Part 28: Kundalini Shakti, Kali, Anandamayi Ma & More
Today we’re talking about a depiction of the Divine Feminine, of the Kundalini force, known as the Goddess Kali. We’ll explore what she represents, how she can help you, and how you can cultivate a relationship with her yourself on your own Kundalini journey.
Before I share about Kali specifically, let me preface this by saying that though Kali comes from the Hindu system of India, what we’re speaking about transcends culture, time, place, country, language or religion.
The themes, energy, purpose, and relationship that we’ll talk about today don’t necessarily need to be boxed into Hinduism or Sanskrit. These deities are symbols used to represent themes that are even bigger than the symbol itself. It’s just that the Hindu system is old, it’s well developed, it’s documented, and pretty clear. So I prefer it, but understand that this isn’t an exclusively Indian thing, just like the topic of Kundalini itself.
So if you’re not into Hinduism, no problem, you can use your own symbols to get the same value out of this. You can replace Kali with the symbol of a fierce mother bear, for example. You can think of the Divine Feminine as synonmous with Mother Mary, with Pachamama, with Mother Earth. It should fit just as well with what we’re going to talk about today.
The Divine Feminine, known as Shakti in Sanskrit, has many forms that embody her different qualities. For example, there is Lakshmi, the Goddess of prosperity, there is Saraswati, the Goddess of knowledge. There is also Kali.
So Kali is considered to be the ultimate manifestation of Shakti, the Divine Feminine. She is known for her fierceness, her purifying powers of destruction and bringing about change and transformation. She kills egos.
She looks scary, but remember, she’s on your side. She is known to destroy the things that get in your way. She protects you. She’s fierce to all that threatens you, but is loving and protective of you.
She’s shown here, standing on a corpse, with a mala made out of the heads of demons, she has her tongue out, her eyes are focused. She’s clearing out all the clutter to make way for peace.
She’s like a mother bear. If you were her cub, you would be pleased to know she has your back. If you were a threat, you wouldn’t be happy to encounter her.
When you feel yourself going through intense emotional purification, when challenging things are coming up within you, they are arising to be burned up and destroyed by Kali. She is like a surgeon removing a tumor from you. She’s helping you.
So you can invoke the energy of Kali by chanting her name, by thinking of her, by looking at a photo, or just by feeling her qualities of protection, fierceness, and fearlessness within you. In this way, you can embody those qualities yourself more fully.
You can also relate with her when things are hard, knowing that she is clearing things out of your system, and you can feel a sense of appreciation. I know that’s not always easy to do, but it is very powerful.
So when we begin to relate with the Divine in this way, I have found that the Divine begins to show up, through synchronicity, through dreams, visions, and the like, to show us that we are supported.
This cultivates a sense of surrender, knowing that we can trust this process, that we are supported, and that we’re not alone. It cultivates a sense of devotion, which is an emotional relationship with the Divine.
This is why people chant the names of God, like Kali. Because it brings about a deep sense of surrender that isn’t based on anything intellectual. It is emotional and felt deep within the heart. It is a knowing that you are loved, protected, and supported.
So I’ll share a couple stories about my relationship with Kali, to give you an example of how you can have a similar direct relationship with the Divine in your own life. It’s through these little stories that I cultivate devotion, trust, and surrender.
About seven years ago, I was going through this Kundalini process and I was called to begin practicing Yoga, the kind with all the poses.
I have some mixed feelings about western Yoga, which I’ve talked about in other parts of this series, but overall, this was the direction that I was called in by Shakti. I was beginning to really develop this relationship with the Divine Feminine and was open to how she can lead me and support me and show up in my life.
I began practicing at a local studio. I volunteered a few hours a week in exchange for a free pass. I would do things like tidy up and speak with customers and whatnot.
Then the studio changed owners and was rebranded. The new name was revealed to be Kaulika. The owner had told me that the name means “the energy that binds a community”. Something told me to look it up for myself though. And what I found was that Kaulika was synonymous with Shakti. Of course, Sanskrit terms have many different meanings and interpretations.
As well, Kaulika is essentially Kali. I understood that I was working as a volunteer for Kali. I would sweep and dust and spend time at the studio as if it was a Kali Temple and as if I was working for Kali herself.
During this time, I had no real direction in my life in terms of a career or job. I was just going with the flow, trusting that Shakti would support me. I was feeling very creative and needed an outlet, so I began experimenting with photography.
I didn’t know how to pose people, but I noticed that the teachers at the Yoga studio already knew how to pose themselves. So I offered to photograph them, on a volunteer basis, to build my portfolio and to give them some promo material.
From there, I began to photograph dogs casually. Eventually, I saw that it could become a real profession, and I committed to it. I bought some proper camera gear and set up a studio space. The first dog that I photographed once I committed was named Kali. A beautiful pitbull. Very loving and sweet, but like the Goddess Kali, capable of being fierce and protective.
