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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780892546008 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Nicolas-Hays, Inc |
| Publication date: | 09/01/1993 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 352 |
| File size: | 8 MB |
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KALI
The Black Goddess of Dakshineswar
By Elizabeth U. Harding
Nicolas-Hays
Copyright © 1993 Elizabeth U. HardingAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-89254-600-8
CHAPTER 1
THE DAKSHINESWAR KALI TEMPLE
O Mother! my desires are unfulfilled; My hopes are ungratified; But my life is fast coming to an end. Let me call Thee, Mother, for the last time; Come and take me in Thy arms. None loves in this world; This world knows not how to love; My heart yearns, O Mother, to go there, Where love reigns supreme.
Approaching the Dakshineswar Kali Temple
Though a taxi can drive all the way into the Dakshineswar Kali Temple Compound, it is more interesting to get out where the local buses stop and walk through the lively lane that leads to the temple. The lane resembles nothing a visitor may expect of a modern city street. Yet, it is not so much the poverty and the somewhat chaotic conditions that catch one's attention. One is much more fascinated by the throbbing life in the lane that goes on without shame, indifferent to praise or criticism. Somewhat overwhelmed, one feels mysteriously drawn into the free spirit of the place where people, animals and things live and die, side by side, in unusual harmony.
There are many people walking through the lane. One can distinguish those who have already visited Ma Kali by the large vermilion mark a priest has put on their foreheads. The people who are on their way to see the Mother generally walk faster and only stop at one or two little stalls to purchase a gift or a flower garland for Ma Kali.
A wandering goat trots past the taxi, unconcerned and chewing on something. In front of a little stall across the lane, a few ladies wrapped in brightly colored saris bargain loudly over the price of conch bangles. Their voices intersect with a loudspeaker fastened to a lamppost. Although the sound is turned up full blast, the shrill voice of a female vocalist singing movie songs does not disturb the peace of a darkskinned, wiry old man with a bright red turban. He calmly squats next to his wares spread out on a mat and looks as if he hadn't moved for years.
A turbanned Sikh taxi driver with a full grayish beard that hangs down all the way to his chest honks his horn—and honks, and honks, and honks—at colorfully-dressed people who walk leisurely in the middle of the lane. In frustration, he spits red chewed-up pan onto the pavement and shouts sharp words at people who pay no attention to him. Very slowly his taxi pushes through the crowd.
Some of the vendors rhythmically shout out their wares—each word, each syllable a beat. Come shoppers, come, come. Other street vendors clank bells, blow horns, or beat upon a surface. Any surface will do. The balloon seller, for instance, makes a noise by rubbing his fingers rhythmically against his balloons. This creates a truly strange sound: "Crrrrrck, crrrrrck, crrrrrck." Never mind that it sounds creepy; the children love it because they associate the "crrrrrck" with the pleasure of possessing a colorful, pretty balloon.
Yes, there is a lot of noise in the lane, but one can't really call it a cacophony. Instead, the combination of the many different kinds of noise rather translates itself in the brain as a steady rhythm, like a beating heart. And listening to it, one can hear what one wants to hear. A devotee passing through the lane perhaps hears "Ka-li, Ka-li, Ka-li," while a merchant may hear "Bakshish, Bak-shish, Bak-shish."
A young coolie passes. Walking with a fast rhythmic gait, he carries an enormous round wicker basket on his head. Although the basket is covered with a brightly checkered cotton cloth—skillfully knotted at various points-—one still sees a fancy Varanasi sari, ripe fruit and flowers peek out here and there. A portly man dressed in silk follows and makes a great effort to keep up with the quick steps of the coolie. He anxiously watches him and, at intervals, he shouts out instructions, "Careful! Don't drop my offering to Kali."
Mangy-looking dogs run in and out of the crowd, eyeing the coolie, looking for food. One dog is placidly chewing on a dead bird lying in the middle of the sidewalk. Perched above the crowd that throngs through the lane sit large, jet-black crows, their sharp claws fastened onto the roofs of little stalls. "Caack, caack," their watchful eyes don't miss any edible morsel that falls to the ground. And if one does, their large black wings swoop down in an instant, and they generally beat the dogs to it. In spite of all the commotion, a small white cow with beautiful, gentle eyes moves languidly through the crowd. A larger brown cow licks a discarded green coconut shell while another probes with its tongue for food among waste lying in the gutter.
