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TANTRA
A comprehensive guide to Kali Sadhana.
Authored by
Smita Venkatesh
FOUNDER ACHARYA
Sri Raj Rajeshwari siddha Baglamukhi Peeth
Mira Road. Thane. India
www.divyachetna.com
divyachetna.usa@gmail.com
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KALI
THE IGNORANCE REMOVER
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KALI “THE IGNORANCE REMOVER”
The advent of Kali begins from the time when a Sadhak starts praying to remove
all traces of darkness which are prevalent in everyone’s life inherently. No matter
how positive people,situations ,family friend etc. are ,yet ,everyone goes through
negative emotions from time to time.Even slightest negativity in one’s life can
become dangerous if it is allowed to breed. Negativity is the sole cause of
depression,disease, failures and unhappiness in life. How can a person be ever
happy if these things are subtly present everywhere inside and outside us.
In Tantra therefore, Kali has been given the first position. She is the slayer of all
negative forces.
THE MYTHOLOGY
There is mythological story wherein she fights with a demon named Raktabija.
The demon Raktabija had received from Brahma the boon of being born anew a
one thousand times more powerful than before, each time a drop of his blood was
shed. The Goddess Kali is an incarnation of Parvati, the consort of Lord Shiva. She
assumed this form in order to vanquish the demon Raktabija, whose name means
"the seed of blood". The gods could not kill the demon Raktabija because he had
received from Brahma the boon of being born anew a one thousand times more
powerful than before, each time a drop of his blood was shed. Every drop of his
blood that touched the ground transformed itself into another and more powerful
Raktabija. Within a few minutes of striking this demon the entire battlefield
covered with millions of Raktabija clones.
In despair, the gods turned to Shiva. But Shiva was lost in meditation at the time
and the gods were afraid to disturb him. Hence they pleaded with his consort
Parvati for her assistance.
The goddess immediately set out to do battle with this dreaded demon in the form
of Kali or "the Black One". Her eyes were red, her complexion was dark, her
features gaunt, her hair unbound, and her teeth sharp like fangs. As the eight-
armed Goddess rode into the battleground on her lion, 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, she prevented Raktabija from
reproducing himself and the gods were able to slay the demon. Another form of
the legend says that Kali pierced Raktabija with a spear, and at once stuck her lips
to the wound to drink all the blood as it gushed out of the body, 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
victim. The gods were witnessing the balance of the universe being shattered. As a
last resort they had to rouse Shiva from his meditation. To pacify her, Shiva threw
himself under her feet. This stopped the goddess. She calmed down, embraced her
husband, shed her ferocious form to became Gauri, "the Fair one".
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SIGNIFICANCE
The word Raktabija is a compound word of “ Rakta” meaning Red ,signifying blood,
passion, anger and “Bija” means seed.
Hence the demon in the story is a personification of “ Seeds of Passion or Anger”.
Passion can also be related to Greed & Lust. The road to hell is Greed, Lust and
Anger.
The hellish situations in one’s life are created by the above factors. So if one wants
to enjoy a heavenly life here on earth and beyond, one must overcome these
negative forces.
Unfortunately, it is seen that the more you try to control these, the more strongly
these negative forces of lust, greed and anger come back, which is mentioned
allegorically in the story as “Raktabija is born anew and thousand times more
powerful.”
It is very difficult to overcome these “Seeds of Passion”. Hence the devotee should
surrender completely and invoke mother Kali who can uproot these “Seeds of
Passion” accumulated in billions of lifetimes of the devotee.
Kali's most common four armed iconographic image shows each hand carrying
variously a sword, a trishul (trident), a severed head and a kapala (bowl or skull-
cup) catching the blood of the severed head.
Two of these hands (usually the left) are holding a sword and a severed head. The
Sword signifies Divine Knowledge and the Human Head signifies human Ego which
must be slain by Divine Knowledge in order to attain Moksha. The other two hands
(usually the right) are in the abhaya (fearlessness) and varada (blessing) mudras,
which means her initiated devotees (or anyone worshiping her with a true heart)
will be saved as she will guide them here and in the hereafter.
Kali is shown a wearing a girdle of Hands around her waist which signify that she
takes away all the reactions of the karmas of the devotee an helps him in his
Spiritual Journey.
Her wearing a garland of Human skulls is a significance of the removal of all
Human Ego which must be slain by Divine Knowledge to attain Liberation. The
number of Skulls is either 51 or 108. Fifty one represents all the alphabets of the
Sanskrit language.Hence it can be concluded that Mother kali is the pervading
energy in all the alphabets and the words spoken by there combination. The No.
108 represents many sacred things in Hinduism.
She is often depicted naked which symbolizes her being beyond the covering
of Maya (illusory Energy). She is the pure, un-manifested energy, the Adi-shakti.
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SADHANA – THE PRACTICE
I pray to Divine mother Dakshina Kali whose mantra is given by Sage Bhairava ,
spoken in Usnik Meter.The presiding diety of the Mantra is Dakshina Kali whose
energies are in the root syllable Kreem, and who manifest in the syllable Hum, and
and it is tied to the syllable kreem.
I am determined to complete this mantra recitation to the best of my abilities,
using all my resources so that all my wishes will be fulfilled.
After Chanting, drop the water, flower, etc to the ground.
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This is done by visualizing that the Sages and Diety and the Spiritual Master and
his Lineage who gave these mantras in a disciplic succession are blessing and
energizing the devotee. It is done by touching the various body parts with the
fingers of the right hand and simulataneously chanting the mantra.
Visualize the mantra flowing through the various body parts as mention.
Om Kraam Hridayaa-ya namah : Touch the heart with the right hand.
Om Kreem shirase svaahaa : Touch the forehead with the right hand.
Om Kroom Shikhaaye vashat : Touch the headcrown with the right
hand.
Om Kraim kavachaaya Hum : Touch the shoulder with the crossed
hands.
Om Kraum Netra Trayaya vaushat : Touch both eyes & third eye in
forehead.
Om KraHa astraaya phat :Snap your fingers over the head in clockwise
direction and bring it back by placing the index
finger and middle finger on the left palm.
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Om shavaa rudhaam maha bhimaam
ghoradanshtraam hasanmukheem.
I meditate on the divine Mother kali who is standing on Shava( lit mean: shiva
surrendered, also, devotee surrendered) who appears fierce with dreadful teeth
and a loud laughter.
She has four arms through which she holds a sword, a cut head, and offers
blessings & fearlessness.
She adorns a garland of skulls and has a red tongue. She is sky- clothed with
colors of night.
Thus one must meditate on Kali who resides in the graveyard temple.
6. Mantra : Invocation
OR
If the devotee does not know the procedure of Homam, Tarpanam and Marjanam,
then he should chant extra mantras on the bead mala for a total count of
1388mantras .(1250+125+13).
9. Concluding Procedures:
1.To complete the sadhana the devotee must take blessing from the Guru and
give suitable offerings to him including gifts and money (dakshina).He must also
give charity to the needy,poor,priests and temples.
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2.Suhasini , Kumari & Bhairava pooja : The devotee should also invite married
women(suhasini) and girls (below age 10)(kumari)and a young boy(bhairava-aged
below 10) and worship their feet with water,kumkum,flowers and give them
appropraite gifts and money(dakshina) as per one’s capability.
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