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Each form of the Divine Mother Kali is a Mahavidya. The ten Mahavidyas are:

Read the story of the origin of the Das Mahavidyas.

To learn the Bija Mantras and Gayatris of the Das Mahavidyas please click here.

Kali

First of all Sati took the form of Kali. Her form was fearful, her hair untied and loose, her body the color of a dark cloud. She had deep set eyes and eyebrows shaped like curved swords. She stood on a corpse, wore a garland of skulls, and earrings made from the bones of corpses. She had four hands - on one hand she had the head of a skull, and the other a curved sword with blood dripping on it. She had mudras on her other two hands - one giving freedom from fear and the other giving blessings. She roared and the ten directions were filled with that ferocious sound.

The exploits of this Goddess Kali are outlined in the Chandi Path. She is the Goddess that killed Chanda and Munda and also drank the blood of Raktabija. She is known as Kaushiki, She who came from within, and is the Slayer of Shumbha and Nishumbha.

Kali is the first of the Das Mahavidyas. She is beyond time. She takes away the darkness and fills us with the light of Wisdom, which is why She is the embodiment of Jnana Shakti. She resides in the cremation grounds, where all creation dissolves. To learn Her Bija Mantra and Gayatri please click here.

Bagala

Bagala is the second Mahavidya. Listen to her story. Once the creation was in turmoil and being destroyed in many places (Shree Maa adds, "like the present scenario in the world"). Brahma became worried about His creation and wondered what the outcome of this turmoil would be. He then meditated to bring peace to the universe. Not succeeding, He then performed severe tapasya to obtain the blessings of Tripurambika – the Mother of the Three Worlds. Pleased with His austerities, She appeared before Him as Mother Bagala in a yellow form and gave him a boon. Bagala grants all kinds of perfection to devotees who pray to Her.

Here is another story of Her origin. Once an asura named Ruru, the son of Durgam, performed severe penance to win the favor of Brahma. Since Ruru was already very powerful, the Gods became very apprehensive of what might happen if he obtained a boon from Brahma. So they did aradhana (propitiation) to yellow water (Shree Maa says here, that yellow intuitively means peace). Pleased with their tapasya, the Divine Mother appeared as Bagala.

Bagala is the Goddess who stops all motion at the appropriate time, silences the mouths and words of all evil beings, and controls their tongues. May that Goddess bless us with stillness when it is appropriate!

To learn Her Bija Mantra and Gayatri please click here.

Cinnamasta

The third Mahavidya is Cinnamasta. Listen to the story of Her origin from the Pancharatna Grantha.

Once Parvati went with Her friends Dakini and Varnini to take a bath in the Mandakini River. Parvati was feeling very happy and a lot of love was welling up inside Her. Her complexion darkened and the feeling of love completely took over. Her friends on the other hand were hungry and asked Parvati to give them some food. Parvati requested them to wait and said that She would feed them after a while, and began walking.

After a short while, Her friends once again appealed to Her, telling Her that She was the Mother of the Universe and they Her children, and asked to be fed quickly. Parvati replied that they should wait until they got home. Her friends could not wait any longer and demanded that their hunger be satisfied immediately. The compassionate Parvati laughed and with her finger nail cut Her own head. Immediately the blood spurted in three directions. Her two friends drank the blood from two of the directions and the Goddess herself drank the blood from the third direction. Since she cut Her own head, she is known as Cinnamasta.

Cinnamasta shines like a lightning bolt from the Sun. She demonstrates the rare courage needed to make the highest conceivable sacrifice. May we imbue that very same courage from that daring Goddess! To learn Her Bija Mantra and Gayatri please click here.

Bhuvanesvari

Bhuvanesvari is the fourth Mahavidya. Bhuvan means the Universe, and Iswari means the Ruler, and therefore She is the Ruler of the Universe. She is also known as Rajarajeswari and protects the Universe. Here is the story of her manifestation from the "Pranatoshini Grantha".

Brahma had the desire to create the Universe, and he did intense tapasya to invite the energy of Creation, Kriya Shakti. Parameswari, pleased with his tapasya responded to his invitation and came as Bhu devi or Bhuvanesvari. She is red in color, seated on a lotus flower. Her body is resplendent and shining with jewels. She holds a noose (paasham) and a curved sword (ankusham) in two of her hands and the other two assume the mudras of blessing and freedom from fear. She resides in Shiva's heart.

Bhuvanesvari is the Supreme Empress of Manifested Existence, the exposer of consciousness. To learn Her Bija Mantra and Gayatri please click here.

