Bonzai!

[Eastern Mind]

Pardon my ignorance brother but that is a bit over my head so if my answer seems simplistic, my apologies. I see Kali as a personification of the Greater Goddess who is ultimately Genderless and formless. She is a version of the Goddess that I have chosen as my view of Goddess personified. While I say Goddess, again I see the divine all to be genderless. I wish I was more versed to give a better answer.

I understand this viewpoint now. Thank you. Often simplicity works best. Please don't apologise for not going into massive scriptural detail.



I say frightening because she is but she is also beautiful, she is loving as she is vengeful, she is all, dig?

From my point of view, God is never vengeful. Yes, terrifying things do happen. But only in emotional or immature states do we even have emotion. Tragic events are still the work of God, though. It is all in the Dance.

Aum Namasivaya

[sunyata07]

I also wonder why you used the term frightening as an adjective for God.

Namaste EM,

I think Abominable Snowman could be referring to this human idea of what it is that frightens us. From a base and rather one-dimensional perspective, yes, Mother Kali can be quite terrifying to look at. On beholding her dark form for the first time with the bloody sword and severed head, who wouldn't quail at such an intense display of divine ferocity? This is the form that devotees perceive God: as an angry mother who sets out to protect her children. It is also the fiercest form of Mother Goddess, so yes, her image can be described as being "frightening", but as I say, this from a Shakta view is a very base understanding of Kali.

To the newcomer then (especially to Westerners), Kali must be a rather intimidating aspect of Mother Goddess, with an anger that cannot seem to be placated. Of all other deities, Kali is the least understood or accepted in the West. Even in travel and cultural books they merely label her as a "goddess of vengeance and destruction", much as they will simply label Lord Shiva as the "god of death and destruction". It is little wonder then why so many Christian evangelists will ask why on earth anyone would worship such a demonic force of death! But then of course, to the Shakta, Kali's capacity for wrath equals that of her infinite compassion for her children, so they can see this goddess as being simultaneously terrifying (in her role as the cosmic destroyer of the forces of evil) and a loving mother (as her name "Bhadra-Kali" - Gentle Kali - suggests) and are comfortable with this perception of her. Just as Bhairava is a fierce manifestation of Lord Shiva, so too is Kali is a fierce manifestation of Devi.

But yes, ultimately, God is beyond such human concepts of male and female, frightening and beautiful, good and evil that we are conditioned to make sense of the world we live in. In the end there is only Brahman, and nothing beyond That.

[Abominable Snowman]

From my point of view, God is never vengeful. Yes, terrifying things do happen. But only in emotional or immature states do we even have emotion. Tragic events are still the work of God, though. It is all in the Dance.

Agreed, what I was saying is that the Goddess is all.

[Abominable Snowman]

Namaste EM,

I think Abominable Snowman could be referring to this human idea of what it is that frightens us. From a base and rather one-dimensional perspective, yes, Mother Kali can be quite terrifying to look at. On beholding her dark form for the first time with the bloody sword and severed head, who wouldn't quail at such an intense display of divine ferocity? This is the form that devotees perceive God: as an angry mother who sets out to protect her children. It is also the fiercest form of Mother Goddess, so yes, her image can be described as being "frightening", but as I say, this from a Shakta view is a very base understanding of Kali.

To the newcomer then (especially to Westerners), Kali must be a rather intimidating aspect of Mother Goddess, with an anger that cannot seem to be placated. Of all other deities, Kali is the least understood or accepted in the West. Even in travel and cultural books they merely label her as a "goddess of vengeance and destruction", much as they will simply label Lord Shiva as the "god of death and destruction". It is little wonder then why so many Christian evangelists will ask why on earth anyone would worship such a demonic force of death! But then of course, to the Shakta, Kali's capacity for wrath equals that of her infinite compassion for her children, so they can see this goddess as being simultaneously terrifying (in her role as the cosmic destroyer of the forces of evil) and a loving mother (as her name "Bhadra-Kali" - Gentle Kali - suggests) and are comfortable with this perception of her. Just as Bhairava is a fierce manifestation of Lord Shiva, so too is Kali is a fierce manifestation of Devi.

But yes, ultimately, God is beyond such human concepts of male and female, frightening and beautiful, good and evil that we are conditioned to make sense of the world we live in. In the end there is only Brahman, and nothing beyond That.

I agree with everything you said, very well put.