Maha Kali (Mahā-Kālī )- the Power of Time

Maha Kali (Mahā-Kālī )- the Power of Time

Śiva, as Mahā-kāla is eternal time, he’s the substratum from which arise all the secondary cycles of time and the energies which rule them —

beginning with the cycles of evolution and involution of the cosmos and including all the cycles which govern everything from the sub-atomic particles to the galaxies, including the cycles which rule the existence of every single species of life, and it’s each and every moment.

The most representative division of the cycle of time is the alternation of day and night which are constant reminders of the rhythmic universal patterns of projection and dissolution of all that exists.

The Eternal Night

The original Absolute state of the universe is an Eternal Night.

The planetary movements of the Sun and the Moon which give rise to day and light by night, to our experience of divisible time, are only temporary phenomena implying a coming into being, existence in a location and some form of relativity.

The psychological state of deep dreamless sleep (turīya) resembles to a degree the absolute quiescence of the Universe after dissolution (pralaya) when all existences return to the state of the Great Night (Mahā-rātri). In this state of perfect integration nothing remains but the transcendent power of Time, Mahā-Kālī.

The term Śiva can be derived from the root Sin, which means “to sleep.” Hence Śiva is described as he in whom “all goes to sleep,” “he who puts all things to sleep,” etc. His power is represented by the eternal night in which all goes to sleep.

As absolute eternal time, Śiva is transcendent. He is the “Beyond the beyond” (parat paraḥ) of the Upanishads. The absolute, indivisible night (Mahā-rātrī) is the abode of the Transcendent-power-of-Time (Mahā-Kālī).

From the ‘Hymn to the Night’ (Rātri Sūkta of the Rig Veda 10.127) we can understand that there are two divinities of night, the one experienced by mortal beings, the other by the divine Being; the one experienced by all the spheres and in relation to which all activities come daily to rest, the other in which the activity of divinity also comes to rest.

This absolute night is the night of involution, inversion, and is the nature of the Power-of Time (Kālī). Nothing then remains except the transcendent Immensity chequered with its power of illusion. This stage is the stage of Unmanifest-Nature (avyakta).

“Night has for its substance the power of illusion of the Immensity (brahma-māyā- ātmika); the nature of night is dissolution into supreme divinity (paramesa-laya- atmika). The principle presiding over this absolute night is celebrated as the goddess-of- the-spheres (Bhuvanesi).” (Devi Purāṇa.)

“May the divinity of night (Rātri), the transcendent power of consciousness (cit-śakti), be pleased, so that we may nestle in happiness like birds in their nests at night!

Dwellers in the villages, their cows and horses, the birds of the air, men who travel on many a business, and jackals and wild beasts, all welcome the night and joyfully nestle in her; for to all beings misguided by the journey of the day she brings calm and happiness.

Then all comes to rest. Even those beings who have never heard the name of the lady-of- the-spheres (Bhuvaneśvarī) come to her lap, where they sleep as happily as unconscious children.

O merciful! O power of consciousness! O enfolding darkness! O divinity of Night! Overlook our deeds; take us away from the killers who harm us, the wolf that is sin, and the she-wolf that is never-ending desire.

Remove us from lust and the other passions which rob us of wisdom and wealth, and be for us the ship of gladness that brings us to the other shore and leads us to beatitude.” (Karapatri, Śrī Bhagavatī tattva.”)

The word Rātri (night) is symbolically derived from the root rā “to give,” and is taken to mean “the giver” of bliss, of peace, of happiness.

The Iconography of Kālī

“Most fearful, her laughter shows her dreadful teeth. She stands upon a corpse. She has four arms. Her hands hold a sword and a head and show the gestures of removing fear and granting boons. She is the auspicious divinity of sleep, the consort of Śiva.

“Naked, clad only in space, the goddess is resplendent. Her tongue hangs out. She wears a garland of heads. Such is the form worthy of meditation of the Power of Time, ‘Kālī, who dwells near the funeral pyres.- (Kālī Tantra. [496])

THE CORPSE

Kālī is represented as the supreme night, which devours all that exists. She therefore stands upon “non-existence,” — upon the corpse of the destroyed universe.

The corpse is that of Śiva. So long as the power that gives life to the universe remains predominant it is favourable (Śiva), but when it is without strength it becomes as a corpse (śava).

The lifeless body is indeed the symbol of whatever is left of the manifested universe when it reverts to the natural state of eternal time. At the time of universal dissolution (pralaya), the Power of Time, the power of destruction, is all that remains.

THE FEARFUL APPEARANCE

At the end of the battle, when the warrior stands among the corpses of the vanquished enemy and remains alone on the field of battle, her appearance inspires fear and horror — exhausted covered in blood and gore.

Who could dare to look her in the face? So terrible is Kālī. Her dread appearance is the symbol of her boundless power of annihilation.

THE NAKEDNESS

The universe which is projected from the Brahman and pervaded by the eternal power of time is also Its garb. “Having projected it [from himself], he entered into it.” (Taittirīya Upaniṣad 2.6.)

When the universe is dissolved, the Power of Time remains without a veil, naked. Hence the Goddess is “clad in space” (Digambara), having the vast emptiness of space as her only vesture.

The four arms

The four arms of Kālī represent the four directions of space identified with the complete cycle of time — four being the number of perfection. Completeness is usually represented by the four corners.

