Essence of Kali & Durga - The Fierce Mother Goddesses

Kali is a form of the mother Goddess - "Shakti". Shakti in sanskrit means "energy/power". She is like the nuclear reactor(with immense energy) which becomes unstable, on irking by evil forces, turning herself into a nuclear bomb. She does this when terrible situations anger her a lot, typically the demons and the bad elements which threaten creation.

The Vedic Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, who are the phenomenon of creation, time period / lifespan and destruction respectively, have their abiding source of power. This power is feminine. The phenomenon cannot manifest without the power and the power is in turn guided by the phenomenon into the formation of this creation. "Aadi-Shakti"(eternal energy) is the consort of Brahma as "Saraswati"(Goddess of Knowledge), of Vishnu as "Lakshmi"(Goddess of Prosperity) and of Shiva as "Parvati"(Goddess of Strength). 

Parvati also called "Shakti" is also mostly generally referred to as the consort of Shiva, and their union - "ArdhaNareeshwara" (half male-half female form of Shiva-Shakti) is the secret of all creation.They both entwine to form the web of creation, Shiva being the pool of consciousness(the end of all forms) and Shakti being the energy which gives consciousness the medium to create. Which is why she is called Mother. The energy of creation that she is, "Shakti" flows consciously through every particle and is the life force of every being - living or dead. She is the life force of the humans, the ghosts, plants, animals, angels and demons. The whole of creation is her child. She is the nurturer and also the punisher when her child is in danger.

Many forms of Shakti in different
situations & aspects, centre one being Durga,
2 topleft corner ones are forms of  Kaali.
There are still many more forms and Avataars.

HER VARIOUS FORMS : 
Maa Durga, Maa Kaali, Annapurna, and many more.

Maa is kind, benevolent, loving and truly the ultimate mother. She cares and nurtures. In most of her forms, Shakti is in a benevolent state. But when her own creations - the demons, "Asuras", evil spirits, etc go upto the level of destroying nature, killing innocent beings, and creating havoc, she comes into the angry protective mother form. She manifests into "Durga" ("Durg" meaning fortress/ boundary/ protection). Durga is shown as all powerful, skilled in martial arts and with her sheer strength and courage she kills the devils and protects the good people. Till now she is courageous, poised and angry. This can be seen in the story of "Mahishasura" who was a demon who could disguise himself as a buffalo. He was creating havoc. He had got a boon that no man but only a woman could kill him, which he thought was impossible as women aren't as strong enough. 
In his ego he destroyed villages, settlements and entire tribes. His cruel ways were limited by Shakti who transformed into Durga and showed the demon that power and energy itself are feminine in nature. The same energy can become life giving or life taking.

When Evil does not stop at that, and demonic activity continues to anger her even more, Shakti loses it totally. She becomes Raw. She loses her poise. She becomes like the tigress who wants to protect her cubs. She transforms into Kali, the fierce one and does not even try to defeat the demons. Instead she just massacres all of them. She becomes the term - Madness and Wrath in the true sense. She loses her touch of femininity and poise, and becomes only the mad angry Mother taking revenge for her murdered babies and punishing evil. She goes around wild, breathing anger, severing heads of demons and wearing a garland of their skulls and skirt of their chopped hands. It seems like she herself has become a mad demon in nature, but only for a good cause. There are many stories of Kaali, but a famous one is the arrival of this demon called "RaktBeej"(meaning blood-seed). This demon had terrifying powers. The Angels and warriors tried to fight him, but his one drop of blood which fell on the ground would give birth to another demon like him. He could cut his own arm and sprinkle the drops of blood around to create 100's of Raktbeejas like him. This way he went on killing and destroying. When Mother's patience ended, she burst up in massive anger taking the form of Kaali. She wanted blood. She leaped and flung her weapon like a hurricane cutting up all the Raktbeejas, but they wud keep growing more and more as soon as their blood touched the ground. In her fierce madness, mother Kaali opened her mouth wide like a giant and started sucking all the blood that came out of these demons with such a force, that no drop of Raktbeej's blood ever touched the ground. Once all the demons were dead, Kaali was still angry, could not control her wrath, as she is the form of pure wrath. She continued to kill all other evil demons as well, in her madness, to which Shiva and other Gods got worried that she would destroy the meaning of life (good vs evil struggle) if she kills the entire species of demons in her anger. This would harm the balance of life as every creation has an intended purpose of it existing.

