Maha Kali Empowerment

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by
Stephen Comee
2002
East Wind Holistic Healing
© 2002, by Stephen Comee
All rights reserved. Printed in Japan.
East Wind Holistic Healing
Dia Palace Naruto #1405, 2072 Tonodai, Narutomachi
Sanbugun, Chiba 2891324, Japan
sekhem_jp@yahoo.com // reiki555_jp@yahoo.co.jp
This material may not be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without prior written permission.
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NAMAH ĀM ĀM KROM KROM PHAT SWĀHĀ KĀLI KĀLIKE HŪM
Contents
I. What Is Maha Kali Seichim? 5
What Is Seichim? 5
Ancient Origins 5
Seichim and Hinduism 5
Margot “Deepa” Slater . . . Shares Her Story 6
II. An Introduction to Maha Kali 7
Who Is Kali? 7
All About Kali 8
Various Foms of Kali 15
Maha Kali 17
The Transcendant Power of Time 18
The 100 Names of Kali 20
III. Writings on Kali, Mantras & Meditation 26
The Dance of Time (by Sri Chinmoy) 26
The Four Powers of the Mother (by Sri Aurobindo) 27
Two Poems on the Mother (by Ramprasad Sen) 28
The Mantras of Maha Kali 30
Maha Kali Heart Exercise 33
IV. Maha Kali Yantras 34
What Is a Yantra? 34
Maha Kali Yantra 34
Kali Yantra 35
Kali (Mahavidya) Yantra 36
Śyama Yantra 37
Kali Yantra Meditation 38
V. Kalighat 40
VI. The Process of Using Maha Kali Seichim 42
VII. Symbols to Use with the Maha Kali Healing Energy 42
1. KRĪM! 42
2. HŪM 43
VIII. SelfEmpowerment Method 43
IX. Attunement Method 45
1. Synergy Reiki Method of Maha Kali Empowerment 45
2. Vedic Reiju Empowerment Method 46
Appendix 48
1. A Simple Maha Kali Sadhana Practice 48
The Mahavidya Sadhana of Kali 49
_______________________________
Notes:
1) Stephen Comee is a practicing Buddhist and has received empowerments in the Mahakala and Mahakali
teachings, mantras, and sadhanas from several highranking Nyingma lamas. He has also studied and received
shaktipat on Mahakali practices and rituals from Hindu Brahmins.
2) Some diacritical marks, such as that in the name Kāli, have been omitted for the sake of ease in reading.
Note that the diacriticals have been left in the Sanskrit mantras TO INDICATE long vowels.
MAHA KALI SEICHIM
I. What Is Maha Kali Seichim?
What Is Seichim?
Seichim, a word (pronounced “SAYkeem”) of unknown origin—but closely related to the
ancient Egyptian word sekhem (sxm), which means lifeforce, or energy—is used to indicate
a system of healing that many feel has ancient origins in Tibet. This practice is said to have
been handed down from very ancient times.
Seichim is not a religion, although this healing practice is becoming known in all cultures
throughout the world. It has a builtin spiritual dimension. Seichim is a unity concept, because
it is now accepted globally. Seichim teaches unity and harmony. Seichim is in harmony with
nature and can be used to heal plants and trees, people and animals, and can even be used to
help purify and harmonize water and air.
Seichim was discovered near the end of the twentieth century by an American man named
Patrick Zeigler. He first experienced this energy in 1979–80 while in the Great Pyramid, after
which he studied with the leader of Tariqa Burhaniya band of Sufi mystics, Sayyidi Fahruddin
Sheikh Mohammed Uthman Abduh alBurhani (d. 1983). He later developed it into a system
of healing that he passed on to others by means of a system of empowerments, or attunements
(which he modeled after the Reiki attunements). Various versions of it are now practiced by
many around the globe.
After the system was enhanced by Phoenix Summerfield, who added some Egyptian
elements to it (and probably even created the system known as Isis Seichim) that eventually
led to both Deepa Slater and Helen Belot developing system associated with the goddess
Sekhmet. Strangely enough, the Belot system teaches both Seichim and Sekhem as separate
energies, but teaches and attunes students to them together. In the Belot lineage, Seichim is
said to be connected with the Buddhist deity best known around the world in its female
manifestation but its Chinese name, Kuanyin. Many have noted that her own system, Sekhem,
is based upon the ancient Egyptian goddess Sekhmet, who resembles the Vedic goddess Kali
in several respects.
Ancient Origins
Knowledge of other ancient healing systems sheds light on the preUsui origins of Reiki. The
Hindu and Tibetan Buddhist devotion to Kali the Mother and Maha Kali is normally thought
of as just performing sadhana (daily prayer rituals) and reciting her mantras. However, taught
orally from teacher to student, there was also a healing system that is similar to the
Reiki/Seichim method of initiation and attunement. There are other spiritual lineages in the
Orient involving the transmission of ability through empowerments. It is known that a
spiritual lineage of this type may end due to the failure of the teacher to pass it on. The
lineage may then resume hundreds or thousands of years later when a monk or spiritual seeker
receives instruction and empowerment during a mystical experience. Perhaps this is what
happened to me. Perhaps I had been a Healing Master in a past life and this gave me the
determination to seek the healing power again. Perhaps the lineage had come to an end only to
be started again when Maha Kali Seichim was reactivated.
adapted from: http://www.reiki.org/FAQ/HistoryOfReiki.html
Seichim and Hinduism
Seichim is a wellknown healing practice, and many believe that it may well have originated
from the preBuddhist Hindu traditions of ancient India. As we know it today, Seichim is the
work of an American man named Patrick Zeigler. Zeigler is said to have discovered the
energy during a mystical experience that took place in the Great Pyramid. He was later chosen
to receive the Esoteric teachings of the Burhaniya order of Sufis on the practice of the healing
energy of love. Due to visions he had, and the guidance of his spiritual teacher, he received
empowerment directly from the source of the energy. He then adapted the teaching so that it
could be practiced by anyone who wished to use it. Some believe that Zeigler himself is not
aware of the true source of the energy he has given to the world.
adapted from: http://www.mahatmareiki.com/history_reiki.html
Margot “Deepa” Slater, a trained Reiki and Seichim teacher, shares the story of her struggle
to find a broadlybased, flexible, and creative form of energetic healing that suited her.
In 1991, I traveled to the United States and, through a strange series of coincidences,
commenced training in Encinitas, California, with Marsha Jean Burack, also known as
Marsha Nityankari, a Reiki and Seichim Master Teacher.
Marsha was a student of Zen Buddhism. She had studied and majored in anthropology and
had traveled widely. She lived in a house that looked like an Egyptian temple and taught me
in a typically paradoxical Zen way. . . .
Each time I began to initiate and teach the versions of Traditional Reiki and Seichim I had
learned from Marsha, I was guided to extra and different movements and symbols. Initially, I
resisted but finally decided to go with the flow and see what happened. A friend lent me a
book. I found I was working with Tantric Yoga points. I began buying books on Yoga, which,
in turn, led me to explore Buddhism. I slowly began putting the pieces of my vision together.
I began to recognize the links between the ancient traditions of the Mystery Schools,
Enochian Magic, Tantra, Taoism and Tibetan mysticism. By 1992, I had my first experience
of the Way of the Five Bodies and Sekhmet, the primordial Egyptian Goddess.
I realized that within the teachings of Reiki and Seichim lay hidden
truths. I named what I taught Newlife Reiki Seichim and Newlife
Seichim Sekhem. I now understood the messages of Usui. The
visionary woman at the end of my bed, I now recognized as Quan Yin.
The hidden truths led to the Lion Path or the path of the Bodhisattva
Warrior, and esoteric teachings of a secret Buddhist sect known as the
Shingon Buddhists.
Shingon teachings are of a private and confidential nature. They
place great importance on the “three secrets” of body, mind, and
speech. Every person possesses these three functions, all of which
harbor secrets that lead to the attainment of enlightenment. The secret
of body finds expression in various hand gestures and meditation postures. The secret of mind
relates to the “five wisdoms” which make the comprehension of reality possible. The secret of
speech relates to the recitation of sounds and mantras. Through rituals, which are rooted in
these “three secrets,” a connection between the practitioner and a particular Buddha or Deity
together with recognition of various archetypal energies is brought about. The state of
“Buddha in me / me in Buddha” can be realized. The way is a spiritual journey. It is unfolded
through selfdiscovery, creativity, selfrecognition, awareness to consciousness and
enlightenment.
http://www.newlifereikiseichim.com.au/about.html
II. An Introduction to Maha Kali
Who Is Kali
Kālī is a "fierce" and "terrifying" form of Devi worshipped in many forms of Shaivism. Kālī
represents the disintegrative force in nature as displayed in the passage of time (Kāla) or
increase of entropy. Kali is black but the other colours used in the yantra (red, yellow, green
and white) are also part of her traditional representation.
Kali is a ferocious form of the Divine Mother Devi.
Kali is the first of the ten Mahavidyas.
Kali freed the gods from the dominion of the demonic forces Shumbh and Nishumbh.
Kali is the goddess of time and of the transformation that is death.
In the ignorant ones Kali creates fear, while for others Kali removes the fear of death.
Kali also is the Kundalini energy that paralyses the attachments produced by the solar and
lunar currents (both demons).
All About Kali
Kali is one of the most wellknown and worshiped Hindu Goddesses. The name Kali is
derived from the Hindu word that means “time”; it also means “black.” In Hinduism, Kali is a
manifestation of the Divine Mother, which represents the female principle. Frequently, those
not comprehending her many roles in life call Kali the goddess of destruction. She destroys
only to recreate, and what she destroys is sin, ignorance, and decay. She is equated with the
eternal night, is the transcendent power of time, and is the consort of the god Shiva. It is
believed that it is Shiva who destroys the world, and Kali is the power or energy with which
Shiva acts. Therefore, Kali is Shiva's shakti, without which Shiva could not act. Kali receives
her name because she devours kala (Time) and then resumes her own dark formlessness. This
transformative effect can be metaphorically illustrated in the West as a black hole in space.
Kali as such is pure and primary reality (the "enfolded order" in modern physics); formless
void yet full of potential.
The Matsya Purana states that Kali began as a tribal Goddess of the high mountain region
of Mount Kalanjara, which is in northcentral India and east of the Indus Valley. However,
because of the relatively recent origin of the Matsya Purana we cannot be certain when or
where the worship of Kali actually began. We do know, however, that she was mentioned in
the Upanishads, which were written a thousand years before the Matsya Purana. In the Vedas
the name is associated with Agni, the god of fire, who had seven flickering tongues of flame,
of which Kali was the black, horrible tongue.
Kali is usually depicted as naked, bloodthirsty, and wildhaired. Records of Kali's worship
date back less than 2,000 years and it is widely assumed by scholars that she represents a
survival of a Dravidian (preAryan) goddess and is thought of as the
great creatrix of the ancient Indian pantheon as she is well over 2,000
years old. Kali is thought to be a preAryan goddess, belonging to the
civilization of the Indus Valley, because there is no evidence that
Aryan people ever raised a female deity to the rank that she held in
the Indus and currently maintains in Hinduism. Her dark skin
evidences the fact that she predated the lighterskinned Aryan
invasion of the darkerskinned inhabitants of the Indian sub
continent. This conflict became the subject of many myths handed
down about Kali's fierce passion in defending her people against the
invaders. Kali's passion and fierceness are due both to her ties to the
preAryan Great Mother Goddess, as well as her place at Shiva's side
as his consort, which gives her the power of the Shakti, or female
energy. However, the Aryan Invasion Theory of India's origins is currently in dispute amongst
historians.
According to the traditional teachings, the Aryan invaders introduced into India's culture
the patriarchal gods that they had brought with them, but
various matriarchal tribes, such as the Shabara of Orissa ,
continued worshipping Kali. She was probably an
aboriginal deity of vegetation and agriculture; but evidence
that animal and human sacrifices were offered to her
suggests that Kali became a fertility deity. Animal sacrifices
are still made to her, notably in temples such as Kalighat in
Calcutta, where a goat is immolated in her honor every day.
On her feast in the fall, goats and buffaloes are the usual
victims, along with certain types of vegetation. Although
human sacrifices have been banned, there are occasional
reports of alleged sacrifices to authorities from remote
areas.
Kali was first manifested when the Goddess Parvati knitted her brows in fury when the
demon, Daruka, threatened the Gods. It was then that the threeeyed Kali first sprang forth
from Parvati, fully armed, and immediately putting an end to Daruka. It is for this reason that
Kali is considered an aspect of Parvati. (It is also for this reason that many equate her with the
warriorgoddess aspect of Athena, who also first sprung fullformed an fully armed from the
brow of her father, Zeus.)
One version of Kali's manifestation tells how the Gods were not able to kill the demon,
Raktabija. Each drop of his blood that touched the ground turned into another Raktabija.
Thus, every time he was struck, millions of his duplicates appeared all over the battlefield.
At this point the Gods were totally desperate, and they then turned to Shiva for help. Shiva,
though, was so deep in meditation that he could not be reached. The Gods then turned to
Shiva's consort Parvati for help. The Goddess Parvati immediately set out to do battle with the
demon, and it was then that She manifested as Kali.
Kali then appeared, with Her three red eyes, dark complexion, gaunt features, hair
unbound, and Her teeth as sharp as fangs. She rode into the midst of the battle on a lion, and it
was only then that the demon Raktabija first began to experience fear. (This description
makes it easy to see why many identify Kali with the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet, who is lion
headed, fierce, and the great destroyer.)
Kali then ordered the Gods to attack Raktabija, while She spread Her tongue over the
battlefield, covering it completely, and preventing even one drop of the demon's blood from
falling. In doing this, Kali prevented Raktabija from reproducing himself again, and the Gods
were then victorious.
Kali is the ferocious aspect of Devi Durga perfectly personified. According to the Purana,
this image of Durga as Kali, so widely worshipped in eastern parts of India, owes its origin to
the battle of Durga with Shumbha and Nishumbha. Many stories tell of how Kali fought and
killed the two demons. It was then, celebrating Her victory, that She drained the blood from
their bodies and, drunk from the slaughter, She began to dance. Kali became overjoyed with
the feel of their dead flesh under Her feet, and She continued to keep dancing, more and more
wildly. In her great ecstasy Kali continued the destruction. As the prayers of all gods could
not calm her, Lord Shiva had to intervene. Seeing no other way of dissuading her, the God
threw himself amongst the bodies of slain demons. She finally realized that Her husband,
Shiva, was underneath Her, and that She was dancing him to death. When Kali saw that she
was dancing over the body of her husband, she put her tongue out of her mouth in sorrow and
surprise. She remained stunned in this posture and this is how Kali is shown in images with
the red tongue protruding from her mouth.
Realizing this, Kali's wildness did slow down, but only for a short while; it is believed that
She will eventually continue Her dance and that when she does, it will bring an end to the
world. Yet, her followers still believe that once faced and understood, Kali has the ability to
free Her worshippers from all their fears. Once this occurs, then Kali metamorphasizes into
another aspect, that of a loving and comforting Mother.
The manifestation of the Goddess as Kali is the most shocking appearance. She is depicted
standing on the prostrate body of Shiva, who is lying on a lotus bed. She has absorbed the
inexorability of Rudra and Shiva as Bhairava. Yet there is both life and death in this form of
the Divine Mother.
The name Kali comes from the word kāla, or time. She is the power of time, which
devours all. She has a power that destroys and should be depicted in aweinspiring terror. Kali
is found in the cremation ground amid dead bodies. She is standing in a challenging posture
on the prostrate body of her husband Shiva. Kali cannot exist without him, and Shiva can't
reveal himself without her. She is the manifestation of Shiva's power and energy. While
