Who is Smashān Kali????

First of all, let’s clarify smashān. The line over the second a means it’s long, but not long the way it is in English, the way it is in Sanskrit, which is the sound ah. And in Hindi the word is pronounced shamshan for some reason. And technically in Sanskrit the word is shmashāna, which is hard to pronounce and so in South India we say smashān. Which is a place where bodies are cremated. Many cremation grounds have specific spots for each body to be, either surrounded by metal, or uplifted like a perch with bricks or concrete blocks, and painted. I’m explaining because nowhere else do these places exist except in India, and most people who visit India are going for yoga or “spiritual” tourism, so don’t see these places unless they happen to be visiting a Tantrika….

So, Kali most people know from the imagery of Her that has been circulated for decades, which shows Her stepping on Shiva who is a corpse at Her feet. Smashān Kali can be on Shiva as well, but often is not. She also can be seated on him, or on Mahakala while the Shava (corpse) version of Shiva is below him. These are very Tantrik versions that have very deep descriptions, that I don’t need to get into here today.

Kala means time, or black in HIndi, but mostly it’s used for time in Sanskrit and Kali is the Devi (goddess) of time. Nothing destroys absolutely everything except time; in time all things disintegrate. All things. So She is that whom facilitates this process, maybe faster if you worship Her correctly, or slowly if you don’t care. Thought fast seems to be a punishment believe me it is much better than slow. Also since the cremation grounds is where the bodies are burnt after the soul leaves them, it is where She lives because She is the dissolution of all things.

To worship her in Tantrik terms means to receive diksha in Her mantra and sit and chant it, usually at a cremation grounds, or near one. Often it’s not recommended to chant Her mantra in your home, but my guru told me I can do it anywhere. It is all going to fall apart at some point, so why worry about helping that along, right?

It can also mean to sit on top of a dead body in the cremation grounds while chanting Her mantra trying to invoke Her into the body. It can also mean sitting on top of five skulls, pancha munda, and chanting Her mantra. It can mean any number of things such as a pooja, or holding a mudra whilst chanting in nature. But no matter what, you are inviting Her into your life, into you body, and asking Her to dissolve the things in your very being that are keeping you from realizing God in all things. And this can be quite a process of destruction that it feels as if you’re dying, while these ideas you may have had of yourself for your whole life are destroyed and you realize the truth about you, and then about all beings, including God in whatever form you happen to see them as.

Smashān Tara can also be included in this, but She does NOT have a dakshina or right hand path version of sadhana, only vamachara, or left hand path versions for Her. See my description of vamachara on my website if you need to know what that means. But the Kali version has both, so you can choose. Or actually She will choose you, and yes, that means She will keep appearing to you in all sorts of ways until you give in and try to figure out how to worship Her. She chooses you, not the other way around!

Her goal in your sadhana, once She engages back with you, is that you completely lose all attachments to physical things and live freely as a new being. Not judging things as beautiful, or ugly, or easy or hard, or one thing, or the other. All things just are, and you in this new place will see them just as they are without attaching a label to them. You will be neutral.

She also is your protective mother, so will look scary and fierce to all except you. And to you She may sometimes look scary but in your state of true neutrality this judgment, this label, will no longer apply. And you’ll be happy to have Her in your life. According to shastra She does not look pretty as often depicted. Or as my Guruji says, the west has sent Kali to the beauty parlor. She is meant to be black, the color of the night sky. She should have pendulous breasts and a belly hanging over the girdle of arms. Her tusks are tremendous and evoke fear in even the largest predator and Her claws are meant to rip you to shreds with one swipe.

So, as with Prathyangira, don’t go asking for Her to come into your life unless you are ready for this complete dissolution of you as you once thought yourself to be. You will be letting go of these ideas and of the notion that all labels matter! You will enjoy all forms of sensation, even pain, as it is closest to your true, raw, open wound state of being and the ability to observe this is the one quality you will have left after She is finished with you….