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Thread: What are Goddesses Kali and Tara essentially

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    What are Goddesses Kali and Tara essentially

    I have read in an article that Goddess Kali is the Goddess of Time or Kaal and Goddess Tara is the Goddess of Desh or Space . Is that true ? What are these Goddesses essentially ? Please enlighten me.

  2. #2

    Re: What are Goddesses Kali and Tara essentially

    Kali is someone who devours time. We know time devours everything in this world. Who could be the one who devours time itself?

    Kali, Tara or any of the mahavidyas are truely beyond time and space - time & space and everything in between are created when she decided shrink. But she is well beyond them, and when she decides to expand - all this restrictions dissolve.

    Whatever is your idea of God, think of Kali, Tara as that as well as beyond and bigger than that. That's the way to approach the supreme goddess.
    What is Here, is Elsewhere. What is not Here, is Nowhere.

  3. #3

    Re: What are Goddesses Kali and Tara essentially

    Namaskar,

    Thanks sm78 for your post. Could you shed further light on the topic ? What more do the shastras speak of the Goddess?

  4. Cool Re: What are Goddesses Kali and Tara essentially

    Kali is Devi of death; she is the form of Maa Parvati.
    Tara was wife of Vanar King Bali
    During Vajryan Buddhism, Tara was considered as Buddhist tantric Devi, which is not acceptable in Hinduism. In she is one of the Kanya (Virgins) who was married and was mother.
    [CENTER][B][FONT=Arial Black][SIZE=7][COLOR=Yellow] ॐ[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
    [/CENTER]

  5. Re: What are Goddesses Kali and Tara essentially

    Tara, the consort queen of Bali and Tara, the wife of Brihaspati are Jivas. On the other hand, Tara, the second Mahavidya is Neelasarasvati, one among Adi Parashakti's many Avatars.
    kamakhya kamasampanna kameshvari harapriye l
    kamana dehi me nityam kameshvari namastu te ll

    kamakhye varade devi nila parvata vasini l
    tvam jagadmata rupena yonimudre namastu te ll

  6. #6

    Re: What are Goddesses Kali and Tara essentially

    Quote Originally Posted by Seeker2011 View Post
    Namaskar,

    Thanks sm78 for your post. Could you shed further light on the topic ? What more do the shastras speak of the Goddess?
    What is your particular interest? Different shastras have different views.

    History of shaktism goes into the pale of pre-history in India, much before even the archaic vedic religion. The earliest aracheological evidence of shakti worship is dated back to ~20,000 BCE. I have not studied the evidence, but there is a book on this and the Mehrgarh excavations which prrove a matriarchal cult and shakta worship existed in India before the vedic fire cult came into voge.

    In vedic and post vedic shrauta and smarta literature shakti is given a passing reference and not as the fundamental nature of existence (mula prakriti).

    Modern shaktism is based on two sources 1)Puranas 2)Tantras.

    Shakta Tantras originate from developments of shaivism. Kali is one of the oldest deities of this schools (Krama school). However currently widely worshipped forms of Kali are of later orgins.

    Threory and Practice of Tantric shaktism has been discussed before here. Arjuna knows a lot on the matter, but now seems busy with martial arts than tantra :-
    http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=270
    What is Here, is Elsewhere. What is not Here, is Nowhere.

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    Re: What are Goddesses Kali and Tara essentially

    Tara is referred to two different concepts.
    one tara is one of 10 mahavidya Tara. when sri-vishnu cut the body of Sati...the wife of siva and daughter of Dakhsya. each part became one -one mahavidya... the componenet part of mahashakti. the yoni or vagina part became Tara,the mahavidya ,whose main temple is situated at kamakhya mahapeetha at Assam.

    Second Tara is reffered to paramabrahmaswarupini. she is gurushakti. the female form of supreme brahman. in vedas...this Tara is referred in different names like....Gandharvi,Radha,. Basistha has worshipped her at Neelachala and kamakhsya.

    Mahasadhaka Paramhansa Nigamananda of Nadiya did veera sadhna to get this mahashakti as her wife.and freed the mahamantra (streeng) from curse of Basistha.in his entire life, this Tara remailned his wife serving him in form of siva.

