Goddess Kali- Our Divine Mother
November 11, 2007
Goddess Kali was evoked to annihilate a demon that was unstoppable in heaven. His destructive power had rendered all the gods powerless.
It all started when Lord Brahma pleased with Raktaveeja or Raktabija’s penance and granted him a boon. He blessed him with power that for every drop of his blood that fell on the ground, hundreds of demons would be produced like him. Thus the only way of slaying Raktaveeja was by not allowing even a drop of his blood to fall on the ground. So when it came to slay him, Goddess Kali pierced his body with a spear and drank all his gushing blood. This made her uncontrollable and she was on a killing rampage. To put an end to this, Lord Shiva lay on the ground before her. The moment, she sensed that she had stepped on him, she stopped. Many images of Goddess Kali depict her with tongue displayed out. Some interpretations of this indicate that realizing that she had stepped on her husband; her tongue came out, as a sign of regret as became conscious of her actions.
The word Kali is derived from the Sanskrit root word “Kal” meaning time. In other words nothing escapes from time. Her form may evoke fear but that too has a purpose. Her complexion is dark as the night, with four arms, each holding weapons of destruction. Her garland is made of 52 skulls and she wears a skirt of dismembered arms.The weapons are to strike the senses that bind the soul to the manifested world of illusion or Maya and the ego. She destroys the army of mind-born delusions symbolized by demons that separate us from the Divine as our own true self. Liberation is possible when our attachment to the body comes to an end. Therefore, the dismembered arms and skulls represent the liberation of our souls from attachment of the finite body. In one of her hands, she holds a freshly severed head which is dripping blood. This represents a great battle in which she defeated the demon Raktabija.
Her black or sometimes dark blue complexion represents the womb of the unmanifest from which all of creation is born and into which all of creation will eventually return. Goddess Kali Ma is depicted as standing on a white complexioned Lord Shiva who is lying beneath her. His white skin is in contrast to her black or dark blue skin. Lord Shiva is depicted with a blissful detached look on his face. Lord Shiva is pure formless with the awareness of Sat-Chit-Anand while she represents the form which is eternally sustained by the underpinning of pure awareness.The other aspects of Kali Mata or the divine mother are Chandi-The Fierce, Bhairavi-The Terrible, where she is the counterpart to Lord Shiva’s aspect of Bhairava. She is also known as Chamunda and Tara.
Kali Puja is a significant festival among the Bengali community who hail from West Bengal. It takes place on Amavasya – a new moon night, a month after Durga Puja. There are innumerable Vedic rituals performed to complete the Goddess’s Aradhana or worship. But there is nothing more powerful than the sincerity with which we idolize and serve her in our hearts.
Many people call out to her to bless them with her mystical powers like the Tantrics (practitioners of black magic) who are known for their Tantra Vidya. Kali Ma is our mother. Will any mother refuse anything that her child asks her sincerely? I believe she won’t. In the same manner, people performing dark rituals call out to her and she being the divine mother fulfils all their wishes. Some practitioners perform various rituals and blame it on the act of pleasing her. Rituals like animal sacrifices and many more immoral activities are carried out. It is people with greed and selfish, dark motives who do everything for their personal reasons and the common man is lead to believe that such practices are indeed important to be her true devotee.
There are various varieties of food prepared for the Goddess but my personal belief is whatever we want to give her with sincerity she will accept it. But then people do things and blame it on traditions and their practice of Bengali culture.
Shri Ramakrishna Paramhansa was the biggest devotee of the Goddess. His pure heartedness and sincerity pulled Kali Ma from Trilok and she appeared in front of him regularly. She came each day and ate whatever he offered her. His practices only teaches us that Kali Ma sees what in our hearts and not what we present to her in this material world.
©Nayna, 2007. All Rights Reserved.
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6 Responses to “Goddess Kali- Our Divine Mother”
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Once again, this blog is proving to be a library of Indian heritage. As opposed to numerous other so-called ‘writing opportunities’ provided on so many “famous” social forum-oriented websites, which encourage nothing but ranting and raving opportunities to mindless ignorant people, this blog and all its postings continue to stand out as a source of divine knowledge. There is an acute shortage of such basic information amongst the general public at large. It is only through mass communication like this blog that we hope everyone will learn and collectively benefit from the Divine knowledge.
Thank you Adishtin. We are very happy and feel priviledged to have regular readers like you who take the time to read our posts, encourage us and leave thoughtful and positive mark on our blog that gives us a sense of fullfilment.
well i’m a hindu. i will be keen to learn some prayers on the great kali maa.
please help me. i just love hinduism and all my my reverred gods.
Hello Bhavish,
Thanks for writing in. Goddess Kali has many forms and accordingly there are relevant mantras. There are various rituals required which go along with the mantras -Vidhi. Unfortunately, we are not qualified to give anyone any mantras. You will have to contact a learned priest who will be able to give you proper guidance and select the right mantra for you.
Hi Nayna,
I should say this is a beautiful website. I have only read one or two of your posts and I liked them….I bookmarked the site for future refernece as well.
Thanks
AbhilashMS
I WILL SAY EVERYTHING IN A SINGLE LINE….
N KOI CHINTA N KOI BHAY KALKA MAI KI SDA HI JAI