Kali Ma and Kaal Bhairav Worship

Bangulzai SG

Goddess Kali has always enjoyed a significant presence in our culture. She appears in various forms as an embodiment of Shakti, the eternal energy and cosmic power. She is also believed to be the eternal cosmic strength that destroys all existence. Her facial expressions depict the extent of her powers of destruction. The heads she holds in her hand instantly arouses mortal-fear in everybody and her protruding tongue symbolizes the mockery of human ignorance. She is also the Goddess of Tantrism or the Indian Black Magic. Beneath Goddess Kali's feet one can figure Shiva. Mythology says that Shiva and Kali are the originating couple of the universe but Kali even mocks Shiva, as if she herself is the unique source of everything.

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Many Dark Goddesses deal with the subject of Destruction. The popular Hindu Goddess Kali, Supreme Dark Mother Goddess, is known as the Mother of Dissolution and Destruction. She is the dark aspect of the wife of Shiva (the dark aspect of one face of the Devi, the dark face of Parvati). As the goddess of destruction, without further study one might assume that she is ill tempered and violent, sadistic or insane in nature. This is quite untrue. According to Hindu mythology, she destroys ignorance, destroys that which incurs chaos or disrupts harmony, destroys the ego which interferes with the workings of god, and blesses those who strive to know God. Kali is merely one example of a dark goddess who is popularly misunderstood. In the movie Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, worshippers of Kali are depicted as child enslavers, sadistic murderers and consciousless heathens. Such misunderstanding is widespread in the study of the Dark Goddesses.

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There are several other Avtars of Kali also. One such is a striking contrast is Kali represented as the Benevolent Mother where she is the personification of Eternal Night of Peace. From the canons of orthodox Hinduism Kali, Durga, Parvati, Lakshmi and Saraswati are all different forms of the Ultimate Power that are revered on different occasions. Kali represents the crude powers to fight the evil, the core strengths required to battle your enemies. According to the Hindu tradition, we are living in the Kali Age; the time of a resurgence of the divine feminine spirit. Using the powerful imagery of paintings, sculptures, and writings, the celebration of Kali Puja explores and illumines the rich meanings of feminine divinity. The blood-smeared image of Kali is after she killed the demon Raktaveeja.

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According to Hindu Mythology, Lord Brahma granted the boon to Raktaveeja that for every drop of his blood that fell on ground hundreds of demons like him would be produced. Thus the only way of slaying Raktaveeja was by not allowing even a drop of his blood to fall on the ground. Thereby Kali pierced him with a spear and drank all his blood as it gushed out. Kali once gave free rein to her blind lust for destruction. To stop the world from being destroyed Lord Shiva brought himself to the feet of Kali. On sensing her husband beneath her feet she stopped and thus the world was saved. She acquired her name Kali meaning 'conqueror of time' as she subdued her husband Lord Shiva by trampling over him. This way Devi the symbol of fertility conquered Shiva, the inexorable destroyer, who was equated with time.

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Aspects of Kali are Chandi, the fierce and Bhairavi, the terrible in which she is the counterpart to Shiva's aspect of Bhairava, when he takes pleasure in destruction. Another name of this form is Chamunda. Kali Puja is performed on a new moon night. As Kali is associated with dark rites and devil worship, the rituals performed are austere and offered with great devotion. The name Kali derives from the Sanskrit root word Kal meaning time. Nothing escapes from time. Her Tibetan Buddhism counterpart is named Kala, a male figure. Of the Hindu goddesses, Goddess Kali Ma is the most misunderstood.

Bangulzai SG

The Encyclopedia Britannica is very mistaken in this quote, "Major Hindu goddess whose iconography, cult, and mythology commonly associate her with death, sexuality, violence, and, paradoxically in some of her later historical appearances, motherly love". It is partially accurate to say the Goddess Kali Ma is a goddess of death. However, She brings the death of the ego as the delusional self-centered view of reality. Nowhere in the sriptures is She seen killing anything but demons nor is She associated exclusively with the process of human dying like Yama the Hindu god of death. Both Goddess Kali Ma and Shiva are said to inhabit cremation grounds and devotees often go to these places to meditate.

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The purpose is not to glorify death but to overcome the I-am-the-body idea. The cremation grounds reinforce the idea that the body is a temporary. Kali and Shiva are said to dwell in these places because it is our attachment to the body that gives rise to the ego. Kali and Shiva give liberation by dissolving the illusion of the ego. Thus we are the ever-existing I AM and not the impermanent body. This is emphasized by the scene in the cremation grounds. Out of all the Devi forms, Kali is the most compassionate because She provides moksha or liberation to Her children. She is the counterpart of Shiva. They are the destroyers of unreality.

