KALI: who is she?

Question

I'm quite fascinated by the figure of Kali in the hindu religion, but the more I try to find out about her, the more contradictory all the literature turns out to be. Her identity/legend seems very compliacated. Can somebody, perhaps a gennuine Hindu, give me the simple overview on her origin, the story of her legend, and how she figures in daily rituals/worship of a hindu life, is she important? Is she a lesser deity? What purpose does she serve to practising Hindus?

Answer 1

Oh my Mother Kali!
Om Kali Ma!
Jai Kali Ma!

When you worship Mother Kali, your ego gets a good cleansing! She works with us to get rid of our ego, so we can be come as humble as we can be. The things that Kali does is out of Her love for Her children. The frightening aspect of the Divine Mother as "Kali" is for the benefit of disciplining ourselves into not submitting to our ego.

It is just like how a mother would get angry and spank her child when the child misbehaves out in public. The mother does this for the benefit of the child to learn how to have self control and not misbehave and be a good model citizen in society. If the mother had been gentle and spoke to the child in a very sweet way would that teach the child a lesson to stop acting in a certain way? Most times it wouldn't work. That is how Kali is with us.

Asking Kali to help with certain ego-related qualities will definitely get results. She will create circumstances that will bring about a change within you for the better. Kali also comes to you in dreams as well if you are an ardent devotee of Her.

Ramakrishnan and Sri Sarada Devi were Mother Kali worshipers. If you read their gospels and/or biographies, you then can learn more about who Kali is.

My guru Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi is Mother Kali incarnate. Reading Her teachings and biography will also explain much more who Kali is and what Her purpose is.

Kali is also the Void from whence all things in the Universe were created and destroyed. It is Her womb that we were borne out of. And it is also where we go back. She wants to devour all of Her children, not literally, but what this means, it means She wants to be One with all of us. She is full of shakti power. Is tantric also.

There are some good yahoo groups on Kali that you might want to explore and learn more about Her.

Jai Kali Ma!

Answer 2

In researching Hindu mythology - which has changed from region to region through its long history - it is more helpful to consider the psychological aspects of the character to determine the core elements of meaning that might be beneficial to your own path.

Because reality mirrors the contents of consciousness, all religions - at their core - are providing a path or clues to transcending the learned identity (egoic self) that confines us to a static, repetitive, lifeless experience of reality.

The internal 'infidel' and jihad of Islam, ego-death of Christianity or distroyer of this world/reality (Hindu Shiva) are all referencing the required internal battle to overcome the 'programmed' belief systems that make up the ego identity before the authentic Self can be remembered and fully, wholly realized.

Kali, destroyer of time, is closely linked with Shiva who's posture and symbolism provide the psychological clues for stopping the present reality through mastering the ego. She is the feminine "active" conscious effort sometimes required to distroy the demons of the ego (unconscious destructive parts of the psyche) like a raging mother protecting the innocent Self. The skulls around her neck, represent language/power of the mantra or the focused effort required to overpower the stubborn ego's thought system. Like Jesus' crucifixion of the body/resurrection of the Christ/authentic Self, her symbolism is equally horrifying communicating the immense difficulty inherent in the process. She sucks the lifeblood of the demons but ultimately it is Shiva's perfect psychological balance that prepares the way for the new reality created by Brahma (Creation aspect of mind/God the Father symbol of Christianity).

Good luck with your research. Remember, she personifies an aspect of your own consciousness.

Answer 3

KALI - is a goddess with a long and complex history in Hinduism. Although sometimes presented as dark and violent, her earliest incarnation as a figure of annihilation still has some influence, while more complex Tantric beliefs sometimes extend her role so far as to be the Ultimate Reality (Brahman) and Source of Being. Finally, the comparatively recent devotional movement largely conceives of Kali as a straightforwardly benevolent mother-goddess. Therefore, as well her association with the Deva (god) Shiva, Kali is associated with many Devis (goddesses) - Durga, Badrakali, Bhavani, Sati, Rudrani, Parvati, Chinnamasta, Chamunda, Kamakshi or kamakhya, Uma, Meenakshi, Himavanti, Kumari and Tara. These names, if repeated, are believed to give special power to the worshipper.

Kali first appears in the Rig Veda, not as that of a goddess, but as that of the black tongue of the seven flickering tongues of Agni, the Hindu god of fire. However, the prototype of the figure now known as Kali does appear, in the form of a goddess named Raatri. Raatri is considered to be the prototype of both Durga and Kali.

Kali is a feminine form of the Sanskrit word "kala," meaning "time". It also means "black". Kali has therefore been translated variously as "She who is time," "She who devours time," "She who is the Mother of time," "She who is black," and "She who is black time". Kali's association with blackness stands in contrast to her consort, Shiva, whose body is covered by the white ashes of the cremation ground in which he meditates, and with which they are both associated, hence Kali's epithet 'Śmaśanâ.'

Kali properly transliterated from Sanskrit is Kālī, which should not be confused with the common Sanskrit word properly transliterated as Kali, meaning "terrible." They are grammatically unrelated - along with having different root or stem words, the first is a noun and the latter is adjectival.

Slayer of Raktabija
In Kali's most famous myth, Durga and her assistants, Matrikas, wound the demon Raktabija, in various ways and with a variety of weapons, in an attempt to destroy him. They soon find that they have worsened the situation, as for every drop of blood that is spilt from Raktabija the demon reproduces a copy of himself. The battlefield becomes increasingly filled with his duplicates. Durga, in dire need of help, summons Kali to combat the demons. Kali destroys Raktabija by sucking the blood from his body and putting the many Raktabija duplicates in her gaping mouth. Pleased with her victory, Kali then dances on the field of battle, stepping on the corpses of the slain. Her consort Shiva lies among the dead beneath her feet, a representation of Kali commonly seen in iconography, the Daksinakali pose.-

Answer 4

She is a major Hindu goddess, and is the bearer of death and destruction but also rebirth. She has a necklace of skulls, and is said to be the alter ego of Parvati, wife of Shiva.

Answer 5

She's some girl that somebody is going back to in some rap song. "I'm going back to Kali... Kali".

Answer 6

She is Krishna's Sister.....Has 2 blue heads.