Hari Aum.
Om Sri MahaKalikayai Namah.
Om Namo Narayanaya.
I would like to write a little about Mother Kali here. And about devotional practices that can be done to earn Her grace and blessings.
The yogis tell us that God is One. All names, all forms, and that which is beyond all names and forms, is God.
God can therefore be worshipped in a variety of ways. Both with name and form, the personal form of God. Or without name or form, the abstract impersonal form of God. Beyond the personal and the impersonal is said to be a further manifestation of God that our human minds cannot even begin to contemplate.
Basically, God cannot be ultimately be truly understood in any aspect by the human intellect- which is a relatively limited instrument. God can however be known and even experienced through the human heart, by which I mean the emotional heart, the devotional or spiritual heart, that aspect of the mind which feels love for the Divine. It is love for the Divine alone that allows us to perform spiritual practices, to draw closer and closer to God, until we are able to experience our true nature (that always exists even when we do not know it) as a part of God, as one with God.
Kali is a form of God as the Divine Mother (by the way, the name 'Kali' is pronounced as 'Kaali' and rhymes with 'Bali', the province in Indonesia; this is completely different from the Sanskrit phrase 'Kali yuga' which is pronounced as 'cully yuga' and refers to a specific period of time). As we know, human mothers generally have a great concern for the welfare of their children. They are capable of making great sacrifices and often take on suffering if required in order to nurture and care for their children. They also take steps where necessary to discipline their children when they are going wrong, and reward them when they are doing well. The welfare of the child is of paramount importance for the typical mother. Many human mothers feel happy when their children are happy, healthy, good human beings and express their full potential in life, often in service of society.
This motherly love is seen everywhere in Nature. The mothers of many animals and birds also make great sacrifices to care for their children. They painstakingly create homes to raise their young, and travel long distances to bring them food, often risking their own lives in the process. They also often fight to protect their children from harm when attacked by others, and are again willing to give up their lives in the process.
The Divine Mother is the origin of all these maternal feelings everywhere in the universe. She is the origin of everything. If Earthly mothers can be so concerned about the welfare of their children, what must be the level of concern of the Divine Mother, the Mother of all beings? The answer of course, is very great indeed. More than any of us can ever comprehend. Her ways are very mysterious. We cannot understand Her love, Her actions and Her wishes (unless She wants us to, that is). In general, She is a great mystery (as is God in any aspect).
She has given us some advice as to how She would like us to live and worship Her, how we can draw closer to Her. It is no secret that the practice of ethics, such as the yogic yamas and niyamas (including non-violence, truthfulness and self-control), are pleasing to the Divine in all aspects, including Mother Kali.
A human mother would be immensely distressed if her children fought and killed each other. There could be nothing worse, nothing more painful and upsetting. This world is designed to have a certain amount of suffering, as suffering propels the mind to seek the Divine. Creatures ruled by instinct, rather than intellect and heart, such as animals and birds, may kill and eat other as a necessity for their survival. They do not do it with malefic intent. They have been designed this way by God and they do what they are meant to do.
Human beings, however, are different. We have been given a human intellect and (hopefully) a human heart. The heart is very, very important in spiritual life. A heart which cannot feel the suffering of others is not really a heart at all. It is just an organ. Not a source of love, of any divine emotion. A stony heart, devoid of empathy for others, cannot take one towards God.
The anahata chakra, located in the centre of the chest, in the 'heart space' is said to be connected with the experience of unconditonal, divine love. This area is often meditated upon by yogis to open the heart space, to feel the presence of the Divine (who is said to reside in the hearts of all beings). This is a good place to meditate upon for those who wish to develop love for the Divine (and for the manifestation of the Divine as the universe).
Kali is first and foremost a Mother. Earthly mothers are a small, microcosmic representation of Her. Kali has love for all Her children, a concern for us, a wish to see us develop to our full potential, which for human beings, includes our full spiritual potential. She would be prepared to do anything necessary to wake us up, to rescue us from the misery of the cycle of birth and death.
