Kali, the Great Mother Goddess of the Hindu tradition, is the Source, the One that gives birth to all. Known as a slayer of demons, She destroys the army of mind-born delusions symbolized by demons that separate us from the Divine as our own true Self. Into our bound, limited, and contracted ego identities, She may strike terror, at times appearing as a coal-black, sword-wielding, bloodsmeared dancer of death and destruction.
Kali is Shakti, spouse of Shiva. Shakti took the form of Kali 1)↓ when a horrific demon named Raktabija (“blood seed”) was threatening to destroy the world. The demon won a boon from Lord Brahma that made him invincible by turning every drop of his blood spilled into ten thousand Raktabijas as soon as the drop of blood hit the ground. Wounding him only produced countless more demons. The gods went to Shiva for help, but he was immersed in his transcendent state and unavailable! His inseparable consort Shakti, ultimate power of the universe, answered their pleas for help and took the form of Kali. Kali went after Raktabija and all his clones, cut off their heads, and drank their blood before it could touch the ground. She vanquished them all, but then continued dancing her mad dance of destruction, destroying the bound forms of many non-demons. The gods went to Shiva to get him to stop her dance. He lay down beneath her feet, absorbing the power of her pounding steps as though they were mere love taps. She dropped her Kali form and revealed her exquisite nature as Shakti, adored by Shiva…
The demon is the archetype of the shadow side of the mind. What it reveals is that just like the thoughts of the mind, Raktabija’s lifeblood has the power to give birth to thousands more Raktabijas. In the same way, the mind’s thoughts appear to sprout more and more thoughts as soon as they seem to land. Even if one cuts them off in meditation, more sprout. Quelling the mind, dispatching the demon, requires the power of Shakti Kundalini. In this great mythic tale, Kali comes in and cuts off the demon’s head. She drank all its blood before it could hit the fertile ground of existence. In other words, Kali Kundalini takes the life energy out of all the thoughts, desires, and delusions that plague the seeker and prevent the seeker from knowing pure union. Kali, as She’s cutting off the heads, is symbolically cutting through the mind, cutting all the thoughts that are going to give birth again and again to bondage and delusion. She absorbs them into herself; in other words, She frees the life-force, the Shakti, from those bound forms. All forms are her creation. She alone has the power to dissolve all forms, releasing the energy, her energy, from them.
Lawrence Edwards, PhD, from “Awakening Kundalini”
| 1. | ↑ | Kundalini is one of the great archetypal forms of the magnificent Goddess Kali |
Kali wears a garland of fifty skulls around her neck. Those fifty skulls actually represent the fifty letters of the Sanskrit alphabet — the sounds and forms that make up thought, that are the basis of all creation. She’s the one who takes the life-force out of them so that we can be free of them, as well as the one who gave birth to them to begin with.
Lawrence Edwards, PhD, from “Awakening Kundalini”
Kali as the power of action is inherent in the element air or wind, Vayu. In human body Kali exists as Prana, the breath or life-force. Kali holds the five vital airs: prana (upward air); apana (downward air); vyana (air within the body); udana (air leaving the body); and samana (air at the navel which helps to digest food). Kali emphasizes inner action, which generates the internalizing force of so’ ham, the rhythm of the breath, the sound of the breath: I am that, I am Spirit, I am Kali. Like the wind, she is mobile, subtle and transformative. Kali relates to lightning (vidyut-shakti), the electrical force that pervades the universe as the power of transformation. Like the electrical storm, She acts quickly. Kali grants a lightning-like illumination and transformation. She is located in the spiritual heart, the anahata chakra. She is the pulsating of the physical heart, the blood that gives us life; in this action She is called Rakta-Kali or the Red Kali.
from Toward Stillness Meditation