Matangi

The fifth Mahavidya is Matangi. Here is the story of her origin. One day Maheshwari went to Shiva to obtain permission to go to Her father's house. Shiva wanted to go with Her, but would not go without being invited. Parvati laughed and said the He should go with her. Shiva replied that He would not go with Her, but would come to escort Her back.

In Her absence, Shiva began to long for Her and decided to visit Her in the disguise of an ornament vendor. When She selected the ornaments and asked for the price, Shiva told Her that if She fulfilled his desire, He would give Her the ornaments. Parvati was astounded that somebody would dare suggest such a thing to Her. Then She realized that the vendor was none other than Her Lord Shiva.

She told Shiva that She would fulfill His desire, but not just then and sent Him away. Later that evening, She went with a friend to where Mahadev was praying. She took the form of a beautiful outcaste girl, a chandali, and approached him thinking that He would not recognize her.

Seeing Her, Shiva called out, "Hey beautiful lady (Shubhangi), who are You and why have You come here?"

Parvati said, "I am a chandali, I am here to do tapasya to become a Goddess, so please do not disturb me."

Then Shiva said, "I am Shiva, I give the fruit of tapasya. If you marry me, I will make you like Parvati, without a doubt."

Parvati understood that Shiva had seen through Her disguise and bowed to Him. She said, "Hey Devadi-deva, nobody can hide anything from You," and was very happy with this interlude.

Shiva said, "Devi, you took this form because you wanted to pray to me, and so I give you the name Matangi.

Matangi is the measurement of all the limbs of creation and Supreme Goddess of all desires. Shree Maa says that anyone prays to Matangi will attain perfection. To learn Her Bija Mantra and Gayatri please click here.

Sorasi

The sixth Mahavidya is Sorasi. This is the story of Her manifestation.

When Parvati left Her form as Kali and assumed the form of Gauri, Shiva addressed Her as Kali again and again. Parvati was insulted and left that place. Shiva went into His own heart and began to remember the Goddess. But without seeing the Goddess in person, He became dismayed and wondered where She had gone. At that time Narad Muni came to where Shiva was meditating. Shiva narrated this occurrence to Narad and told him that Kali had left Him. Narad was very happy to hear of the differences between Shiva and Kali. In his meditation Narad saw that Parvati was sitting in meditation on Sumeru Mountain in an inaccessible place. In order to increase the separation between Shiva and Parvati, Narad went to where Parvati was meditating and said that Shiva was entering into a relationship with another woman. It will be proper for you to stop Him.

When the Goddess heard this from Narad's mouth, She became filled with anger. In this great anger, the Goddess assumed the form of the most beautiful young lady of sixteen years, Sorasi, and presented Herself before Shiva. Seeing Her own shadow reflected upon Shiva's chest, and thinking it to be another woman, She became even more angry, and said, "When we were married, You gave Your heart to me for my residence. How can you now give Your heart to another woman?"
When Shiva heard Kali's words, He replied, "Look closely at my heart. The woman you see in my heart is your reflection." When the Goddess looked closely and meditated carefully, with great satisfaction She asked, "The woman that I just saw in your heart, by what name shall She be known?" Hearing Kali's question, Shiva replied, "This new form of Yours is one of the Mahavidyas, and Her name will be Sorasi, She who manifests the sixteen. In this form you will manifest excellence!"

Sorasi unites the sixteen syllables of Siva and Sakti, the Supreme Goddess of all Desires. To learn Her Bija Mantra and Gayatri please click here.

Dhumavati

The seventh Mahavidya is Dhumavati. Here is the story of Her origin.

One day Mahadev was sitting in Kailash and Parvati was on his lap. She told Shiva that She was very hungry and requested Him to get Her some food. Shiva asked Her to wait awhile and so saying went back into meditation. Parvati once again asked Shiva, "Hey Father of the Universe, please give me some food, I cannot wait any longer". When Shiva asked Her to wait a second time, Parvati was so hungry that She became aggressive. The third time this happened, Parvati could bear no more and she ate Shiva to appease Her hunger. Immediately smoke started to come from within Her body. Shiva, who was inside her body, had opened His third eye and He said to Parvati, "Without me, there is no Purusha in the universe, only Prakriti, as only You exist."

For this reason, this is the widow form of the Goddess known as Dhumavati. Dhuma means smoke, and She is depicted without any ornaments and in widow apparel.

Dhumavati demonstrates renunciation and removes all frustration and agitation, and is free from disrepute. To learn Her Bija Mantra and Gayatri please click here.

Tripurasundari

The eighth Mahavidya is Tripurasundari, also known as Kamala. A form of Mahalakshmi, She symbolizes wealth. Her body is golden in color and She is seated on a gold lotus. Here is the story of Her origin.

