Maa Kali

The goddess of transformation (Kali): The Sanskrit word kali literally means time. Kali is the feminine of the word for time which is the Masculine is Kala, time as we all are forced to understand, is the foremost of the powers which governs the universe. In its essential nature time is eternity itself, perpetual changeless duration. Everything changes But change itself this perpetuity or immutability in duration is the Secret message of time. Ultimately time is being itself the unborn, Uncreated, undying, absolute reality. Time is both creation & destruction. Time is working out of cosmic intelligence. It is the very breath of cosmic spirit.

Kali is dark blue in color and wears a garland of skulls. She has her Long tongue sticking out and is laughing. Sometimes instead of a tongue she has two fangs. Kali has four arms and holds a head chopper in one Hand and a severed head dripping blood with the other. With her other two hands she makes the mudras of bestowing boons and dispelling fear. She wears a skirt made of human arms. Kali is portrayed as dancing in a cremation ground and striding on a corpse (who is the form of lord Shiva himself). Kali is mother Gauri, the present wife of lord Shiva. Lord Shiva in his destructive aspect is known as Mahakala, and the divine Mother Gauri as kali or Mahakali.

The Sanskrit word kala is "death" on one hand and "time" on the other. Everything in this phenomenal world is time-bound. When a being's time Is over, its shakti is gone and the being is dead. Death, in other Words, is the end point in time of the life force (prana). Matter is neither created nor destroyed; it only changes form. Death is therefore a Change or transformation, which is essential for the renewal of energy (the life force) and spiritual growth. Attachment to the material form (the Physical body) causes fear of death. This is the basic fear rooted in our brain stem, the primitive brain, and is the basic obstacle in the Path of the spiritual growth. Shambhu and Nishumb are the demonic forces of Attachment, threatening our spiritual helpers and forcing them out of their abode. Invoking kali by these spiritual forces can bring an end to this threat. Kali thus removes the fear of death, the basic insecurity of the first chakra. For the ignorant ones who are attached to their physical body and are eternally insecure, she is ferocious, but for the Gods (the spiritual forces) she is Gauri, who has assumed the form of Kali to help them. In that ferocious form she conquers the demonic forces Of false attachment - Shambhu and Nishumbhu, Chand and Mund. The sadhak of Tantra has to conform his or her Shambhu and Nishumbhu, and through Invoking kali (kundalini) the sadhak can escape the clutches of fear and Death. The love of kali removes this fear and opens the door of knowledge (mahavidya) of eternity.

The physical body is dependent upon prana, flowing through the left and Right nostrils, or the ida and pingala, so called because they excite The working of ida and pingala nadis when active. The ida and pingala originate in the muladhara chakra (first chakra) with sushumna and Terminate in the left and right nostrils respectively. By pranayama, the Prana is controlled and the passage of sushumna nadi is opened. In an Individual, prana is breath, but it is the same prana or pranic force that Pervades the cosmos as time, movement, or frequencies. By mastering Prana the yogi becomes free from the bondage of time. Ida and pingala, the Lunar and the solar currents, keeps the sadhak time-bound and create in Him the fear of death. Sushumna is beyond time. It goes across the Brain strem to the cerebral cortex, the seat of consciousness, where matter is transformed into consciousness. When prana is made to flow through Sushumna, the evil forces of lunar and solar currents (Shambhu and Nishumbhu) are paralyzed and the Kaundalini is awakened from its deep sleep.

She rises up through the bramanadi, which is the center of sushumna, and Pierces the six chakras, dissolving the five basic elements into their Source, the mahat. These basic elements are the material constituents of the physical body. Any attachment to these elements in any form (desire) creates a terrifying kundalini experience. When the material attachments are removed by purification (bhuta-shuddhi), kali (Kundalini, the Primordial force) is please and the sadhak is able to have a pleasent Kundalini experience, which leads him or her beyond tattvas (tattvatic State) and beyond guna (gunatic state) to the realm of anada (bliss) and Transcends him to the region of eternity (beyond time-bound Consciousness), where there is no fear of death. Kali is therefore the Mahavidya That removes the avidya (ignorance) that makes us fear death. She is the first Mahavidya and also known as Aaadya (the first born) - one of the Names used for Kundalini shakti.

Kali's dwelling place - the heart

The cremation ground, Kali's dwelling place, denotes a place where The five elements (panca mahabhuta) are dissolved. Kali dwells where Dissolution takes place. In terms of devotion, worship, and sadhana, this denotes the dissolving of attachments, anger, lust, and other binding Emotions, feelings and ideas. The heart of the devotee is where this Burning away takes place, and it is in the heart that kali dwells. The Devotee makes her image in his heart and under her influence burns away all limitations and ignorance in the cremation fires. This inner Cremation fire in the heart is the fire of knowledge, jnanagni, which kali Bestows.

Beeja mantra:- Krim

To die daily is her daily worship everyday before we go to sleep we should empty the mind, as if each day was our last. This also makes each day our first and turns life itself into a Meditation.

Those who seek to merge themselves into the unknown, formless, uncreate nirvanic field are true worshippers of kali.

Parmhansa Ramakrishna one of the most well know revered modern Saints/teachers within the Hindu tradition, Kali is the most commonly known of Hindu Goddesses, but still not well understood. Yet much of what we admire in Ramakrishna-his love, bliss & universal spirit-is kali gift to us through him. Through him kali has already delivered us her message of the modern age.