Shiva's complexion is pure white, Kali is the color of the darkest night—a deep bluish black.
As the limitless Void, Kali has swallowed up everything without a trace. Hence, she is black.
Kali's luxuriant hair is disheveled, which symbolizes her boundless freedom. Another
interpretation says that each hair is a jiva (individual soul), and all souls have their roots in
Kali. Kali has three eyes; the third one stands for wisdom. Kali's tongue is protruding, a
gesture of coyness—because she unwittingly stepped on the body of her husband Shiva. A
more philosophical interpretation of Kali's tongue is that it symbolizes Rajas (the color red,
activity) and that it is held by her teeth, symbolizing Sattva (the color white, spirituality).
Kali has four arms. The posture of her right arms promises fearlessness and boons while
her left arms hold a bloody sword and a freshly severed human head. Some, looking at Kali's
right, see good; and looking at her left, evil—but it is more a case of yang and yin, positive
and negative, dark and bright, earth and heaven. Kali is portrayed as naked except for a girdle
of human arms cut off at the elbow and a garland of fifty skulls. The arms represent the
capacity for work, and Kali wears all work (action [karma]), potential work, and the results
thereof (karma!) around her waist. The fifty skulls represent the fifty letters of the Hindu
alphabet, the manifest state of sound from which all creation evolved.
Kali's nudity has a similar meaning. In many instances she is described as garbed in space
or sky clad. In her absolute, primordial nakedness she is free from all covering of illusion. She
is Nature (Prakriti in Sanskrit), stripped of 'clothes'. It symbolizes that she is completely
beyond name and form, completely beyond the illusory effects of maya (false consciousness,
illusion). Her nudity is said to represent totally illumined consciousness, unaffected by maya.
Kali is the bright fire of truth, which cannot be hidden by the clothes of ignorance. Such truth
simply burns them away.
Despite Kali's origins in battle, she evolved to a fullfledged symbol of Mother Nature in
her creative, nurturing and devouring aspects. Some groups of people, unfamiliar with the
precepts of Hinduism, see Kali as a satanic demon probably because of tales of her being
worshipped by dacoits, hashishcrazed Thugs (as in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of
Doom”), and other such people indulging evil acts.
The Goddess Kali is represented as black in color. Black in the ancient Hindu language of
Sanskrit is kāla. The feminine form is kāli. So she is Kali, the black one. Black is a symbol of
The Infinite and the seed stage of all colors. The Goddess Kali remains in a state of
inconceivable darkness that transcends words and mind. Within her blackness is the dazzling
brilliance of illumination. Kali's blackness symbolizes her allembracing, comprehensive
nature, because black is the color in which all the colors merge; black absorbs and dissolves
them.
"Just as all colors disappear in black, so all names and forms disappear in her"
—Mahanirvana Tantra
On the other hand, black is said to represent the total absence of color, again signifying the
nature of Kali as ultimate reality. Thus, in Sanskrit, the color black is named as nirguna
(beyond all quality and form). Either way, Kali's black color symbolizes her transcendence of
all form.
Kali is a great and powerful black earth Mother Goddess capable of terrible destruction and
represents the most powerful form of the female forces in the Universe. Worship of the
Goddess Kali is largely an attempt to appease her and avert her wrath. The Goddess Kali
constantly drinks blood. She has an insatiable thirst for blood. As mistress of blood, she
presides over the mysteries of both life and death. Kali intends her bloody deeds for the
protection of the good. She may get carried away by her gruesome acts but she is not evil.
Kali's destructive energies on the highest level are seen as a vehicle of salvation and ultimate
transformation.
Kali has three main forms that three forms are manifested in many ways: in the three
divisions of the year, the three phases of the moon, the three sections of the cosmos (heaven,
earth, and the underworld), the three stages of life, the three trimesters of pregnancy, and so
on. Women represent her spirit in mortal flesh.
"The Divine Mother first appears in and as her worshipper's earthly mother,
then as his wife; thirdly as Kalika, she reveals herself in old age, disease and death."
Three kinds of priestesses tend her shrines: Yoginis or Shaktis, the "Maidens"; Matri, the
"Mothers"; and Dakinis, the "Skywalkers". These priestesses attend the dying, govern
funerary rites and act as angels of death. All have their counterparts in the spirit world. To this
day, Tantric Buddhism relates the three mortal forms of woman to the divine female trinity
called Three Most Precious Ones.
Kali's three forms appear in the sacred colors known as "Gunas": white for the Virgin, red
for the Mother, black for the Crone, the three together symbolizing birth, life, death. Black is
Kali's fundamental color as the Destroyer, for it symbolizes the formless condition she
assumes between creations, when all the elements are dissolved in her primordial substance.
As Kundalini the Female Serpent, she resembles the archaic Egyptian
serpentmother said to have created the world. It was said of Kundalini that at
the beginning of the universe, she starts to uncoil in "a spiral line movement,
which is the movement of creation." This spiral line was vitally important in
late Paleolithic and Neolithic religious symbolism, representing death and
rebirth as movement into the disappearingpoint of formlessness, and out of it
again, to a new world of form. Spirals therefore appeared on tombs, as one of
the world's first mystical symbols—and still come down to us in one of the
three basic Reiki symbols.
Kali is considered to be the most fully realized of all the Dark Goddesses, but even though
Kali was originally worshipped as a warrior goddess, and her followers gave her offerings of
blood and flesh, her followers still found her greatest strength to be that of a protector.
Kali is not always thought of as a Dark Goddess; rather, she is also referred to as a great
and loving primordial Mother Goddess in the Hindu Tantric tradition. In this aspect, as
Mother Goddess, she is referred to as Kali Ma, meaning Kali Mother, and millions of Hindus
revere her as such.
Kali is also associated with intense sexuality. Myths tell of the Yoni (vagina) of Kali (when
she existed as Sati wife of Lord Shiva) falling
down to the Earth on the sacred hill near Gauhati
in Assam (India), the same place where the
Temple of Kamakhya is now located. The
temple's outer walls are highly decorated with
carvings showing Kali as a Triple Goddess:
squatting, and exposing her Yoni (vagina); as a
mother suckling Her child; and as a warrior
woman drawing back Her bow. While these
carvings show Kali as a sexual being, they also
show her as a protective and motherly woman,
full of compassion.
Known as the "Dark Mother," the Hindu
Triple Goddess of creation, protection, and
destruction, now most commonly known in her
Destroyer aspect, is very often depicted as
squatting over her dead consort Shiva and
devouring his entrails, while her yoni sexually
devours his lingam (penis). Kali is:
"The hungry earth, which devours its own children and fattens on their corpses ... It
is in India that the experience of the Terrible Mother has been given its most
grandiose form as Kali. For in a profound way life and birth are always bound up
with death and destruction."
—Erich Neumann from "The Great Mother: An Analysis of the Archetype"
Kali's paramount place of worship is in the cremation ground, preferably at the dead of night,
on a suitable day of the waning Moon. Here, her nature becomes clear and apparent. For an
adept in the worship, the whole world is a cremation ground, and She, the true form of time,
who by herself creates and destroys all, is personified as the pyre. There, after life, all mortals
and their wishes, dreams and reflections come to their fruition, a pile of worthless ashes.
Kali's dwelling place, the cremation ground denotes a place where the pancha mahabhuta
(five elements) are dissolved. Kali dwells where this dissolution takes place. In terms of
devotion and worship, this denotes the dissolving of attachments, anger, lust and other
binding emotions, feelings and ideas. The heart of devotee is where this burning takes place,
and it is in the heart that Kali dwells. The devotee makes her image in his heart and under her
influence burns away all limitations and ignorance in the cremation fires. This inner
cremation fire in the heart is the gyanagni (fire of knowledge), which Kali bestows.
Kali is the universal mother. It is believed that she goes into the darkness with us, and for
us, to swallow our sins, worries and concerns. She can show us how to radically transform our
lives by embracing our own darkness, rather than fearing and fleeing from that which haunts
us. She can spiritually hack away at the handcuffs that keep us shackled to the hungry ghosts
of the past. There comes a point in the process when you must surrender fully to her healing
powers, and let her bring you back cleansed, transformed, whole.
Kali is the powerful Hindu Goddess who is in charge of darkness, death, and regeneration.
Many people fear her because she is so awesome looking, but Hindus love and adore her as
their great goddess and they see her as a manifestation of power that is fierce and potent. She
is shakti (female energy) incarnate and the manifestation of primordial power. While she is
the consort of the great Lord Shiva, she is also seen dancing wildly, with his form beneath her
feet. They are partners in darkness, and in dancing the dance of death and regeneration. She
brings life and death. She is regeneration and rebirth. In many ways she is the consummate
representation of the classic power of the Divine Female—the power to give birth, to bring
death to the old and to regenerate. Her haunts are the cremation grounds, where she takes life,
and then recycles it into new life. Her symbol for cutting away at evil and darkness is to
behead humans, but what that image really represents is the cutting away of the human ego
and all the problems it causes. She eats pain, and swallows despair, and the secret shadows of
our lives.
Kali is a goddess who acts in violent, gruesome, fearsome ways, killing as her main
function, yet she is not evil. She is a representation of negative forces in the universe. Yet
even then, she is a manifest form of godhead, a part of the divine whole. Kali in one aspect is
still the mother of all. According to devotional literature she is revered as a terrible fearsome
goddess, but also as one who must be accepted and loved. Kali represents in a way the kinks
in the Hindu system of dharma. A system that is based upon structure and purity, that
ritualizes and prepares for the occurrences of death and other disorder. Yet there are things
that are unexpected, impure, and chaotic. Kali is the representation of what is outside the
order.
The Hindu goddess Kali deals with the horrible aspects of life that most people will not
think about. Embodying horror, rage, unkempt fury and chaos, Kali is worshiped as a goddess
and not mistaken for a demon. Chaos must exist in compliment to order in the creation and
maintenance of balance in the universe. The dark side of the divine exists in contrast to the
bright and the beautiful. In Hinduism, the polarity of good and evil are blurred. The demons
may perform austerities to be granted boons, just as the gods may go awry and threaten the
stability of the cosmos. No female deity embodies the duality of light and dark in a
complimentary existence as well as Kali.
Kali is the full picture of the Universal Power. She is Mother, the Benign; and Mother, the
Terrible. She creates and nourishes and she skills and destroys. By Her magic we see good
and bad, but in reality there is neither. The whole world and all we see is the play of Maya,
the veiling power of the Divine Mother. God is neither good nor bad, nor both. God is beyond
the pair of opposites that constitute this relative existence.
Various Forms of Kali
The Tantras mention over thirty forms of Kali. Sri Ramakrishna often spoke about the
different forms of Kali. The Divine Mother is known as KaliMa, Maha Kali, Nitya Kali,
Shamshana Kali, Raksha Kali, Shyama Kali, Kalikamata, and Kalaratri. Among the
Tamils she is known as Kottavei. Maha Kali and Nitya Kali are mentioned in the Tantra
Philosophy.
When there were neither the creation, nor the sun, the moon, the planets, and the earth,
when the darkness was enveloped in darkness, then the Mother, the Formless One, Maha
Kali, the Power, was one with the Maha Kala, the Absolute. As Maha Kali she is the timeless,
immortal, formless power indistinguishable from the transcendent one or Absolute Power.
Shyama Kali has a somewhat tender aspect and is worshipped in Hindu households. She is
the dispenser of boons and the dispeller of fear.
People worship Raksha Kali, the Protectress, in times of epidemic, famine, earthquake,
drought, and flood.
Shamshan Kali is the embodiment of the power of destruction. She resides in the
cremation ground, surrounded by corpses, jackals and terrible female spirits. From her mouth
flows a stream of blood, from her neck hangs a garland of human heads, and around her waist
is a girdle made of human arms.
Tantrics worship Siddha Kali to attain perfection; Phalaharini Kali to destroy the results
of their actions; and Nitya Kali, the eternal Kali, to take away their disease, grief, and
suffering and to give them perfection and illumination.
Robbers and thieves have their own kali. Not so many years ago, robbers lived in Indian
woods and had the habit of worshipping Dakait Kali before they want to rob people on
highways and in villages. Some of these old Kali images have survived time and are still
being worshipped, though for reasons other than originally intended.
In Kolkata she is worshipped as Bhavtarini, the redeemer of all creation, the most
beautiful one. The beauty of the Dakshineswar Kali Temple in Kolkata is far removed from
the dreary sight of an active cremation ground. And, although the Goddess in this temple is
the same Mother Kali as the feared one in the cremation ground, she is regarded as benigna
protrectress rather than a destroyer.
While someone unfamiliar with the Shakti worship may perceive Kali's images as equally
terrible without making the slightest distinction between them, the Hindu distinguishes a
benign Kali (dakshina) from a fearful Kali (shamshan) by the position of her feet. If Kali
steps out with her right foot and holds the sword in her left hand, she is a Dakshina Kali. If
she steps out with her left foot and holds the sword in her right hand, she is the terrible of the
Mother, the Shamshan Kali of the cremation ground.
Of the many other aspects of Kali, the two best known are Maha Kali and Bhairavi.
In the aspect of Bhairavi, Kali is the counterpart to Shiva, taking pleasure in destruction,
and the ultimate dissolution of the universe.
Kali is also thought to be an aspect of the Devi or Maha Devi or Maha Kali, who was the
most powerful and complex of all the great Goddesses. When She is in the aspect of Maha
Kali, Kali uses Her very appearance to terrify the various entities, demons, and devils who
represent the sinister forces.
It is in this aspect, as Maha Devi, that Kali is depicted with black skin and a hideous
tusked face and claws; Her forehead bearing a third eye like Shiva's. Here, Kali is shown with
four arms, the upper two holding a bloody sword and severed head, while Her two lower
hands are held out in welcome, as She grants favors to Her devout followers.
Western scholars erroneously viewed the various manifestations and incarnations of Kali
as many different Goddesses, particularly isolating those primitive mothergoddesses
("matrikadevis") grouped together as "Dravidian sheogres." Yet Kali's worshippers plainly
stated that she had hundreds of different names, but they were all the same Goddess.
As Tara, she came worshiped by the Tibetans as the daughter of Avalokiteshvara
(Chenrezig) and the saviouress of the world.
Some of Kali's older names even found their way into the Bible. As Tara, the earth, she
became Terah, mother of the Hebrew ancestral spirits called "teraphim". The same Tara
became the Celts' Tara, Gauls' Turan, and the Latin Terra, meaning "Mother Earth," said to be
interchangeable with Venus.
The name of Eve is thought by many to have originated with Kali's Ieva or Jiva, the
primordial female principle of manifestation; she gave birth to her "first manifested form" and
called him Idam (Adam). She also bore the same title given to Eve in the Old Testament:
Mother of All Living (Jaganmata).
Variations of Kali's basic name occurred throughout the ancient world. The Greeks had a
word kalli, meaning "beautiful," but applied the name to things that were not particularly
beautiful, such as the demonic centaurs called kallikantzari, relatives of Kali's Asvins. Their
city of Kallipolis, the modernday Gallipoli, was centered in Amazon country formerly ruled
by Artemis Kalliste. The annual birth festival at Eleusis was Kalligeneia, translateable as