I’ve photographed over a thousand dogs since, but this photo is still an all time favourite of mine. I have it hanging in my studio and sometimes clients ask if I can photograph their dog like this. I always tell them, only if your dog will pose for me like that. It never really happens. We always create something unique, but this was a once in a lifetime pose, I think.
For the past few weeks, I’ve been really feeling a lot of devotion for Kali. I’ve been listening to some Kali mantras and feeling protected and grateful. I’ve been on the lookout for a nice statue of Kali.
I could buy at the store for a few dollars, but I prefer to manifest one in my favourite way, at the thrift store. I have a little hobby of buying spiritual books at the thrift store. I find a lot of cool ones, rare ones, some directly from India even. I’ve built a nice library of mystical texts all for a couple bucks each. It’s fun.
So whenever I go to the thrift store lately, I look out for a Kali statue. The other day, I was there and I just felt really strongly, that Kali is in the store. So I went over to the statues and trinkets but couldn’t find anything. But I just had this really strong feeling that she was in the store. It’s hard to describe, and I know it sounds crazy, but if you know what I mean, you know what I mean.
Finally, I found myself in a section with some framed paintings and photos and wall art and there was a huge framed painting of Kali there. And I felt such great devotion and love. I lifted it, and beneath it was painting of Durga, which is another one of Kali’s forms. She rides the tiger. And then there was another of Saraswati, and another of Shiva and Parvati. The Divine Mother was showing up for me in so many ways all at once.
I felt really blessed and in the flow. It was a nice form of darshan, which is when a deity blesses you with a chance to see them. This can happen in many different ways.
Now I had written up my notes for this episode a few days ago, but got caught up and couldn’t record at the time. So I put it off. A couple nights ago, in the middle of the night, I heard something fall off my shelf. I didn’t make much of it and went back to sleep. When I woke up in the morning, I found that one of the photos on my shelf had fallen. I picked it up and it was a photo of Anandamayi Ma, a great indian saint that past away in 1982.
My relationship with Anandamayi Ma is interesting. I don’t know much about her at all. I just know that a few years ago, I was having these dreams in which I was weeping and looking for her, calling her name. It was a very emotional, devotional, experience. So I printed a photo of her and framed it and kept it on my shelf.
Now this past month, I’ve been nurturing this relationship with Kali, celebrating her, listening to mantras to her and chanting her name. That’s what has inspired this episode.
Now, the thing is, Anandamayi Ma is said to have been the incarnation of Kali herself, Kali in human form.
So when her photo fell off my shelf, I took it as another darshan experience. She’s with me, always. Like I said, I don’t know much about Anandamayi Ma except that she radiates such deep peace and love whenever I see her photo, hear about her, or think of her. The same goes for Ramana Maharshi. They are the only two saints whose photos I have on my shelf.
Of course, you can chalk all this up to simply random coincidence and call me coocoo. That’s fine, I really don’t care. The feeling that all of these stories invoke in me is what matters to me personally. And I have many more stories, countless. This is my relationship with the Divine. This is how I know that I am supported by the Divine Mother, by Shakti, by Kali. This is how I have such deep faith and trust in this process and know that it’s all working out for me, no matter how difficult it gets at times. This is where my faith comes from.
I invite you to consider how you can further deepen your relationship with the Divine in your own way too.
Now I’ll leave you with a beautiful tale from Sri Ramakrishna, about a Kali temple, a saint, and a dog. I came across it a few days ago, by grace, and thought it was pretty cool how it tied together some of the themes I just spoke about.
Before that, let me remind you to check out brentspirit.com for more free content like this, to contact me with any questions about your journey, or to make a donation to support me and this work. Now, enjoy this tale. Much love.
A Tale from Sri Ramakrishna:
“Once a god intoxicated Sadhu (saint) came to Rani Rasmani’s Kali temple. One day he did not get any food; and even though feeling hungry, he did not ask anybody for it; but seeing the dog eating the remnants of food thrown away in a corner after a feast, he went there and embracing the dog said, “Brother, how is it that you eat alone without giving me a share?” So saying, he began to eat along with the dog. Having finished his meal in this strange company, the sage entered the temple of Mother Kali and prayed with such earnestness of devotion as it sent a thrill through the temple. When after finishing his prayers, he was going away, the Master (Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa) asked his nephew Hriday, to follow that man, and talk with him.
When Hriday followed him for some distance, the sage turned around and said, “Why do you follow me?” Hriday replied, “Sir, give me some instruction”. The sage said, “When the water of this dirty ditch and the Holy Ganges yonder appear as one in your sight, and when the sound of the flageolet (musical instrument) and the noise of the crowd will have no distinction to your ear, then you will reach the state of true Knowledge. A Siddha roams in various disguises – as a child, as an unclean spirit, or even as a mad man”.
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