Mother Kali - 4

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Another symbolic but controversial aspect of Kali

is her proximity to the cremation ground:<br><br>O

Kali, Thou art fond of cremation grounds; <br>So I have

turned my heart into one<br>That thou, a resident of

cremation grounds, may dance there unceasingly.<br>O

Mother! I have no other fond desire in my heart; fire of

a funeral pyre is burning there;<br>O Mother! I

have preserved the ashes of dead bodies <br>All around

that Thou may come.<br>O Mother! Keeping Shiva,

conqueror of Death, under Thy feet,<br>Come, dancing to the

tune of music; Prasada waits With his eyes

closed.<br>... Ramprasad (1718-75)<br><br>Kali's dwelling place,

the cremation ground denotes a place where the five

elements (Sanskrit: pancha mahabhuta) are dissolved. Kali

dwells where dissolution takes place. In terms of

devotion and worship, this denotes the dissolving of

attachments, anger, lust, and other binding emotions,

feelings, and ideas. The heart of the devotee is where this

burning 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, (Sanskrit:

gyanagni), which Kali bestows. <br><br>The image of a

recumbent Shiva lying under the feet of Kali represents

Shiva as the passive potential of creation and Kali as

his Shakti. The generic term Shakti denotes the

Universal feminine creative principle and the energizing

force behind all male divinity including Shiva. Shakti

is known by the general name Devi, from the root

'div', meaning to shine. She is the Shining One, who is

given different names in different places and in

different appearances, as the symbol of the life-giving

powers of the Universe. It is she that powers him. This

Shakti is expressed as the i in Shiva's name. Without

this i, Shiva becomes Shva, which in Sanskrit means a

corpse. Thus suggesting that without his Sh iakti, Shiva

is powerless or inert. <br>Kali is a particularly

appropriate image for conveying the idea of the world as the

play of the gods. The spontaneous, effortless,

dizzying creativity of the divine reflex is conveyed in

her wild appearance. Insofar as kali is identified

with the phenomenal world, she presents a picture of

that world that underlies its ephemeral and

unpredictable nature. In her mad dancing, disheveled hair, and

eerie howl there is made present the hint of a world

reeling, careening out of control. The world is created

and destroyed in Kali's wild dancing, and the truth

of redemption lies in man's awareness that he is

invited to take part in that dance, to yield to the

frenzied beat of the Mother's dance of life and death.

<br><br><br>.............to be contd.