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Kalidasa and all-inclusive worship
a discussion with spiritual kindred





Kalidasa

A reflection sent by Colin to the Yahoo Group "Kali for the World"


7 July 2011

Jai Ma!


I've just uploaded to the Ferment website an academic-style article about the poet and playwright Kalidasa; a revision of one which first appeared in Ferment some years back.


You can find it at

http://home.pacific.net.au/~ferment/kalidasa.html


Kalidasa's name literally means "servant of Kali". Legends depict him as Kali's devotee, who received from her the gift of poetic inspiration. His work contains a description of Kali as a skull-garlanded figure whose appearance suggests a raincloud and whose radiance is like lightning. Also a detailed description of the temple of Mahakala at Ujjain.


However, his writings aren't like the songs of Ramprasad — you don't find the name of Kali every few lines. His poems and plays are about love and loyalty, grief of separation, as well as topics like hunting, wars, and the powers of yogins.


Some scholars doubt whether he was a worshipper of Kali at all. My own theory is a bit different: I think he was a worshipper, but of a different sort.


There is an important question here: is a devotee only someone who keeps repeating the name of the deity? Or can a devotee be someone who brings the inspiration of the devata into all sorts of work?


Om Shantih

Colin


*****


from James Minium

9 Jul 2011

Re: [kalifortheworld] Digest Number 73

Thanks Colin, A interesting article I am not certain on this gents name or scholarly thoughts you did pose a query; is a devotee only someone who keeps repeating the name of the deity? Or can a devotee be someone who brings the inspiration of the devata into all sorts of work?


I feel you don't need continually to repeat the Divine's name it only would be needed to anchor your mind to the divine in a place were you would need to be anchored.....I feel that in answer too second part yes we do so daily by just being in living breathing life I in my work dedicate every action to MA even when I "forget" caught up in drama I know MA has her hands on me kept safe in her presence I bow in humble love to The DIVINE Deva of ALL TIME Place and substance....


!!JAI!! MA!!!      with Humble Love I submit this


James M.Minium


*****


from Kumari

9 July 2011

Re: Kalidasa


A certain amount of connection needs to be maintained with the Supreme in what ever form the Divinity is envisioned as. The time spent doing this is up to the individual. What is your goal in doing this? If it is merely to remind yourself that there is a Deity and you want to spend the rest of your time in other pursuits you are obviously going to do a minimal amount of practice. If the goal is Goddess absorbtion, then a person might spend most of the day in spiritual pursuits.


There are a multitude of practices, not just japa and if the goal is attaining oneness with the Divinity within it is better to do so using a number of methods. These are reading, chanting, worship, repetition of the Holy Name (japa), satsang (spending time with other devotees) and creative activities. I have been opened to the creative side by both my guru and by reading a book by Rick Veda called Combatting Inner Terrorism, which is a very free translation of the Devi Mahatmyam or Chandi. Most teachers do not make much of the creative side of spirituality.


The point to be made is that one does not necessarily have to make an outward show of spiritual activities and this may actually be detrimental to progress. Kalidasa may have been very devout, but did not choose to display this to the world. On the other hand, Kali may have been his family's deity (kuladevata) and not his personal ishta devata. In which case he might not be that demonstrative about Her.


Jai Maa!

Kumari


*****


About Kalidasa and where I am now

A letter from Colin to members and friends of Mystics of Kali


8 July 2011

Jai Ma!


I've just uploaded to the Ferment website an academic-style article about the poet and playwright Kalidasa; a revision of one which first appeared in Ferment some years back.


You can find it at

http://home.pacific.net.au/~ferment/kalidasa.html


The following personal reflections are related...


* Reasons Kalidasa interests me:


The name with which he identified himself means "servant of Kali".


Legends depict him as her devotee, who received from her the gift of poetic inspiration. His work contains a description of Kali as a skull-garlanded figure whose appearance suggests a raincloud and whose radiance is like lightning. Also a detailed description of the temple of Mahakala at Ujjain.


However, his writings aren't like the songs of Ramprasad – you don't find the name of Kali every few lines. His poems and plays are about love and loyalty, grief of separation, as well as topics like hunting, wars, and the powers of yogins.


Some scholars doubt whether he was a worshipper of Kali at all. My own theory is a bit different: I think he was a worshipper, but of a different sort.


There is an important question here: is a devotee only someone who keeps repeating the name of the deity? Or can a devotee be someone who brings the inspiration of the devata into all sorts of work?


* What it has to do with my own life:


For a good slice of my life I've been one of those who kept repeating the name of the devata: the name of Kali was coming up continually in my thoughts, my study and my writing.


However, in the past few years, the way I write has been changing...


I've been thinking and writing about a wider range of topics: the psychology of Nazism, the language Esperanto, the culture of the ancient Phoenicians, the mystery religion of Mithraism, the search for life on other worlds, the principle of entropy... Have also attempted some creative writing and drawing about people underwater...


To me, all the topics I have been writing about are associated, in different ways, with the vision of Kali.


Still, I've been contributing quite extensively to a range of websites which are not specifically Kali-oriented – among them Wikipedia. Interacting with people at Wikipedia, I seldom mention Kali by name... except that I have been signing my Wikipedia contributions with a signature that includes the word "Kalidasa"...


Does this sound like I am not with Kali any more? Or does it mean I am with her in a different way?


Om Shantih

Colin


*****


from K.


