This fabulous picture of Ma Kali atop Shiva has many meanings at many levels.
The famous story is that Kali was very angry about the injustice and wrong doings on earth. She wanted to finish the world, and began her Tandava.
All creatures went helter skelter, looking for shelter, as the world began to crack up with earthquakes and demolitions .No one could stop her, she was unstoppable in her rampage.
It was true that evil had exceeded and needed to be stopped, but also true that not all people were evil, not all needed to be taken to task. Shakti can be glorious as Durga, and she can be fear invoking, as Kali, it depends on the Bhava we set for Her. If we trouble Mother Nature too much, she is bound to get into a Kali Mood. So, then Shiva, her husband lay down on her path, knowing that this will stop her, that she wont "over step" him. But she stepped even on Him.
A minute later she realised that this was her dearest beloved, and She calmed down...the wife in her emerged, and she lolled her tongue in a gesture of "sorry"
The Maha Pralaya was thus averted.
This is the katha( story) for which we pray to Ma Kali.
The famous story is that Kali was very angry about the injustice and wrong doings on earth. She wanted to finish the world, and began her Tandava.
All creatures went helter skelter, looking for shelter, as the world began to crack up with earthquakes and demolitions .No one could stop her, she was unstoppable in her rampage.
It was true that evil had exceeded and needed to be stopped, but also true that not all people were evil, not all needed to be taken to task. Shakti can be glorious as Durga, and she can be fear invoking, as Kali, it depends on the Bhava we set for Her. If we trouble Mother Nature too much, she is bound to get into a Kali Mood. So, then Shiva, her husband lay down on her path, knowing that this will stop her, that she wont "over step" him. But she stepped even on Him.
A minute later she realised that this was her dearest beloved, and She calmed down...the wife in her emerged, and she lolled her tongue in a gesture of "sorry"
The Maha Pralaya was thus averted.
This is the katha( story) for which we pray to Ma Kali.
But God and Shakti are multidimensional, so there can be many understandings of the symbolism. The esoteric meaning can also be:
The power of Maya (bhadrakali) is so great that it can make even God Himself forget his own self and slip into an unconscious state.
It is only when the force of His own Maya is lifted that he may slowly rise. This is somewhat on the lines of the Kashmir Shaiv Darsana : Kashmir Shaivism Which states that this forgetfulness and remembrance of His own Nature is the eternal play of God and His own Maya. Because, she, as Shakti, is the equal Half of the Supreme! It is said Shiva without shakti is inert like a shava, till he doesnt recognize that the shakti is His own, that in the highest reality, they are never separate! So also, Shiva is called Shaktimaan, the wielder of His own Maya.
The power of Maya (bhadrakali) is so great that it can make even God Himself forget his own self and slip into an unconscious state.
It is only when the force of His own Maya is lifted that he may slowly rise. This is somewhat on the lines of the Kashmir Shaiv Darsana : Kashmir Shaivism Which states that this forgetfulness and remembrance of His own Nature is the eternal play of God and His own Maya. Because, she, as Shakti, is the equal Half of the Supreme! It is said Shiva without shakti is inert like a shava, till he doesnt recognize that the shakti is His own, that in the highest reality, they are never separate! So also, Shiva is called Shaktimaan, the wielder of His own Maya.
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