> As with the TAO, The REAL Kali is the Kali that can't be named.
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Actually, you have Brahman confused with Shakti. Brahman cannot be named, as there is nothing to attach a name to besides pure existence itself. Kali, on the other hand, is the entirely of the collection of named and unnamed objects that comprise the physical universe, along with all the motive forces which push and pull them through their existences.

My mother named me Kali, and through life I have had so many people make fun of me and insult me for being named after " the goddess of death and destruction"... It was very hard when I was younger, but my beautiful mother always told me that KaliMa has many gifts and the gift of destruction and death only makes way for creation and rebirth. One must understand that everything is connected, and to have one thing you must have another... to have creation, you must have destrucion... It is a beautiful part of life.

A dear friend of mine, fellow priestess and Hindu Devotee of Kali sent me this short piece on Kali Ma in response to a request I had from my students to understand Kali from a Hindu Devotees perspective. I thought I would share it here since you posted the question.

namaste,
mary samantha
A Short Piece about Kali

...taken from ‘Daughters of the Goddess’ by Linda Johnsen

“Brahma, the creator of our particular universe (there are of course many others) lives for 311,040,000,000,000 of our Earth years. Everything that we experience as real is merely Brahma’s dream. But Brahma himself was born from the dream of Vishnu, an infinitely vaster intelligence. A thousands times the length of Brahma’s life is just a few hours to Vishnu, who himself lives some 671,846, 400,000,000,000,000,000 of our years, according to the yogis. Brahma is born and dies, is reborn and dies again, over and over in the boundlessness of Vishnu’s dream, creating galaxies, withdrawing them, creating galaxies, withdrawing them. In every instant untold millions of other Brahmas are also taking birth and dying in Vishnu’s being.

But all of Vishnu’s existence is barely a breath in the life of Mahdeva, ‘the Great God’ – Shiva himself. Millions and billions of Vishnus are taking ebirth at every moment in the infinity of Shiva’s meditation. And the yoginis, who should know, say Shiva himself lives for 87,071,293,440,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 of our years. At the end of that eternity, even Shiva must pass away.

But 1,000 of Shiva’s lifespans is just one glance from the Mother of the Universe.

She is Maha Kali, the Devourer, eternity itself.

‘I am the intelligence from which the universe emanates and in which it inheres, like a reflection in the mirror. The ignorant believe I am merely inert matter, but the wise experience me as the true Self within themselves. They glimpse me when their minds become as still and clear as an ocean without waves.

Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, the Gods of of all the directions and their energies, indeed every entity on all planes of existence, are manifestations of myself. My power is too vast to be imagined. Yet beings do not know me because their minds are shrouded in ignorance. That too is my power.

The supreme wisdom is that which ends the delusion that anyone or anything exists apart from myself. The fruit of this realisation is fearlessness and the end of sorrow. When one realises that all the limitless universes are a fraction of an atom in the unity of my being, that all the numberless lives in the universes are a wisp of vapor in one of my breaths, that all the triumps and tragedies, the good and evil in all the worlds, are merely my unconsidered, spontaneous play, then life and death stand still, and the drama of individual life evaporates like a shallow pond on a warm day.

You are experiencing me now, yet you do not recognise me. There is no remedy for your ignorance other than to worship me as your innermost Self. Surrender yourself to me with joyful, one-pointed devotion, and I will help you discover your true being. Abide in my consciousness as continuously and effortlessly as the ignorant abide in their bodies. Abide in me as I abide in you. Know that even now there is absolutely no difference between us. Realise it now !’

When the Tantra describes the Goddess, it is not talking about a multi-armed female deity in a sari. Nor is it speaking of her as the ancient Greeks called Gaia (the Hindus call her Bhumeshvari, ‘Goddess of the Earth’) because the earth will perish and the Goddess will not. She is what remains after the cosmos itself has dissolved, after every last proton has decayed and the final wave of energy has dissipated. And from the infinite emptiness of her being , new universes will again burst forth. Without end. Because she is not bothered with beginnings or endings. She is Reality. She is what is, whether anything else at all is or is not.