"coming forth from the Beautiful One," or "coming forth from Kali." The temple of the Great
Mother of the Gods at Pergamum stood on Mount MamurtKaleh, easily transposed into
Mount MotherKali.
Lunar priests of Sinai, formerly priestesses of the Moongoddess, called themselves kalu.
Similar priestesses of prehistoric Ireland were kelles, origin of the name Kelly, which meant a
hierophantic clan devoted to "the Goddess Kele". This was cognate with the Saxon Kale, or
Gale, whose lunar calendar or kalends included the spring month of Sproutkale, when Mother
Earth (Kale) put forth new shoots. In antiquity the Phoenicians referred to the strait of
Gibraltar as Calpe, because it was considered the passage to the western paradise of the
Mother.
The Black Goddess was known in Finland as Kalma (Kali
Ma), a haunter of tombs and an eater of the dead. European
"witches" worshipped her in the same funereal places, for the
same reasons, that Tantric yogis and dakinis worshipped her in
cremation grounds, as SmashanaKali, Lady of the Dead."
Their ceremonies were held in the places of ghosts where
ordinary folk feared to go. So were the ceremonies of western
"witches" that is, pagans. They adored the Black Mother Earth
in cemeteries, where Roman tombstones invoked her with the
phrase Mater genuit, Mater recepit "the Mother bore me, the
Mother took me back". Kurukulle (at right) is a fierce Nepalese
and Tibetan goddess much like Kali, depcited sometimes as red
and sometimes as black.
Kali's title Devi (Goddess) was similarly widespread in IndoEuropean languages. She was
the Latin diva or dea (Goddess) and Minoan diwi or diwija, the Goddess associated with Zeus
at Knossos. Dia, Dea, and Diana were alternate forms of the same title.
Though called "the One," Kali was always a trinity: the same VirginMotherCrone triad
established perhaps nine or ten millennia ago, giving the Celts, their triple Morrigan; the
Greeks, their triple Moerae and all other manifestations of the Threefold Goddess; the
Norsemen, their triple Norns; the Romans, their triple Fates and triadic Uni (Juno); the
Egyptians, their triple Mut (Mother Goddess) in the forms of IsisHathorSekhmet; the Arabs
their triple Moongoddess—she was the same everywhere. Even Christians modeled their
threefold God on her archetypal trinity.
IndoEuropean languages branched from the root of Sanskrit, said to be Kali's invention.
She created the magic letters of the Sanskrit alphabet and inscribed them on the rosary of
skulls around her neck.
Although Kali is worshipped throughout India and Nepal, and even in
Indonesia, she is most popular in the state West Bengal in India,
where one also finds Kalighat, her most famous temple just outside
Kolkata (capital of West Bengal). Considering that Calcutta is simply
an Anglicized form of kaligata, the city received its very name from
the goddess. She is depicted in a statue venerated by millions, an
effigy who large tongue hangs down before her.
Each district, town and village in Bengal seems to have its very
own Kali famous for a particular miracle or incident. The Hindus of
Bengal have always taken a fancy towards the Goddess Kali and have
worshipped her both as a mother and as a daughter. The concept of
Kali as being both mother and daughter is enhanced by the various hymns composed by the
great Bengali devotees, Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Ramaprasad.
Kali is "the divine Shakti representing both the creative and destructive aspects of nature",
and as such she is a goddess who both gives life and brings death. Clothed only with the veil
of space, her blueblack nakedness symbolizes the eternal night of nonexistence, a night that
is free of any illusion and distinction. Kali as such is pure and primary reality, the enfolded
order, formless void yet full of potential.
Kali represents the entire physical plane. She is the drama, tragedy, humor, and sorrow of
life. She is the brother, father, sister, mother, lover, and friend. She is the fiend, monster,
beast, and brute. She is the sun and the ocean. She is the grass and the dew. She is our sense
of accomplishment and our sense of doing worthwhile. Our thrill of discovery is a pendant on
her bracelet. Our gratification is a spot of color on her cheek. Our sense of importance is the
bell on her ankle. The full and seductive, terrible and wonderful earth mother always has
something to offer.
But one should not jump to the conclusion that Kali represents only the destructive aspect
of God's power. What exists when time is transcended, the eternal night of limitless peace and
joy, is also called Kali (Maharatri). And it is she who prods Shiva Mahadeva into the next
cycle of creation. In short, she is the power of God in all His aspects.
Maha Kali
Kali is a manyfaceted goddess, and one of her aspects is the deity of dissolution and
destruction—in this sense, she greatly resembles the ancient Egyptian goddess Sekhmet. She
is known for destroying ignorance, and she helps those who strive to obtain knowledge of
God. Her name means "The Black One," and the city of Calcutta is named in her honor. Kali
is often portrayed as fearsome in appearance. She has wild eyes, a protruding tongue; she
wields a bloody sword and also holds the severed head of a demon; and she often wears a belt
of severed heads and a garland of fifty skulls.
In Hindu mythology, the gods were not able not subdue the demon Raktabija. Every drop
of his blood that touched the ground transformed itself into another demon. Within a few
minutes of attacking this Asura with their weapons, the gods would find the entire battlefield
covered with millions of demon clones.
In despair, the gods turned to Shiva. But Shiva was lost in meditation, so they turned to his
consort Parvati. The goddess immediately set out to do battle with this dreaded demon in the
form of Kali.
She rode into the battleground on her lion, and Raktabija experienced fear for the first time
in his demonic heart. Kali ordered the gods to attack Raktabija. She then spread her tongue to
cover the battlefield, preventing even a single drop of Raktabija's blood from falling on the
group, thus preventing Raktabija from reproducing himself.
Drunk on Raktabija's blood, Kali ran across the cosmos, killing anyone who dared cross
her path. She adorned herself with the heads, limbs, and entrails of her victims. To pacify her,
Shiva threw himself under her feet. This stopped the goddess. She calmed down, embraced
her husband, and shed her ferocious form.
MAHAKALI The Transcendent Power of Time
She is fearsome, she is bloody, and she is misunderstood.
She is the Mother of All Things and she is the Destroyer of
the manifest universe. She is Kali. She is Time Itself.
Like Shiva himself, the power of Shiva (his consort/the Goddess) is represented under three
main aspects. The creative, allpervading energy, Shakti (rajas); the peaceful, allpervading
spatial aspect, Parvati (sattva); and the destructive all pervading aspect, Kali (tamas). When
Shiva and Shakti unite this leads to a state of agitation and unrest, from which the universe
springs forth. The universe is shaken, as Shakti is the Power of Lust and enjoyment. Kali is
also the power of liberation—liberation from the bonds of maya, which is an active battle.
When the Goddess withdraws from the Lord of Sleep, this causes all things to go to sleep—
for the God is no longer active in his role as a creative principle.
When Shiva and Shakti are united, it is the universal day. Creation exists and goes about its
business of disintegration. When Energy begins to withdraw from the cosmic embrace, the
twilight of creation falls. As she moves further away, breaking the connection, night falls
upon the universe and creation ceases to exist. This is the Eternal Night in which everything
sleeps, except Time. Time goes on. Time, in the cosmic sense must always exist, in order for
the cycle to begin again. When the cycle begins again, it is Kali resuming her creative aspect
(Shakti) and coupling once more with the Unmanifest Immensity that is Shiva. Time
transcends all things and this is why Maha Kali is often regarded as the highest, most abstract
form of divinity.
It is under this fierce aspect as the Power of Time, that the goddess is represented in her
most fearful form. She is shown to be fond of intoxicants, lust, and bloody sacrifices. In the
past, cruel and orgiastic rituals were performed in her honor by various Tantric cults. One of
the most famous of these was made up of the Thugs or Thugee, who were a band of
professional assassins in Northern India. The name comes from the Sanskrit word sthaga,
meaning “robber” < sthagati, which means “to hide or cover.” It is the source of the word we
use today for cutthroats, thieves, and tough guys: thug. They practiced ritual murder, often by
slitting throats, and robbed their victims to boot. They considered themselves Kali's minions
here on earth and took the symbology of her image in a literal manner.
The Kali Tantra depicts the image of Kali:
“Most fearful, her laughter shows her dreadful teeth. She stands upon a corpse. She has
four arms. Her hands hold a sword and a head and show the gestures of removing fear
and granting boons. She is the auspicious divinity of sleep, the consort of Shiva.
“Naked, clad only in space, the goddess is resplendent. Her tongue hangs out. She
wears a garland of skulls. Such is the form worthy of meditation of the Power of Time—
Kali, who dwells near the funeral pyre.”
She is the supreme night, which swallows all that exists. She therefore stands upon
“nonexistence,” upon the corpse of the ruined universe. As long as the power that gives life to
the universe (Shakti/Parvati/Rati) remains predominent, the universe exists. Once that power
is withdrawn from Shiva, then he becomes as a corpse (shava). The lifeless body of Shiva
represents whatever is left of the manifest universe when it reverts to the sole control of
eternal Time.
She is the warrior, standing alone and victorious upon the battlefield, having vanquished
all. In the frenzied lust of battle, she has grown fearsome and dreadful. She has liberated all
things from the illusion of being separate and returned them to their unmanifest state and
unity. She laughs in her triumph, showing her fangs and her tongue as an expression of her
dominion over all that exists. She mocks those fools who thought they might escape.
Her four arms represent the four directions of space identified with the complete cycle of
Time. Completeness is usually represented by the four corners. In the strict language of
symbolism, four arms always represent the idea of absolute dominion. This is also the
meaning of the cross and swastika. Her sword represents the power of destruction.
The warrior keeps as a trophy the head of his victim. This trophy shows the living the fate
they must expect. This is to remind all living beings that no one can escape the Omnipotence
of Time.
She displays the gesture of removing fear, because as long as there is existence, there is
fear of destruction. Fear is inherent in all forms of existence. All things that have a limit fear
those things that have no limits. The Upanishads say that he who exists “beyond the beyond”
is one who exists without fear. Kali is the embodiment of all fear; therefore, she herself is
beyond fear. Only she can protect those who fear if they invoke her name.
All the pleasures of the world are transient. Human joy is but a momentary and feeble
perception of our true nature, which is unbounded joy and bliss. True happiness can only exist
in that which is permanent. Only the Power of Time is permanent; it alone can grant
happiness. Thus Kali shows us the hand of granting boons and giving bliss.
All life rests upon Kali, and also what remains after life depends upon her. Death is not
total annihilation. The dead leave something of themselves behind and this also rests in Kali.
She therefore wears the garland of skulls that once carried life and are left behind as empty
reminders of death.
The universe which is created and pervaded by the eternal power of time is also it's veil—
the veil of illusion. When the universe is destroyed, the veil is removed and thus she stands
naked with space as her only garment.
Kali is generally shown as black, because she is tamas, the power of destruction.
She is the ultimate energy, in which all distinctions disappear. All colors dissolve into
darkness and all forms return to formlessness in the allpervading darkness of the
Eternal Night. Beyond forms, beyond death and existence, there is a supreme state of
being, which is absolute joy. She is relatively fearful only in the sense of the worldly,
manifest existence. Only those who cling to their egos, their worldly possessions, and
their distinctions of separateness fear her.
The 100 Names of Kali
Note that if you actually count the “names” given below, there are actually only 59 socalled
names—but there are 100 Sanskrit words that make up the names. They are (with their
meanings):
Mahakali Jagadhatri (creator of the world)
Jaganmata (mother of the world)
Jaganmayi (consisting of the world)
Jagadamba (world mother)
Jagatsara (essence of the world)
Jagadanandakarini (cause of bliss in the world)
Jagadvighnasini (destroyer of world obstacles)
Gauri (the golden one)
Dukhadaridyanashini (destroyer of unhappiness and poverty)
Bhairavabhavini Bhavananta Sarasvataprada (bestower of eloquence)
Chaturvargaprada (giver of the four aims)
Sadhvi (holy one)
Sarvamangalamangala (greatest fortune of all)
Bhadrakali Vilakshi Kamadatri (giving desires)
Kalatmika (Time/Darkness Itself)
Nilavani (Blue Sarasvati)
Mahagaurasarvanga (greatly golden in all limbs)
Sundaripara (supremely beautiful)
Sarvasampatprada (giver of all prosperity)
Bhimanadini (sounding terrifying)
Varavarnini Vararoha Shivaruha (She who rides Shiva)
Mahishasuradhatini Shivapujya (She who is worshipped by Shiva)
Shivaprita (beloved by Shiva)
Danavendraprapujita (worshiped by the Danavas)
Sarvavidyamayi (consisting of all knowledge)
Sarvasarva Bhistha phalaprada (giver of the fruit of every possible desire)
Komalangi (soft of limbs)
Vidhatri (creatrix)
Vidhatrivaradayini (giver of boons in creation)
Purnenduvadana (with a face like the full moon)
Nilameghavarna (the color of a blue raincloud)
Kapalini Kurukulla Viprachitta Kantachitta Madonmada (drunk with desire)
Matangi (elephant lady)
Madanaprita Madaghurnitalochana (eyes full of desire)
Madottirna Kharparasinaramundavilasini Naramundasraja (with a necklace of men's
heads)
Devi Khadgahasta (holding a cleaver)
Bhayanaka (giving fear)
Attahasayuta (laughing loudly)
Padma (lotus)
Padmaragopashobhita Karabhayaprada (hand removing fear)
Kali Kalaratri Svarupini (true form of the night of time)
Svadha Svaha Vashatkara Saradindusamaprabha Sharatjyotsna (light of the autumn
moon)
Samhlada Viparitaratatura (addicted to taking the superior sexual role)
Muktakeshi (dishevelled of hair)
Chinnajata Jatajutavilasini Sarvarajayutabhima Sarvarajoparisthata Shmashanstha
(dwelling in the cremation ground)
Mahanandistuta (praised by Mahanandi)
Samdiptalochana Shavasanarata (addicted to the corpse asana)
Nanda Siddhacharanasevita (served by Siddhacharas)
Balidanapriya (fond of sacrifice)
Garbha (the womb)
Bhurbhuvasvah Svarupini (true form of Bhurbhuvahsvar)
Gayatri Savitri Mahanila Sarasvati Lakshmir Lakshana Samyukta (showing all the signs of
Lakshmi)
Sarva Lakshanalakshita (having every single characteristic)
Vyaghracharmavrita (wearing tiger skin)
Madhya Trivalivalayanchita Gandharvaihsamstutasa (praised by the Gandharvas)
Inda Mahapara (greatly supreme one)
Pavitra Parama (supreme)
The Hundred Names of Kali in Scripture
O Devi, you are the measure and you measure. You are beyond measure and measurer. You are one
in many forms. You are the form of the universe. I bow to you. —Kaulavali Tantra.
Here is the text and a translation of chapter 23 of the influential Brihadnila Tantra. If there are
defects in my translation, I beg the indulgence of readers.
Patala 23. Shri Devi said: Before, O Deva, when engaged in amorous play, you mentioned
the 100 names of Kali. Lord, speak of this to me. Shri Bhairava said: Well asked, Mahadevi, I
will tell you of that previously untold. Vararohe Sundari, you should conceal it like your own
yoni. [1–2]
Mohini, you who are as dear to me as life itself, I could not live for an instant without you,
Parameshvari. [3] Like sight is inherent in the sun and as ghee is inherent in milk, so I, the
Natha am everywhere present in you. [4] Listen Devi, I will speak to you of the japa giving all
knowledge. Sadashiva is the rishi, it is said; Cchanda is the meter, [5] the devata is Bhairavi
Devi, bestowing the four aims of mankind.
The application is that it gives all knowledge. [6] “Mahakali Jagadhatri (creator of the
world) Jaganmata ( mother of the world); Jaganmayi (consisting of the world); Jagadamba
(world mother); Jagatsara (essence of the world); Jagadanandakarini (cause of bliss in the
world); [7] Jagadvighnasini (destroyer of world obstacles); Gauri (golden one);
Dukhadaridyanashini (destroyer of unhappiness and poverty); Bhairavabhavini
Bhavananta Sarasvataprada (bestower of eloquence); [8] Chaturvargaprada (giver of the
four aims); Sadhvi (holy); Sarvamangalamangala (greatest fortune of all); Bhadrakali
Vilakshi Kamadatri (giving desires); Kalatmika (self of kalas); [9]
Nilavani (blue Sarasvati); Mahagaurasarvanga (greatly golden in all limbs); Sundaripara