One day Indra, the ruler of the heavens, saw Rambha and was lost watching her beauty. At that time, the fierce Rishi Durvasa appeared and gave a garland to Indra. But Indra, still mesmerized by Rambha, did not realize what he was doing and gave the garland to his elephant Airavat. Durvasa was angry with the disrespect shown to him and immediately cursed Indra thus, "You are the King of the Gods, but yet you are playing with women. You will lose Lakshmi. She will leave your kingdom." Goddess Lakshmi, true to the curse, left the heavenly regions.

All the Gods were saddened, and led by Indra went to Vishnu to get His counsel. Vishnu suggested that Lakshmi would appear if they churned the ocean of milk. Both devas and asuras arrived at the ocean of milk (Ksheera samudra). They used Mount Mandara as the central axle and the serpent Anant Nag as a rope to move the mountain. Lord Vishnu took the form a large tortoise to support the Mountain. The asuras and the devas each took the opposite ends of the snake and churned the ocean. As they churned, a lot of beautiful beings and objects manifested including Ucchaisrava (the divine horse), Dhanvantari (the God of Medicine), the Sudharshana Chakra, the Parijata flower. And then came Lakshmi.

When they saw Laksmi, the Gods offered Her an asan with the greatest respect. They did an abishek to Her, offered Her a lotus garland and entreated Her to stay with them, to which She agreed. She became known as Tripurasundari.

Tri means three, Pura means city, and Sundar means beautiful. Tripurasundari is the beautiful one of three cities, or all the threes. She manifests the perfection of compassion in all Nature. To learn Her Bija Mantra and Gayatri please click here.

Tara

When Lord Shiva bade Sati not to attend Her Father's yajna, Sati became furious and assumed the fearful form of Kali causing Shiva to flee in another direction. Sati then assumed the form of the ninth Mahavidya, Tara.

Tara is blue, Her tongue is fearfully sticking out, and Her face is terrifying. Her hair is tangled like snakes sticking straight up and She is dressed in a tiger's skin. On Her head are five half moons. She has three eyes, four arms, a large protruding belly, and stands on a corpse. She has four arms in which She holds a lotus, a sword, a drinking bowl, and a bell.

Tara is the illuminator, She illuminates all our attitudes. To learn Her Bija Mantra and Gayatri please click here.

Bhairavi

The tenth form of Mahavidya is Bhairavi. She has many names including Tripura Bhairavi, Sampath Praja Bhairavi, Kaulesh Bhairavi, Siddhida Bhairavi, Bhay Vidwamsi Bhairavi, Chaitanya Bhairavi, Kameshwari Bhairavi, Nitya Bhairavi and Rudra Bhairavi. Her body is the color of the rising sun. She wears a pearl necklace around her neck, has red breasts and has four hands in which She holds a japa mala, pustak, and displays the mudras of blessing and freedom from fear. She has three eyes that are red in color and wears a moon on Her forehead.

Bhairavi is the form of Kali that killed Chanda and Munda. She is free from all fear and frees us from all fear. To learn Her Bija Mantra and Gayatri please click here.

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Q&A from the Class

Question: In verse 46, Lord Krishna is saying, “the man of union has a superior attainment than all these other categories like tapasvis and jnanis.” How are they different? If you really do tapasya won’t you become a man of union?

Swamiji: Yes. And that’s just what He is saying. That the man of union, the yogi, has achieved the perfection of Gyan, has achieved the perfection of tapasya. He dwells in tapasya as his svabhav, as his intrinsic nature. It’s his intrinsic nature to dwell in union rather than only to think about union or talk about union or practice or strive to attain union. The yogi has achieved union and remains there.

Question: So the other people are striving to achieve union and the yogi is superior because he has reached the destination?

Swamiji: Correct.

Question: Can Swamiji please define soul?

Swamiji: No. Absolutely not. But we can talk about it. Because in the Vedas, and from Vedic times, it came down to “neti neti.” It’s not this and it’s not that. Now, would you want me, little old me, to try to define what it is not or what it is? It’s impossible. But we can talk about it.

We have two sets of causes for any object to come into creation, into existence. There must be a material cause and an efficient cause. The material cause we call Prakriti - nature; and the efficient cause we call Purusha – consciousness. Now, what we are calling soul is the consciousness within an individual.

The soul of a man or woman, the soul of creation, the soul of existence, the soul of the earth, they are all one soul. They have the same characteristics. Consciousness means to be aware of, to mean cognized, to be endowed with the capacity of recognition.

