Kali and Shiva

 

Kali and Shiva 

Kali Puja in Bengal is celebrated on the new moon night (Amavasya) of the Hindu month of Kartik (October–November), which coincides with Diwali, the festival of lights celebrated across India on the same night. This timing is not coincidental but rooted in lunar calendar traditions and shared mythological themes. 

Diwali celebrates the return of Lord Rama and the victory of light (good) over darkness (evil), as well as the worship of Lakshmi for prosperity. Kali Puja, while focused on the fierce goddess, aligns with this night because Amavasya is considered a powerful time for Tantric and Shakta rituals, when the veil between the material and spiritual worlds is thin. 

Kali Puja’s coincidence with Diwali stems from the shared lunar timing of Kartik Amavasya, a night potent for both Tantric rituals and celebrations of light and prosperity. Philosophically, the two festivals converge in their celebration of the Divine Feminine as a force of transformation and liberation: Kali destroys ignorance and ego, while Diwali’s Lakshmi brings prosperity and knowledge, together reflecting the non-dual unity of Shakti as both creator and destroyer. 

Kali, at least in part, may indicate one way in which the Hindu tradition has sought to come to terms with the built in shortcomings of its own refined view of the world. It would be nice if the system worked in every case, but it clearly does not, and it is perhaps best – and even redemptive – to recognize that it does not. Reflecting on the ways in which people must negate certain realities in their attempts to create social order, Mary Douglas writes: 

When a strict pattern of purity is imposed on our lives it is either highly uncomfortable or it leads into contradiction if closely followed. That which is negated is not thereby removed. The rest of life which does not tidily fit the accepted categories, is still there and demands attention. 

Kali puts the order of dharma in perspective, or perhaps puts it in its place by reminding the Hindu that certain aspects of reality are untameable, unpurifiable, unpredictable and always threatening to society’s feeble attempts to order what is essentially disorderly: life itself. 

To her devotees Kali is known as the Divine Mother. In light of what I have said, I would suggest that she is mother to her devotees because she gives birth to a wider vision of reality than the one embodied in the order of dharma. 

Yet the wider vision of that she presents may be understood in a more positive way as well. The Hindu religious tradition consistently affirms a reality that transcends the social order. From the perspective of moksa, the order of dharma is seen as a contingent good, a realm that must finally be left behind in the quest for ultimate good. Standing outside the dharmic order, indeed threatening it, Kali may be viewed as she who beckons humans to seek a wider, more redemptive vision of their destiny. [1] 

Regular readers are aware that that the stars that conjoin a NEW MOON relay a specific message. So what is the this Kali Puja New Moon (chart below) [28li21] all about.

 

 

The Kali Puja New Moon [28li] is conjunct the star IZAR [28li]. Here is an extract from Nick Fiorenza about the deeper significance of this star. 

May our eyes open to what the Goddess Kali is bringing to our attention at this New Moon!

 

[1] “Devi, Goddesses of India”; David R. Kinsley