Awakening to the Infinite by Swami Muktananda of Rishikesh

Author:Swami Muktananda of Rishikesh [Muktananda, Swami]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-58394-867-5
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
Published: 2015-02-09T16:00:00+00:00

KALI

Q: How can you protect yourself against feelings of anger, envy, greed, and so on, which are said to be the gates to hell?

A: It is impossible to eliminate these traits while you are identified with the sense organs. If you try to cut the head off one of these demons, another will spring up elsewhere. This is illustrated in Hindu mythology, in a story about the battle between gods and demons. After praying to Lord Shiva for a long time, Raktabija, leader of the demons, was granted a boon: from each drop of his blood that spilled to the ground another demon would spring up, identical in strength and courage. With this advantage, Raktabija went to war against the gods, and whenever he was wounded, up sprang another Raktabija. In despair, the gods went to see Lord Shiva. They found him in deep meditation and dared not disturb him, so they turned to the goddess Durga, the divine Mother, to ask for help. The goddess appeared on the battlefield and immediately took the form of the redoubtable Kali, “the Black One,” with skin as dark as midnight. Her eyes were red, her teeth sharp, and her hair hung wild about her shoulders. When Raktabija saw her, for the first time in his life he felt fear. The gods went into battle and Kali stretched her tongue across the whole battlefield, thus preventing a single drop of Raktabija’s blood from touching the ground. The demon was no longer able to reproduce himself and, thanks to the intervention of the divine Mother, the gods were victorious.

The story symbolizes that gods and demons coexist in us all. Depending on our upbringing, we can control our behavior up to a certain point: if we tell a lie, for example, we know it is wrong and can decide not to tell another. We can cut the head off one demon, but then what happens? Other demons appear and we may well become bad-tempered or even violent. The solution is to call on the help of Kali, who is none other than “I Am,” the Infinite, in a tangible, maternal form. When you believe that the darkness in the depths of your heart is Kali, she absorbs the whole world. Even the little bird singing on the terrace is within your interiority, which is to say in Her. Everything is swallowed up by Her, because everything belongs to interiority.

When you make room in your life for Her, She shows you how to remain unimpressed by the endless definitions in the world of name and form, and reveals that all is God.

As long as you identify with name and form, as long as you believe that you are a separate individual crystallized around the concept “me,” there is inevitably an egoic territory with selfish ideas and behavior. Every concept is accompanied by the desire “I want.” Impatience, anger, and jealousy are therefore unavoidable. But as soon as you make room for interiority and have faith in

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