690. In My Heart Cobras Too Live! 241109 Poem by Raman Savithiri

See the beauty of my Mother Kali When I read this poem I was reminded of my Lord Siva and his terrifying form; when I was looking for references it was my Mother who immediately came forth to help Her this small son Kali's most common four armed iconographic image shows each hand carrying variously a sword, a trishul (trident) , a severed head and a bowl or skull-cup (kapala) catching the blood of the severed head. Two of these hands (usually the left) are holding a sword and a severed head. The Sword signifies Divine Knowledge and the Human Head signifies human Ego which must be slain by Divine Knowledge in order to attain Moksha. The other two hands (usually the right) are in the abhaya (fearlessness) and varada (blessing) mudras, which means her initiated devotees (or anyone worshiping her with a true heart) will be saved as she will guide them here and in the hereafter. She has a garland consisting of human heads, variously enumerated at 108 (an auspicious number in Hinduism and the number of countable beads on a Japa Mala or rosary for repetition of Mantras) or 51, which represents Varnamala or the Garland of letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, Devanagari. Hindus believe Sanskrit is a language of dynamism, and each of these letters represents a form of energy, or a form of Kali. Therefore she is generally seen as the mother of language, and all mantras. She is often depicted naked which symbolizes her being beyond the covering of Maya since she is pure (nirguna) being-consciousness-bliss and far above prakriti. She is shown as very dark as she is brahman in its supreme unmanifest state. She has no permanent qualities — she will continue to exist even when the universe ends. It is therefore believed that the concepts of color, light, good, bad do not apply to her — she is the pure, un-manifested energy, the Adi-shakti. Eventhough I have gone thro’ your poem earlier I was struck by the divinity it implies; On this Kaarthigai III somavaaram day you made me remember my Mother wonderful