Understanding Kali Ma

by Sai Arjun on Tuesday, September 21, 2010 at 2:22am

Understanding Kali Ma

Kali is one of the best known, but poorly understood forms of the Goddess. She is dark destructive and terrible in image. She is

allied to the forces of death and destruction. The most common image of Kali shows her dancing on Shiva. This article aims to

give an insight into Hinduism\'s use of such mystic imagery.

Shiva & Shakti

Within Hinduism, the divine is not restricted solely as masculine or feminine, which is a unique feature compared with other

major religions of today. The divine is not referred to only as \'He\'. In the Shaivite tradition, the supreme divine reality is

represented as Shiva-Shakti. Shiva is the masculine force, the power of peace, while Shakti translates to power, and is

considered as the feminine force. In the Vaishnava tradition, these realities are portrayed as Vishnu and Laxmi, or Radha and

Krishna. These are differences in formulation rather than a fundamental difference in the principles.

Both Shiva and Shakti have various forms. Shiva has forms like Yogi Raj (the common image of Himself meditating in the

Himalayas), Rudra (a wrathful form) and Nataraj (performing the dance of destruction).

About Kali

The Sanskrit word Kali literally means \"time\". Kali is the feminine word for time, for which the masculine is \"kala\". Time as we

are forced to understand it, is the foremost power that we experience. Kali is the personification of time and it is not surprising

that the deity of time has a terrifying image. After all, time is the slayer of all. Time is the very stuff that our lives are made of -

to waste time is to waste life. The reason as to why time is represented in a feminine form is that time is the great womb - the

great mother - from which we are all created - therefore it has a feminine quality. Time is also the force which causes all living

beings to perish. Therefore Kali is like the mother who destroys the children which she has created - which is one of her frightful

features. Yet, through the action of time, Her action, occurs our salvation. Through time, over repeated births, we experience all

that we have to and learn all that we must learn in order to merge back into our eternal existence, from which we fell into

limited time and space.

Why Is She Dancing On Shiva?

Shiva, in the Shaivite tradition, is the all pervading eternal primeval consciousness of the universe and beyond, who is beyond

motivation. Hence, He is commonly shown as meditating in tranquil. His action and motivation occur only prior to the final

destruction and dissolution of this cycle of creation. Hence, when Shiva dances, it is considered to be the terrible awesome

dance of destruction.

It is on the passive, ultimate reality of Shiva, that Kali (time) does her dance, causing the constant cycles of creation, life and

death of all things in the universe. Shiva is the substratum upon which Kali acts. Hence, in this part of the Hindu spiritual
traditions, the entire divine action and existence is represented by the dance of Kali (time) upon the changeless all pervading

consciousness, Shiva.

Does Kali actually have a seperate consciousness or is she just a represenatation of time as an unthinking

scientific principle?

Hinduism personifies what to us are abstract spiritual truths as Gods and Goddesses. Spiritual ideas are clothed in concrete

imagery, and approached as living beings. This does not reflect a lack of reasoned thinking, or attachment to form, but rather

an experiential contact with the higher truths, as living forces. Hinduism creates a personal relationship between ourselves and

the forces of the cosmos, and eventually leads us to realise that these forces are within us rather than separate. All forces of

the universe are pervaded by consciousness, hence the reason as to why they are approached as living beings is because in

reality, they are. The purpose of vivid imagery is that whilst meditating upon the image, our mind is shocked into thinking into

the depths of the concept we are trying to understand and know, beyond our usual conditioned ideas. In that way we can really

experience the truth of time as an awesome conscious force and understand how our existence relates to it. Kali is a

particularly important deity, because by understanding Her we stop identifying ourselves as only our body - we come to terms

with the utter impermanence of our body and begin to perceive the true existence of ours which lies beyond - which most

people believe but wish to experience directly. Hence she is said to kill the ego - the attachment to pettiness, which is

represented in Her image by the severed head she hold in Her hand.

A Mantra For Kali

One important Mantra for Kali is:

om aim hrim klim camundayai vicche svaha!

Each syllable of this mantra conveys a distinct vibrational energy, and whoever chants this mantra, after a short while will feel

that they are tapping in to a deep spiritual energy.

Om is the sound corresponding to the absolute reality in its entirety. Aim is the syllable of knowledge (Sarasvati). Hrim is the

syllable of purification (Parvathy). Klim is a syllable corresponding to transformation (closely related to Kali). Camundayai is a

name of Kali. Vicche means cut (as in to cut of the head of the demon, demon referring to the ego) and svaha ends the mantra.

--- JAI KALI ---

 Kali Ma 108

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• Marisela Elias and 9 others like this.

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Vijitatman Luis
Good text. But I have a doubt about the mantra.
Chamunda is closely associated with Kali, but in Chamundeshwari Temple, the goddess is identified with Durga, and Harish
Johari, in Tools for Tantra, says is a mantra of the Divine Mother Durga. Namaste
6 hours ago · Like ·
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Silver Devi Dasi who do you think Kali came from if not Durga?
 6 hours ago · Like ·
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Vijitatman Luis Yes, and vice versa and it is also the Dasa Mahavidyas's origin, and the 64 yoginis ... However, is the mantra
appropriate for Kali or for Durga? For both? Thanks
6 hours ago · Like ·
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Manoo Chandra
~
Maa Kaali is the symbol of furiousness leading towards ultimate peace...

i learnt about the feminine aspect of Time from this note.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmHg_mA5ASg

JAI MAA KAALI

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Silver Devi Dasi when there's no difference..
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Vijitatman Luis Ok. Thanks... Om Kring Kalikaye Namah!
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Silver Devi Dasi AUM hrim dim Sri Kaliye namaha!
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Allie Kali Thank you Sai !!
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Anju Sharma
thanks Sai ! its always surprising I get the sama here on FB with friends which I ve left here at my place during my self study :)
Just now I was reading a biography of AUROBINDO and reading his talk with a Swami Brahmananda in Baroda and t...See More
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Sai Arjun I think im psychically connected with everyone because i seem to put things up which is directly connected with
them early on in the day lol
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Kamlesh Chauhan Thanks Arjun
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