(supremely beautiful); Sarvasampatprada (giver of all prosperity); Bhimanadini (sounding
terrifying); Varavarnini [10] Vararoha Shivaruha (riding Shiva); Mahishasuradhatini
Shivapujya (worshipped by Shiva); Shivaprita (loved by Shiva); Danavendraprapujita
(worshipped by Danavas); [11] Sarvavidyamayi (consisting of all vidya);
Sarvasarvabhisthaphalaprada (giver of the fruit of every possible desire); Komalangi (soft
of limbs); Vidhatri (creatrix); Vidhatrivaradayini (giver of boons in creation); [12]
Purnenduvadana (with a face like the full moon); Nilameghavarna (the colour of a blue
raincloud); Kapalini
Kurukulla Viprachitta Kantachitta Madonmada (drunk with desire); [13] Matangi
(elephant lady); Madanaprita Madaghurnitalochana (eyes full of desire); Madottirna
Kharparasinaramundavilasini [14] Naramundasraja (with a necklace of men's heads);
Devi Khadgahasta (holding a cleaver); Bhayanaka (giving fear); Attahasayuta (laughing
loudly); Padma (lotus); Padmaragopashobhita [15] Karabhayaprada (hand removing
fear); Kali Kalaratrisvarupini (true form of the night of time); Svadha Svaha Vashatkara
Saradindusamaprabha (as bright as the autumn moon);[16]
Sharatjyotsna (light of the autumn moon); Samhlada Viparitaratatura (addicted to taking
the superior sexual role); Muktakeshi (dishevelled of hair); Chinnajata Jatajutavilasini
[17] Sarvarajayutabhima Sarvarajoparisthata Shmashanstha (dwelling in the cremation
ground); Mahanandistuta (praised by Mahanandi); Samdiptalochana [18] Shavasanarata
(addicted to the corpse asana); Nanda Siddhacharanasevita (served by Siddhacharas);
Balidanapriya (fond of animal sacrifice); Garbha (the womb); Bhurbhuvasvahsvarupini
(true form of Bhurbhuvahsvar); [19] Gayatri Savitri Mahanilasarasvati
Lakshmirlakshanasamyukta (showing all the signs of Lakshmi); Sarvalakshanalakshita
(having every single characteristic); [20] Vyaghracharmavrita (wearing tiger skin); Madhya
Trivalivalayanchita Gandharvaihsamstutasa (praised by the Gandharvas); hi Inda
Mahapara (greatly supreme one); [21] Pavitra Parama (supreme).” Maya Mahamaya
Mahodaya. Maheshvari, so to you are declared the 100 celestial names. [22] Whosoever reads
these at morning time for certain gains a treasure. Here in this world, he is happy and
afterwards attains union with Devi. [23]
He cannot be subjugated by siddhas, by aughas, by all things that move and do not move,

