Re: Virgin Mary
Consider that Mary bore a god-child who was "implanted" in her womb by a divine power; Devaki bore Krishna, not by physical intimacy with Vasudeva, but by divine intervention.
Yes, it's rather an uncanny parallel, don't you think? The same is supposedly true of the birth of Gautama Buddha. His mother, Queen Mahamaya, had a dream of a white elephant entering her right side while she was sleeping, and thus was Buddha conceived. I certainly don't see it as a coincidence. I wouldn't doubt that in this respect that the Abrahmics took certain chunks (borrowed, for lack of a better word) of spirituality and religion directly from the East.
Shian, yes I do agree that Catholics have great reverence for Mother Mary. Whether or not they'd be pressed to call her a Goddess, however, is quite another thing. And yet their epithets for Her seem to be endless: Queen of Heaven or Regina Caeli (Mata Rani as per Hindu tradition of addressing Devi), Mother of God (essentially Mother Goddess, if you think about it), Our Lady to name just a few. So maybe you're on to something. I believe on a subconscious level Catholics are engaging in worship of the Mother Goddess, but if asked explicitly to explain Mary's position in relation to God the Father, they wouldn't be able to say the same thing exactly. I realise my bhakti to the Divine Mother makes me somewhat biased here (maybe even heavily biased), but it's precisely because of the worship of Virgin Mary that I am not totally put off by Catholicism. I think it's perhaps one of the few things they've gotten right - being able to express love to God in more than just one formless form, even if they aren't totally aware of that.
Om namah Shivaya
"Watch your thoughts, they become words.
Watch your words, they become actions.
Watch your actions, they become habits.
Watch your habits, they become your character.
Watch your character, it becomes your destiny."
ॐ गं गणपतये नमः
Om Gam Ganapataye namah
लोकाः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु ।
Lokaah SamastaaH Sukhino Bhavantu
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