~*~ Maha Kali~Kalaratri * Translated From Yoga Vasishta ~*~

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~*~*~*~ Namaskar EveryOne ! ~*~*~*~

 

 

Here is a description of Kali that appears in Yoga Vasishta. This

vision occured after Vasishta witnessed the dissolution of the

universe.

 

Vasishta continued:

 

Then I saw that Rudra began to dance in space, as if he were

intoxicated. It was as if the waters of the cosmic dissolution assumed

a form and were dancing in that form. Lo and behold! Even as I was

watching the dance of Rudra, I saw a shadow behind him. How could

shadow exist without sun, I asked myself. As I was reflecting over

this phenomenon, that shadow (female) stepped in front of Rudra, and

she was also dancing.

 

She had three eyes. She was dark of color. She was thin. But she was

huge. Her mouth emitted fire. She looked like the dark night or the

limitless space embodied as a female. Her arms extended to the

farthest reach of space. She was so thin that her nerves were visible

and it appeared that since she was thin and tall someone had bound her

with those nerves so that she might not collapse. She wore a garland

made of the heads of gods, suns and demons. She wore earrings of

snakes.

 

Now she had one arm, a moment later she had many arms and a moment

later she hurled her arms on the dance~floor. Now she had one mouth, a

moment later she had many mouths and a moment later she had no mouth

at all. Now she had one foot, a moment later she had many feet and a

moment later still she was without feet. I concluded from all this

that she was kAlarAtri (the Night of Death). Holy men call her Kali or

Bhagavati.

 

She had three eyes which were pits of fire. She had high cheek bones

and a chin. She had a necklace of stars strung on air. With her mighty

arms, which had sparkling and radiant nails, she filled the

directions. Her breathing was so powerful that the biggest mountains

could be blown away by it.

 

Her body seemed to swell enormously when she was dancing. While I was

witnessing this dance, she playfully strung the mountains into a

garland for herself. The three worlds became mirrors in the three

(upper, middle, and lower) parts of her body. Cities, forests,

mountains, etc., became so many flowers for the garland she wore

around her body (neck).

 

In her limbs were cities and towns, the seasons, the three worlds, the

months and the day and night. Dharma and adharma became her earrings.

Vedas were her brests filled with the milk of the highest knowledge.

She held many different weapons in her hands. The fourteen types of

beings, like the gods and all the rest of them, were hairs on her

body. All these beings with their cities and villages were dancing

with her, delighted at the thought of being born again. The entire

universe was in constant motion because she was dancing: from another

point of view, of course, they were firmly established (in her).

 

The whole universe was reflected on her body as if in a mirrior. Even

as I was looking they appeared, disappeared and reappeared.

 

Vasistha continued:

 

What was that Dance? The stellar firmament was revolving, the

mountains were revolving and the gods and the demons were also

revolving like mosquitoes. The revolving firmament looked like her

flowing garment. It was delightful to watch the very big trees (the

kalpa tree) which were but hairs on her body revolve while she danced.

They were ascending and descending between heaven and earth, as it

were.

 

The sun and the moon, the day and the night were reflected on her

fingernails, as it were, when she danced. The big mountains like the

himAlayas, the meru, etc., were also dancing with delight. It looked

as though another cosmic dissolution was about to take place.

 

The goddess wore the sacred thread made of three strands, which were

all kinds of prosperity, perfect knowledge and sacrifice.

 

Though it appeared that everything was revolving, nothing really

happened. The air that flowed in and out of her nostrils was making

great sounds "ghum ghum". On account of the movement of the countless

arms of the goddess, the air in the entire space was being churned. By

merely watching all this, even my eyes (and mind, too) began to get

fatigued and confused. When the mirrors on her body were agitated by

the dancing, the the mountains began to fall, the gods and celestials

began to fall and their palaces to collapse.

 

In her body, all the immovable objects became moveable. Still more

astonishing, oceans danced on mountain peaks and the mountain was

dancing in empty space. The space danced beneath the earth-plane, and

continents with flowering gardens and cities were dancing in the orb

of the sun. All these were floating around like straw within the

mirror of the goddess, as it were. Fish were swimming in the mirage,

and cities were seen in space, which also seemed to hold mountains.

The sky and the clouds of cosmic dissolution were resting on the

mountains which had fallen.

 

In the body of kAlarAtri were found night and day, creation and

dissolution, purity and impurity. Though all the gods, etc., were

tumbled by her dance, they were apparently steady because of the

steadiness of the infinite consciousness. In her consciousness there

was natural knowledge. By her dance she created and dissolved the

universes moment after moment, just as a small boy shifts his

attention from moment to moment. Now she is near, now she is far, now

she is infinitesimal and now she is cosmic. Such is the manifestation

of her cosmic power. She dances, holding the horns of the buffalo

which is the vehicle of the god of death, to the accompaniment of

sounds like 'dimbam dimbam paca paca jhamya'. She wears a garland of

skulls and on her head is a peacock feather. She bows to Rudra, the

god of dissolution. May he protect you.

 

-- from the "Yoga Vasishta" translated by Swami Venkatesananda

 

OM ! Jai Kali MA !

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~ Shivani Sannyasini ~*~*~*~*~*~

 

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RamakrishnaVedantaSannyasini