy without being envious, compassion with those who are suffering, gladness to see the righteous, overlooking or not mindful of the sinful. These four tendencies or Vasanas contribute to clarity of mind. It is only such a mind that can have God vision.”
The Shri Lalita Sahasranama, the timeless Book of Enlightenment was composed by Shri Vagdevata (Goddess of speech) at the express command of Shri Lalita. Both these names mitra and Maitryadi were conferred on the Great Primordial Mother ages before Shri Buddha was born. Surely there is wisdom in this ancient Truth.
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi has said that one of Her forms is as Shri Matraiya. She is also known as Shri Trigunatmika — Shri Mahalakshmi, Mahasaraswati and Mahakali.
She is also Shri Matain, Shri Ekritya and Shri Matraiya. She is also Shri Mitra-rupini. She is also Shri Maitryadi -vasana-labhya. Mai treya is Sanskrit for Three Mothers. The original Mai Treya (Three Mothers) was pronounced into Maitreya (friend) — which itself was derived from mitra (Friend) – as Buddhism sought to assume its own identity.
Is it possible that Mai Treya, over the centuries of oral tradition, was finally written down as Maitreya to erase all traces of its Hindu origin? Buddhist theologians say that Maitreya was derived from mitra. But this was arrived by apparently adulterating the structure — spelling, pronouncement and consonants — of mitra. How does one substitute mitra for Maitreya?
In the first place, Shri Buddha could have just said the future mitra will come,
forestalling centuries of deceit and delusion. So why did Shri Buddha specifically mention Mai Treya? For some reason it did not matter to Buddhists scholars that the very word mitra or friend is just too mundane for the next incarnation of Shri Buddha.
Perhaps mitra was the only sensible word in the Sanskrit dictionary to transform into Maitreya, and erase all traces of the ‘Hindu’ Mai Treya.
The fact that all early teachings of the Buddha were passed by word of mouth, and not written, only made this very subtle change in pronouncement from Mai Treya to Maitreya all that easy.
For ordinary humans there is a considerable difference between friend and
Mother. One may have thousands of friends but only one mother. For seekers of Truth it will now be the difference between final liberation or endless Samsara. It might not have mattered in the past as Mai Treya was yet to come, but now this precise translation and pronouncement of Maitreya should be of utmost importance.
“All Buddhists, after being provided the facts to this error, will have to decide if Shri Buddha said “Maitreya” or “Mai Treya” 2,500 years ago. The subtlest difference between the pronouncement of Maitreya and it contraction, Mai Treya, is today the difference between samsara and nirvana. It would be spiritual genocide if the mispronunciation of a single word prevent millions of Buddhists from attaining final liberation!”
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi.
