An Hymnal to Kali
you give kali
a bad rap by your equating her with male sacrifice ... for kali
as personification of sacrificer exists only as ego destroyer
and if you fear not transcendence of death by transcendence of
ego, what then do you fear ... her personification as sexual guru???...
<g> ...
I lay my fate gladly
at the feet of the dark goddess of the enclosed garden ... to
lie beneath you lovingly as kali ma-donna ... (g) ... , for in
this transient life I am the walking dead ...
then you shall walk no
more as dead, my beloved, but risen, radiant and resplendent ...and
in tenderness and loving compassion shall we dance through the
fragrant vineyards of our love ...
hymns of ramprasad
to kali
o wisdom goddess!
your essence alone is present
within every life, every event.
your living power flows freely as this universe.
you are expressed fully, even by the smallest movement.
wherever i go, and wherever i look,
i perceive only you, my blissful mother,
radiating as pure comic play,
earth, water, fire, air, space, and consciousness,
are simply your projected forms.
there is nothing else.
ma! ma! ma!
your lucid dream of light
is the theater of birth and death,
the expanse of boundless transparency.
this poet can only cry in ecstasy"
"green mountains, fragrant blossoms,
countless lives on land and beneath the sea,
animate beings and inanimate objects
are composed of mother's reality,
and spontaneously express her will"
*****
mother dwells
at the center of my being,
forever delightfully at play.
whatever conditions of consciousness may arise,
i hear through them the music of her life-giving names,
om tara, om kali.
closing my eyes,
i perceive the radiant black mother
as indivisible, naked awareness,
dancing fiercely or gently on my heart lotus.
she wears a garland of snow-white skulls,
bright emblem of freedom from birth and death.
gazing upon her resplendent nakedness,
all concepts and conventions vanish.
those who judge
by mundane standards call me mad.
timid and limited persons can think what they wish.
my only longing is to express
the total madness of her love.
this poet child
of the wisdom goddess
cries out with abandon
"the queen of the universe
resides within the flower of my secret heart.
mother! mother! mother!
i seek refuge at your beautiful feet,
delicate and fragrant as the dark blue lotus.
as my body dissolves into earth
and my mind into space,
may i dissolve into you."
*****
drive me out
of my mind, o mother!
what use is esoteric knowledge
or philosophical discrimination?
transport me totally with the burning wine
of your all-embracing love.
mother of mystery, who imbues with mystery
the hearts of those who love you,
immerse me irretrievably
in the stormy ocean without boundary,
pure love, pure love, pure love.
wherever your
lovers reside
appears like a madhouse
to the common perception.
some are laughing with your freedom,
others weep tears of your tenderness,
still others dance, whirling with your bliss.
even your devoted gautama, moses,
krishna, jesus, nanak, and muhammad
are lost in the rapture of pure love.
this poet stammers,
overcome with longing:
when? when? when?
when will i be granted companionship
with her intense lovers?
their holy company is heavenly,
a country fair for those mad with love,
where every distinction
between master and discipline
disappears.
this lover of
love sings"
"mother! mother! mother!
who can fathom your mystery
your eternal play of love with love?
you are divine madness, o goddess,
your love the brilliant crown of madness.
please make this poor poet madly wealthy,
with the infinite treasure of your love."
o foolish mind,
do not indulge in hatred
for any sacred way
if you wish to enter pure reality.
with desperate
longing for truth alone,
this singer of this song has plunged
into the ocean of ancient scriptures,
discovering at last that my blissful mother,
her black hair falling free in ecstasy,
is the living power within every religious symbol,
the coherent core of every philosophy.
she is the warrior
spirit, kali dancing,
and she is shiva, all-transcending.
she is ineffable sweetness, radha-krishna
the love-play that dissolves conventionality.
she is sita-ram, compassionately wise,
the complete evolution of humanity.
In the liberation of women worldwide
lies the future sustainability of planet Earth from generation
to generation in abundance without over population. To Rani Jethmalani,
Kali is an energizer and saviour of oppressed women through social
and political empowerment. It is possible through the revival
of an energized feminine principle symbolized by Kali, ethically
dynamic and control free, autonomous and active, who challenges
the civilized order and status quo.
o mother divine,
your power alone
manifests as shiva the sublime,
sounding his ram's horn in mountain solitude,
and as krishna smiling tenderly,
surrounded by ecstatic lovers,
playing bamboo flute in the fertile river valley.
mother! mother! mother!
your secret power shines as lord rama,
bearing the bow of justice,
and as great goddess kali,
wielding the sword of nonduality.
removing these
veils, o goddess,
you dance naked as timeless awareness
in the body of your consort,
who lies still, enraptured, also naked truth,
merged in union with the absolute.
o mother power!
you abide in the dusty cremation ground
as world-liberating kali.
you reside within the noble palace of leadership.
you dance through the fragrant green landscape of love.
the mother of
the universe
is both woman and man
when they meet in blissful embrace,
dedicating their union to conscious oneness.
mother alone manifests, as loyal brother
and as consecrated wife
along the sacred way of selfless daily life.
this poet is
struck with amazement and cries:
"her nature as pure reality can never be described!
she is fullness! she is completeness!
my mother dwells in all beings
as their secret essence.
at her wisdom feet i find every fragrance,
every scripture, every place of pilgrimage."
in the words of andrew
harvey ...
"in ramprasad's
poetry you have a complete, intimate, wild, and brave account
if what it's like to live in naked exposure to the full shattering
and regenerating force of the sacred feminine ..."
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