Kaali the Divine Mother

KALI THE DIVINE MOTHER & A CONTROVERSY 

We, the Hindus, believe in and respect our God and Goddess. We also respect others’ religious beliefs and practices. Recently controversy has been running hot in the media and Facebook – Twitter when a film director tweeted a picture of her film ” Kaali. There Mother Kali is ” depicted smoking cigarettes. So netizens are not happy with it. They won’t take it lightly, especially political leaders and the people who are devotees of the goddess. Both sides are rigid in their ideology. So being interested, I’m writing a book on the subject ” Kaali: A Chasing in the Dark. I shall continue writing on this subject which consists of 22 chapters. I think that the readers would have enjoyed this series of blogs regarding this evergreen content.

Kali is our Divine Mother. She is the Hindu Goddess of time, of change. She is the power of action, of the breath and the Mother of transformation (kriya-shakti). Kali’s essence is Divine Love. Through time, breath and Divine Love all things are accomplished. If we surrender to Her essence, She creates the energy and all is possible. When we internalize this energy and surrender to its sweet transformative power of love, we begin our inward journey towards healing and spiritual growth.

# Kali the divine mother

Saints Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, Bamakhyapa, and Ramprasad are some of the legendary devotees of Kali. One thing was common to these saints — all of them loved the goddess as intimately as they loved their own mother. “My child, you need not know much in order to please Me. Only Love Me dearly. Speak to me, as you would talk to your mother if she had taken you in her arms.”

Kali takes away our darkness – our kala. She takes away the darkness from everyone who strives for perfection by performing the spiritual disciplines of purifying austerities.

“Kala” also means time. On the other hand, Kali means the One Who is Beyond Time.

In the form of Prakriti, Mother Nature, Kali dances on the field of consciousness. Worshipers used to see that Kali is depicted as the broad chest of Lord Shiva. She dances with wild and unselfconscious abandon. She is Mukti. On other words, she is the primal energy of spiritual freedom.

Kali Mata is the Energy of Wisdom (jnana shakti). We achieve and conceive knowledge by Her Grace. So we can say that all knowledge is conceived, and all wisdom is intuited by Her blessings. With Her wisdom, Kali takes away the darkness of the external world. Then She bestows the True Light of the inner world. Her love and her grace are beyond what words can describe.

Kali is our Divine Mother and the Mother of all the universes. With Her love we become unattached and free from action and reaction. So we become a silent witness resting in universal delight.

When one can reside within, without identification or attachment to the ever-changing external influences, then the Supreme Truth can be realized. This is the path that Mother Kali shows us.

By spreading Her darkness over worldly desire, Kali makes seekers totally oblivious to the transient external elements. They then become totally contained in the Self.

To worship Mother Kali, we perform Her Puja, sing Her names, and recite Her mantras. We remember Her in both times of ease and in times of difficulties.

Appearance and Symbolism#kali the divine mother

Kali’s fierce form is strewed with awesome symbols. Her black complexion symbolises her all-embracing and nature.

Says the Maha nirvana Tantra: “Just as all colours disappear in black, so all names and forms disappear in her ”. Her nudity is primaeval, fundamental, and transparent like Nature — the earth, sea, and sky. Kali is free from the illusory covering, for she is beyond the all Maya or “false consciousness.” Kali’s garland of fifty heads stands for the fifty letters in the Sanskrit alphabet and symbolises infinite knowledge.

Her girdle of severed hands signifies work and liberation from the cycle of karma. Her white teeth show her inner purity, and her red lolling tongue indicates her omnivorous nature — “her indiscriminate enjoyment of all the world’s ‘flavors’.” Her sword is the destroyer of false consciousness and the eight bonds that bind us.

Her three eyes represent past, present, and future, — the three modes of time — an attribute that lies in the very name Kali (‘Kala’ in Sanskrit means time).

Kali’s proximity to cremation grounds where the five elements or “Pancha Mahabhuta” come together, and all worldly attachments are absolved, again point to the cycle of birth and death. The reclined Shiva lying prostrate under the feet of Kali suggests that without the power of Kali (Shakti), Shiva is inert.

Kaali or Kali is the Hindu goddess of death, time, and doomsday. We worship Kali as a divine mother. Our great Saint and Avtar, Sree Ramkrishna devoted his whole life to the feet of  Mother Kali for the betterment of mankind. ” Atmanang briddhi jagotdhitayach”. Sree Ramprasad, another eminent Sadhaka – poet of the nineteenth century worshipped Kali as their daughter. Above all, great Hindu monk Swami Vivekananda wrote a poem on Kali the Mother being overwhelmed during a visit to a Kali temple ” Khir Bhawani ” in Kashmir. His disciple, Irish woman, Sister Nivedita was voraciously influenced by her Master, and delivered a series of lectures in a public hall and also  Kalighat temple in Kolkata. 

Kaali through the Eyes of Modern Artists and Politicians #kali the divine mother

But Kali is most often represented in art in different ways. They paint Her as a fearful fighting figure with a necklace of heads, skirt of arms, lolling tongue, and brandishing a knife dripping with blood. 

Recently a film Director made a film where Goddess Kali is seen smoking cigarettes. So the controversy . Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Tuesday said supporting the film director that Kaali for her was a meat-eating, alcohol-accepting goddess. Moitra said this while speaking at the India Today Conclave East 2022 and in response to a controversy over a movie poster showing Goddess Kaali.

Being an Indian Parliamentarian, she  on Tuesday reacted to this controversy over a movie poster showing Goddess Kaali smoking a cigarette. 

