The Goddess, Both Golden and Dark (long)

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THE GODDESS, BOTH GOLDEN AND DARK

by Black Lotus

 

Hindu polytheism is confusing to the seeker who first examines it. The

Gods and Goddesses have fluid personae; they shapeshift, they

reincarnate, they take on mortal avatars, or project "amsas" (portions of

themselves). Perhaps the most complex of divine personalities in the

Hindu pantheon is the Goddess who is known as Shiva's <Shakti>, a word

meaning: energy, goddess, and spouse. Let's call her, to begin, Mahadevi

(the Great Goddess).

 

Not exactly simple himself, the Great God (Mahadeva) Shiva is the third

part of the Trimurti. The first part, Brahma, creates the universe; the

second part, Vishnu, maintains it; Lord Shiva, the third part, destroys

it. Or, more accurately, transforms the universe, since nothing is ever

really destroyed, but suffers a change into something else.

 

Shiva's first spouse was Sati (Faithfulness), the daughter of the divine

Priest, Daksha. Daksha allowed his daughter to choose her husband from a

courtyard full of eligible bachelor deities, but he did not invite Shiva,

whom he disliked. Sati looked at all the Gods courting her, asking her

to garland them to indicate her choice. She could not see the pale

skinned God, who wears his hair in a matted topknot, and who had stolen

her heart. At last she tossed the garland into the air, shouting, "I

will have Shiva, or no one!" And the God of Change magically appeared

with the garland around his neck.

 

After they were married for some time, Sati heard that her father was

planning an enormous sacrifice, but had not invited Shiva again. Against

her husband's wishes, she attended the sacrifice, argued with her father

Daksha, and in desperation at his non-acceptance of Shiva, she threw

herself into the sacrificial fires, and was consumed. (It is in

emulation of this incident that high caste widows in India were

encouraged to burn themselves on their husband's funeral pyre. Called

<suttee>, an alternate spelling of the faithful Goddess Sati, this cruel

tradition was discouraged and mostly done away with during the British

colonial rule of India.)

 

Shiva was inconsolable when he heard of his wife's death, and accompanied

by some of his demonic Ganas, he destroyed Daksha's sacrifice, and began

dancing madly with the charred corpse of Sati draped over his shoulders.

No one could approach Shiva in his frenzy, so Lord Vishnu began hurling

his razor-sharp Chakra-wheel (yes, that's where Xena's writers got the

idea from) at Sati's corpse, cutting it into many pieces. Where each

piece fell, a shrine or temple to the Goddess was built. Eventually

Shiva realized his wife's corpse was gone, and he retired to the

Himalayas, swearing never to marry again.

 

But the Mahadevi is eternal, and reincarnated (as even Gods, as well as

mortals, do) as Parvati, the Daughter of the Mountain. She grew to

adulthood, still loving Shiva, and eventually went to his mountain cave

to serve him while he was in <samadhi>, a trance-like mystic union with

the Eternal. The other Gods sent Kama, the God of Lust, with Parvati.

Kama let fly one of his flower-tipped lust-inducing arrows at the God of

Change. The massive bulge in Shiva's tiger-skin loincloth indicated that

the arrow had been effective, but Shiva opened his third eye and blasted

Kama's body to ashes, and returned to <samadhi>.

 

Parvati, figuring if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, went to a different

mountain cave, stripped down to almost nothing, and entered <samadhi>

herself. Her mother said "U, ma!" a mountain dialect for "Oh, don't!" so

the Mahadevi in her meditating, acetic aspect is called Uma. (The popular

actress was so named by her father, Dr. Robert Thurman, a Sanskrit

scholar and translator for the Dalai Lama, teaching at Columbia

University.) So powerful was Uma's meditation that it was perceived on

the astral by Lord Shiva, who sought Uma out, tried to dissuade her from

marrying him, and eventually relented. The wedding party, attended by

all the Gods and Goddesses, as well as ghosts, vampires, and the other

creepy crawly characters of Shiva's retinue, was quite a blow out.

Parvati's father Himavan, the Mountain Lord, is probably still paying it

off.

 

Now, Parvati, like many hill tribe girls in India, had a dark complexion.

One day during their honeymoon, Shiva teased her that her dark body on

his pale one reminded him of a black adder climbing up the trunk of a

white-bark birch tree. Parvati took offense. "So, you don't like my

darkness? Well, then I'll get rid of it!" And she stomped off to

another mountain cave, to perform austerities to lighten her skin.