There are little stalls on both sides of the lane, one after the other, displaying anything from foodstuff to brass Gods and Goddesses. Colorfully laid out, there are rudraksha beads, glass baubles, lockets, perfume, shawls, little carpets to sit on, incense, conch bangles, iron bracelets, peacock-feather hand fans, vermilion, orange, pink and yellow powder, and little aluminum swords. Numerous posters and small pictures depict various forms of Kali—the supreme energy responsible for the creation and dissolution of the universe. There is Dakshineswar Kali in her benign form, Smashan Kali, fierce and terrifying, and Adyapith Kali, a fairly recent benign form of Kali.
Not only Kali, but also the entire Hindu Pantheon, it seems, is displayed in a stall under the shade of an old black oilcloth. There is Ganesha, the elephant God, made of ivory, a black Shiva linga, and Radha and Krishna in loving embrace. There are brass images of the Goddesses Durga, Lakshmi, and Sarasvati. Parvati, the wife of Shiva, can be seen sitting on his lap.
Since the early missionaries arrived and set foot on India's shores, the Western mind has struggled with this peculiar Indian habit of worshipping a multitude of Gods. Does Kali get insulted if a pilgrim visits her temple and purchases an image of another Goddess? "Of course not," says a Shakti worshipper. To him, Kali, Durga, Lakshmi, Sarasvati are all different manifestations of the same Divine Mother. They are just different names and forms of the Ultimate Force that has brought this universe into existence.
Yet, the popular names and forms of the Goddess make up only a fraction of her portfolio. All women, according to the Hindu, are manifestations of the Goddess, the Shakti (female power), and reverence for the natural mother is really reverence for the Divine Mother. She is the first guru and ought to be honored all through one's life. A Hindu's tale talks about Queen Madalasa, who was greatly responsible for the spiritual realization of her three sons.
Madalasa was a Hindu queen who was blessed, not only with uncommon beauty, but also with divine knowledge. She knew that this world was unreal and illusory and that the only reality was Brahman. When she gave birth to a son, she insisted on nursing the baby herself and bringing him up so that he would attain the highest realization in life. Rocking him to sleep at night, she softly sang into his ear, "Tat tvam asi, Tat tvam asi." Thou art that, that thou art—Thou art Brahman. Madalasa was successful. As soon as the young prince was grown, he realized the emptiness of the material world which he then renounced, leaving the palace to become a sannyasin (monk). King Ritadhwaja, Madalasa's husband, dismayed, could not persuade his son to stay and take over the kingdom.
Two more boys were born to Madalasa and, rocking them in their cradle, she sang softly, "Tat tvam asi, Tat tvam asi." When they grew older, they also renounced the world and left the palace to become sannyasins.
"We have lost all our sons, thanks to your upbringing," said the king to Madalasa. "Promise that the fourth son born to us will be raised elsewhere and groomed to take over the kingdom." The queen agreed.
A fourth son was born, and Madalasa again sang her lullaby, "Tat tvam asi, Tat tvam asi." But King Ritadhwaja took the boy at a very tender age and sent him away to a royal teacher. When her son was leaving home, the queen gave him a piece of paper hidden in a ring.
"My son, a ruler's tasks are difficult and worldly life is full of trouble," said Queen Madalasa. "If you ever get into a dilemma, take off this ring and read the paper hidden within." On that piece of paper was written, "God alone is true. All else is false. The soul never kills or is killed. Live alone or in the company of the holy."
Madalasa's boy grew into a man and successfully ruled the kingdom for many years after his parents had retired to a forest. But as things are in this world, troubles began to set in after some time. One day was especially bad and he remembered his mother. He took off the ring she had given to him, looked inside, and read Madalasa's message. "Tat tvam Asi," rang in his ears and the knowledge of Brahman dawned in his mind. "I am that Infinite Brahman." He handed over the kingdom to a competent minister and, like his brothers, renounced the world to embrace religion.
