hi! (: (and i need help with "kali" sign, please help!)

[kali shiva]

hello to everyone (:

i didnt find suitable place on forum for this question, so i am gonna put it right here. i hope that is ok.

i have been searching for some kind of sign of goddess Kali. this is what i found.

http://swasthya.marcocarvalho.com/wp-content/uploads/tatoo/kali.png

http://www.symbolistik.com/necklace/symbols/kali-mantra-gold.html

do they both mean same thing? or is there some other suitable sign?

oh and pls excuse my english, i know that "sign" isnt good word for this.
thank you (:

[sm78]

There is nothing like a sign of a devata. There are names (the first link of yours is the name kali written in nagari script), a meditation form (dhyana murti) - i.e how will you visualize kali as (several of them generally), mantras (the 2nd link of yours is one of the mantras of kali - again there are several) and yantra or a geometric representation of the deity and her emanations (well roughly).

If you are looking for a sign to display your connection to kali eg in tattoo or some similar stuff - may be the first is fine.

[kali shiva]

thank you so much, you helped me a lot to understand this.

still i am interested about kali yantra symbol.

http://www.sics.se/~piak/yoga/yantra/jpg/Kali-photo.jpg

can someone please explain what does each element in it mean exactly?

[Ramakrishna]

Namaste kali shiva,

Welcome to HDF. Sorry I can't help you with the symbols, but maybe some of the more knowledgeable members of the forums can help you. Good luck and I look forward to more of your posts.

Jai Sri Krishna

[sm78]

thank you so much, you helped me a lot to understand this.

still i am interested about kali yantra symbol.

http://www.sics.se/~piak/yoga/yantra/jpg/Kali-photo.jpg

can someone please explain what does each element in it mean exactly?

The picture you have quoted is possibly a little creativity applied on the dakshina kali yantra, I am not sure. I know 2 forms of the yantra, and both are quite simple. The more popular one has
1. A square enclosure with 4 doors (like your picture)
2. A 8-petaled lotus (like your picture), colour red
5. 5 concentric inverted triangles (not 3 as in your picture).
4. A dot/bindu at the center.

The mystry of the yantra is to be known from a guru and meditated upon. I don't think they are greatly expounded in any tantra beyond the basic forms and some hazy hints. The exact logic behind a yantra is hidden in what the central deity represents and the avarana puja sanketa.

But as I said roughly it is the diety and his/her emanations. In shakta mata the deity- para prakriti from whom the entire universe has emanated represents the dimentionless dot in the center. And thus the geomertry sarrounding her hidden form (the dot) is a geometric representation of the universe or in other worse the yantra represents the cosmic unity of universe and the deity.

The outermost perimeter of the diagram represents the gross universe and as one moves in we go in subtler states till everything merges in the dimention less dot. This is how it is meditated upon in the actual ritual of avarana puja (avarana lit. means veil, and the ritual is literraly lifting the veils and revealing the transcendental).

Dakshina Kali yantra is a simpler representation of this union, but none the less very powerful and sombre. Sri Yantra represents a more detail and subtle description of this union/emanation, but due its detail, the ordinary sadhakas can get lost in the intermingling kalas (kala is the word used to describe the dimensions of a level of existence)...and the basic representation of unity of the cosmos and the deity can get lost.

Kali, the dispeller of darkness, is where shakti sadhana begins and also ends. Her form and essence needs to internalized and assimilated first before moving into the worship of the waves of beauty. Know and overcome fear first, before you start revelling in the beauty of creation. However I believe this not how shakti is approached in most of India now - one is taught to learn to get soaked in beauty while fear is hushed under the carpet.

[kali shiva]

yes i understand that you cant just "describe" true meaning of yantra, it is i guess parth of a path to self cognition.

so then this would be more close to original form of Kali yantra? (lets imagine it with only one circle and a dot in middle, red lotus without those tiny things inside)
http://www.iloveulove.com/images/kali%20yantra.jpg

so, in short, you are saying that this little thing is acctually kind of a map of whole universe that man can follow while his search? from, lets say it like that, materialist edge of universe to its spiritual center? (which would then in metaphore be represented in dark skin of Kali, as source and mixture (end) of all colours. somewhere i have read that her skin is like that becouse she is a lot older than light skinned aryans who invaded her kind so to say. it is hard to find reliable sources on net, so if someone knows good site or book where i can find reliable storys please say))

this is what i found on wikipedia about meaning of geometrical symbology of elements within yantra. i dont believe that wikipedia is reliable source of information, speccialy of this kind of stuff. that is why i wanted to ask someone with true experience about it (:



The lotus flower typically represent chakras, with each petal representing a psychic propensity (or vritti) associated with that chakra
A dot, or bindu, represents the starting point of creation or the infinite, unexpressed cosmos
The şaţkoņa (Sanskrit name for a symbol identical to the star of David) composed of a balance between:
An upwards triangle denoting action (or service), extroversion, masculinity or Shiva
A downwards triangle denoting introversion, meditativeness, goddess energy or Shakti
A swastika represents good luck, welfare, prosperity or spiritual victory
Bija mantras (usually represented as characters of Devanāgarī that correspond to the acoustic roots of a particular chakra or vritti)

Geometric element meanings:
Circle = Energy of the element water
Square = Energy of the element earth
Triangle = Energy of the element fire
Diagonal lines = Energy of the element air
Horizontal line = Energy of the element water
Vertical line = Energy of the element fire
Point = Energy of the element ether

in few last years of my life i have been fascinated with concept of polarity, disconnection and connection of same things, birth and death, which are main theme in my artwork. i discovered concept of Kali earlyer, found myself so much in her name, and i become kinda obsessed with it. and as a student of art, "horror vacuist", i want to mark my temple/body with this simple symbol. i have to (: and i dont want to do it wrong, and i want to understand it as much as i can.

thank you Ramakrishna, and thank you so much sm78.

namaste