 

After many days of fasting and chanting, Parvati's darkness left her. It

stepped out of her body as the blue-black and often angry Goddess Kali,

saying: "You don't accept your shadow? I'm outta here!" Parvati was

now golden-skinned, and took the name Gauri (the golden one). But she

lost some of her power with her darkness. Gauri is the mistress of Yoga,

the restraining of the senses for mystical purposes. Kali is the

mistress of Bhoga, the enjoyment of the senses. Gauri is the keeper of

all things tame and gentle. Kali is the keeper of all things wild and

fierce. Shiva missed the wild side of his consort, and often sought out

the company of Kali.

 

Kali, like Shiva, is a dancer. Some say that she was so enraged during a

battle, she threatened to destroy the world with her many flailing arms

and legs. Shiva tried to distract her by throwing himself beneath her

feet. When she saw her husband beneath her, she was embarrassed, and

stopped dancing. She stuck out her tongue, as hill tribe girls do when

they are embarrassed. The gory and outrageous image of Kali, garlanded

with freshly severed human heads (it is another form, Tara, who was

originally garlanded with skulls, but they became confused in popular

iconography), skyclad except for her long black hair and a skirt of

severed hands or arms, and dancing on the white, corpse-like form of

Shiva, is universally recognized, and almost universally misunderstood.

 

It is said a Christian missionary approached a Kali worshipper, and asked

how she could feel devotion to such a gory and outré image. The Hindu

picked up the missionary's crucifix, examined the image of the tortured,

dying Jesus, and asked how he could wear such an icon and ask her that

question.

 

When I worked at a Welfare Center, and had received several threats on my

life from clients, I put a framed postcard of Kali on my desk. I felt I

needed the protection. One of my co-workers saw the image, and went

ballistic (I was serving a client at the window, but I could hear Ms.

Ruiz at my desk behind me). "What's SHE doing here? She's demonic!

Look, she's killing her husband, and she's wearing the heads of her

previous husbands around her neck. Ugh!" And she slammed the picture

face down on my desk.

 

After I returned to my desk, I asked another co-worker, "Was Ms. Ruiz

upset with my picture of Ma Kali?" She replied affirmatively. I

explained, "Kali has that effect, sometimes. She frightens away demonic

beings." We both giggled.

 

The hill tribe girls who Kali so resembles know that Kali is only half

the equation. They draw folk pictures of Kali-Gauri, bringing together

the two halves of the whole. A two-headed, six-armed Goddess, half black

and half golden. Gauri grants refuge and safety to all mortal beings.

Kali takes away fear and helps beings face their mortality. You need

both tameness and wildness. It's healthy sometimes to restrain the

senses, and sometimes to indulge them. The alternating amber and jet

beads of the Wiccan High Priestess's necklace I see as the interplay of

Gauri and Kali, both beloved by Shiva. May we all accept both our bright

side, and our shadow.

 

The mild Goddess and the wild Goddess can be seen as the waxing crescent

and waning crescent moons. Shiva wears the crescent moon in his hair,

and both Gauri and Kali are his sexual consorts. The Goddess who can

reunite the opposing Shaktis is Durga, yet another aspect of the

Mahadevi. Seen as the full moon, Durga is not owned by Shiva; she is a

warrior Goddess, the source of all energy, and an eternal Virgin. She

will require an article all to herself.

 

Here's a Sanskrit <shloka>, or verse, that can be chanted or sung to

invoke the golden Goddess Gauri's blessing:

Sarva mangala maangaliye/ Shive sarvaartha saadhike/

Sharanye tryambake Gauri/ Narayani namostute

 

All welfare to that auspicious one/ Shiva's spouse who grants all success

to the devotee/

Take refuge in three-eyed Gauri/ We bow to the savior of humanity

 

And here's a parallel <shloka>, to the same tune, invoking dark Kali's

blessing:

Om Kali Kali Mahakali/ Kalike papa harini/

Dharmaartha mokshade devi/ Narayani namostute

 

Oh, Kali, Kali, Great Kali/ Dear little Kali, the remover of sin/

Virtue, Success and Freedom you give, O Goddess/ We bow to the savior of

humanity

 

If you are interested in learning more about Kali, I recommend the book,

<KALI, Black Goddess of Dakshineshvar>, by Elizabeth Harding, an

American-born Kali <bhakta> (devotee). You also should be familiar with

the writings of Shree Maa, a Bengali holy woman living in California, and

her partner, Swami Satya Nanda. They run the Devi Mandir (Temple of the

Goddess), publish books in Sanskrit, Bengali, and English, record music

and rituals, and are a wonderful resource. Send them a self-addressed

stamped envelope for a list of their books and tapes.

 

The Devi Mandir/ 5950 Highway 128/ Napa, California 94558. Phone: (707)

966-2802

E-mail: shreemaa Website: http://www.shreemaa.org/

 

 

 

 

 

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