This Goddess – you cannot ask how she came to be, because she never came into existence: she is what we mortals call existence itself. Whatever it is that is the root of you and me and the saints and the planets and the stars and the space between the stars – that is she. Our scientists know she is there and that she is awesome, but they don’t know how to describe her (though they struggle with their equations) and they don’t realise she is conscious – though her level of consciousness is something infinitely beyond our understanding. They certainly never imagine that in her omnipotence she can assume a human body and walk amongst us: that infact she has assumed the body that is holding this book !

This, at least, is the belief of the ‘shaktas’ (believers in Shakti), the devotees of the Goddess in India. They claim theirs is the most ancient of all religions, and that is why Shaktism permeates most other schools of Indian thought; it is the very heart of Tantra. The women saints of India expouse this view, though they use different terms to express it. They differ from us in that they seek not to learn or to teach about the Goddess, but to wholly embody her. Because they incarnate the Divine, unselfconsciously they evoke her in us”.

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Dear Priestesses

So we can see from this that as Hindus understand it, Kali, or the Great Goddess is All. She is behind everything, even the Gods. So Krishna, Vishnu, Shiva etc are emanations of her spirit. In that sense, spiritually she is his mother, as she is the mother to us all.

Hinduism is like quicksand, the deeper you go, the deeper it gets. There is no bottom line truth, it just keeps growing, widening, sinking, expanding...it is alive. It cannot be defined.

I think this is the biggest mistake Westerners make when they go to India because they go seeking this bottom-line truth, the ‘answer’. When there is none. Each priest/temple/province will tell you a different story, drawing you in, confusing you, drowning all your knowledge and expectation, confounding your efforts to ‘understand’. Of course they all believe their part of the story – and it is true. But it’s just a part of a huge mystical energy and presence that cannot be explained, just felt and experienced.

I think in the end the people that really ‘get’ India are those that give up trying to understand. They surrender, and join in the dance. There is no ‘right’ way to worship, pray, offer yourself to the Gods. There is only the individual heart, and to give that to the Divine, requires the utmost exquisite surrender known to man. I think that is what Shiva is doing when he lies sweetly and serenely at Kali’s feet as she ramages through the world. He gives himself to her – even him, the great Shiva, has to surrender to the ultimate divinity herself.

So there you have it my darling Sam. A taste of mystical Hinduism. This is why I find it hard to ‘fit into to’ pagan cultures here, because my atoms have been set to cosmic setting – so talk of wheels and circles and spells I find confusing. My access to the Goddess is through my heart and soul, that’s how I’ve been taught.

A pagan friend came round the other day. She saw my Kali statue in the living room and was like – ‘ooh, you shouldn’t show Kali like that in public – have you had a lot of bad luck since she’s been in your life ?’ And I just didn’t know what to say – because to me Kali is not a bad omen goddess – she is the universe itself ! How to explain that quickly ! It’s two different worldviews colliding.

So I think there is much misunderstanding around Kali in pagan circles. Yes she is powerful and ‘terrible’ – but that’s not the whole story. You my dear pointed to the truth when you said your experience of Kali was as ‘reality itself’ – and that is precisely what she is. In Kundalini yoga, we do a mantra – ‘Sat Nam’ – which means ‘Truth is my Name, Truth is my Nature’ – and I think what is what Kali represents – a love of truth.

I am a lover of truth. That is why I belong to Kali, and she belongs to me. I’m not scared of her in that sense – when I see pictures of her as a demoness ogre, I just see her incredible awesome power – but at the very heart of it all – Kali has the love of a powerful mother for her creation, and that is me, and us, and this. So I cannot fear her, I can only approach her and enter into a relationship with her. As my yoga teacher says – Kali takes away that is which is not real – and for that I am grateful, as painful as that can be sometimes – at others it is the sweetest relief, the utmost divine joy.

The trick with Kali is not to approach her with caution or respect (as my pagan friend sagely advised). It is to go to her with sincerity. Sincerity is the heart’s calling. And with that sweet truth and humbleness and earnest passion to know or seek – I think that is all she asks of us. And when she hears us, she gives us beautiful divine lessons in knowing herself, the universe, all that is.