Shiva laid himself as a corpse to stop Kali

So Shiva laid himself down as a corpse in the way of Kali who was madly walking over them searching for any demons alive. As soon as her feet touched Shiva's body, which is considered super disrespectful, she got a shock, her tounge stuck out in shame and she realized that she is also a poised Parvati, the wife of Shiva. The anger receded, and she got back to her old form of "Parvati".

Why is Kali so fierce?
We see the essence of Kali in nature everywhere. Try troubling new born cubs or pups, surely their mother won't spare you. The mother of a newborn human baby, if someone tries to kill her baby, she takes the form of Durga first trying her best to protect her child, and sometimes she could even become Kaali, take up weapons, knowing no shame, fight to kill. The mother in this form is so full of love & emotions for her child that she will fight anyone even till her own death to protect her child. This is the true essence of motherhood. She doesnt care about dangers, society, and her feminine poise. She only thinks of attacking anyone who comes close to her child, like an animal.


Why is Kaali naked ?
We see naked images and sculptures of all Gods/godesses in ancient Indian historical sites and art. Clothing was more of an ornamentation back then. Mostly it was worn to segregate people in work, like a jersey is used. 

Shame was seen in a bad task, not a bare body.
(Sculpture of a Goddess)

Painting of a queen.
The servant has cloth but no jewels.
Clothing was a way of  tagging & ornamentation back in time.
(Ajanta cave paintings, India)

Another example of ancient attitudes to nudity
visible in the sculpture

Modern art forms of the same Goddesses,
now covered up, shows the ways of our narrow minded society,
which considers bare bodies shameful & lustful.

So for example, all the queens servant wore a white robe, and the kings guards wore a red head gear. Shame because of a bare body, wasn't existent in people's minds, as is seen in the ancient art. This is also seen in all other art forms from Greek to Egyptian to Meopotamian.

We see this culture even today among the tribals anywhere in the world, who live away from the society, in nature's goodness, knowing no shame. Look at their simple faces. it shows that they are much more pure and logical in their thinking. They respect man, woman and nature equally and do not lust after bare skin which is something every human is born with. Cloth is only used for protection and utility.

The free and open minded attitudes of tribals all around the world, which are remnants of civilizations.
Some form of rigid and vulgar mindset took away this innocence from the world.
In each photo you can see men and women together.

But still why is Kali not even adorned with jewels and ornamentation like other feminine forms shown above? Why is her hair flowing wild? Why doesn't she behave demurely and gracefully like women do? That's because only when she quits her poise of a woman, will she be immune to all fear. The shame of a person is the biggest drawback in a fight. If we feel shameful in a fight because our clothes got torn at the wrong places, or for other reasons, and our opponent starts making fun, our strength, our confidence and will to fight is greatly reduced. And knowing the demons, they would definitely try all possible ways, to bring disgrace to a female warrior(who is also a graceful married wife of Shiva), which is why she gives up all her grace in the beginning itself and transforms into a mad animal like being trying to protect her babies; ie us.

Why is Kaali also benevolent?
Kaali is realized as an eternal truth of Shakti - the feminine power of the cosmos. She runs through our very bodies and mind. She is seen as benevolent to those whom she is protecting. It is very obvious that if someone is fighting madly for a cause, like soldiers who madly and bravely fight for their motherland, not knowing fear of death, they must be extremely loving towards their country, ie. the subject whom they are protecting. The Indian revolutionaries who sacrificed themselves at young ages for the love of their country, people still tell tales of their mad love for their motherland (the subject). Thus if Kaali or even Durga for that matter, is fierce against elements who are harming the creation, including us, it would mean that she must also madly love us. We are her babies whom she loves in the same raw, unpoised, feminine way.

