RE: Kali, Possession, and Hindu Femininism
Hi all,
If my last post sounds a bit frivolous, I can assure you there is nothing frivolous about Kali. She eats entire armies for breakfast, so I read. If I sound as lacking in reverence, be assured that is not the case. There is hardly any time to revere someone who chopped off the heads of asuras Chanda and Munda, and presented the still-bleeding severed heads to Shri Shri Chandi. Then Shri Shri Chandi gave her the name ChAmundA. You don't revere such an entity, you just get out of her way; and fast.
Anyway some serious references for anyone interested:
Shri Shri Chandi or Devi Mahatmyam
Chapter 7 Sloka 6 covers the generation of Kali.
Chapter 8 prologue, describes her as having FOUR habds, equipped with pAsh, ankush (spear?), purnaChAp (skull topped staff?), and shara(arrows). As always, there is always abhaya in one hand of each and every idol or pratima, and Kali is no exception.
Chapter 10 slokas 5-8 cover the dematerialisation of Kali.
As to why and how Kali became Ma Kali, that is another story or at least another post!
Regards.
Prashna
RE: Kali, Possession, and Hindu Femininism
Thank you Prashna for bringing Ma to the forefront of my mind as I sit in an internet cafe in Stamford Hill. (She pops up at the most amazing times!) I am not offended by your frivolity - She invokes that in me too sometimes.
I am very excited because I am going to get to India after all this winter, if only for a few weeks, and will be able to participate in the Bhadrakali festival in Kovalam. It was this festival in 1996 when Ma first sunk her claws in me - and I'm happy to report that she hasn't let go yet.
I just noticed that you asked for my impressions of the Viswanath temple in Varanasi. Well, after trying to get in for three weeks I was a little stunned when I finally made it. Thankfully I was fairly well versed in temple etiquette and had some change and small notes ready - not enough as it turned out because every priest, without exception, demanded R100 from me, in spite of the fact that I could see that the Indian devotees were putting one rupee coins on the tray. Well, I was uncowed and gave the first one a piece of my mind together with R5 and then took the rest rather with a pinch of salt, as it were. Needless to say I was not overly impressed with the spirituality of the temple! In fact, I much preferred the nearby Anapurna temple, with its forlorn group of widows outside. (The Goddess gets my vote every time, it would seem!)
Ah I'm getting lost in the memories now...when I should be present to the moment....
With love
Sunanda
RE: Kali, Possession, and Hindu Femininism
Hi Sunanda,
Thank you for that response. I note that you were not overly impressed with the Viswanath temple innards, once you got in. Nor was I, as I stated already. So if any of you have difficulty getting in there, take it from us, you are NOT missing much.
As for the apparent frivolity, you must have noticed that deities are not impersonal and distant entities to be revered in India. Oh no.
Ma Durga is seen as a mother and a daughter. Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesh and Kartik, deoties in their own right are regarded in a much more homely way as the family of Ma Durga. That's how realisation starts among Hindus.
Good luck with your trip. I am looking forward to spending a lot of timewith our boys as they come home over the Christmas period. A very rare privilege for my wife and me, of course.
Regards.
Prashna
RE: Kali, Possession, and Hindu Femininism
ORIGINAL: Prashna
Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesh and Kartik, deoties in their own right are regarded in a much more homely way as the family of Ma Durga. That's how realisation starts among Hindus.
Mind you, is this realisation, when the named deities are probably unreal as actual individual beings? Some are mythical, some like Santoshi Ma are known to be invented by the recent media, and others are actually perhaps not the names of beings, but of energies, such as in higher or spiritual physics? (I don't believe in a spiritual man-elephant, or Hanuman, for example ... )
But you do say "starts". It may be a beginning, but I question its usefulness. There's a lot of darkness and devravityin India too, and maybe the West is needed to shed real enlightenment back to India.
V
RE: Kali, Possession, and Hindu Femininism
Hi venetian,
I shall try to address individually the points you raised:
1. "is this realisation, when the named deities are probably unreal as actual individual beings? " I think the analogy used by R is appropriate here. Jnana yoga is not for everyone. In fact it is for very few, indeed. For most, Bhakti is a much easier route.
Bhakti needs an object of devotion. Sanatana Dharma gives a choice. For some, it may be Kali, for others Krishna, or Rama, or even Hanuman. It's irrelevant really which one it is. You can either take the explanation that all are different aspects of the same one Infinite.
Or regard these as intermediate stages, crutches to be discarded as realisation deepens.
2. "mythical, some like Santoshi Ma are known to be invented by the recent media..." I am not familiar with that particular case. But I am aware that a lot of deception perhaps even fraud goes on. That is simple dishonesty and I have no further comment to make.
3. "I don't believe in a spiritual man-elephant, or Hanuman,..." It's only a story, a mythology to illustrate certain concepts. Ramayana is not one of the three central texts in Sanatana Dharma.
4. "It may be a beginning, but I question its usefulness. " All journeys need to start somewhere, or not at all. And yes, some starts will be false starts. That is inevitable. The only person who never makes a mistake is the one who never tries.
5. "There's a lot of darkness and depravityin India too..." Naturally and inevitably.
Is there any human society which is completely free from all darkness and depravity?
6 "maybe the West is needed to shed real enlightenment back to India. " We can and indeed should try to learn from each other. "No man is an island...."
Regards.
Prashna