Kāḻī mahimā and āmantraṇa
( #thread)

The phenomena of kāḻī is too abstruse and esoteric to be carried in a twitter thread. This isn't trying one's hand at explaining the inexplicable kāḻī, but a mere attempt that may prove as a catalyst for the reader to explore further.

Intellectually understanding the significance of the devī is a tumultuous affair.

It's a fact that the world, as it is projected in a human mind, is an awfully narrow & cluttered range of experience. The phenomena of life is infinitely large & multidimensional in its expanse.

In the western cultures, all the dark and concealed tracts of life were regarded as evil, something to be looked down upon & something to be scared of.

This was stemming from what we in Bhārata called as paśutva (पशुत्व) - animal nature, or, a state of denial of ignorance.

Western dogmas identified with what they already knew (narrow band of human perceptual experience) and found solace in its make-believe shelter.

They shunned the quest for venturing into unknown. Their fear was understandable, as the unknown holds both – risks and possibilities.

In their attempt to shun the risks, they also shunned all possibilities of mushrooming of consciousness, the चैतन्य.

But we, in the ancient far eastern cultures of Yoga and Tantra, realised that "Our knowledge is such a small thing but our ignorance is boundless".

So instead of finding consolation in our illusions, we held the unfathomed expanse of ignorance as Sacred.

We revered it and we invoked life into it to guide us into it and show us her true nature. The explorers of mysticism trod the paths less trodden.

For the rest of the humanity steeped in paśutva, they created doorways. These doorways lead to those unknown tracts of life with much ease. These were called devī - devatās.

Mahākāḻī is an ultimate doorway towards all those dark and concealed aspects of creation.

When you glare into these dark woods, what do you see? What do they hold? And what is its nature? What is that tattva (element) that conceals it?

It is her. It is her manifestation that pervades there. It is काळित्तव.

This very concealing element, when given a guṇa, ākāra, rūpa & nāma - quality, structure, form and name, it becomes mahākāḻ and when it begins to function, it functions through its Shaktī called mahākāḻī.

When such an entity is established (pratiṣṭhitita) & invoked with addition of Caitanya (consciousnessness) we get a Devī Mahākāḻī and her many different sub-formations.

She is what we hold as absolute oblivion but infused with Caitanya. Her third eye denotes that infusion.

In the second part to this thread I will try to explain how to approach this form and it's subforms.

Shambho!