whether they move on earth, in space, or in heaven. [24] The names are called ‘Boon,’
Maheshani, and one may give up the 1,000 (names). [25] One should recite the 100 (names)
of Devi, the giver of the fruit of the four aims (of mankind). O Parameshani, without knowing
these 100 names [26], there is no siddhi from Mahakali in this Kali Yuga.
One who recites with devotion gains good results, listen! [27] He gains the results of hundreds
of millions of Kalipujas. What use of more words? He will become the desired. [28]
III. Writings on Kali, Mantras & Meditation
The Dance of Time
by Sri Chinmoy
O MotherFire! Thy stormeyed ken
Tortures my eyeless fate.
Before me shine all wonderways
Of thy immortal Gate.
The face of rapture thy stroke unveils.
Matchless forever Thou art
To make us reach the Peak unknown,
The One's allembracing Heart.
The fount of Power at thy Feet abides.
Thy cosmic dance of Noon
Throws fast on earth the nectarfloods
Of snowwhite firepure Moon.
In another aspect the Mother Divine is called Maha Kali. In this aspect she is the warrior
Mother who is fighting all the time against the hostile forces, against human imperfection,
limitation, bondage and death. At the same time, she is all Compassion for the sincere
seekers. In all Her divine aspects, the transcendental Mother is full of Compassion, but in this
aspect she is undoubtedly the Mother of supernal Compassion. Maha Kali has more
Compassion than the others, for she does not allow anyone to cherish imperfection in the
physical plane, the vital plane, the mental plane, or in any other plane. It is her infinite
Compassion that frees men from the fetters of ignorance.
On the one hand, Kali looks absolutely terrifying and ferocious when she comes down to
the vital plane of human ignorance. But on the other hand, she is very, very compassionate.
She sheds bitter tears when she sees that anyone is wallowing in the pleasures of ignorance
instead of trying to transcend his limitations, ignorance, darkness and death. So she fights
against our enemies for us.
Maha Kali is the Mother of aspiration. She has great fondness for height, for the highest
transcendental Height. If she is satisfied with a seeker, then in no time she will carry that
particular seeker to the highest transcendental Height. She is also the Mother of fastest speed.
She has the capacity to expedite the seeker's progress in the twinkling of an eye. She takes the
aspirant to his Goal infinitely faster than the other cosmic gods and goddesses. In a single day
she can give him the progress which otherwise might have taken him fifty or sixty years to
make. Those who want to make quick progress in the spiritual life, and those who want to
attain to spiritual perfection as soon as possible, need the assistance, help, guidance and
protection of this particular goddess for special Grace.
Kali quite often exercises this dynamic power of transformation, but she does it only for
those who have boundless and implicit faith in her, for those who feel that at every moment
they can be divine heroes dedicated to fulfilling her cause here on earth. Her to fulfill here on
earth should be the aim of the heroworshipper of the Mother Kali.
This Mother demands absolute sincerity, purity and onepointedness in the consciousness
of those who want to adore her and worship her. Only on these conditions will she accept a
devotee. She has no time to wait for insincere seekers. There are other gods and goddesses,
especially the goddess Lakshmi, who will tolerate insincerity. They wait with their love and
compassion for the seekers who are only half sincere, but Kali is very strict and will not do
that. She wants absolute sincerity and purity immediately and then only will she take one to
the highest Transcendental Abode of the Supreme.
The pure gold color which represents the divine manifestation, is the true color of the
Mother Kali. In the highest plane she is absolutely golden, although most pictures show her as
black. She often looks black because she has entered into the vital worlds of aspirants who are
still impure but who want to be purified in order to transform their consciousness. When she
sees that an aspirant is really sincere and dedicated, she enters into his vital and destroys for
good the lower vital movements that have to be destroyed and transforms whatever can be
transformed into higher aspects of Divinity.
I am sure most of you have heard of the very great spiritual Master Sri Ramakrishna. The
Goddess Kali was his Divine Mother. It was Mother Kali whom he worshipped and adored; it
was with Mother Kali that he established his ultimate transcendental Connection and Union.
There came a time when Sri Ramakrishna's consort, Sarada Devi, found no difference
between Mother Kali and her husband, who was also called Thakur. She would say, "Where is
Kali? Who is Kali if not Thakur."
As for myself, I personally regard Kali as my dearest Mother. This aspect of the Divine is
most dear to me. In India all families without exception have a family deity and our family
deity is Kali.
Mother Kali is the consort of Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva is the silent aspect of the
transcendental Reality and Mother Kali is the dynamic and active aspect of the transcendental
Reality. If we think of Shiva and Kali with our ordinary human mind, then we separate them;
but if we look at them with our inner eye, then we see that they go together. Truth is complete
and we are fulfilled when the dynamic aspect and the silent aspect function together. God in
His feminine aspect, God the Mother, is Maha Kali. God in His masculine aspect, God the
Father, is Lord Shiva.
Those in the West who want power, but who have no feeling for any Indian goddess or
deity, can directly invoke the power aspect of God: God the Power. He has Compassion. He
has Love. He has everything. So if we pray to God the Power, the indomitable Power, we will
get the same blessings as we can get from this particular goddess.
In one of our Upanishads it is mentioned that the ultimate Truth is: "That is far and at the
same time is near. That moves and that moves not. That is within, that is without." It is within
and without. When our inner consciousness is fully awakened, we see that if something is
within, that very thing also has to be without. If we have sown a seed, then it will germinate
and there will be a tree. If the truth is already there within, then the truth has to be manifested
sooner or later outside.
(From The Dance of the Cosmic Gods by Sri Chinmoy)
The Four Powers of the Mother
by Sri Aurobindo
The four Powers of the Mother are four of her outstanding Personalities, portions and
embodiments of her divinity through whom she acts on her creatures, orders and harmonises
her creations in the worlds and directs working out of her thousand forces.
—Sri Aurobindo
Maha Kali is of another nature.
Not of wideness but of height, not wisdom but force and strength are her peculiar power.
There is in her a overwhelming intensity, a mighty passion of force to achieve, a divine
violence rushing to shatter every limit and obstacle.
All her divinity leaps out in a splendor of tempestuous action; she is therefore swiftness, for
the immediately effective process, the rapid and direct stroke, the frontal assault that carries
everything, before it.
Terrible is her face to the Asura, dangerous and ruthless her mood against the haters of the
Divine; for she is the Warrior of the Worlds who never shrinks from the battle. Intolerant of
imperfection, she deals roughly with all in man that is unwilling and she is severe to all that is
obstinately ignorant and obscure; her wrath is immediate and dire against treachery and
falsehood and malignity, illwill is smitten at once by her scourage.
Indifference, negligence and sloth in the divine work she cannot bear and she smites awake
at once with sharp pain, if need be, the untimely slumberer and the loiterer. The impulses that
are swift and straight and frank, the movements that are unreserved and absolute, the
aspiration that mounts in flame are the motion of Maha Kali.
Her spirit is tameless, her vision and will are high and farreaching like the flight of an
eagle, her feet are rapid on the upward way and her hands are outstretched to strike and to
succour.
For she too is the Mother and her love is as intense as her wrath and she has a deep and
passionate kindness. When she is allowed to intervene in her strength , then in one moment
are broken like things without consistence the obstacles that immobilize or the enemies that
assail the seeker.
If her anger is dreadful to the hostile and the vehemence of her pressure painful to the
weak and timid, she is loved and worshipped by the great, the strong and the noble; for they
feel that her blows beat what is rebellious in their material into strength and perfect truth,
hammer straight what is wry and perverse and expel what is impure or defective.
But for her what is done in a day might have taken centuries; without her Ananda might be
wide and grave or soft and sweet and beautiful but would lose the flaming joy of its most
absolute intensities. To knowledge she gives a conquering might, brings to beauty and
harmony a high and mounting movement and imparts to the slow and difficult labour after
perfection an impetus that multiplies the power and shortens the long way.
Nothing can satisfy her that falls short of the supreme ecstasies, the highest heights, the
noblest aims, the largest vistas. Therefore with her is the victorious force of the Divine and it
is by grace of her fire and passion and speed if he great achievement can be done now than
hereafter.
(Selection from “The Mother,” by Sri Aurobindo)
Two Poems on the Mother
by Ramprasad Sen
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 mindborn delusions
symbolized by demons that separate us from the Divine as our own true Self. To our bound,
limited and contracted ego identities She may strike terror, at times appearing as a coalblack,
swordwielding, bloodsmeared dancer of death and destruction. To our Divine Self, She is
our supremely beautiful Beloved, our dear spouse, performing a ballet of incomparable grace,
overwhelming us with love.
The Great Goddess Kali can never be understood by the intellect. She and the essence of what
She symbolizes are beyond the mind. Don't be surprised if your rational mind rebels and
wants to go no further! Poets and mystics advise us that in order to know Her we must plunge
into Her luscious, radiant, blackness, dive through our fear of the unknown, into Her
overwhelming mystery and allow ourselves to dissolve in Her velvety midnight embrace. By
Her grace we may know the unutterable truth of Her love, even as we are annihilated by Her
infinitude. Beware, you may return babbling, forever lost to your spouse! Only a poet saint
can assemble the words necessary to point our attention toward Her. Ramprasad Sen, the
eighteenthcentury Bengali poetsaint, is one of the most loquacious of Her devotees. Lex
Hixon brilliantly rendered Ramprasad’s poems into English verse in his book, Mother of the
Universe. Letting your mind step aside for a moment, allow your heart and soul to feast on
these two poems:
My Blissful Mother Exists Fully In Every Creature! (1)
Meditate, O mind, on the mystery of Kali.
Use any method of worship you please,
or be free from methods,
breathing day and night her living name
as the seed of power
planted by the teacher in your heart.
Consider the simple act of lying down to sleep
as devoted offering of body and mind to her.
Allow your dreams to become
radiant meditations on the Cosmic Mother.
As you wander through countryside or city,
feel that you are moving through Kali, Kali, Kali.
All sounds you hear are her natural mantras
arising spontaneously
as the whole universe worships her,
prostrates to her, awakens to her.
The Goddess, who is unitive wisdom,
constitutes the letters of every alphabet.
Every word secretly bears the power of her name.
The singer of this mystic hymn is overwhelmed:
“Wonderful! Wonderful! My blissful Mother
exists fully in every creature!
O wandering poet,
whatever food or drink you receive,
offer as oblation in the sacrificial fire of your body
and dissolve your mind
into her allencompassing reality.
Listen to me, Death! (2)
Listen to me, Death!
You must leave here immediately.
How can you touch me?
I have captured Goddess Kali.
I have bound her hands and feet
with adamantine strands of pure love.
Her intimate presence alone
now shines from the stronghold of my heart.
The twelvepetal lotus that floats in my chest
is surrounded by her fierce flames.
I contemplate with awe
the thousandpetal lotus at my crown
where the golden honey of mystic union
is flowing eternally.
O Mother Kundalini,
my entire being is swept upward continuously
by your current of wisdom energy.
I have taken precautions so that Goddess Kali
cannot escape from within me.
Singleminded devotion guards her with every breath.
These two eyes are her gatekeepers.
My third eye has become her own clear vision.
Suspecting that the fatal fever of egocentricity
would attack my mind and body,
I have taken the ancient remedy
prescribed by my illumined master.
The medicine Om Kali, taken four times daily,
cures the chronic illness of me! me! me!
Emboldened by the indwelling of the Mother,
this warrior poet calls out:
“Listen to me, Death, so your insane pride
will at last be humbled.
You can take away only this form.
I have already begun my deathless journey,
chanting Kali! Kali! Kali!
The Mantras of Maha Kali
Mantras can excite the emotions and give suggestions to the mind. Mantras affect both the
one who chants them and the one who hears them. The word “mantra” comes from the
Sanskrit mantrana, which means “advice” or “suggestion.” In a sense, every word is a mantra.
In our daily lives, we use words to get everything done, to obtain everything we need. Each
mantra or word is a sound pattern that suggests to the mind the meanings inherent in it, and
the mind immediately responds.
A saying from the Vedas claims, "Speech is the essence of humanity." All of what
humanity thinks and ultimately happens is determined by the expression of ideas and actions
through speech and its derivative, writing. Everything, the Vedas maintain, comes into being
through speech. Ideas remain unactualized until they are created through the power of speech.
In Vedic practices, most ancient techniques and classical Hinduism, mantra symbolizes as
a necessity for spiritual advancement and high attainment. Here are some important ideas
about mantra, which will enable you to begin a practical understanding of what mantra is and
what it can do.
Mantras are energybased sounds. Saying any word produces an actual physical vibration.
Over time, if we know what the effect of that vibration is, then the word may come to have
meaning associated with the effect of saying that vibration or word. This is one level of
energy basis for words. Another level is intent. Actual physical vibration when coupled with a
mental intention, the vibration then contains an additional mental component, which
influences the result of saying it. The intent when overlaid upon the waveform of the sound as
the carrier wave. Although there is a general meaning, which comes to be associated with
mantras, the only lasting definition is the result or effect of saying the mantra.
Note that some of the mantras found here may be found in other forms; that is, the
spellings may differ, especially the spelling of the nasal ending. So, KRĪM may appear as
KRĪNG, HŪM as HŪNG, and so forth.
The Mantra ŌM KALI MA

