Kali
This post is in honour of the Divine Mother and is meant to share information on this often misunderstood goddess. If I have made any mistakes however, please correct me.
Kali Maa (also known as Kalika) is the Hindu goddess of time, transformation, destruction, rebirth, power, ego death, and enlightenment. She is the wrathful and fierce form of goddess Durga/Parvati, and is known as the Dark Mother. She is the eternal night and represents time, emptiness, and the ending of cycles, but paradoxically, she is also the life-giver and nourisher- a power-house of compassion. Thus, Kali is not only the blood-thirsty destroyer of evil but also a nurturing and deeply loving Mother. She is the ever-youthful and beautiful mother who both grants and consumes life. This nature of hers causes her to often be seen as the most loving and terrifying of Hindu deities and works as both a protector and healer. It is Kali herself who passionately annihilates ignorance from our minds and forces us to face our darkest self, allowing us to overcome it and become who we are meant to be. It is she who is the great liberator, the saviour, and the one who leads the way to eternal salvation through enlightenment. Thus, Kali is the first and foremost of the Mahavidyas, the Great Wisdom Goddesses.
Goddess Kali is the guardian of the doorway between manifest and unmanifest, as she resides in the great Void of the cosmos. When creation ends, all shall return to her. She is the beloved one, the heat of Kundalini that leads to bliss. She is the fire and the fire-tenderer, the one who teaches us and throws us into intense transformations, burning away all our toxic beliefs and habits. She is full of immense strength, passion, and courage, so much so that she is able to lovingly heal all pains and remove all fears from our hearts. To add on to her wondrous paradox, Mother Kali not just embodies darkness, but she eradicates darkness as well, for she is the one who brings truth, purification, wisdom, and fearlessness. She hates the ego and purges its influences from our souls with her raging divine fire.
The nature of Kali is extremely fierce and can easily evoke terror in the hearts of others, yet to those she cares for, the goddess offers comfort, peace, goodness, perfect wisdom, confidence, beauty, and much more. She is unfathomable in her greatness, and is deeply devoted to those who praise her. She is both life and death, rage and love. Kali Maa is the very embodiment of love, especially motherly love, and so is the saviour and nourisher of her children. A title of this great goddess is Brahmamayi, which means “She Whose Essence is Brahman” and as Mahakali, she embodies Brahman and Shakti. Another form of Kali is known as Aadya Kali, which is her primordial light body, her original form. As Aadya Kali, she is Adi Parashakti herself, the great cosmic womb that births and consumes all. She is the light that manifests all of creation and permeates it (just like her darkness). In this form, Kali is the yoniverse itself, the Divine Mother, and the feminine energies of creation. She has no form in this aspect but depictions of her may show either a portal or a squatting Kali who is birthing the cosmos. The following is a description on the light form of Aadya Kali:
“She is light itself and transcendent. Emanating from Her body are rays in thousands, millions, hundred millions. There is no counting their great numbers. It is by the light of this Devi that all things become manifest.”
As Kali is the very embodiment of time, she is the consumer of all. She is both death and eternity, the primordial Void itself. She reminds us how short life is and tells us to not be afraid of the end, for it is only a transformation. It is Kali who shows us the entirety of existence in both its beautiful and frightening aspects, and assures us with strength and comfort. She is the one who dances on the cremation grounds, laughing where most would feel fear. Her fiery powers bring rapid change, burning away what is not needed so that beauty can flourish. No amount of words can do this glorious goddess justice, no amount of descriptions could reveal her complete self. Kali Ma embodies wrath and mercy, desire and fear, and is the Night of Darkness.
As Mahakali, she is in her primordial and most powerful form of Kali. Mahakali is the mysterious darkness, with a thousand heads, arms, and legs (though in images she is shown with ten of each). She is described as being created as an expansion of Adi Parashakti along with Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati, with Mahakali being Shakti herself. Mahakali is the goddess’ cosmic form, guarding over the cosmic order and restoring it when it’s out of balance. She is the very embodiment of Brahman, the ultimate truth that unites all material and spiritual laws. The absolute, indivisible night (Maharatri) is the abode of Mahakali.
Mother Kali appears as either pitch black or dark blue in complexion, representing her as the infinite Void. Her fearful appearance is a representation of her unstoppable power of annihilation as the Consumer of All. She is horrifying in order to force us to confront our darkest selves, as well as to protect us from the evils of the world. We must face her terror in order to face the darkness within ourselves. As the goddess of enlightenment, she represents the trials we must face on our path towards salvation, which is full of strife and pain but is ultimately benevolent. Kali Ma is naked because she is infinite; no cloth can cover her and so is “clad in space”. She has four arms which represent the four directions of space, identified with the complete cycle of time, with the number four being the number of perfection. Four arms on a Hindu deity always symbolizes absolute dominion.
Her hair is wild because she is uncontrollable, her protruding tongue symbolizes her blood-lust and consuming nature. Her white teeth represent serenity and the crescent moon above her forehead shows her as the granter of liberation. Kali’s youthfulness and round breasts show her as the Great Mother who nourishes all and is perfect in beauty. As she laughs, she shows her dominion over all creation and resides near the funeral pyres, a representation of the destruction of the world and our pending deaths. Kali, the supreme night, stands upon the corpse of Shiva, who represents the destroyed Universe and thus, ‘non-existence’- the domain of Kali Ma. This is also a representation of how Shiva is no more than a lifeless body without his Shakti and that creation is impossible without their union. While Shiva is pure consciousness, Kali is pure cosmic energy; Shiva cannot manifest without his Shakti and Kali cannot function without the consciousness of Shiva. The burning grounds are also a representation of the purifying fire that Kali sets within our souls in order to rid us of our egos. She is the bright and burning flame that demolishes all fear, ignorance, envy, arrogance, and every other toxic feeling or belief; allowing truth and wisdom to fully blossom.
In the four hands of Kali, there is a sword, symbolizes destruction and the power of knowledge, which severs the ego. In another hand, she holds a severed head. This head belonged to an asura (a representation of the effects of the ego) and thus she holds the destroyed ego, the bringer of hate, ignorance, and despair, triumphantly in her hand. With Kali’s other two hands, she displays mudras. As Kali Ma knows no fear or limit, she displays the Abhaya Mudra, the gesture of fearlessness and protection. She is the great embodiment of all fear, as well as its destroyer, and has the power to remove terror from the hearts of others. Paradoxically, she is both the remover and bestower of fear. The fourth hand of Kali displays the Mudra of generosity, which bestows blessings to her children and the promise of happiness. She protects her devotees from all danger and fear, filling them with courage, wisdom, clarity, and a way through life’s problems. She is the defender from ignorance and the fear of death, as well as all other things that plague our minds.
Around Kali’s neck is a garland of skulls or human heads, which symbolize the sounds of the Sanskrit alphabet, showing that she possesses all knowledge and holds creative power. The garland also represents all of our false identities produced from our egos, which are now destroyed and displayed triumphantly around Kali’s neck. Her girdle of severed arms represents action, as she is always ready to battle for our safety and salvation. She is the creator and destroyer of all, with her limitless embrace awaiting all things at the end of existence. At the end, it is she who devours Mahakala (Shiva) himself, allowing themselves to merge as one again.