Like Narayana, the Divine Mother also appears when required to protect the forces of good and destroy the forces of evil in our world and in the various material realms of the universe (which include other types of beings). When the Mother is in Her protective form, wishing to protect the good, and vanquish the forces of evil, She takes on an appropriately formidable appearance.
Mother Kali, like Lord Narasimha (the man-lion avatar of Narayana), is an extremely intimidating form of God. She is still the Mother, the Goddess whose nature is love, peace and bliss. But She has a job to do as Kali. And that job, is the destruction of evil.
War is always hideous. It can become necessary though in certain circumstances. When injustice raises its ugly head, then justice must take a stand, must rise to the occasion, no matter how difficult, to combat injustice. This has happened many times in our human world, when people overthrow unjust regimes in their countries, the Second World War and so on.
Kali is the force that supports us in our battle against evil in this world. She is the force that gives strength to the forces of good that combat evil in the world, both within us, and externally in the outside world. Evil is a hideous thing. The cruelty that it produces is dreadful. We see it all around us--in the form of rape, murder, war, all of which are sadly a part of life on this planet.
When the Divine decides to destroy evil, a suitably formidable and even divinely frightening form is required. This has the effect of intimidating that which is evil. Narasimha was very ferocious and frightening to look at when He manifested to destroy evil. However, at heart, He was still always Narayana, the peaceful one (known as Shantakara), the embodiment of love and dharma (justice), the One who is the God of love, Krishna. He just looked different externally, because this was necessary for the role He had come to perform.
Kali, too, looks the part. :) The part of a Mother at war, to protect Her children, to vanquish evil (She is a manifestation of Durga, another form of the Mother as warrior). She is the Goddess of war upon evil, and She demonstrates this beautifully in Her appearance. Her appearance reassures Her devotees that She will take care of them. That She will destroy the evil and suffering in their lives, and bless them with peace and bliss.
In the scriptures, She is depicted as being a dark, beautiful, blue-black colour (like Krishna), and clearly displaying the trophies of Divine victory over evil. God in His/Her peaceful form, is often depicted as wearing a garland of sweet, fragrant flowers, representing aupiciousness and divine blessings. The Mother as Lakshmi, the other side of Kali, wears a lovely garland of lotus flowers.
Kali also wears a garland. But here, She has abandoned the flowers, for the products of war-- She wears a garland made of heads, severed heads, the heads of evil forces. These heads can also be taken to represent the lower human ego. In wearing this garland, She assures us that She will take care of our lower ego (representing our negative qualities), remove this for us, so that we can experience our divine nature as one with Her, with God.
The Kali ashtakam (eight verses in praise of Mother Kali) describes Her intimidating yet beautiful form, as an awe-inspiring warrior Goddess, in the midst of battle against evil. It also declares that She is the bestower of bliss, one with a gentle smile (only for those She is protecting, not for those She is fighting!) and is a divine mystery (whom even the celestials or demi-gods cannot understand). It mentions that She is pleased by the practice of mantra japa, by puja and worship.
The worship of Kali has tragically been terribly perverted in some sections of society. I mentioned above that the human heart is vitally important in starting and walking the spiritual path. It is needed every step of the way.
Sections of society, who sadly seem to have somehow lost contact with their own hearts, have been performing a type of worship of Kali that can only be described as utterly brutal, monstrous and heartless. They do not understand that the war that Kali conducts is a war on evil. Not a war on defenceless, helpless beings. In fact, She manifests precisely to protect such helpless beings. She upholds dharma, justice and ahimsa.
Although Ahimsa means non-violence, it can sometimes be a complex and nuanced subject. Standing up to evil, fighting evil for the cause of justice and goodness, is not contrary to ahimsa. It fact, it is a form of ahimsa. To remain silent in the face of evil, and to allow evil to reign, to allow cruelty to occur, is not ahimsa, it is himsa or violence. It is the tacit support of evil, a passive form of accepting evil. Remaining silent and inactive in the face of evil is a form of violence, a form of injustice or adharma. This will carry negative karmic consequences as does the active performance of evil acts.