* * *
While dwelling within this world of maya (illusion, worldly existence), Hindus worship many Gods, but when they think of the Infinite, there is only one, all-encompassing God—called Brahman by the Vedas. Brahman is the transcendental all-pervading Reality of the Vedanta philosophy. What Brahman actually is cannot be described, but for the sake of reference, the Vedas refer to Brahman as Sat-Chid-Ananda—Absolute Existence, Absolute Knowledge, and Absolute Bliss. Brahman is the impersonal, sexless, tranquil Infinity. Brahman is. It is "isness" itself, motionless, beyond thought and comprehension.
When the incomprehensible Brahman begins to agitate, it creates and therefore manifests with the help of its own cosmic ignorance. In this state, Brahman becomes Shiva and Shakti, the male and female aspect of being. Shiva and Shakti are two aspects of the same truth—the static and the dynamic, the abstract and the concrete, the male and the female. Creation is not possible without them. Although they differ in form and activity, they are inseparable like the ocean and its waves, the milk and its whiteness. If one thinks of one, one must automatically think of the other.
Hindus also refer to Shiva and Shakti as Purusha (soul) and Prakriti (nature)—the principle behind the pair of opposites, the Yin and Yang. If we accept good, we equally must accept bad—hot/cold, love/hate, war/peace.
Prakriti is Maya, Brahman's veiling power. This world, as we perceive it, is Maya—an illusion—and because most of us cannot behold Brahman, Maya is real to us. But, just like fog that lifts when the sun comes out, Maya disappears when the knowledge of Brahman dawns. One then transcends the pair of opposites, and only the One remains. Only Brahman is.
Prakriti consists of three gunas (qualities) known as sattva (calmness), rajas (activity), and tamas (inertia). Due to the vicinity of Purusha, Prakriti begins to vibrate and the three gunas lose their balance. And then, when the gunas start to vibrate, creation begins. The first manifestation of Prakriti is Cosmic Intelligence, called the buddhi tattva or mahat tattva (Great Principle), and from it arises the individual consciousness, the ego.
From the sattvic part of the individual consciousness come the mind, the five organs of knowledge (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin) and the five organs of action (speech, hands, feet, genital organ, and the organ of evacuation). From the tamasic part come the five tanmatras (subtle elements: sound, sight, touch, taste, and smell) and the gross elements (space, air, fire, water and earth).
The sattva guna is the source of happiness and everything becomes full of delight. A person filled with sattva guna is cheerful. Such a person possesses wisdom, balance, integrity, truthfulness, cleanliness, faith, forgiveness, fortitude, mercy, bashfulness, peace and contentment. The color of the sattva guna is white.
The raja guna is wonderful but not pleasant. Its color is red. A person under the influence of rajas is tremendously active. Although this may be a good thing sometimes, rajas, in general, is the source of many troubles. It brings restlessness, anger, pride, enmity, sleeplessness, egoism, vanity and arrogance to the mind.
The tama guna is black. From tamas arises laziness, ignorance, sleep, poverty, fear, miserliness, insincerity. A person steeped in tamas should try to counteract his or her negative tendencies with rajas. Through work and discipline, one can overcome laziness. Later on, when established in rajas, one can overcome the qualities of this guna through sattva. Referring to the gunas, Sri Ramakrishna said:
Under the spell of God's maya, man forgets his true nature. He forgets that he is heir to the infinite glories of his Maker. This divine maya is made up of three gunas. None of them can reach the Truth; they are like robbers, who cannot come to a public place for fear of being arrested. They rob man of the knowledge of Truth. Tamas wants to destroy him. Rajas binds him to the world. But sattva rescues him from the clutches of rajas and tamas. Under the protection of sattva, man is rescued from anger, passion, and the other evil effects of tamas. Though sattva loosens the bonds of the world and shows him the road leading to the Supreme Abode of God, it cannot give man the ultimate knowledge of Truth.