8 July 2011

Subject: Where I am now


Dear Colin,

It seems to me that your worship is growing, expanding from the personal level to become all inclusive. I believe it is a sign of its normal, healthy progression....


Best wishes, K.


Note: The author of the above letter is a devotee of Lord Shiva, and a longstanding contributor to the journal Ferment and to this website.


*****


from Zibethicus


11 July 2011

Re: About Kalidasa, and where I am now

Namaste;


"It is as if the Divine Mother said to the human mind in confidence, with a sign from Her eye, 'Go and enjoy the world'. How can one blame the mind? The mind can disentangle itself from worldliness if, through Her grace, She makes it turn toward Herself. Only then does it become devoted to the Lotus Feet of the Divine Mother."


http://www.angelfire.com/ma/ramakrishna/kali.html


Ramakrishna also said that Maa lets Her children go out and play in the world in order to allow them to enjoy themselves. But as soon as they get tired or worried, they come running back to Her again, as She knows they will. In the same way, I suspect that one goes through phases of greater or lesser attachment to Her external forms. Hardly anything to be concerned about...


->Zx<-


*****


from Sanjay Dey


23 Sep 2011

Re: Kalidasa and all-inclusive worship


Dear Colin,


You are doing some wonderful work. I also thank Kumari, in giving her insights. Also to others who have contributed to the article.


My personal belief is a "devotee" is not only who devotes everything to God. But someone who tries to understand the natural affairs and find the godliness among the ordinary. Kalidas was so dull that one day he was seen cutting the wood of the branch of the tree on which he was sitting. People started laughing at him. He was ashamed. He vowed that he will learn and become a learned before coming back to his village. So he started to meditate and finally he got his blessings. So, in my opinion Kalidas was not someone who was chanting and meditating all the time in search of God. He tried to understand what and who God is. After attaining his objective he started to write his experiences in poetic form.


I heard one story about Vivekananda. At the Religious Conference at Chicago, he was very frightened. He saw his predecessors coming to the stage and giving lectures. There were many from India also who gave lectures about Hinduism making them akin to Christianity. He was afraid. Whenever his time came he was avoiding it. At the last time he was given only 2 mins to give his lecture. He started with whatever came to his mind. He later stated that the lecture he gave was always in front of him in the mind. He only read the lectures. God had always helped him giving lectures. It was like a note the teacher has prepared and the student has only to read the same.


It was the faith and reasoning that gives a devotee his/her ultimate aim. That's why we say that a sanyasi is a person who has no fear. This fearlessness gives them the power to know the unknown.


Om Shanti,

Sanjay Dey


*****


from Kumari

27 Sep 2011

Re: Kalidasa and all-inclusive worship


As my Guru would say (and I ask your pardon for quoting him, I find people that quote their Gurus all the time to be tiresome): Without devotion (bhakti) there can be no learning (jnana), without work (karma) there cannot be either devotion or learning. The three go together, they help each other. (That's a rough paraphrase) So, even though he may not have worshipped and chanted and served a deity he had to be devoted to some ideal or to gathering knowledge and wisdom to be able to express that in his work.


Jai Maa!

Kumari


*****


from Sanjay Dey


Re: Kalidasa and all-inclusive worship

7 Oct 2011 


Bhakti and Karma I think goes hand in hand. Without Bhakti your Karma will not have any direction. Similarly, without Karma Bhakti will not provide you the food you need. I have been going through the comments of Kumari, Zibethicus and Jim. One thing I found common in all of them is Bhakti and the need for Karma to attain the shanti. It was really a pleasure to read the comments from you people.


Om Shantih,

Sanjay Dey


*****


from K.

Subject: Feedback to "Where I am at"

7 Oct 2011


Namaste,


While reading the feedback about personal relationship with the deity, I was reminded of endless conversations I had with a nun belonging to a christian order. She is one of the most radiant personalities I have ever come across.


As we compared notes about spiritual life, she spoke about the shift she had experienced along the way.


After years of ritual worship, prayer and contemplation, she began to have trouble with what she called "the formal aspect" of her religion. She became "impatient" with it. This facet of her relationship with the Godhead was gradually being shed.


At the same time, she felt that she had been blessed with the gift of grace which caused her to cultivate within herself and emulate the godly attributes of love and compassion. Personal devotion to God naturally expanded into service of mankind. While remaining a nun within the order, she "quit" convent life to become a rural social worker.


Most people who enjoyed her service were never aware that she was a nun. She reflected that since she had stopped saying her prayers all her life had become a prayer.


Many of the most spiritual people I have met have little time - in every sense - for ritual devotion. Bhakti takes different forms to suit the needs of different devotees.


God/dess was given multiple personalities, forms and mythology by religion. Religion was man-created in response to mundane needs, one of these being to provide means of connection and alignment with the otherwise inaccessible Source.


For those who perceive God as all-pervasive Energy, the anchorage afforded by personal relationship can become implicit, sometimes redundant (how does one have a personal relationship with the Impersonal?). The focus shifts to the "10 000 things". The sacred and the mundane blend into each other. Blessing (not cursing) the reckless driver who cuts us off is an act of worship.


There are many lanes on the path. Each of us has a different standpoint and understanding, therefore different needs. Is there then a right or wrong vehicle to travel it?


Chanting the names of the deity doesn't get His/Her work done but it may remind us when necessary that there is work to be done.


Namaste,

K.


*****


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