The mantra ŌM KALI MA (Praised be Kali the Mother!) vibrates with Her power and serves as
a Divine vehicle for transporting you into Her domain. Using it for meditation, you breathe in
ŌM KALI MA with every inhalation, silently repeating it in your mind, savoring the subtle
sounds of each syllable as She infuses every cell of your body with Her power, radiance and
love. With every exhalation, silently breathe out ŌM KALI MA, feeling Her presence filling the
universe around you. Breathe in ŌM KALI MA drinking in Her elixir. Breathe out ŌM KALI MA
as you float like a bubble in the ocean of the Divine. Your body may be gently swayed by Her
lullaby as the egomind falls asleep and the Divine awakens within you. Meditate daily,
taking delight in all She shows you. ŌM KALI MA JAI KALI MA (Long Live Mother Kali)!
General Kali Mantra for Relief from Difficult Circumstances
This mantra can be used to bring one very quickly into balance or alignment with regard to a
specific situation. The results can be dramatic and even unpleasant, even if they are ultimately
the most compassionate. For instance, if you are having problems with a relationship and you
use this Kali mantra to invoke her help with the problem, the relationship may end abruptly,
even though this is not the outcome you desired. Conversely, a marriage possibility could
develop much more quickly from a relationship than you might have desired or felt ready for.
Whatever the issue, Kali gets right to the point and lets your ego attachments fall where they
may. She is concerned with whatever will be the most beneficial outcome for you from a
karmic standpoint, period.
ŌM KLĪM KĀLĪKAYE NAMAH ŌM
(“Ōm and salutations. I attract she who is dark and powerful.” Ōm.)
From Shakti Mantras: Tapping into the Great Goddess Energy Within
ŌM represents Kali’s holy body, speech and mind.
KLĪM means to attract.
KĀLĪKA means the dark one, she whom we invoke to help us dispel the darkness
affecting us.
NAMAH indicates power, and also reiterates our salutation to the goddess.
ŌM closes the mantra, and carries the significance “may the meaning of the mantra take
root in my mind.”
Spiritual Evolution Mantra That Is Quick, Powerful, and Unyielding
There is also a longer form of the above mantra that relates to Kali as the destroyer of
negative ego on the one hand, and the provider of a very fast route to spiritual liberation on
the other. It would be difficult for you to discover this mantra, usually referred to simply and
mysteriously as the Great FifteenSyllable Mantra. If you decide to work with this mantra,
please have extra patience with yourself. Because it can work quickly, it may also cause some
turmoil in your daily life.
The mantra will bring to the surface aspects of our ego that we have decided are “OK.” We
all become comfortable with ourselves in certain contexts. We know who we are, make
allowances for our aberrant behavior, and fool ourselves that we are trying hard and doing the
best we can. But if those internal qualities are truly not beneficial to us, this mantra will begin
to eradicate even those characteristics we may have decided are “OK,” and want to keep. If
we are determined to hold on to parts of ourselves that are based on a deluded sense of
satisfaction, particularly if our behavior is less than ideal, then Kali will come to our aid with
a stainlesssteel, scalpellike precision.
When we invoke Kali through this mantra, we are saying, “I want true spiritual
advancement by the most powerful and direct route, the consequences to my ego
notwithstanding.” So if you pick this route, it’s only fair that you know what you are in for. It
will be intense, possibly unnerving, probably uncomfortable, certainly disruptive to one or
more aspects of your mundane life, and also very effective in a short amount of time.
ŌM HRĪM SHRĪM KLĪM ADYA KĀLĪKA PARAMESHWARI SWAHA
(“Om and salutation to She who is the first one, dark within her own reality, the supreme
primordial feminine, who cuts through illusion to the unabridged truth of existence.” So be
it!)
From Shakti Mantras: Tapping into the Great Goddess Energy Within
Two Long Kali Mantras
There are two more Kali mantras that should be disclosed. The first invokes the Goddess as
the manifestation of Great Wisdom, and is used so that her wisdom can solve our problems.
We use it to ask her to grant us her great wisdom. The second invokes her, asking her to
appear in her own essential form and even asking that we might be transformed into her true
form in order to alleviate our problems. But her methods are extremely drastic and swift, so
beware when using these longer mantras. Sometimes her idea of solving a problem is simply
to cut it out of your life!
The Kali Mahavidya Mantra:
KLĪM KLĪM KLĪM HŪM HŪM HRĪM HRĪM
DAKSHINE KĀLĪKE
KLĪM KLĪM KLĪM HŪM HŪM HRĪM HRĪM
SVĀHĀ!
The Kali Svarupa Mantra:
OM!
KRIM KRIM KRIM HUM HUM HRIM HRIM
MAHA KALIKE
KRIM KRIM KRIM HUM HUM HRIM HRIM
SVAHA!
Maha Kali Heart Exercise
Breathe deeply into your heart. Focus on the flower (lotus) that is imprinted within your heart.
It is not necessarily a lotus in all of you. Each person has a different flower vibration, but
underlying is the vibration of the lotus, or the potential for enlightenment. Don’t be alarmed if
you see a daffodil or a tulip!
Now breathe into your heart and find your particular flower image. If you do not see it
clearly, you might feel it or have a sense of it. It is important that you
connect with the flower image, because it helps you love the parts of
yourself that you have pushed away.
Breathe in three times, and take a moment to let the flower image
come into your vision. Focus on your vision, the color, and even open your
senses to draw in the fragrance. Carry the flower in your heart as a
gift from the Divine Mother. It brings healing, particularly healing of the feminine aspect.
(This is for those of you who are in the malegender bodies as well.)
Allow the flower to receive the parts of self that have been hiding from the light of love.
Bring those parts of yourself that are tired and in need of help to sit in the petals of the flower.
Rest in this image for as long as needed.
IV. Maha Kali Yantras
What Is a Yantra?
The word Yantra in its most general sense means “an instrument,” or that by which

something is accomplished.
Traditionally, a yantra is used to invoke a deity in a particular location, and also to help the
devotee move towards obtaining a desire.
It is the “diagrammatic” form of the deity it represents. It is frequently made up of
geometrical shapes and sometimes also contains letters and numbers. It is generally engraved
on metal or drawn on paper or other substances.
In the experience of many, the very presence of a yantra creates movement of energy, and
influences the life of the person who has contact with it. The lines and forms of the yantra
dynamically interact with the space and energy around it.
S. Sankaranarayanan says:
“It contains in itself in a controlled form
the uncontrollable power of the deity.”
MAHAKALI YANTRA
Yantra for Protection from Black Magic, Saturn & Evil influences
Kali Yantra bestows on the petitioner fulfillment of all desires, wealth, and comforts of life, and it is used for

