Mahavidya Kali

20.1. Kali is Adi Mahavidya, the primary Mahavidya. She is the first and the foremost
among the Mahavidyas. Even before the Mahavidya cult came into being, she was a major
goddess with large following of devotees immersed in her mythologies, hymns and songs.
She is not only the first but the most important of the Mahavidyas. It is said, the
Mahavidya tradition is centered on Kali and her attributes. Kali is the epitome of the
Mahavidyas. The rest of the Mahavidyas emanate from Kali and share her virtues and
powers in varying shades. The Saktisamgama-tantra says,All the Mahavidyas, Siddhividyas, Vidyas, and Upa-vidyas, are different forms that Kali assumes. She is the
exemplary Mahavidya; she alone symbolizes the fully awakened consciousness; and she
alone reveals the ultimate truth.

20.2. Mahavidyas are symbols of female independence; and, Kali demonstrates that
freedom with great abandon. She is never depicted as a submissive consort luring with
charm. She is always dominant, striding on the male with a destructive frenzy. She
challenges and demolishes the conventional notions about looks, manners and the limited
ways of understanding things.
21.1. It is explained that Kali manifests in countless ways, but some aspects of her are more
common than others. There are therefore varied descriptions of Kali. Each Tantric and
Shakta tradition pictures her in its own light. But all sources tend to agree on her
prominent characteristics. Kali is almost always regarded as being dark like the starlit
night, with a dreadful appearance, having four arms, holding a bloodied cleaver and a
severed head in her left hands, while her right hands gesture blessings (varadamudra) and
reassurance (abhayamudra). She is depicted with three eyes, white teeth, garland of fifty
human skulls and a girdle of seven severed human hands. Her limbs are adorned with
various ornaments. Her tongue hangs out. Her laughter is most fearful. Kali who dwells in
funeral pyres stands upon the corpse of a male. She is the auspicious divinity truly worthy
of meditation.
O Kali, you are fond of cremation grounds
So I have turned my heart into one
You love to dance in the light of burning pyres
At the dead of the night
Mother, come and dance unceasingly
In the cremation ground of my heart
Where all my early desires burning to ashes
Prasada waits with his eyes closed.
Kali, greatly terrifying, laughing loudly,
Elokeshi sporting disheveled hair flying in all directions
With fearful fangs, four arms holding a cleaver, a skull,
And gesturing mudras bestowing boons and dispelling fear,
Wearing a garland of skulls, tongue rolling wildly,
Digambari garbed in space in her nakedness,
Free from covering of all illusions
Thus I meditate on Kali My Mother,
Dwelling in the cremation ground of my heart
My Mother dances joyfully
Prasada watches with great delight
Ramprasad Sen (1718-75)

21.2. Kali is also pictured in more benign forms. As Dakshinakali, she is portrayed as young
and beautiful; gently smiling; standing with her right foot on the supine, ash-besmeared
body of Siva, who looks up at her adoringly. Kali in her merciful form is protective,
benevolent and a loving Mother who liberates her children.Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa
envisioned Kali, his chosen deity, as the love that exists at the very heart of life; and that
which endures through both life and death. Kali, he said, appears fearful only when
approached through relative forms of existence and through worldly attachments. But
when one lets his identities dissolve in the submission to her out of absolute faith and love,
she appears as the very fountain of joy.
21.3. Kali is the Supreme Goddess resolving and harmonizing the contrasting attributes of
creation and dissolution,. She is the very essence of every existence.All the dualities of life,
the light and the dark, the beautiful and the fearsome, are united and reconciled in Kali.
Kali is the symbol of eternal time (Kala) she presides over all stages of the life. Kali is
consciousness in motionthe overflowing joy that projects, sustains, and withdraws the
universe. And her destructionhas a dual aspect; she gives birth to new life as the old one
fades away in the darkness of death.
Iconography and symbolism

22.1. Kali is portrayed mostly in two forms: the popular four-armed form and the tenarmed Mahakali form .She is being described as being black or deep blue. The iconography
of Kali is rich in symbolisms. It is said, Kali picture is filled with awe-inspiring symbols,

but they are not what they appear to be; and their real meaning is in their esoteric
significance.
22.2. She is dark like mountains of collyrium. Her Black does not mean absence of color;
but the absorption of all colors. It also suggests her immense power of attraction which
draws the entire existence into itself. All colors reside in her. In Kali all colors dissolve. All
shapes return to shapelessness, dissolved in the all pervading darkness of the eternal night.
Her dark color is the ultimate reality in which all distinctions disappear.
22.3. Naked, clad by space, the Digambari is resplendent in her nakedness. She is
unrestrained and boundlessness; free from all limitations and all illusions. She is beyond
name (nama) and form (rupa) and all conditional existence. Kalis nakedness signifies her
absolute (nirguna) nature.
22.4. Her three eyes govern the three forces of creation, preservation and destruction. They
are also said to represent the sun, moon, and fire; the three modes of time (kaala): past,
present and future which she governs.
22.5. Her garland of fifty human heads is said to represent the fifty letters of the Sanskrit
alphabet (varnamala), as also the power of her mantra, symbolizing her as the repository of
power and all knowledge. The girdle of the seven severed human arms that circles her waist
is said to represent the versatility and the freedom of choice inherent in all beings.
22.6. Her laughter is the expression of her absolute domination over all existence. It mocks
at those who in folly of their vanity try to oppose her.
22.7. Kalis four arms represent the complete circle of creation and destruction, which is
contained within her. Her two right hands dispel fear (abhaya) and bestow boons (varada);
assuring salvation. She holds out the promise of transformation. With her sword she cuts
the knots of doubts (samshaya) and eight types of delusions and negative traits (hatred,
doubt, fear, shame, backbiting, conformity, arrogance and status consciousness - Kularnava
Tantra). It is also the sword of wisdom and discrimination (viveka) that cuts through
ignorance and destroys falsehood. The freshly severed head of a demon dangling from her
left hand is the small ego, the false identities, the crippling limitations that bind
human thinking.

23.1. In the hierarchy of manifestations, Kali stands at the highest, the most abstract aspect
of divinity. All the dualities of life, the light and the dark, the beautiful and the fearsome,
are united and reconciled in Kali. To reach her one has to abandon all prejudices,
inhibitions; and discard all attachments, even the attachments to ideas and concepts.
Kali Kali Mahakali Kalike Papanasini
Khadgahaste Mundahaste Kali Kali Namostu Te

"Kreem Kreem Kreem Hum Hum Hreem Hreem Dakshine Kaalika

Kreem Kreem Kreem Hum Hum Hreem Hreem Swaha"