With her four arms, she stands as the symbol of the fulfilment of all and of the absoluteness of her dominion over all that exists. In the strict language of symbolism four arms always represent the idea of absolute dominion.

The laughter

The conqueror laughs in her triumph. That laughter is the expression of absolute dominion over all that exists.

It mocks at those who, in the folly of their vanity, hope to escape dissolution. It ridicules all those who cling to material existence and clutch their paltry possessions craving to continue their feeble existence in a cosmos in the grip of change and transformation.

The sword

The sword represents the power of destruction. The power of knowledge which cuts asunder the veil of ignorance and severs the bonds which bind us to our conditioned existence.

The severed head

The head represents the ego (ahaṁkāra) — the notion of individuality. The severed head in the hand of the Goddess reminds all living beings that there is no escape from the Omnipotence of-Time (Kālī). All the ego personalities that we assume and take with such seriousness are all trifling and unsubstantial. The ultimate state requires their decapitation.

The Gesture of Fearlessness

So long as there is existence, there is fear of destruction. Fear is inherent in all forms of existence; fear is the law of all that exists. “Out of fear of him fire burns; out of fear the sun shines.” (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.3.3.)

Every sentient being that is conditioned fears that which is beyond its limits of understanding.

Only absolute time (mahā-kāla) which pervades all things and has no limit knows no fear. The Upanishads say that he alone who exists “beyond the beyond” “exists without fear.”

Kālī, the power of time that destroys all, is the embodiment of all fear, while she herself is beyond fear; she alone who is beyond fear can protect from fear those who invoke her. This is the meaning of the hand removing fear.

The Gesture of generosity

All the pleasures of the world are transient; all human joy is but a momentary and feeble reflection of our true nature, which is unbounded joy. But such perception cannot last and is soon veiled by pain.

True happiness can only exist in that which is permanent. Only the Power of Time is permanent; it alone can grant happiness. Thus Kālī is the giver of bliss. This is represented by her giving hand.

THE GARLAND SKULLS

Life and death are inseparable aspects of our being. There is no life without death, no death without life. Hence there must be a common support for both life and death — Kālī is the supreme bliss which supports both and is the only refuge. She is the basis of all existence and non-existence.

The garland of skulls represents impermanence and the traces which are left behind by the dead as reminders of our own mortality and impermanence. They also represent all the assumptive identities which we use to validate ourselves.

The funeral pyre

Her dwelling place is the charnel ground illumined with the burning pyres of the world in destruction. A further reminder to us of the inevitability of our own physical dissolution and termination in the funeral pyre.

The black colour

Black is not actually a “colour” but the absence of all light. All colours of the spectrum merge in the colour black. In the Power of Time all colours and light dissolve into darkness.

As the embodiment of the tendency toward dispersion or obscuration (tamas), Kālī is depicted as black. All shapes return to shapelessness in the all-pervading darkness of the eternal night.

The lolling Tongue

Kālī’s gaping mouth and lolling tongue, her appearance and habits generally, are unquestionably repulsive to our ordinary sensibilities.

In Tantra, this is probably precisely the point. What we experience as disgusting, polluted, forbidden, and gruesome is grounded in and conditioned by limited human (or cultural) consciousness.

Our cultural and social conditioning has ordered and divided reality into categories that serve limited, ego-centred, selfish conceptions of how the world should be.

Kālī in her crass way de-constructs these categories, inviting us as her students to relax and open ourselves up to life in all its aspects — positive and negative, attractive and repulsive.

She invites us to dare to taste the world in its most disgusting and forbidding manifestations in order to discover for ourselves its underlying unity and divinity, which is the Great Goddess herself.

The dishevelled Hair:

- Pollution and Dissolution

Another striking feature of Kālī as with all the Mahā-vidyās is her long, loose, dishevelled hair.

Hindu women always wear their hair well kept, braided or bound (as do brāhmin men with long hair) – Loose hair is very uncommon — the only occasions being during the ritual impurity of menstruation in which it is forbidden to bind the hair and during mourning. The loose hair thus represents her as menstruating — pre-creation; or mourning — post creation.

Kālī is the ultimate suffragette openly and proudly displaying her disdain for social convention. She is totally liberated from all social convention, wild and uncontrolled in nature, and not bound to or limited by a male consort.

 Other unconventional features —

 her nudity, her standing atop her husband or consort, her dwelling in cremation grounds, and her rude, lolling tongue, messy, loose, tangled hair emphasises her socially liberated character.

The Sacred texts describe eight principle manifestations of Kālī corresponding to the eight aspects of Śiva.

Kālī Sadhana -

Kālī Sadhana is done to conquer over enemies. Kālī Sadhana helps to defeat and make enemies powerless. Kālī Sadhana is also performed to destroy diseases, to get rid of wicked spirits, wicked planets, fear of sudden death and to gain poetic skills.

Kālī Moola Mantra -

ॐ क्रीं क्रीं क्रीं हूँ हूँ ह्रीं ह्रीं दक्षिणे कालिका

क्रीं क्रीं क्रीं हूँ हूँ ह्रीं ह्रीं स्वाहा॥

Oṁ Krīṁ Krīṁ Krīṁ Hūṁ Hūṁ Hrīṁ Hrīṁ Dakṣiṇe Kālikā

Krīṁ Krīṁ Krīṁ Hūṁ Hūṁ Hrīṁ Hrīṁ Svāhā॥