MAA KALI Out of the thirty three crores of Gods and Goddesses worshipped by the devout Hindus , Maa Kali, the source of primordial energy, is worshipped most passionately. She is associated with many goddesses as well as the Lord Shiva. According to Sri Ramakrishna, darkness is the Ultimate Mother, or Kali: My Mother is the principle of consciousness. She is Akhanda Satchidananda; indivisible Reality, Awareness, and Bliss. The night sky between the stars is perfectly black. The waters of the ocean depths are the same; The infinite is always mysteriously dark. This inebriating darkness is my beloved Kali. The name ‘Kali’ is the feminine version of the Sanskrit word kala meaning time - time in this form serves as a euphemism for death - or devourer of time. It also means black or black female, in contrast to her consort, Shiva, who is white, like the ashes of the cremation ground (Sanskrit: _ma_an) in which he meditates, and with which they are both associated, hence Kalis epithet _ma_anâ. In the Vedas the name is associated with fire god Agni, who had seven flickering tongues of flame, of which Kali was the black, horrible tongue. The Matsyapurana states Kali was first a tribal Goddess of the high mountain region of Mount Kalanjara, which is in north-central India and east of the Indus Valley. It is widely believed that she represents a survival of a Dravidian goddess, which makes her the great creatrix of the ancient Indian pantheon. Her dark skin evidences the fact that she predated the lighter-skinned Aryan invasion of the darker-skinned inhabitants of the Indian sub-continent. This conflict became the subject of many myths handed down about Kalis fierce passion in defending her people against the invaders. Kalis fierceness is due both to her ties to the pre-Aryan Great Mother Goddess, as well as her place at Shivas side as his consort, which gives her the power of the Shakti, or female energy. It is the Puranas that firmly gave Kali a place in the Hindu pantheon. Kali or Kalika is described in the Devi-Mahatmyam (also known as the Chandi or the Durgasaptasati) from the Markandeya Purana, circa 300-600CE, where she is said to have emanated from the brow of the goddess Durga, a slayer of demons or avidya, during one of the battles between the divine and anti-divine forces. In this context, Kali is considered the forceful form of the great goddess Durga. Another account of the origins of Kali is found in the Matsya Purana, circa 1500CE, which states that she originated as a mountain tribal goddess in the north-central part of India, in the region of Mount Kalanjara (now known as Kalinjar). Some of Kalis older names found their way into the Bible. As Tara, the earth, she became Terah, mother of the Hebrew ancestral spirits called teraphim. The same Tara became the Celts Tara, Gauls Turan, and the Latin Terra, meaning Mother Earth, said to be interchangeable with Venus. The name of Eve, may have originated with Kalis Ieva or Jiva, the primordial female principle of manifestation; she gave birth to her first manifested form and called him Idam (Adam). She also bore the same title given to Eve in the Old Testament: Mother of All Living (Jaganmata). Kali is usually portrayed with four arms and hands. Two of these (usually the left) hold a sword and a severed head which implies that in the end she will kill everyone as none can avoid her as mortal death. The other two hands (usually the right) are in blessing, which means her initiated devotees (or anyone worshipping her with a true heart) will be saved as she will guide them here and in the hereafter. She wears a garland of 51 heads, which represents the Varnamala, or the Garland of Letters. They represent the 51 letters of the Devanagari or Sanskrit script. Hindus believe Sanskrit is a language of dynamism, and each of these letters represents a form of energy, or a form of Kali. Therefore she is generally seen as the Mother of language, and all mantras. Though called the One, Kali was always a trinity: the same Virgin-Mother-Crone triad established perhaps nine or ten millenia ago, giving the Celts their triple Morrigan; the Greeks their triple Moerae and all other manifestations of the Threefold Goddess; the Norsemen their triple Norns; the Romans their triple Fates and triadic Uni (Juno); the Egyptians their triple Mut; the Arabs their triple Moon-goddess - she was the same everywhere. Even Christians modeled their threefold God on her archetypal trinity. Kalis dwelling place, the cremation ground denotes a place where the pancha mahabhuta (five elements) are dissolved. Kali dwells where this dissolution takes place. In terms of devotion and worship, this denotes the dissolving of attachments, anger, lust and other binding emotions, feelings and ideas. The heart of the devotee is where this burning takes place, and it is in the heart that Kali dwells. This inner cremation fire in the heart is the gyanagni (fire of knowledge), which kali bestows. The Beeja Mantra of Māa Kāli is : AUM AIM HREEM KLEEM CHAMUNDAYE VICHCHE SWAHA. Usually this mantra is sung during Bali or animal slaughter. But it has a dominating knowledge aspect to it, which is now very well understood in various world literature. Aum — Prayer; Aim — Symbolic of knowledge by Goddess Saraswati; Hreem — Symbolism of transformation; Kleem — Symbolism of confidence or strength; Chammundaye Vichche — Decapitation (Considered as fall of EGO) and Swaha — Sacrifice or Yajna prayer. This interpretation states that Goddess Kāli through knowledge brings transformation in a devotee by excising the Ego, and then blesses the devotee with enormous strength and confidence. Maa Kali is worshipped in various forms. The major forms are : Dakshina Kali : If Maa Kali steps with her right foot first and holds a sword in the left hand she is considered to be Dakshina Kali. Dakshina Kali Temple has important religious associations with Jagannath Temple and it is believed that Daksinakali is the guardian of the kitchen of the Lord Jagannath Temple. Puranic tradition says that in Puri, Lord Jagannath is regarded as Daksinakalika. Goddess Dakshinakali plays an important role in the Niti of Saptapuri Amavasya. Smashan Kali : If Kali steps out with the left foot and holds the sword in her right hand, she is a terrible form of Mother, the Smashan Kali of cremation ground. She is worshiped by tantrics, the followers of Tantra. According to them ones spiritual discipline practiced in smashan (cremation ground) brings success quickly. Sarda Devi, the consort of Ramakrishna Paramhansa worshipped Smashan Kali at Dakshineshwar. Mahakali : Mahakali is sometimes considered as a greater form of Kali, identified with the Ultimate reality of Brahman. It can also simply be used as an honorific of the Goddess Kali, signifying her greatness by the prefix Mahā-. Mahakali, in Sanskrit, is etymologically the feminized variant of Mahakala or Great Time (which is interpreted also as Death), an epithet of the God Shiva in Hinduism. Mahakali is the presiding Goddess of the first episode of the Devi Mahatmya. Here she is depicted as Devi in her universal form as Shakti. Here Devi serves as the agent who allows the cosmic order to be restored. The concept of Maa Kali can therefore be conceptualized from the lines of Swami Vivekananda’s poem, ‘Kali, the Mother’ : Come, Mother, come! For terror is Thy name, Death is in thy breath, And every shaking step Destoys a world for eer. Thou Time, the All-destroyer! Come, O Mother, come! Who dares misery love, And hug the form of Death, Dance in destructions dance To him the Mother comes. Wishing you a blissful Kali Puja.
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 10:18:43 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015