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    Re: What are Goddesses Kali and Tara essentially

    hari o
    ~~~~~~

    namast

    If one were interested in the 10 forms of Mother Divine, or the daśa mahāvidyā-s or the 10 great ( maha) forms of power or knowledge (vidyā),
    consider this HDF post: http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?p=23927#post23927

    It's looked at it in 3 ways ( trika):
    • The grahas associated with the daśa mahāvidyā
    • What are some of the qualities and groupings of the daśa mahāvidyā
    • Other interesting observations and insights
    praṇām
    यतस्त्वं शिवसमोऽसि
    yatastvaṁ śivasamo'si
    because you are identical with śiva

    _

  9. Re: What are Goddesses Kali and Tara essentially

    We should understand that Vedic “Gods” and “Goddesses” are, essentially, ideas and concepts. Human mind is feeble and just cannot grasp the ultimate abstractness of satyam. We need some corporeal representations with which we can operate. In a way, each Vedic “god” is an expression of some fundamental concept in a form understandable to humans. Because of its vastness and complexity we cannot grasp it entirely so we describe it by various names which express one of its sides. Therefore, one of the ways to understand the essence of a name is to go to the original meaning of the word used in the description.
    Kali is a fusion of two words. The principal one is the dhātu (root) kala which has several meanings 1) to count; 2) to push on, drive forward, to impel , incite; 3) to carry off. If you sum up these meanings you will see that the combined meaning represents the entire cycle of life: impelling, inciting (birth), time (kalā - time (as leading to events, the causes of which are imperceptible to the mind of man), destiny, fate and also time (as destroying all things), death and carrying away. Because time has always been imagined as an eternal wheel (kolo is, actually,”wheel” in Russian) birth and death are inseparable.
    The other word related to Kali is kalā meaning “black, of a dark colour, dark-blue”. This explains the way she is usually presented. But kalā was also one of the seven tongues of Agni and also one of the names of Shiva's wife Durgā which are separate interesting stories. Now, kalā “black, dark blue” is inseparable from Kṛṣṇa “black, dark blue” which is another complex concept. Kṛṣṇa is also perceived as the other side of Viṣṇu. Again we see the unity of creation and destruction. Kali is also intricately connected with another fundamental concept of Shiva and Shiva is inseparable from Rudra…. You see, how vast and complex it all becomes! You cannot understand the nature of any Hindu God or Goddess separately. सुबमस्तु
    Last edited by Dhira Simha; 13 June 2012 at 10:23 AM.

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    Re: What are Goddesses Kali and Tara essentially

    Namasthe.

    ऊँ क्रीं कालिकाये नम

    I have always thought of Goddess Kali as the militant/wrathful aspect of the Goddess Gauri/Parvati.

    She is also the feminine aspect of MahaKala - known in both Hinduism and Buddhism as the Lord of Time, so yes Kali is 'Lady Time'.

    MahaKala means - The Great Black (Masculine) and MahaKali means The Great Black (Feminine).

    The 'blackness' of colour represents that empty, formless space all around us, the total depth of consciousness, the potential for enlightenment, the unfathomable Shiva - the infinite abyss.

    Mother Kali is Lord Shiva's destructive Shakti. The Goddess is the whole Force behind Shiva and behind everything. Without Bhairavi, Bhairava would not have had the energy to move and go perform His duties.

    As for Tara? I haven't really dug all that deep there. I like to take the literal approach with this one - Tara = Star, so Tara = Goddess of the Heavens. She is also black in colour, like the night sky and yes, She is also a Buddhist Deity.

    I also liken Tara to another Buddhist female Deity - Dakini.

    Dakini is the form of the Goddess I personally worship. Yes, Dakini is Buddhist but according to Hindu Tantra and in particularly Kundalini Yoga, Goddess Dakini is the Shakti of the Muladhara Chakra (base Chakra).

    Within it reigns dominant Para, the Sri-Paramesvari, the Awakener of eternal knowledge. She is the Omnipotent Kala who is wonderfully skilful to create, and is subtler than the subtlest. She is the receptacle of that continuous stream of ambrosia which flows from the Eternal Bliss. By Her radiance it is that the whole of this Universe and this Cauldron is illumined.
    - Sat-Cakra-Nirupana Tantra

    When it all concludes, Goddess Kali, Tara, Dakini are essentially all names for the same same force stated above, just appearing in different ways.

    Aum Namah Shivaya

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