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Path: shell.portal.com!shell.portal.com!not-for-mail From: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (nagasiva) Newsgroups: alt.fan.kali.astarte.inanna,alt.magick.tyagi,alt.mythology,alt.yoga,alt.pagan Subject: Kali Aum Aum Aum! Date: 15 Sep 1996 01:10:07 -0700 Organization: Portal Communications (shell) Lines: 143 Sender: tyagi@shell.portal.com Message-ID: <51gdkv$58k@jobe.shell.portal.com> Reply-To: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (nagasiva) NNTP-Posting-Host: jobe.shell.portal.com Reference: omkali-REQUEST@portal.com (OmKali Elist) Xref: shell.portal.com alt.fan.kali.astarte.inanna:820 alt.magick.tyagi:10392 alt.mythology:30133 alt.yoga:7894 alt.pagan:173651 kaliyuga 49960913 FRIDAY! AA1 Hail Satan! jai Kali! my Mystress asked: # What, if anything, does Kali have to do with Shakti and/or Kundalini? just got this from the public library today: Given Kali's intimidating appearance and ghastly habits, it might seem that she would never occupy a central position in Hindu piety, yet she does. She is of central importance in Tantrism, particularly left-handed Tantrism, and in Bengali Sakta devotionalism. An underlying assumption in Tantric ideology is that reality is the result and expression of the symbiotic interaction of male and female, Siva and *sakti*, the quiescent and the dynamic, and other polar opposites that in interaction produce a creative tension. Consequently, goddesses in Tantrism play an important role and are affirmed to be as central to discerning the nature of reality as the male deities are. Although Siva is usually said to be the source of the *Tantras*, the source of wisdom and truth, and Parvati, his spouse, to be the student to whom the scriptures are given, many of the *Tantras* emphasize the fact that it is *sakti* that pervades reality with her power, might, and vitality and that it is she (under- stood in personified form to be Parvati, Kali, and other goddesses) who is immediately present to the adept and whose presence and being underlie his own being. For the Tantric adept it is her vitality that is sought through various techniques aimed at spiritual transformation; thus it is she who is affirmed as the dominant and primary reality. Although Parvati is usually said to be the recipient of Siva's wisdom in the form of the *Tantras*, it is Kali who seems to dominate Tantric iconography, texts, and rituals, especially in left-handed Tantra. In many places Kali is praised as the greatest of all deities or the highest reality.... *Sadhana* (spiritual endeavor) takes on a particularly dramatic form in left-handed (*vamacara*) Tantrism. In his attempt to realize the nature of the world as completely and thoroughly pervaded by the one *sakti*, the *sadhaka* (here called the "hero," *vira*) undertakes the ritual of the *pancatattva*, the "five (forbidden) things" (or truths). In a ritual context and under the supervision of his guru, the *sadhaka* partakes of wine, meat, fish, parched grain (perhaps a hallucinogenic drug of some kind), and illicit sexual intercourse. In this way he overcomes the distinction (or duality) of clean and unclean, sacred and profane, and breaks his bondage to a world that is artificially fragmented. He affirms in a radical way the underlying unity of the phenomenal world, the identity of *sakti* with the whole creation. Heroically, he triumphs over it, controls and masters it. By affirming the essential worth of the forbidden, he causes the forbidden to lose its power to pollute, to degrade, to bind. The figure of Kali conveys death, destruction, fear, terror, the all-consuming aspect of reality. As such she is also a "forbidden thing," or the forbidden par excellence, for she is death itself. The Tantric here does not propitiate, fear, ignore, or avoid the forbidden. During the *panca- tattva* ritual, the *sadhaka* boldly confronts Kali and thereby assimilates, overcomes, and transforms her into a vehicle of salvation. This is particularly clear in the *Karpuradi-stotra*, a short work in praise of Kali, which describes the *pancatattva* ritual as performed in the cremation ground (*smasana-sadhana*). Throughout this text Kali is described in familiar terms. She is black (verse 1), has disheveled hair and blood trickling from her mouth (3), holds a sword and a severed head (4), wears a girdle of severed arms, sits on a corpse in the cremation ground (7), and is surrounded by skulls, bones, and female jackals (8). It is she, when confronted boldly in meditation, who gives the *sadhaka* great power and ultimately salvation. In Kali's favorite dwelling place, the cremation ground, the *sadhaka* meditates on every terrible aspect of the black goddess and thus achieves his goal. He, O Mahakali, who in the cremation-ground, naked, and with disheveled hair, intently meditates upon Thee and recites Thy *mantra*, and with each recitation makes offering to Thee of a thousand *Akanda* flowers with seed, becomes without any effort a Lord of the earth. O Kali, whoever on Tuesday at midnight, having uttered Thy *mantra*, makes offering even but once with devotion to Thee of a hair of his *Sakti* {his female companion} in the cremation-ground, becomes a great poet, a Lord of the earth, and ever goes mounted upon an elephant. The *Karpuradi-stotra* clearly makes Kali more than a terrible, ferocious slayer of demons who serves Durga or Siva on the battlefield. In fact, she is by and large dissociated from the battle context. She is the supreme mistress of the universe (12), she is identified with the five elements (14), and in union with Siva (who is identified as her spouse) she creates and destroys the worlds. Her appearance has also been modified, befitting her exalted position as ruler of the world and the object of meditation by which the *sadhaka* attains liberation. In addition to her terrible aspects (which are insisted upon), there are now hints of another, benign dimension. So, for example, she is no longer described as emaciated or ugly. In the *Karpuradi-stotra* she is young and beautiful (1), has a gently smiling face (18), and makes gestures with her two right hands that dispel fear and offer boons (4). These positive features are entirely apt, as Kali no longer is a mere shrew, the distillation of Durga's or Parvati's wrath, but is she through whom the hero achieves success, she who grants the boon of salvation, and she who, when boldly approached, frees the *sadhaka* from fear itself. She is here not only the symbol of death but the symbol of triumph over death. _Hindu Goddesses_, by David Kinsley, UC Press, 1986; pp. 122-5. _______________________________________________________________ by 'triumph' and 'overcoming' I interpret this as that death no longer has any power, no charge, to the adept. it does not factor into the actions of those who have achieved this state of living/being. it merely becomes one of a number of releasable factors amongst a throng of attractions and repulsions, variably perceived. aum krim namah kali tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com nagasiva -- see http://www.hollyfeld.org/~tyagi/nagasiva.html and call: 408/2-666-SLUG!!! ---- (emailed replies may be posted) ---- CC public replies to email ---- * * * Asphalta Cementia Metallica Polymera Coyote La Cuckaracha Humana * * *
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