Kali, the Great Mother Goddess of the Hindu tradition, is the Source, the One that gives birth to All. Known as a slayer of demons, She destroys the army of mind-born delusions symbolized by demons that separate us from the Divine as our own true Self. To our bound, limited and contracted ego identities She may strike terror, at times appearing as a coal-black, sword-wielding, blood-smeared dancer of death and destruction. To our Divine Self, She is our supremely beautiful Beloved, our dear spouse, performing a ballet of incomparable grace, overwhelming us with love.

The Great Goddess Kali can never be understood by the intellect. She and the essence of what She symbolizes are beyond the mind. Don't be surprised if your rational mind rebels and wants to go no further! Poets and mystics advise us that in order to know Her we must plunge into Her luscious, radiant, blackness, dive through our fear of the unknown, into Her overwhelming mystery and allow ourselves to dissolve in Her velvety midnight embrace. By Her grace we may know the unutterable truth of Her love, even as we are annihilated by Her infinitude. Beware, you may return babbling, forever lost to your spouse! Only a poet saint can assemble the words necessary to point our attention toward Her. Ramprasad Sen, the eighteenth-century Bengali poet-saint, is one of the most loquacious of Her devotees. Lex Hixon brilliantly rendered Ramprasad’s poems into English verse in his book, Mother of the Universe. Letting your mind step aside for a moment, allow your heart and soul to feast on these two poems:

The Mantra Om Kali Ma

The mantra Om Kali Ma vibrates with Her power and serves as a Divine vehicle for transporting you into Her domain. Using it for meditation, you breathe in Om Kali Ma with every inhalation, silently repeating it in your mind, savoring the subtle sounds of each syllable as She infuses every cell of your body with Her power, radiance and love. With every exhalation, silently breathe out Om Kali Ma, feeling Her presence filling the universe around you. Breathe in Om Kali Ma drinking in Her elixir. Breathe out Om Kali Ma as you float like a bubble in the ocean of the Divine. Your body may be gently swayed by Her lullaby as the ego-mind falls asleep and the Divine awakens within you. Meditate daily, taking delight in all She shows you.

Om Kali Ma, Jai Kali Ma!

This mind, like a firefly, flashes into existence,
Just to call lovers of the Dark One!
Having been summoned into my beloved Kali,
Her Blackness so mystical, so absorbing,
The mind disappears in Her like a candle dropping
into the midnight ocean,
Even the cry of ecstasy is lost in Her depths.
Yet those who gaze into Her unfathomable Void
take on a glow that those with sight can see!
How sublime to reflect Her Dark Light!
How sublime to share Her grace-filled gifts!
Extinguish your self in Her this very instant!
She has waited so long, so patiently
to embrace you — Her Beloved.
- Kalidas
- 2006

OM KALI MA

What mind can possibly approach you,
Much less grasp you, my beloved Kali!
This ordinary mind longs for you to be simple,
Predictable, easily appreciated, a sweet divinity,
A demure goddess, lovely to look at, engendering kindness.
Instead you parade forth in gruesome reality,
Unabashed, you unleash your limitless creative power,
Thrilling the mind and body with overwhelming sensual delights,
Propelling the spirit into awe-inspiring transcendent domains and
Crushing us all in your jaws of time, decay and suffering.
You gave birth to ignorance and her offspring,
"lacking this" and "wanting that," populate the universe.
Is there nothing you don't delight in creating?
How is this poor mind ever going to truly worship you?
I set out to circumambulate your divine form, to do puja to you,
But lifetimes of effort have left me gasping,
seeing your infinitude spread out in all directions,
my mind and heart quiver with
fear and adoration, longing for annihilation in you, my beloved.
You demand full and total sacrifice,
Not flower garlands and coins tossed at a statue,
Not merely lighting candles and prostrating piously,
Not sitting still as a corpse lost in the illusion of inside and outside,
No, you delight in swallowing all sense of separation,
Offer me your individuality you say,
Offer up your ego mind,
Offer up the waking, dream and deep sleep states!
This yoga is only for the insane
drunk on the nectar of Divine Love.
If you drink from the Holy Grail
You will drown in the end.
- Kalidas
- December 2005

Caught Unaware

My Beloved caught me
unawares today.

I hurried home from work,
pulled in our driveway,
my mind sorting its daily 'to do' list,
complaining to itself about the
number of unfinished items and
the scarcity of time.

While opening the car door a zephyr caressed
my face and delivered a scent
so sublime it arrested my mind,
demanding that it be followed
back to its source.

There in the garden above,
an exquisite white lily blossomed,
Her beauty and fragrance filling the yard,
Her swollen buds promising even more.

Standing in Her presence
a portal opened to the domain of the eternal
and a tear of joy slid down my cheek.

Her summons to remember had been answered.

Cars continued to rush by
on the road not twenty feet away,
the sounds of children playing at the beach
drifted across the lake,
a cat bird flitted from branch to branch on the
crabapple tree nearby, looking at us standing there.
Was he too drawn close by Her presence?

Time and space are Her gifts,
as suffused with Her presence as is the air with
the lily's intoxicating scent.

She so generously sprinkles throughout space and time
Her calls to awaken and remember.

My Beloved, you take special delight in tripping the mind
and watching it fall into your ocean of ecstasy!

- Kalidas
- August 2007

 

For more sacred poetry and works by Kalidas (Lawrence Edwards) visit Poetry Chaikana.

When the intellect grows jealous of the heart and soul enjoying the nectar of meditation on Her, you can feed your mind the works of Lex Hixon and Ramakrishna Paramahamsa - the great 19th century Kali devotee of Dakshineshwar, India. Elizabeth Harding’s book, Kali: The Black Goddess of Dakshineswar, is also well worth reading. Chanting the names of the Goddess or listening to such chants is a sublime practice in itself. The recordings of Krishna Das - One Track Heart, Pilgrim Heart and Live on Earth - may move you into Her ecstasy. The visions Kali granted me are shared in The Soul's Journey: Guidance From The Divine Within.

Jai Kali Ma!

Notes:

(1) Lex Hixon, Mother of the Universe, 1994, Wheaton, Ill. Theosophical Publishing House., p. 40.
(2) Ibid, p. 58.

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