Hymns of praise dedicated to the Great Cosmic Power KALI
KALI the Mother
a hymn by Swami Vivekananda
The stars are blotted out,
The clouds are covering clouds
It is darkness vibrant, sonant.
In the roaring, whirling wind
Are the souls of a million lunatics
Just loosed from the prison-house,
Wrenching trees by the roots,
Sweeping all from the path.
The sea has joined the fray,
And swirls up mountain-waves,
To reach the pitchy sky.
The flash of lurid light
Reveals on every side
A thousand, thousand shades
Of Death begrimed and black —
Scattering plagues and sorrows,
Dancing mad with joy,
Come, Mother, come!
For Terror is Thy name,
Death is in Thy breath.
And every shaking step
Destroys a world for e’er.
Thou ‘Time’, the All-destroyer!
Come, O Mother, come!
Who dares misery love,
And hug the form of Death,
Dance in Destruction’s dance,
To him the Mother comes. ******
KALI – fragment from SHAKTISANGAMA TANTRA
“Shakti, the feminine principle, is the Creator of the Universe.
She is indeed the very body of the Universe.
Shakti is the foundation of all three worlds.
She is the essence of our body.
There is no jewel rarer than woman,
no condition superior to that of a woman.
There is not, nor has been, nor will be
any destiny equal to that of a woman;
there is no kingdom, no wealth, no happiness, no beauty
to be compared with a woman.
There is no prayer equal to a woman.
There is not, nor has been, nor will be
any yoga to compare with a woman,
no mystical formula nor asceticism
to match a woman.
There is not, nor has been, nor will be
Neither yesterday, nor today nor tomorrow
Any treasure superior to a Shakti.
********
Fragment from BHAIRAVA YAMALA She is the Divine Light and Transcendent itself.
From Her body burst thousands of rays –
Two thousand, one hundred thousand
Tens of millions, a hundred million –
their number may not be counted.
Thanks to Her and through Her,
all beings and things are moving,
and through Her stillness shines.
Due to the divine light
of this all-encompassing divine Power,
all things and beings are manifested.”
**********
Fragment from DEVI UPANISHAD
“Great Goddess, who art Thou?’
She replied:
“I am essentially Brahman (the Absolute or God).
From Me (has proceeded) the world
comprising Prakriti (the material substance)
and even Purusha (the cosmic consciousness), the void and the Plenum.
I am (all forms of) bliss and non-bliss.
Knowledge and ignorance are Myself.
I am the five elements Panchabhuta
The five subtle elements Tanmatraas also
what is different from them.
I am the entire world.
I am the Veda as well as what is different from it.
I am the unborn; I am the born.
Below and above and around am I.
yogaesoteric
23 February 2012
