“‘The primordial creative vibration is the
bow; oneself is the arrow. The Supreme Divinity is the target. Penetrating it
unerringly, become one with it, just as the arrow unites with its target.’”
When the audience settled from its enthusiasm,
Sofia joined her hands in prayer and chanted:
I meditate on She who embodies existence, the grantor of perfection,
who is utterly luminous, whose eyes swell with tears of compassion, and who
holds in her hands the net of unity, the scimitar of wisdom, the bow of
determination, and the arrow of penetration.
She proceeded to sprout 10 weapon-wielding
arms.
“The sword of discrimination, club of
articulation, bow of determination, arrow of penetration, pike of attention,
rod of restraint, axe of right action, net of unity, trident of harmony, and
discus of revolving time. With these weapons,” she announced, “the adept slays
the mighty host of demons within himself.” She began uttering the names of
demons known to Hindu myth:
Mahahanu: The
Great Deceiver
Parivarita:
The Aimless One
Bidala: The
Hypocrite
Kruddha:
Anger
Ugrasya: The Savage
Durdhara:
Given in to Temptation
Raktabija:
Rampant Desire
Chanda: The
Vicious
Munda: The
Malicious
Shumbha:
Conceit
Nishumbha:
Self-deprecation
Armed, menacing, livid creatures, hairy and
ogre-like, with snouts and tusks, claws and tails appeared. They amassed
exponentially, charging upon the transfigured maga who glided about, dodging
attacks and hurling weapons at the beasts. A whirlwind melee double-eighted the
field until all the hobgoblins were cut to the quick. The field was rendered
into a pit of bloody mud and grizzle. Severed heads, limbs, and entrails of
monsters were heaped about. Sofia, winded and drenched in blood, resolutely
stood in the midst of it.
She stretched her arms up, wrung them, and
shimmied as if shaking off a chill. The grizzle that coated her dissolved. The
field resumed its earlier, more pristine condition. The crowd cheered. Sofia
produced a golden goblet of wine and sipped it. She smiled. While lingering in
this manner, she explained that the phantasmagoria just witnessed was selected
from a particularly important Hindu tale called the The Glory of the Goddess,
“which relates three episodes of how the Great Goddess, who is the embodiment
of the power of all the gods, battles demons to restore the order of the
universe.”
She was nearing the end of her speech when a
giant water buffalo with a tremendous rack of horns sprung onto the field. It
rutted and bellowed, threw up dust, and charged.
“‘Yes, go ahead and roar! Roar and bellow
while I finish drinking this wine,’” she told the creature. “‘When I’m through,
you’ll be DEAD and the gods will be
roaring in this very place!’” She egged on the audience to cheer, adding that “the
worst demon of all that needs to be slain is the Great Ego, which manifests as
the animal-familiar of the god of death. That demon is simply called the
‘buffalo-demon,’ Mahishasura.”
The great animal charged. Sofia pranced around
the beast’s rut, racing and skirting over the field while dueling the
creature’s horns with a trident. Finally, she took a ferocious running leap at
the creature as it charged. Skirting a head-on thrust, she stuck her weapon
into the animal’s side and pole-vaulted onto its back. She pressed her left
foot onto the buffalo’s neck and, although her weight on the beast had to have
been slight, it sunk as if overwhelmed.
Collapsing, a fissure opened between the horns
of the animal’s head. From it emerged another livid ogre. The audience
squealed. Sofia produced a double-edged sword and, with it, lopped off the
ogre’s head. (From chapter Chapter 12 of La Maga A Story about Sorcerers and Magi by Dionesia Rapposelli)
Check out this fantastic (viral) clip, posted on Facebook, about Mahakali, who appears as a form of the goddess Durga in a key Hindu scripture called the Devi Mahatmyam (Glory of the Goddess). It depicts the goddess battling demons, which she does in the Devi Mahatmyam to restore the order of the universe. But the demons are our own vices and faults that those of us who are spiritual aspirants often find that we must confront and overcome the hard way via hard life lessons. Kali is said to mean "She Who Turns All Forms to Ashes." She is the goddess of the life/death cycle and of transcendence. Toward the end of the video, she is depicted in her iconic Tantric form: standing on the chest of inert Shiva (her masculine divine counterpart). This image represents the dynamic ferocity of manifest existence at play on the quiescent divine ground of Absolute Reality from which it ever emerges and subsides like a dream
Posted by KALI Mahavidya on Saturday, October 24, 2015