I asked Kali for a beautiful baby and look at my amazing result. The most divine baby in the world – who came from me ! And the lesson I had to learn to have her ? To surrender completely ! Even before the surgeon’s sword. As a Warrioress, Kali had to teach me surrender – because the point of fighting is to achieve peace. And peace is surrender, peace is letting go. So I think this will be my lesson of motherhood also. To give up and let go. To be a true warrior of the heart and just love. That is the route to my being. And that is what Kali is teaching me. It makes me cry it really does – I find it so humbling that I am being taught the most beautiful lesson there is for any human being, to open my heart and let my love come out. Oh yes, that is why I am a Goddess also

* * * * * * * * * * * *

In answer to your specifc questions Sam – I’m sure you’re aware all Hindu gods and goddesses are paired up in sacred union. There is Shiva and Parvati, Krishna and Radha, Ganesh and Skanda and so on. But interestingly, sometimes the male consort assumes the female form, other times the two are so fused they are presented in hermaphrodite form. I have seen pictures of Shiva with both breasts and lingam ! Yes Krishna is very feminine, but actually so is Shiva. Sometimes it is hard to tell whether he is male or female – he is very beautiful. Krishna is playful, Shiva is more serious. Shiva is a serious meditator and likes to be left alone. Parvati had to get really good at meditation to get Shiva to notice her ! Whereas Krishna is a bit of a playboy – he likes chasing the cow-girls (female shepherds). So they are different energies – but all of them end in sacred union with their opposites. Vishnu adopted his female half’s form (Mohnini) in order to defeat the demons – he had tried everything and knew that it was only by adopting the feminine form that he could finally outdo them.

Indian mythology is full of warrioresses. They all go into battle those goddesses. It’s part of the cosmic play. Durga the warrior goddess fights the demons and then produces Kali from her Third Eye to really defeat them once and for all. Vishnu realises it is only his feminine form that can finally defeat the demons. The men fight but the women fight more – righteous anger and justice – it is a Goddesses birthright.

a fwd from my friend, Shilpa Mehta.

The following poem is my own work however, How I understand the many aspects of Kali. You can read more about these views including an article on Kali-Fornia on my tribe page.

namaste.

Dark One beyond the Sun.
homage to the mother.

Lady, they say you are so dark.
but all is blackness when looking beyond the sun.
I have seen you in the black of my own eyes, shimmering with power, I can scarce realize.

Your arms are arms of plenty,
like a black spider weaving, measuring, cutting.
your lips drip with blood as you smile from your web of life, devourer or demons and vice.

Mother I call to you in joy and pain,
You who dance on your husband in your zeal
some say you are terrible and frightening, they are right, we are the same.

kali ma, Jai Ma! Victory is the song you dance through in the night.
The Night that lies in the blackness at the center of a woman's eye, the blackness that holds the sun, giving it meaning and purpose.

Your body is beautiful and black, stars shimmer upon you like jewels.
Mother teach me your ecstatic dance across all illusion, oh you who sees through all illusion to the deep black beyond the sun.

the debate of the psychologocal, eschatological, philosophical
Nature of the Goddess is perhaps fun and important. at least i think so.
who thinks Kali is a living God?
does anyone want to experience the God directly?
if She births the material world could She also dwell in it?
it seems human science is somewhat contrived when faced with Supreme Conciousness.

I understand the Tao reference. I was asked last night who Kali is, is she good or evil and I said, "She IS". And that is all I can say to synopsize it. To vocalize more would take the similar amount of time as describing Tao. Some things just ARE. Shakti as the energy in the universe is, as the physicists tell us, convertable into matter and vice versa. So all that is can potentially be all else that is. If time is an illusion, and all that is eventually comes from and becomes all else, than we are all that is or all that has been and all that will be at any given moment as all moments are the same. And this truth is the delight of Kali. To be honest Kali who is also the void which is the ultimate source, ultimate background and ultimate destination of all things is greater than all other representations, in my opinion, because she requires no one else to exist. What she represents is independent of all things, but all else is dependent on what she represents.

On my altar are three gods, Ganesh as the entrance of all paths, Kali as the representative of all energy and the sources of all matter, Shiva as the conciousness of all matter and the ultimate user of all energy and the destroyer of all things, and in that destruction is the source of matter's conversion back to energy. This division of aspects is all in my head. I am aware that Kali is all these things and more which I cannot comprehend, but I cannot absorb her all at once. Just a fraction of her presence threatens to overwhelm me and my Ego will not allow that at this time.