So Kali would expect us to act in this world to combat evil-- first and foremost, this means dealing with our own lower nature. We have to start with ourselves. And this is a lifelong mission until we reach the spiritual goal of liberation.
Along with this, in our own spheres of existence, if we feel that there is something seriously wrong, some major injustice going on, we all have a duty to do our bit to resolve this. In practical terms, this may involve supporting a charity, writing a letter to an organisation or a politician, going on a peaceful protest and so on. This is a form of 'karma yoga', service of the Divine.
Kali is not pleased if we sit idle in the face of injustice that is happening right under our own noses (or even worse, if we participate in it). We are each exactly where we need to be, in terms of where we live, who we meet and what we do. The universe presents us with opportunities every day to grow spiritually. These are opportunities to develop the forces of good inside and outside of ourselves and to vanquish the forces of evil inside and outside.
A word of warning-- I am not suggesting that we try to constantly 'correct' others (that will only increase our own ego, which is unhelpful in spiritual life). People are responsible for their own actions and will face the results of those actions in accordance with the law of karma, as will we.
I am, however, saying that when there are obvious cases of injustice around us, such as bullying, harrassment, ill-treatment of people and also cruelty towards birds and animals, we have a duty to take a stand. As spiritual seekers, this is our dharma, our duty. This would be a beautiful and apt worship of Mother Kali, along with the performance of mantra japa, puja, homam and so on which are also very important.
On this note, I would like to draw your attention to a particularly sad example of the perverted worship of Kali which I feel, we all have a duty to help resolve. At certain Kali temples in the world, for example the Gadhimai temple in Nepal, people kill animals in huge numbers and offer them to the Goddess.
They do this out of good intentions but clearly having completely lost touch with their hearts. As the newspaper article below describes, they do this saying "I want to thank the Goddess for helping me with my business, so I have killed this goat". Or "I want the Goddess to help me with some issue in my life, so I am offering Her this animal that I have killed".
The theme in their reasons for killing animals as an offering is one of "me, me, mine, mine, I, I". My business, what I want, all about me, i.e. the lower self, the ego. They want to acquire something for themselves, their entire focus is on their needs, even if it costs the life or many lives of other beings.
There is no selflessness here, no compassion, no mercy, no kindness, no concern, no respect for the sacred life of another living being. No understanding that a Mother would never, ever want to see Her children (animals and birds are very much Her children, just as we are) killed. That She would not ask one child to kill another. That She is an embodiment of maternal feeling, of love, of compassion, of kindness.
It is very important for us to remember in spiritual life, that those who show no mercy, will not be shown any mercy. Those who show no compassion, will not be shown any compassion by the Divine. This is especially important to grasp when worshipping Kali, the Goddess of Justice.
The situation on our planet with regard to violence in religion is so extraordinary that one does not know where to begin. How on Earth, one asks, can people honestly believe that killing, bloodshed, and murder can please the Divine? Incredibly, this view is quite widespread in our world in many religions, whether it is the killing of animals or human beings.
As we all know, every mainstream religion today contains a number of people who, completely misunderstanding their religion, erroneously believe that killing is a good way to please the Divine. And, they support going to war with other nations and the performance of rituals in accordance with this completely bizarre and incorrect way of thinking.
Mindless violence by human beings can never please the Divine, be it violence against birds, animals, humans or others. It is the most offensive thing to do spiritually. It is greatest sin. These acts of violence, murder and bloodshed are pleasing only to one force in the universe-- that which opposes the Divine. What some religions call demonic forces, and other religions call Satanic forces.
These evil forces, which themselves represent cruelty of the worst kind, the lowest of the low in the universe, these alone rejoice when human beings are brutal, cruel and undivine, when people act as the agents of evil instead of as intruments of God. They lead us downwards, into the depths of materialism, spiritual ignorance, superstition and egoism. They tarnish the soul. They attempt to destroy our spiritual progress, our attempts to connect with the Divine within. Let us therefore invoke the Mother in keeping these negative forces at bay. Kali worship is particularly effective at destroying these negative energies within and outside us.