Sri Ramakrishna attained God through fervent love and extreme longing for a vision of the Beloved. When the tempest of passionate love blows, one need not worry about philosophy, spiritual disciplines, or how to get accepted by a guru. Sri Ramakrishna attained the Divine Mother Kali based on his intense devotion alone. His teachers came later.
But once Sri Ramakrishna had realized God, he thought of the millions of people who never had a chance to hear about Kali. What about them? Could they, following a different religion, also attain God? He stopped visiting the Kali temple and began to practice the prescribed disciplines of other religions. He worshipped according to Christian tradition and saw God; he worshipped according to Muslim tradition and saw the same God. Sri Ramakrishna then realized that all religions lead to the same One Supreme Being, the One God within us all. "God is one, sages call him by various names," said Sri Ramakrishna with conviction.
* * *
Time somehow seems to stand still in India—just as it does during the short break when night turns into day or when one breath stops and the next begins. One experiences a kind of dreamlike state while walking through the small lane that leads to the Kali temple—full of anticipation, knowing very well that the Divine Mother Kali is just around the corner.
The warm, gentle air smells of dust, perfume, spices, coconut hair oil, incense and fried grease. One passes tea shops in the lane, shops where one can buy fried things like sarnosas (deep-fried pastry filled with potato curry) or chops (deep-fried mashed potato balls with spicy fillings), and shops that sell spices and Indian-made cigarettes. A poor rickshaw-wallah, who can only afford to purchase one beedi (a cigarette rolled in a kendu leaf) does not have to pay extra for matches. He can light his cigarette from a long, slowly burning string that hangs next to the shop. There are shops that sell only sweets. Appetizingly displayed behind glass are sandesh (sweet cheese dessert), rasagolla (cheese balls soaked in syrup), sweet curds, gulab jamun (fried lentil-flour dumplings soaked in syrup), and jilipis, which are beautifully spiraled golden rings of fried lentil flour soaked in syrup.
The lane dead-ends into the main gate of the Kali temple. While this is the most frequently used entrance, it is not the only one. See figure 2 on page 11. Dakshineswar residents generally enter the temple through the back gate a little further north. The other way to approach the Kali temple is by boat. See figure 3 above. During Sri Ramakrishna's time, many people preferred to come by boat because road conditions were so bad. Today, it is just the opposite. The river has deposited so much silt near the temple ghats that it is impossible to land with a bigger boat. The only boats able to land are small country boats which are typically manned by two bare-bodied, muscular boatmen—a helmsman with a sturdy pole who pushes and guides the boat along in shallow water and a boatman who sits in the back and rows. To the romantic spirit, these boats are wonderful. Non-swimmers may think differently.
The main gate to the Dakshineswar Kali Temple is ornate, arched, fairly high yet narrow—two taxis traveling in opposite directions must pass within inches of each other. The symbolic connotations regarding the passing through an arched gateway or a tunnel are quite stimulating. The gate is a monument that marks the transition from the old to the new, and one almost feels it was built with the moment one passes through in mind. The mindful pilgrim now begins to get ready to meet the Divine Mother Kali.
On the other side of the main gate, one is confronted by beggars who sit lined up on the pavement, one next to the other. They chant with hoarse voices, "Ma, oh Ma, Ma go Ma." Some beggars are hideously deformed and crippled. Their bony hands stretch out toward passers-by; their brown pleading eyes look up from below. And a pilgrim's tossed coin into an empty begging bowl made of tin becomes a cherished treasure, the Goddess Lakshmi herself, to a thin body clad in rags. "Namaskar, God bless you."
(Continues...)
Excerpted from KALI by Elizabeth U. Harding. Copyright © 1993 Elizabeth U. Harding. Excerpted by permission of Nicolas-Hays.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
Jai Kali, Jai Ma Bhavatarini
Acknowledgments
INTRODUCTION God, the Mother
CHAPTER 1 The Dakshineswar Kali Temple
CHAPTER 2 Kali, the Black Goddess of Dakshineswar
CHAPTER 3 Worship of Kali
CHAPTER 4 Temple History and Surroundings
CHAPTER 5 Ma Kali's God-Intoxicated Mystics
IN SUMMARY
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
Kali Mandir
About the Author