'Ramkrishna Paramhansa' and wife 'Sarada Devi'
(19th cent - in white clothes), considered to be God
incarnate themselves, are one of the greatest loving
devotees of Maa Kali. Many miracles have been 

witnessed around them in their lives. Their teachings have 

touched many lives & their ashram has a vast following today.

Kaali is invoked to protect from evil spirits, evil intentions and negative feelings. She is invoked in particular rituals for various purposes as she brings in the immense raw power of Shakti, which is sometimes difficult to handle. 

Many exorcists often use her mantras and rituals to ward off evil spirits and sometimes even to gain power to control the spirits or to do black magic. However stories and accounts, and even wizards and exorcists themselves have always told us that whenever any of these powers given by her, which are tremendous, are misused, Kaali punishes and even those punishments are tremendous, usually leading to death of the practitioner.

She is the fierce but also the simple minded mother who wants no Tantra wizardry to impress her, but only pure love and thus would prefer a loving devotee over the wisest Tantra wizards. That is the essence of the largely mistaken Maa Kali- the protector, the master of Tantra, the controller of spirits, the destroyer, the fierce mother, the most loving, the most benevolent, the maddest, the kindest...

She makes me feel secure.
She is Pure Wrath... and Pure Love.

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What is Religion ? - an observation

There are so many registered religions across the planet. This post is especially targeted towards the mindsets which practice the race in number of followers through conversion. I have noticed, that whenever I see a clipping in newspapers on tension between different faiths(Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Jews, etc), I never see the word "religion" written. It says - "Communal Tension" or "Communal Violence".

But on the other hand, another term - "Religious Communities" is used to segregate people of a certain kind of belief from those of other beliefs. So even if they are siblings, they can be of different religions, depending upon various factors. Therefore it definitely is not something that is biological or geographical in nature. It is something that just came into existence, and definitely out of a motive. Most of the self righteous, conversion fanatic religions, are actually the youngest belief systems with their own set of rules and laws.

It seems very political to me as natural communities and belief structures always have their core values straightened out, and they are pretty much the same and are used as philosophy rather than to frighten people, and then there comes a class of people with dogma in their hands, which makes others uncomfortable. The dogma constantly needs to be explained and re structured in words to make people believe it. That shouldn't be the way if it was the word of God, particularly when God constantly keeps asking people to fear Him. 

The Vedic texts indicate that fear never brings love and respect, it only brings animosity and jealousy.

Here are some conclusions I have come to as to why and how religions came about to be.

Note : Vedic culture (Hindu, Buddhist, etc) is a way of life, not a dogmatic religion.

The Oxford Dictionary gives this definition of religion :

noun

[mass noun]
• the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods:ideas about the relationship between science and religion
• [count noun] a particular system of faith and worship:the world’s great religions
• [count noun] a pursuit or interest followed with great devotion:consumerism is the new religion

I would say that its quite a modified, twisted definition.
The word "religion" is a derivative of the Latin word "religo/religare," meaning "to bind".

This was later interpreted as, binding yourself to worship of one true God. But the Latin word probably wasn't developed thinking that way. It quite literally meant - "to bind". Thus I don't see religion any where close to God or spirituality. Spirituality attracts and enlightens, it certainly does not bind.

I have witnessed some conversion techniques. The argument given is that - "It is the right way", "We need to show you the right way", "We know better than you", "You are going astray", "This is God's will" etc. This is almost always followed by an emotional tearing down of confidence and mocking of beliefs of the victim. But then that's only an argument.

The real reason for conversion is greed of economic and political power through subjugation. Religion ensures both. I mean, if a person has certain beliefs, that's good; but why would he/she propose to dictate the same to others as law. Yes, that's right. Dogmas are laws, do's and don'ts without the explanation of Why? How? What? They say that the laws if followed will take the believers to heaven, not that if they are kind and nice to all, then that is supposed to happen.