As Navaratri, the great festival of the Divine Mother approaches, I was reflecting that the following would be good ways to worship Mother Kali:
1. Mantra recitation: Navarna mantra or MahaKali mantra japa. I personally love the navarna as it includes worship of Kali/Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati together.
2. Offering ourselves to the Mother, recognising that She resides in each one of us, invoking Her presence within ourselves, asking Her to make us fit instruments for Her service.
The next points involve supporting those aspects of human society that uphold the forces of goodness, and attempt to vanquish forces of evil.
3. Animal rights and environmental charities: supporting charities that oppose cruelty to animals and birds. Also nature conservation and environmental change charities that strive to prevent extinction of species and preserve the environment. One aspect of Kali is Nature. Protection of the environment is an important aspect of Mother worship.
4. Armed forces and related charities: supporting charities related to the police, security, army, navy and air force.
People who work in these forces have dedicated their lives to protect others from harm and danger often at the expense of their own safety, security and even their own lives. They sacrifice their lives for others. (It is a tragedy that they are sometimes forced to participate in unjust wars due to the selfish wickedness of their political rulers). They are effectively agents of the protective energy of Kali in our modern world (when they act in accordance with dharma/righteousness).
Even in our day-to-day lives, we are indebted to our local police forces for maintaining law and order, for allowing us to sleep peacefully at night. We owe them a lot. Therefore, when they are injured or disabled as a result of doing their duty, we should certainly support them and their families. Supporting charities that help veterans of war who suffer from PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) would also be a good idea.
4. Ending cruelty to animals and birds in Kali temples worldwide:
Let us support campaigns that aim to end the heartless, cruel, wicked slaughter of birds and animals in Kali temples. In Gadhimai in Nepal, and in certain temples in India for example in West Bengal and Assam, these practices of animal murder is prevalent. Let us do further research to discover which temples of Kali involve such practices.
And then, let us do what we can to end this wicked practice. Let us write to the temple authorities to attempt to persuade them to understand that this is not in accordance with the principles of our religion. They may not listen but let us try anyway. We do not lose anything in trying. And we know, that Kali is on our side.
Let us also write to politicians to persuade them to ban the slaughter of animals and birds for religious reasons. This is already the case in many states in India, but not yet in all. Let us educate ourselves on this subject, do some research into this, and write to the appropriate authorities to attempt to persuade them.
This would be pleasing to Mother Kali. The message that I received in my dream of Her in the past week (described in the previous post) was that She would like to see an end to humanity's cruelty towards birds and animals. Ending cruelty performed ignorantly and pervertedly in Her name would be an essential part of this.
I will certainly be doing the above actions myself. It is the beginning of a journey of Kali worship for me and I hope and pray for Her guidance in this.
And, as She and Narayana are one, I feel that this will also be pleasing to Him. I recently discovered that, a day after my dream of Mother Kali, an aunt of mine, who has been an ardent worshipper of Krishna all her life, had a dream of Vishnu and Kali together (she belongs to the side of the family who have traditionally worshipped Kali for generations). An interesting coincidence; I see this as a sign that Vishnu and the Mother as Kali should be worshipped jointly by us. (As I tested positive for Covid a couple of days after the Kali dream, I am now burning up physically not just in dream! Got a temperature and a nasty cough-- am praying to Kali to resolve this soon, not least so that I can get started on the above projects!)
So let us worship the Mother this Navaratri in whatever way that we can. Let us do our best and leave the rest in Her hands. And let us remember, that practicing ahimsa (non-violence) and standing up against injustice and cruelty to living beings, is the greatest form of Kali worship, the best way to earn Her grace and blessings.
Om Sri MahaKalikayai Namah.
Om Aim Hrim Klim Chamundayai Vicche.
Om Namo Narayanaya.
Salutations to the Goddess of Justice, the loving Mother, the One who is the embodiment of dharma (righteousness), the source of wisdom, peace and bliss.
Hari Aum Tat Sat.
