Goddess kali, Ramakrishna and Ramprasad Part 2

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cont'd...

 

She is full- breasted; her motherhood is a ceaseless

creation. Her

disheveled hair forms a curtain of illusion, the

fabric of space-

time which organizes matter out of the chaotic sea of

quantum-foam.

Her garland of fifty human heads, each representing

one of the fifty

letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, symbolizes the

repository of

knowledge and wisdom. She wears a girdle of severed

human hands-

hands that are the principal instruments of work and

so signify the

action of karma. Thus the binding effects of this

karma have been

overcome, severed, as it were, by devotion to Kali.

She has blessed

the devotee by cutting him free from the cycle of

karma. Her white

teeth are symbolic of purity (Sans. Sattva), and her

lolling tongue

which is red dramatically depicts the fact that she

consumes all

things and denotes the act of tasting or enjoying what

society

regards as forbidden, i.e. her indiscriminate

enjoyment of all the

world's " flavors " .

 

Kali's four arms represent the complete circle of

creation and

destruction, which is contained within her. She

represents the

inherent creative and destructive rhythms of the

cosmos. Her right

hands, making the mudras of " fear not " and conferring

boons,

represent the creative aspect of Kali, while the left

hands, holding

a bloodied sword and a severed head represent her

destructive aspect.

The bloodied sword and severed head symbolize the

destruction of

ignorance and the dawning of knowledge. The sword is

the sword of

knowledge, that cuts the knots of ignorance and

destroys false

consciousness (the severed head). Kali opens the gates

of freedom

with this sword, having cut the eight bonds that bind

human beings.

Finally her three eyes represent the sun, moon, and

fire, with which

she is able to observe the three modes of time: past,

present and

future. This attribute is also the origin of the name

Kali, which is

the feminine form of 'Kala', the Sanskrit term for

Time.

 

Another symbolic but controversial aspect of Kali is

her proximity

to the cremation ground:

 

O Kali, Thou art fond of cremation grounds; so

I have turned my heart into one

That thou, a resident of cremation grounds, may

dance there unceasingly.

O Mother! I have no other fond desire in my

heart; fire of a funeral pyre is burning there;

O Mother! I have preserved the ashes of dead bodies

All around that Thou may come.

O Mother! Keeping Shiva, conqueror of Death, under

Thy feet,

Come, dancing to the tune of music; Prasada waits

With his eyes closed.

.... Ramprasad (1718-75)

 

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.

 

To be cont'd...

 

 

 

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