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When the ego sees Mother Kali it trembles with fear because the ego sees in Her its own eventual demise. An individual who is attached to his/her ego will not be able to receive the vision of Mother Kali and She will appear in a fear invoking or "wrathful" form. A mature soul who engages in spiritual practice to remove the illusion of the ego sees Mother Kali as very sweet, affectionate, and overflowing with incomprehensible love for Her children. Ma Kali wears a garland made of 52 skulls and a skirt made of dismembered arms because the ego comes out of identification with the body. In fact, we are beings of spirit and not flesh.

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So liberation can only prevail when our attachment to the body comes to an end. Therefore, the skirt and garland are trophies worn by Her to represent the liberation of Her children from attachment to the finite body. In two of Her hands, She holds a sword and a freshly severed head that is dripping blood. This represents a great battle in which she defeated the demon Raktabija. Her black (or sometimes dark blue) skin 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 skinned Shiva who is lying beneath Her. His white skin is in contrast to Her black or sometimes dark blue skin. He is showing a blissful detached look on His face. Shiva is pure formless awareness sat-chit-ananda (being-consciousness-bliss) while She represents "form" eternally sustained by the underpinning of pure awareness.

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Through ignorance of the story behind Goddess Kali Ma it is easy to misinterpret Her symbolism. In the same way one could say that Christianity is a religion of destruction, death, and cannibalism in which the followers drink the eat the flesh of Jesus and drink his blood. Of course, we know this is not the correct way to understand the communion sacrament. Associating sexuality to Mother Kali is not founded in the traditional understanding of Her. In the Hindu stories, there is nothing that associates Her with sexuality. It is just the opposite. Kali is one of the few Goddesses who is celibate and practicing renunciation! The idea that She is the goddess of death, sex and violence is simply not true. When we study the life of the great saint Ramakrishna or the great poet saint Ramprasad (both famous Kali worshippers), or listen to traditional Hindu devotional songs to Goddess Kali Ma, there is no suggestion of this death-sex-violence idea.

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After Durga Puja, Kali Puja is the most important puja of the Bengalis. Ma Kali is the symbol of power, immense power. People worship Ma Kali to gain a source of sustenance, both within and without. Legend has it that Ma Kali was the Goddess of dacoits. True, the dacoits worshipped Kali. But Ma Kali is the Goddess of common man the middle-class people, or the daily wage-earner. It is said that Ma is present within all of us. It may not be present in a proper shape, but the power within us is derived from the blessings of Ma Kali. The dacoits used to worship Ma Kali before embarking on any dacoity. For that reason, the form of Ma Kali worshipped by the dacoits was called ‘dakatay kali‘. Today, however, the dacoits have become atheists and they do not worship Ma Kali any more. The rituals required for worship Ma Kali are very plain and simple. Ma Kali is satisfied with the bare minimum with the bare minimum fruits and foods. Elaborate cooking or preparation is not needed to satisfy Ma Kali. Some even offer ‘soma ras‘ or pure wine as a ‘bhog‘ to Ma Kali. The great spiritual leader Sri Sri Ramakrishna once said that Ma Kali is everyone‘s Goddess because she eats whatever we eat. This is perhaps the reason why Ma Kali is worshipped by a cross-section of the masses.

SevenEleven SG

hmm...that's interesting

Bangulzai SG

The main puja starts at midnight and stretches till dawn. In the midst there are to ‘aarati‘. Ma Kali is worshipped amidst the bursting of crackers and display of fireworks. It is said that the tradition of bursting crackers was a deliberate attempt to create a worlike, ambience. The name of Ma Kali is synonymous with destruction. Hence, the need for a warlike ambience. In most of the pandals, one could see various image of ‘bhoot‘ and ‘petni‘. That is the symbol of various spirits of Ma Kali moving about in the jungle. Ma kali is a favourite Goddess of the Tantriks or better known as alchemists. The Indian alchemists worship Ma Kali and they say whatever supernatural power they derive, it is due to the blessing of Ma Kali. These people worship Ma Kali with great devotion. They perform the ‘yajna‘ with fire and keep human bones to dip in it to receive the greatest blessings.

iveco SG

No offence, but why do some worshippers of Kali practice human sacrifice? I remember Adrian Lim offered children's blood to the Goddess.