“Kaali to me, is a meat-eating, alcohol-accepting goddess. You have the freedom to imagine your goddess. There are some places where whiskey is offered to gods and in some other places it would be blasphemy,” 

“When you go to Sikkim, you will see that they offer whiskey to Goddess Kaali. But if you go to Uttar Pradesh, and if you tell them that you offer whiskey to the goddess as ‘prasad’, they will call it blasphemy,” said Moitra.

Moitra said this while responding to a question about her take on the controversy over a recent movie poster.

Therefore, the poster of the documentary film at the centre of the row recently went viral on social media. Several people said that the poster was an insult to the Hindu goddess and hurt religious sentiments.

The controversy erupted after filmmaker Leena Manimekalai shared the poster of the film on social media. The poster depicts a woman dressed in the costume of Goddess Kaali. She is seen smoking a cigarette in the photo. Along with her usual accoutrements of Trishul (trident), and sickle. Another MP said also that I don’t believe in hurting religious sentiments.

The poster of the documentary film at the centre of the row recently went viral on social media with several people saying that the poster was an insult to the Hindu goddess and hurt religious sentiments.

The poster of the documentary film sparked outrage in a sizable section of social media. Many even called for the arrest of the filmmaker.

On the other hand, Priyanka Chaturvedi says while protesting that freedom of expression cannot be reserved for Hindu Gods, on Kaali poster row.

She is Shiv Sena’s active member. She said that she was offended by the Kaali poster.

Taking to Twitter, she said, “Freedom of expression cannot be reserved for Hindu Gods and Goddesses, while for the rest one must tip toe around religious sensibilities.”

“I am offended by the movie poster on Maa Kaali, respect has to be equal for all,” she added.

Documentary Kaali showing the goddess smoking and holding an LGBTQ flag triggered controversy and filmmaker Leena Manimekalai was accused of hurting religious sentiments.

The Madurai-born filmmaker had shared the poster of the Kaali documentary on the microblogging site on Saturday and said the film was part of the ‘Rhythms of Canada’ segment at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto.

Earlier in the day, speaking about the Kaali poster controversy, TMC MP Mahua Moitra had said Kaali, for her, was a meat-eating, alcohol-accepting goddess.

“When you go to Sikkim, you will see that they offer whiskey to Goddess Kaali. But if you go to Uttar Pradesh, and if you tell them that you offer whiskey to the goddess as ‘prasad’, they will call it blasphemy,” said Moitra.

However, TMC condemned the statement and distanced itself from the comment saying, “The comments made by Mahua Moitra at the India Today Conclave East 2022 and her views expressed on Goddess Kali have been made in her personal capacity and are NOT of party stand. 

Netizens have alleged that the movie’s poster is an insult to the Hindu goddess and hurts religious sentiments.

With Twitterati demanding action against its maker Leena Manimekalai, the hashtag #ArrestLeenaManimekalai began trending on the microblogging platform.

Shashi Tharoor backs TMC’s Mahua Moitra after row escalates over controversial Kaali remark.

The Indian High Commission in Canada on Monday issued a statement on the ‘smoking Kaali’ poster by filmmaker Leena Manimekalai.

The Indian High Commission in Canada on Monday issued a statement on ‘smoking Kaali’ poster by filmmaker Leena Manimekalai, and urged the Canadian authorities and the event organizers to withdraw “all such provocative material”.

In a statement, the High Commission said that they have received complaints from leaders of the Hindu community in Canada about “disrespectful depiction of Hindu Gods on the poster of a film showcased as part of the ‘Under the Tent’ project at the Aga Khan Museum, Toronto.”

“Our Consulate General in Toronto has conveyed these concerns to the organizers of the event,” read the statement.

“We are also informed that several Hindu groups have approached authorities in Canada to take action. We urge the Canadian authorities and the event organizers to withdraw all such provocative material,” it added.

Kaali controversy: Kali the Divine Mother

Soon after she shared the poster, Leena Manimekalai was at the receiving end of online brickbats. Social media users asked the Aga Khan Museum, where the film was launched, to take it down immediately.

Meanwhile, the maker of the film, Leena Manimekalai, has urged people to watch the movie first before vilifying it.

Others said it was blasphemous and hurtful to religious sentiments. Some appealed to Home Minister Amit Shah and PMO to take action.

The maker of the film has urged people to watch the movie first before vilifying it.

“The film talks about the events when Kaali appears in an evening and takes a stroll in the streets of Toronto. Once you watch the movie, you’ll change the hashtag from #ArrestLeenaManimekalai to ‘love you Leena manimekalai’,” she tweeted.

The furore over the film Kaali comes at a time when there has been an international controversy over remarks made on Prophet Muhammad. Nupur Sharma remarks it in a TV debate show. Ultimately, BJP suspended Nupur who was a BJP spokesperson. The row threw open Pandora’s box and sparked debate over what is blasphemy and what constitutes freedom of expression.

However, we are serious here to know about the goddess Kali. Who are this powerful super soul and divine mother goddess Kali? Why did most of the Hindus worship her? Why did a man like Swami Vivekananda regard Mother Kali? Even he wrote a poem ” Kali the Mother “. We shall try to depict a clear picture of Ma Kali so that the readers can feel distinctly why we, the Hindus, regard Kali as a Divine Mather. Let’s Stretch Your Hands To Me, Mother.

For details read the book” Kali the Divine Mother: The Chasing in the Dark. The book contains 21 Chapter, Words almost 50000 thousand. Read and share your thoughts.