Communities have always existed everywhere as a group survival tactic. Communal diversity is very natural in animals and humans. It is primarily the development of a society in a particular place with a certain resources. There used to be a time when all communities around the world used to behave and act naturally harmonizing with their surroundings. The dessert dwellers acted according to their habitat, the forest dwellers according to theirs. Even towns, villages and civilizations that were created in the same places, people's eating and clothing habbits, ornaments and traditions, rituals and cultures, depended on the climate, food sources, water availability, soil fertility, etc.


 
Such indigenous people still exist, but can be seen only among the tribals and forest dwellers away from the modern civilization. They have maintained their ingenuity and belief structure till this day, probably because of their non materialistic ways, shyness and simple minds, who know no shame, no fear, and no regrets, who live free and treat men, women and nature equally.

Rudyard Kipling's poem - "The White Man's Burden" explains the conquest over these beautiful indigenous people of the world. Religious conversion was quite a flagbearing event while conquering indigenous people. Religion sometimes helps to justify atrocities, in the name of the unknown - God. It was an excellent plan for mental conquest and automatically the economical and infrastructural plunder followed.There are loads of documented history on how ancient civilizations, had been converted into subjugation, changing their culture, food habits, clothing and other habits, by ridicule, by force, by laws and by religion.

Religion is also called "Faith", but to me, it isn't so. Faith would be to believe and trust. Religion on the other hand is quite opposite of faith in creation, it boasts of self righteousness and total intolerance.

If studied, interesting similarities can be drawn out of the core beliefs of all these ancient civilizations, regarding God's presence in nature, culture of dance and music, social gatherings, culture of ornamentation and clothing, harmony and respect, equality of women and men, strict punishments for thieves and robbers, etc. It can be studied that their developments were based on far more logical conclusions than the religious preaching.  The jungle dwellers and tribes across the continents, still have this similarity and simplicity. They may look different but their core values are the same. The respect for "Unity in Diversity" is the same.

Why is there agitation in the name of Religion? 
People focus too much on which religion is better / correct. It becomes a matter of pride and ego. Religious books sometimes seem to be like law books and order punishments for particular behaviors.. It seems like its the law of a particular land not eternally applicable. I feel, this is where the main problem is. If the religious books had focused more on eternal truths of body, mind and soul, and how to find God and peace in one's life(which can be experienced) rather than finding God after death (which no one has experienced), they would have been followed in a much better way. Atheists might not have appeared into the scene at all.


The Vedic culture / Hinduism / Buddhism / Jainism etc, isn't seen as a religion by many experts. There are no particular conducts of a person that need to be done in order to please the clergy. No conversions. No changing of names. There are farmers in south India, who are Christian, but follow Vedic practices and rituals in farming. 

They do it primarily because it helps their yield. No differences. They know that these Vedic practices (Homa Farming : Youtube video) are based on nature and environment alone, some ancient science probably, but no dogma, no politics. The best part is that they never had to convert.

Here is an example of another Australian Christian family : Youtube video

So many people around the world do Yoga and Meditate in the name of Om. Did they have to convert. On the other hand some fanatics see it as a threat and something that will make their followers astray.
Here is an example : Video
This to me looks like the fear that people will be set free and none will fear them and their laws. What's the need I ask, what's the requirement of such intolerance. When the whole world adopted their culture and ways, clothes and music, what is the problem if there is a little exchange. Its quite foolish.
I as a kid, brought up in a Hindu family, Vedic at heart, was sent to a Christian missionary school. I've learnt about Jesus Christ and his life and sacrifices. My parents or the society never had a pinch of doubt or fear that I would get converted. That's the case with a lot of Hindus.

The Vedic scriptures and books, focus on soul searching and secrets to happiness in every sphere of life.
Yoga and meditation are only a few ways. Thus more and more scientific verification of Vedic knowledge is being heard of in recent times. Many modern scientists have read and respected the Vedas for its philosophy and forward approach towards finding the Truth.

Humans are naturally born looking for answers, finding their purpose, with logic, in search of love and spiritual experiences. Breeding intolerance will only make them angry and self destructive.

Use the soul to make decisions as your mind is only a reflection of others. That reflection called Religion.

Saurabh Dey (Omcultr)

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