Mohan or Vashikaran purposes. The Mahakali Yantra is a very powerful and tested yantra. One should keep the
image of Kali while performing puja on it. According to Swangam Tantra, Kali Tantra, and Bhairo Tantra, this
Yantra is known as Swanam Yantra, Kali Yantra, Mahakali Yantra, or Bhadra Kali Yantra. Goddess Kali in a
fierce pose is the deity of this yantra. This yantra is composed of a Central Point (bindu) within five inverted
traingles, three circles, eight petals inside and outsides, whole yantra enclosed in four doors, and is often written
on silver or copper plates.
Special puja of this yantra is performed on the eighth day of December, March, June, September. Worship with
this yantra is performed in a specialized way.
A great deal of power is received after a puja with this yantra, and it is capable of controlling enemies,

preventing them from doing any harm. A unique and powerful yantra.
Yantra Guidelines:
A Yantra is an instrument, or a talisman or a mystical diagram usually drawn on a copper plate. It is a technique
or path, considered the simplest and shortest, through which one can attain one’s desires, and fulfill one’s wishes.
It is said that the Deities reside in the Yantras and by performing Puja or worship of Yantras, one can appease
them, remove the malefic effects of planets, and increase the flow of positive influences. Procedures to be
followed by you to place this energized Yantra.
1. First purify your body and start with a clear and positive mind frame
2. Find a place on the floor facing east, where you will be undisturbed.
3. Light the incense or lamps/candles. (It does not matter how many you light).
4. Lay a fresh flower and a piece of fresh fruit on the altar.
5. Open the Yantra and place it along with the image of the deity of the yantra and your isht God.
6. Take some water with any leaf from any tree and sprinkle the water on yourself, and then sprinkling water on
the Yantra.
7. Then purify your soul and surrender yourself completely in devotion to the Goddess and chant 21 times the
following :
ŌM KLĪM KĀLĪKAYE NAMAH! OM KAPALINGAYE NAMAH!
Close your eyes and concentrate on Kali, seeing her bless you and fulfill you wishes. Now with all sincerity,
ask the Goddess to grant you the desire that you wanted to be fulfilled (of course, in your own language).
Kālī Yantra
There are many versions of the Kali Yantra, in various colors. Kali is black but the other
colors used in the yantra (red, yellow, green and white) are also part of her traditional
representation. Below is one common and striking example of the yantra used to invoke her
fierce form.
Kālī (Mahavidya) Yantra
This form of the Kālī Yantra is used for her representation as one of the ten Mahavidyas or
main forms of Devi. The geometry of the central portion is similar to the one used above.
Note however, how an additional Shakti triangle is “hidden” by the circle and ring of lotus
petals circumscribing the central portion of the yantra. This probably signifies the “hidden”
true nature of Devi as Maya (illusion). Note also how the the colors used here are much
lighter and harmonious than in the fiercer representation above. This may reflect a preference
for more pleasing forms in the Dakshina Path tantric tradition.
Śyama Yantra
This yantra representing the Śyama form of Kali is interesting for its unusually asymmetric
form. This is probably also an expression of the iconoclastic nature of the Vamamarga (left
hand path) form of Tantra. Note also the variation of the surrounding Bhupur (gates)
The watercolor version below is a variant of the yantra where the artist has tried to adapt
the traditional representation into a more symmetric frame. In this case, colors traditional to
Kali have been used.
Kali Yantra Meditation
Time is the great force of change and the rhythm of our life. Time, or ‘kala’, is birth and death,
growth and decay, which is the essence of our existence. The Supreme Timeforce or ‘shakti’
of kala is ‘Kali.’ Kali is also the prana or lifeforce within us.
In order for the new to come into being, we have to let go of the old. So time is both
creation and destruction. Kali helps us destroy the attachments in our life so that we gain
mastery over time.
Kali is also Life and Death, which are movements in time. To worship Her, we must ‘die’
daily, that is, death of all our worries, ambitions, cares, anxieties, loves and hates. Before
sleeping if we empty our minds of all this, we are ‘born’ again the next day, fresh and new.
Kali is death of the separate self.
Kali also relates to the element of air, and the lightning force that is in the atmosphere. She
is located in the heart chakra of the human body.
Kali is the ‘kriyashakti’ or power of action, which is an essential part of the Timeforce,
and is the first of the Maha Vidyas.
Meditation:
Like a mantra, a yantra is meant as a focus for meditation. To me, The Kali Yantra "images"
my identity, which is the interplay of all of its essential pieces.
The square with its four entrance portals represents the boundaries enclosing the
meditating self as well as symbolizing the earth element and the material quality of
nature. The lotus petals express the different stages of spiritual expansion. The circle is
the symbol of wholeness and the downward pointing triangle represents the seat of
feminine energy.
Keep your mental focus all the time on each inhalation and exhalation as your eyes focus on
the seed mantra ‘krim’ in the centre. Repeating ‘Om Krim’ in your mind with each inhalation
and exhalation, let your eyes take in the entire yantra and feel the colours penetrate your entire
being. Experience the feeling of endless time.
V. Kalighat
Kalighat is located in the city of Calcutta on the banks of the river Hooghly (Bhagirathi). The
name Calcutta is said to have been derived from the word Kalighat.
Kali is regarded as one of the principal deities of Bengal. There are other temples to Kali—
Sahasrabhuja Kali (ThousandArmed Kali), Sarvamangala (Saviour of All), Tarasundari
(Tara the Beautiful), and Simhavahini (Lionfaced Goddess = Sekhmet!). Kali is regarded as
the destroyer or liberator and is depicted in a fearful form. Despite the terrifying form, she is
considered to deliver bliss to worshippers. The Kalighat temple attracts numerous devotees
throughout the year.
Kalighat is regarded as one of the 52 “sacred piths” of India, where the various parts of
Sati's body are said to have fallen, in the course of Shiva's Rudra Tandava. Kalighat represents
the site where the toes of the right foot of Shakti or Sati fell.
The Temple: The Kalighat temple in its present form is only about 200 years old, although
it has been referred to in the Mansar Bhasan composed in the 15th century, and in the Kavi
Kankan Chandi of the 17th century. The present temple was built in 1809 on the site of an
ancient temple. It is an important pilgrimage site and shrine of the Goddess Kali—the
supreme cosmic power inherent in India at Kolkata. When the Lord Shiva danced frantically,
exhibiting cosmic exasperation in his fury (Tandav Nritya) in order to destroy the Universe at
the loss of his beloved wife, Sati, the legend says that the Lord Vishnu saved the Universe
from being ravaged by cutting the body of Sati into pieces and spreading those throughout
India. Wherever each of those parts of the body fell, that place became a pilgrimage site and
storehouse of Cosmic power. Kalighat is one such pilgrimage site: it is the place where the
right little toe of Sati fell. Hence, people come here to get touch of that blessed part of Sati
and to have some wishes and prayers fulfilled through the Cosmic power of Her grace.
Legend has it that a devotee discovered a luminous ray of light coming from the Bhagirathi
river bed, and upon investigating its source came upon a piece of stone carved in the form of a
human toe. He also found a Swayambhu Lingam of Nakuleshwar Bhairav nearby, and started
worshipping Kali in the midst of a thick jungle. This shrine grew to its present form over a
period of time, thanks in particular to the Sabarna Roy Chowdhury family of Bengal.
This family is also said to have built the Chitreswari Kali temple at Chitpur. It is believed
that there was a pathway through the jungle between Chitpur and Kalighat, and this pathway is
said to have become the Chitpur road of Calcutta.
Kalighat is also associated with the worship offered to Kali by a Dasanami Monk by name
Chowranga Giri, and the Chowringee area of Calcutta is said to have been named after him.
The Dakshineswar Kaali temple across from the river, near Belur Math, bears an image of
Kaali worshipped by the spiritual leader Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, guru of Swami
Vivekananda.
Mother Kali at Kalighat
The Triple Goddess: Kali–Lakshmi–Saraswati
VI. The Process of Using Maha Kali Seichim
Intention is the key, so it is important to have a clear intention of what is to be accomplished.
Be centered and calm, focused and relaxed. At this point, connect with Maha Kali and feel her
transmitting her dark blueblack yet deep fiery red energy to your heart. Thinking about Maha
Kali’s image, or chanting her seed syllable (bija) or one of her mantras, either out loud or
silently, or simply saying “I hereby channel the Maha Kali energy now,” work very well.
Notice this energy in the heart and feel full of compassion; after you can feel its connection to
the hands, you are ready to begin.
Raise one hand or both hands and begin sending the energy, being aware of its source and
its intended point of receipt. Keep the hand(s) relaxed (with the fingers loosely together) and
the elbow (of the hand being used) bent. Any symbols and other energies you may want to use
can also be projected or not, depending on intuition. You may also want to chant one of Maha
Kali’s mantras, or her seedsyllable, while channeling this energy.
A session should last about 20–30 minutes. Let intuition be your guide.
VII. Symbols to Use with the Maha Kali Healing Energy
Only two new symbols are needed for Synergy Reiki Masters who wish to master Maha Kali
Seichim.
They are both mantras written in Tibetan.
1. KRIM!
This mantra is written thus—first draw the lefthand vertical stoke
from top to bottom, and then add the left and right curves, starting in
the center and writing down; then add the straight line going
diagonally down to the left; then draw the righthand vertical stroke,
the curve above it (from left to right), followed at the dot at the top.
Then draw the long horizontal line near the top.
As KRĪM is the seedsyllable (bīja) of Maka Kali, one could
theoretically do nothing but chant it and she would become manifest
by the power inherent in the vibrations of the bīja. It is recommended,
however, that you use the ordinary mantra of Kali: ŌM KLĪM KĀLĪKAYE NAMAH ŌM
KRĪM (pronounced Kreem) is the great mantra of Kali, the Goddess of energy and
transformation. It governs prana as lightning or electrical energy. KRĪM grants all spiritual
faculties and powers—from the arousing of kundalini to the opening of the third eye. It has a
special power relative to the lower chakras, which it can both stimulate and transform. It
helps awaken and purify the subtle body. As a mantra of work and transformation KRĪM is
the mantra of Kriya Yoga, the Yoga of practice. It is the main mantra of the Yoga Shakti. As
it is a strong mantra it should be used with care.
KRĪM is a also the mantra of Indra, the supreme deity of the Vedas, the Divine as the
cosmic lord and enlightenment force. KRĪM is the thunderbolt or vajra that destroys the
serpent of the ignorance and releases the light of absolute truth. It represents the force of the
atmosphere (Atmic sphere) and carries the supreme life force.
2. HŪM!
About HŪM
HŪM is the consort of Om. It is the seed－syllable of the five wisdoms. In terms of the seed
syllables of the five Conqueror Buddhas, HŪM is the seed syllable of Akshobhya—the
immovable, the unfluctuating, that which cannot be disturbed by anything.
As shown in the example at right above, HŪM has five parts, each printed in a different
color showing its relationship with one of the five elements: earth, water, fire, air, and space.
HŪM is the seed syllable of the nirmanakaya or trülku, the sphere of realized manifestation.
(Calligraphy by Ngak'chang Rinpoche.)
HŪM is commonly found at the end of several mantras; this is because it is thought to
bring the power of the mantra into manifestion. So, ŌM MANI PADME HŪM, could
actually be translated as: “Hail to the jewel in the lotus! May it be manifest!”
HŪM (pronounced Hoom) is a mantra of the inner fire or thermogenic force. It both calls
the divine down into us and offers our soul upward to the Divine for transformation in the
sacred fire of awareness. It is a Shiva mantra, but it is also a mantra of Chandi, the fierce
form of Maha Kali. It is used to destroy negativity, and it creates great passion and vitality.
As a powerful mantra it should also be used carefully. Yet it can be used in a more gentle
manner to invoke divine grace and protection. Through it we can offer ourselves or our
