Dark Night Princess Vol 3 Translation Free From The

The eminent translator of Tantrik texts, Sir John Woodroffe in Garland of Letters, writes, Kali is so called because She devours Kala (Time) and then resumes Her own dark formlessness.

He has written several books about Hinduism for children and young adults.

The love between the Divine Mother and her human children is a unique relationship.

Kali, the Dark Mother is one such deity with whom devotees have a very loving and intimate bond, in spite of her fearful appearance.

In this relationship, the worshipper becomes a child and Kali assumes the form of the ever-caring mother.

Kali is the fearful and ferocious form of the mother goddess.

She assumed the form of a powerful goddess and became popular with the composition of the Devi Mahatmya, a text of the 5th - 6th century AD.

Here she is depicted as having born from the brow of Goddess Durga during one of her battles with the evil forces.

As the legend goes, in the battle, Kali was so much involved in the killing spree that she got carried away and began destroying everything in sight.

Shocked at this sight, Kali stuck out her tongue in astonishment and put an end to her homicidal rampage.

Hence the common image of Kali shows her in her mle mood, standing with one foot on Shivas chest, with her enormous tongue stuck out.

She has four arms, with a sword in one hand and the head of a demon in another.

The other two hands bless her worshippers, and say, fear not She has two dead heads for her earrings, a string of skulls as a necklace, and a girdle made of human hands as her clothing.

Her tongue protrudes from her mouth, her eyes are red, and her face and breasts are sullied with blood.

She stands with one foot on the thigh, and another on the chest of her husband, Shiva.

Her black complexion symbolizes her all-embracing and transcendental nature.

Says the Mahanirvana Tantra: Just as all colors disappear in black, so all names and forms disappear in her.

Her nudity is primeval, fundamental, and transparent like Nature the earth, sea, and sky.

Dark Night Princess Vol 3 Translation Free From The

Kali is free from the illusory covering, for she is beyond all maya or false consciousness.

Kalis garland of fifty human heads that stands for the fifty letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, symbolizes infinite knowledge.

Her girdle of severed human hands signifies work and liberation from the cycle of karma.

Her white teeth show her inner purity, and her red lolling tongue indicates her omnivorous nature her indiscriminate enjoyment of all the worlds flavors.

Her sword is the destroyer of false consciousness and the eight bonds that bind us.