Kali Stands With Those Rejected by Social Systems

Why does Kali look so ferocious? Why she is so different from other goddesses? Why does she reside in the graveyard? The standard explanation adheres to tantrism, which is different from Vedic perception. However, bhaktivadis, followers of the path of pure devotion, may interpret Kali phenomenon from a different angle.


Bestowing all comforts in life, Kali, the mother, takes refuge in a place which is discarded by all. Where unwanted stuff is thrown away or cremated becomes her abode. Here, she remains watchful to secure those who have lost their lives. She is there to rejuvenate life for which she must attain victory over death. She is constantly fighting with death, the ferocious one, and hence, she must appear more ferocious than death. With her victory over death, she leads resurrection, thus symbolising ' creative destruction ', a term which Vivekananda used in his lectures in US.


Relatives are fond of a person when he is alive, but his corpse is disposed of at the earliest. The true mother takes remains of the rejected body and adores them by making them a part of her formal manifestation. She conveys that nothing is lost, nothing is a waste; even the cadaver is a part of her appearance. Garland of heads of the dead is placed around her neck and hands are tied together to form the outfit of goddess who wins over death. She would bring back life soon. Earth accepts everything and converts it to soil, making it more fertile, which is why Wordsworth had perceived nature as God.


Here is the true mother who is trying to kill disillusions and unravel the path to eternity. What is disillusion? It is nothing but death. It is the biggest noisemaker, disturbing peace and tranquillity that one can experience. You will find there is only one ocean of eternal light, throbbing with life.


She is the embodiment of eternal affection, fondly encompassing every minute detail and offering the ability to understand all that remains mysterious and dark. Within that gloom, all shades of light are embedded. Vitality is rooted in what appears to be dispiritedness. Hence darkness, which otherwise would have been taken as lifelessness, is the symbol of vigour. Indeed, why Kali is conceptualised as dark and dynamic.


At the confluence of Vaishnavism and Shakta tradition, Kali appears as Krishn and vice versa. The eternal love flowing like the music from a flute during blossoms with spring all around merges with the essence of vitality hidden in dimness and obscurity, a unique integration of light and shadow.


Salvation lies in the discovery of the union of entire manifestation, overcoming all differences. Only the outer layer is different; else, one Brahmn pervades the entire universe, as Ramakrishna Paramhans explained. Our narrow thoughts, discriminatory attitude and incomplete understanding beget insurmountable limitedness in our approach to understanding reality. Kali constantly reminds us of this constriction. She stands with what folklore interprets as witches, those rejected by our social system.


Authored by: Arup Mitra