afflictions into the Divine for purification and transformation.
HŪM is a Vedic mantra of Agni or fire. It is the mantra used to make offerings into the
sacred fire. It also is used to call or invoke the fire and to make it flame up more brilliantly.
It represents the soul hidden the body, the Divine immanent in the world. It governs the
earth and the material sphere in general.
VIII. SelfEmpowerment Method
Attunement transmissions from a person are traditional for Maha Kali Shakti (energies); but
the person merely holds and grounds the energy—the actual transmission is from the Maha
Kali Source)
This is not the same as Maha Kali Seichim. I have set up a Maha Kali Energy Self
Empowerment / selfattunement that may be called in by intention anytime, if it is in accord
with your highest good, or that of your client.
You do not need to take refuge in the Buddha to receive this attunement. After activating
the SelfEmpowerment, you may run the Shakti as an allpurpose healing energy and use it to
enhance meditation. You can activate it by intention, as is done with Reiki/Seichim. Maha
Kali Energies are often used for handsoff and remote healing. They also work to increase
Compassion and Serenity and are said to accelerate one’s progress toward spiritual happiness
and wisdom.
This attunement is offered freely; to receive it, all you need to do is to sit quietly, say that
you wish to be empowered to the Maha Kali energies, and sincerely ask for it.
The Maha Kali Mantra and SeedSyllables
PHREM
The bija of Guhyakali (The Secret Kali)
KRIM
The bija of Maha Kali
VIII. Attunement Method
PART 1. SYNERGY REIKI METHOD of MAHA KALI EMPOWERMENT
A. The Procedure: To make it easy to absorb this information and to follow the process I shall give now a
detailed outline of the whole process from beginning to end. In the process, the symbols are abbreviated thus:
MD (Modern Dai Kō Myō); C (Chō Kū Rei); MK1 (Maha Kali’s seedsyllable, KRĪM, either drawn or recited);
MK2 (Shiva’s seedsyllable, HŪM); TD (Tibetan Dai Kō Myō); OM (Sanskrit Om); F (Fire Serpent); R (Raku).
Visualize the symbols as either glowing with green or golden light.
1. Set the Space: If you have a statue or picture of Green Tara, set it up on a small altar.
Place symbols of the five elements—flowers (wood/air), incense (earth), water (water),
candles (fire), and a bell/chime/vajra (metal) before it. Clear yourself and the space with
symbols, smudging, etc., as you wish. If you desire, perform the Green Tara sadhana or
the Praise to the 21 Taras, or recite Green Tara’s mantra. Call in Green Tara, and
connect with her and with her “EmeraldGreen Light.” Imagine her sitting upon a blue
lotus upon a silver lunardisk in the air before you to help you hold the energy and the
intention.
2. Build up the energy: Recite the Green Tara Mantra at least 3 times—each time,
strengthen your connection with her more in terms of body, speech, and mind.
3. Walk up to the initiate: Go behind them; open the aura and crown; proceed with the
attunement.
4. Attunement process
a. MD+C+MK1+MK2+TD at head: draw symbols over hands, clap, open, blow and
then seal with Tib Om at the ridge.
b. MD+C+ MK1+MK2+TD at 3rd eye: draw symbols over hands, clap, open, blow
and then go around and seal with Tib Om at the ridge.
c. MD+C+ MK1+MK2+TD at throat: draw symbols over hands, clap, open, blow
d. MD+C+ MK1+MK2+TD at heart: draw symbols over hands, clap, open, blow
e. MD+C+ MK1+MK2+TD +F at back: draw symbols over back and then seal with
Tib Om at the ridge.
f. MD+C+ MK1+MK2+TD at knees: draw symbols over knees, clap, open, blow
g. MD+C+ MK1+MK2+TD at feet: draw symbols over tops of feet, clap, lift up,
blow into soles and up the body to crown, draw R down front and then go around
and seal with Tib Om at the ridge.
h. MD+C+ MK1+MK2+TD at back: draw symbols over back; blow up from the
feet to the head and back down, draw R down, and then seal with Tib Om at the
ridge.
i. Look into the crown and imagine seeing the heart in a emeraldgreen and golden
radiance. Place an affirmation like “You are now a successful Maha Kali healer
and Compassion, Love, and Wisdom guides you always. The Maha Kali energy is
available to you whenever you call for it with love and reverence.” “So Be It! So It
Is!”
Using the Violet Breath technique (see below), blow this affirmation down into
the heart and imagine the energy going down through the body, through the feet
until it connects with the healing love and power of the Earth. Complete and seal
this process by chanting MK1/MK2 and imaging them and Tib Om being pressed
into the ridge.
j. Say a prayer of thanks for the process, dedicating the work to the highest good of
all, in love, joy and light, then let go of the ridge.
5. Leave the crown open.
6. Close Aura. Come out of the aura slowly and respectfully, and move around to the front
of the initiate.
7. Take a deep breath, focus the remaining initiating energy (the energy that circulates in
the body after having finished), and blow it in the direction of the initiate as a final
blessing and act of separation. Then bow in the direction of the initiate, speak internally
that it is done.
8. Say the Maha Kali Mantra once as you call them back.
9. Check to see if the initiate opened to the energy and is OK. Stabilize them if they are not.
When they are ready, escort them out and get ready for the next initiate.
B. The Violet Breath Technique – Used in the beginning of the healing attunement.
1. Place the tongue at the roof of your mouth and contract the Hui Yin point at the perineum and run the
Microcosmic Orbit.
2. Take a deep breath and visualize a beautiful white light descending into your crown.
3. Imagine this breath and light traveling through Microcosmic Orbit, down your Functioning Channel in the
front, turning up at the Hui Yin point and going up the Governing Channel in your spine area until it
reaches the center of your head.
4. Imagine the white light and the breath combining to form a white mist that quickly fills your head.
5. Allow the mist to turn blue and begin to rotate in a clockwise manner (viewed from the back). As it rotates
it goes from blue to violet.
6. Within the violet light picture the Tibetan Master Symbol (TD).
7. Breathe the Tibetan Master Symbol (TD) and violet light into the student’s crown chakra, intending it to go
down into the client’s body all the way to the feet where it connects the initiate further with the Earth and
Heaven while disconnecting them from the Master doing the initiation.
PART 2. VEDIC REIJU EMPOWERMENT METHOD
1. Set the Space: As above—If you have a statue or picture of Maha Kali, set it up on a
small altar. Place symbols of the five elements—flowers (wood/air), incense (earth),
water (water), candles (fire), and a bell/chime/vajra (metal) before it. Clear yourself and
the space with symbols, smudging, etc., as you wish. If you desire, perform the Maha
Kali sadhana or the Praise to the 21 Taras, or recite Maha Kali’s mantra. Call in Maha
Kali, and connect with her and with her “Dark blueblack light with its deep red flame.”
Imagine her standing, trodding upon the body of Shiva before you to help you hold the
energy and the intention.
2. Build up the energy: Feel all the energy flow into you and let it build up in you; at first
starts to build up in the lower dantian and starts to fill up your entire being. As it builds,
you become like a sacred furnace and begin to vibrate with the energy as you become
filled with the Light and as the vibration of the energy rises.
3. Tune into the initiate: Tune into the initiate physically; notice their energy and start
vibrating it, and then begin to send the builtup Maha Kali energy from you into them—
prepare them so that it’s like they are merely waiting for the light of your energy. Let the
light flow into their energetic system and enlighten them. They also become filled with
the Powerful Energy of Maha Kali, Destroyer of All Evil.
4. Attunement process: When their energy is “radiant” with the energy and they are filled
with the Radiant Light, send more energy into them—have it vibrate throughout the
whole being; have it go up the chakras, cleansing the whole body. Have it purify the
physical body, from the inside out; have it cleanse all the chakras and meridians, and
then have it start shooting out of their feet and hands and crown. Then send light into
and purify the astral/emotional body, the mental/causal body, the etheric body, and the
spiritual body or soul. Align all the energy systems. Hear Maha Kali’s Mantra embodied
in them in bright, pulsating, radiant tones—see the ŌM in the crown charka, with the
humming “m” sound dropping down into the 3rd eye chakra, the KRĪM in the throat
chakra, the KĀLIKAYE in the heart chakra, the NAMAH in the solarplexus chakra, and
the final ŌM in the sacral charka, with the humming “m” sound dropping down into root
chakra. See the words shining and filling the chakras with the shakti of Maha Kali.
Pray to Maha Kali and ask her to pass on the ability to use this energy to the initiate,
and to make this empowerment permanent and to help the adjustment and detox be
gentle but swift.
Then help the initiate back down into the physical body, and then help in the
grounding process. Make certain they are energetically stable and fully grounded. Tell
them to take a few moments to integrate the energy and come to themselves.
Then come back and make sure that you yourself are completely grounded. Bask in
the afterglow of the shakti transmission.
Then say a prayer and thank Maha Kali for her assistance. Take a few minutes to
come to yourself.
Recite the Maha Kali Mantra as many times as you like or have time for, but do it at
least 3, 7, or 21 times.
KRĪM
HŪM
______________________________
To copy and color as you wish:
Appendix: A Simple Maha Kali Sadhana Practice
The Kali Sadhana implies the spiritual effort of purification of the subtle force centers
(chakras) and the ascension of the Divine Energy Kundalini, which lies dormant at the base of
the spine, in Muladhara Chakra. The ascension of Kundalini Shakti represents one of the most
important aspects of Kali. This process is directly correlated to the practice of sexual
continence, with transfiguration, in accordance with the tantic principles.
The Mahavidya Sadhana of Kali
Mahakali has forever been worshipped as the savior of good in its perpetual struggle against
evil. When even Gods were on the verge of being overcome by the demons, She manifested in
this “Rudra” (angry) form and that was the end of seemingly unconquerable demons like
Raktbeej. Her form—long, lolling tongue dripping blood, a garland of freshly severed human
heads around her neck and snakes coiled around her arms and ankles in lieu of armlets and
anklets—is enough to strike terror in the most evil of humans.
Her Sadhana means not just attaining courage and valor but also the divine grace of Shiva, her
consort. Rudra Mahakali is the annihilator of all pains, afflictions, problems, and enemies in
one’s life. On her petitioner, she bestows perfect health and youth. Death cannot come
uncalled to such a person. Her divine presence means the birth of supreme conscience and
intelligence. A hypnotic charm keeps radiating from the physique of a practitioner of Maha
Kali’s sadhana. Friends he has many, and foes dare not harm him.
Like a mother, Kali fulfills all needs of Her petitioners and blesses them with wealth, fame,
respect, and a happy family life. And where she assures material prosperity, she also ensures
spiritual upliftment.
The Sadhana of Mahakali can be started on any moonless (= new moon) night. Sit facing
South on a black mat. Place a steel plate filled with black sesame seeds before yourself. On it
place the Mahakali Yantra. Pray to the Yantra, chanting thus:
KARĀL VADANĀM GHORĀM MUKTAKESHIMCHATURBHUJĀ NAMĀMI RAKTA KĀLĪM TĀM
MUNDMĀLĀ VIBHŌSHITĀM. GHORRĀVĀM MAHĀRŪDRĪM SHAMSHĀNĀLAY VASĪNĪM,
BĀLĀRKMANDALĀKĀR LOCHANATRITAYĀNVITĀM.
Offer vermilion and rice grains on the Yantra. Next chant 11 rounds of the following Mantra
to Mahakali Mala:
NAMAH ĀM ĀM KROM KROM PHAT SWAHA KĀLI KĀLĪKE HŪM.
This is a fourteenday Sadhana. After the Sadhana, throw the articles in a river on any full
moon night. (For those not living near a river, you may dispose of them by wrapping them
carefully in a clean piece of aluminum foil and then throwing them away.)

Maha Kali Empowerment

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M

Nilavani (blue Sarasvati); Mahagaurasarvanga (greatly golden in all limbs); Sundaripara

He cannot be subjugated by siddhas, by aughas, by all things that move and do not move,

The Mantras of Maha Kali

The Mantra ŌM KALI MA

The word Yantra in its most general sense means “an instrument,” or that by which

Kali Yantra bestows on the petitioner fulfillment of all desires, wealth, and comforts of life, and it is used for

A great deal of power is received after a puja with this yantra, and it is capable of controlling enemies,

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