(thank you Sadhvi) How do we grow? Letting go of Attachments..one way.

[Guest guest]

Namaste Sadhvi,

 

I'm in awe and don't know what to say except: thank you very much for

sharing this intimate story,

 

with love,

Henny

 

, "nityashakti" <sadhvi@p...> wrote:

>

> >>"Please bear with me and help me keep the bhav of Kali alive, by

> sharing other stories of Kali... Anyone know other stories of Kali ?

> (Sadhvi ? Kalia ?)"<<<

>

> this is a story of Kali..a personal story and it is very strong..a

> story of Kali's power to take her sword and, in one swipe, cut off

> attachments without "mercy". Three years ago, I was living in a

rented

> house built directly on the sea-wall in a small New England town. I

> had taken the front room on the second floor for my own. It was a

> large, light-filled room that looked directly out onto the ocean.

The

> sun rose on one side of the huge windows and set on the other side.

In

> this room, I placed everything I loved: firstly, my studio with 15

of

> my "best" paintings (that I had brought to contemplate and see where

> they might lead me), my library (of Hindu texts, tapes from the

Kumbha

> Mela, research books, rare art books, etc...collected over a period

of

> 30 years) and my puja: an enlivened murti of my baba, murtis of

> Hanuman and a huge Kali murti made of Ganga clay plus many very

> beautiful puja implements.On the very first day I began to paint in

> this room, a huge storm approached the coast. There were warnings of

a

> fierce N'orEaster and, all up and down the street, people were

> preparing..all except our landlord. The house we rented was

> unprotected.Not knowing any better, my husband and I settled in to

> ride out the storm. Sometime in the middle of the night, I heard a

> groaning sound coming from the front room. I walked in and turned on

> the light....my Kali murti was swaying back and forth, emitting a

> strange humming sound; there was an odd sense of "pressure" in the

> room and I noticed that water was leaking in through the window. As

I

> looked out into the darkness, I could see waves coming towards the

> house....they seemed impossibly huge...there was a pause, almost as

> though the world was standing still and a dropping away of all sound

> and movement. A dark void opened up in the night sky and, standing

in

> it, I saw Kali Ma and my baba! Just then, my husband came running in

> saying, "Get Out of here!". The windows blew out, sending shards of

> glass shooting 20 feet down the hall. We were not touched! The ocean

> waves (30 feet tall at this point) came crashing in through the

upper

> windows, drowning everything: my paintings, library,

> puja...everything! We rescued what we could in a frantic rush,

grabbed

> our two cats and escaped off the peninsula. Two days later, when we

> were able to return, I found Kali murti, lying on her side; She was

> intact...only her "blessing hand", in abhaya mudra, had been broken

> off. I remember sitting in the middle of all of that ruin, of

> everything that meant "everything" to me, holding onto Kali's

> tiny "blessing hand" and feeling, in addition to the shock, a

> tremenous sense of total liberation and complete freedom...that it

> really WAS all "dust". Since that time, everything has been

"returned"

> to me...I am creating paintings and books again, I have (of course)

> cleaned and refurbished my puja and replaced some of the books but

my

> relationship to these things has been totally transformed. Before

what

> I call the "Kali Storm", I talked about being a "caretaker" for my

> talents and possessions but secretly, in my heart, I did not know

what

> I would do if I ever lost my ability to create or the support of my

> puja and studies and had to just live an "ordinary" life in the

world.

> Kali taught me a very important lesson about the ephemeral nature of

> all "things" (no matter how precious and important)...The "things"

are

> just stand-ins for the True Reality that can never be destroyed by

any

> storm or ocean wave.

> J'ai Kali Ma! She who embodies Fierce Compassion!!

> sadhvi

>