Kali ... Mother or Lover?

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On Thu, 26 Dec 2002 09:04:47 -0000 "shivaks51 <shivaks51"

<shivaks51 writes:

>

> Kali is viewed, or rather worshipped, as the Divine Mother by large

> sections of the community of devotees....

>

> However, there is another perspective, where Kali is viewed as a

> wife -- of Shiva -- and references to this point of view are fewer

> and very often esoteric and stylised. For example we have images of

> her standing on top of Shiva who is explicitly aroused and erect.

 

I have seem photos of the Kali-Shiva <murtis> at Dakshineshwar Temple.

Interestingly, the Shiva image is NOT sporting an erection.

 

> The big question is that <B>which perspective</B> is correct or

> rather more <U>appropriate</U>....

>

> Divinity is beyond form and shape, but to visualise her during our

> worship, we ascribe attributes that we are familiar with.

 

Kali has many more forms than either Mother or Lover. Ramprasad Sen

wrote a beautiful series of song lyrics which praise Kali (called here

Uma) as a very little girl, sometimes whining to her parents or throwing

temper tamtrums. She wants to hold the Moon, so her father Giri (the

Mountain) gives her a round mirror, and she is happy looking in it at the

Moon's (really her own) face.

 

> ... Ramakrishna... was asked by his wife(?) Sarada ... what exactly did

> SHE [the Goddess] mean to HIM ?

> Ramakrishna

> replied that she was his <B>Anandamoyee</B> .. a delightfully vague

> turn of phrase but perhaps that was the closest he could come since

> he was bound by the limitations of grammar and language.

 

Early in his career as chief priest of Dakshineshwar Temple, Ramakrishna

begged Kali to appear to him. He at last threatened suicide, and

suddenly a vision came to him of being surrounded by an infinite metallic

silver ocean, the waves converging on him from every direction.

 

This <leela> is obviously neither Mother nor Lover -- indeed, it's not a

human form at all! Yet Ramakrishna accepted it as a manifestation of

Kali.

 

-- Len/ Kalipadma

 

 

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