Guest guest Posted October 16, 2007 Report Share Posted October 16, 2007 The sage Medhas said: The Devi appears in many forms. [....] There is no end to the ways in which she reveals herself. And for now she is both the auspicious Ambika and the terrible Kali. [....] Kali appears here [in the Devimahatmya] in a particularly frightening form to embody the Devi's wrath. The Devi, in her lovely form as Ambika, projected the horrific Kali from her own scowling brow. This form of Kali bears the imagery of death and destruction: the emaciated flesh hanging loose upon the bones, the skull-topped staff, the all-devouring mouth. Kali is the relentless power of time, which in the end swallows up everything. But there is more to Kali than this. Her flesh is black, her tongue is red, her teeth are gleaming white. Black, red, and white represent the three gunas - tamas, rajas, and sattva. Kali embodies all the energy of the universe. She is Shakti personified. Hers is the power to create, sustain, and destroy. She is indeed supreme. [....] She is the Mother [...] You must go beyond your fear and come to her in love. [....] What you love, you cannot fear, [.....] And Kali takes us beyond all fear. She has many forms. This wrathful form is called Chamunda. When she appears on the battlefield with bloody mouth and glowing eyes, she is the night of death who laughs derisively and binds men and horses and elephants in her terrible snare. When she haunts the cremation ground, she is Shmashanakali, the embodiment of destructive power who reduces all created things to ash. [...] Shmashanakali presides over the dissolution of matter back into spirit. When [Kali] is pleased, she is the benevolent Bhadrakali. As Shyama, she is worshiped in household shrines as the tender dispeller of fear and the granter of boons. She is also called Bhavabhayaharini, 'she who removes the fear of worldly existence.' [...] ehind every detail of her appearance lies a sublime truth. [....] For example, [consider] the auspicious Dakshinakali. Her untamed hair hints at unrestrained power and boundless freedom. Some say it represents the veil of illusion, woven from the strands of space and time. Her three eyes represent omniscience, for she sees past, present, and future. Nothing is unknown to the all-knowing Mother. The garland of skulls around her neck is not a symbol of death, as you might think, but of creative power. [....] Each of the fifty skulls stands for a sound of the alphabet, and from these sounds, these vibrating energies, the Mother brings forth the entire universe. So this garland of skulls is, in fact, the alphabet of creation! Kali's full breasts show how she nurtures us. The girdle of severed arms around her waist betokens her power to sever the bonds of karma - to free us from the accumulated deeds that keep us in bondage. Her nakedness represents freedom from illusion, and her blacker-than-black skin, like the endless blackness of the night sky, tells us that she is infinite. [Kali's paradoxical mixture of maternal tenderness and destructive terror appears polarized on her right and left.] She often appears with four hands. Her lower right hand extends itself in the offering of a boon, as if to say, Ask of me what you will.' [....] One of Kali's greatest boons is fearlessness, which she signals with her upper right hand, the palm held outward. 'Be not afraid!' this gesture proclaims. [....] Consider the Mother's upper left hand, which wields the bloodied sword of knowledge. This is a strong image. It represents the power of discernment - the ability to separate what is transitory and fleeting from what is real and abiding. This power cuts through appearances and reveals things as they really are. [....] In her lower left hand the Mother dangles the freshly severed head of a demon. This represents the limiting sense of ignorance that she slays. Taken together, Kali's four hands say, 'Take refuge in me, let go of your fear, let me slay your illusion of smallness and separation, and you will merge into my infinite bliss.' _The Veiling Brilliance_, by Devadatta Kali Pages 138-140 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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