We can give many synonyms. We are not talking about the conscience, or being conscientious. We are calling it consciousness, the capacity of awareness, the capacity of paying attention, the capacity of recognition. And these will be the closest we can come to an identification of the soul.

Now when the soul is encumbered by the nature, an ego is born which identifies this soul, ‘i’, with this form, the body of nature, the limitations, the maya, the measurement, the seema, the boundaries placed by nature on this soul. So “I” am the soul and this is one of my forms.

The soul within thee is a river, its sacred bathing place is contemplation, its banks are holiness, its waters are truth, its waves are love. Go to that river for purification. Merely bathing in water will not make you clean.

Question: Does the soul have a physical location?

Swamiji: No.

Question: But isn’t the soul inside the body?

Swamiji: It’s inside, it’s outside, it’s everywhere. When we look at the container, the space outside is the same quality as the space inside. There is no distinction between what is inside the pot and what is outside the pot. The space is called akash. The space inside is called ghat akash, contained space. And the space outside is called maha akash.

There is not difference except the definition of the container. The soul is within and the soul is outside. When we say he is within we call him atma and when he is outside, we call him Paramatma. But he is the same quality. So he is in and out, at the same time.

Question: Swamiji, earlier we had said that the soul is a witness. But in this chapter the soul is becoming a happy, a friend, sometimes the soul is becoming an enemy in verses 5 and 6?

Swamiji: We regard the soul as a friend or we regard the soul as an enemy because those are attitudes or thoughts born of the mind, those are produced from nature. The intrinsic nature of the soul is sat-chid-ananda. And if I dwell in sat-chi-ananda, I’ve made friends with my soul. And if I don’t dwell in sat-chid-ananda, I am thinking that my soul is an enemy to me, he is not my friend.

Sometimes he is happy, sometimes he is sad, sometimes he is clear, sometimes he’s got confusion. Now its not really the nature of the soul, it’s the nature of the mind.

But this is a poetic description of how do I regard my soul. When I am in the bliss of union, the soul is the greatest friend that I could seek. When I am in disharmony and unbalanced, the soul is tortured and he is an enemy to me. He appears to me, to my soul, to be an enemy to my soul because he is not in harmony, in balance. So its an appearance, its not the intrinsic nature.

Question: How to change a tamasic nature?

Swamiji: First you take an inspiration. And take that inspiration and cultivate the knowledge, take that knowledge and put it into practice and take that practice and refine it to perfection until it becomes second nature to us.

Again and again every time I feel the tamasic tendencies, do I want to surrender to tamas or do I want to use the strength of my knowledge and the fortitude of my sankalpa to say, “No! I wont allow the tamasic tendency. I’m going to strive for the highest.” And then I wake up from that slumber and catch myself and go back to work. And train my attitudes to follow my sankalpa rather than allow my sankalpa to follow my attitudes.

Because the attitudes of the mind will change. The pleasures and the pains of the mind will change, the likes and the dislikes of the mind will change. And now I’m going to over here and now I’m going go over there. And now I’m going to try this and now I’m going to try that. And the devil with your sankalpa! I don’t need a sankalpa. I’m going to play. I’m going skiing. I’m going to enjoy - that’s my sankalpa. And forget the rest of what I promised God.

Question: When the mind is quiet in meditation, what makes it suddenly active again? How can one prolong the quiet mind? At this point, should one make an effort or just start chanting.

Swamiji: Chanting is an effort. So now what we are going to do is to produce effective action. Remember in our Chandi Path example that the mind, the ego, got the boon that we can’t control him, only Divine Mother can.

So every time we get quiet for a while the ego says, “Hey, they’re ignoring me. Let’s go make them active and restless and cause movement. And let’s take their mind away into reverie, and thoughts, and movies, and their history. And look what you did when you were five years old, and when you were twenty-five years old, and look at this history of you”.

Now, self-conceit and self-deprecation will come and judge and critique the movie: “I only I hadn’t. I’m sure glad I did.” And suddenly the mind is off in never-never land. And we lose our meditation.

Now every time we wake up and remember. If we could remember our mantra, which is a prayer for You, who are the energy of all, in everything. “Please take your energy away from the movie, please give your energy back to the divine longing that I’m sincerely trying to maintain. Please, Energy of all, in everything. Come back from those thoughts, come back from the movies, come back to me.”

And when She is satisfied with sincerity of our prayer, she comes as Usha, the dawn and She brings illumination to our darkness. And that’s the only way I know of. The sincerity of our prayer will make the dawn to shine.

Question: Is realization of self in one’s self as well as everywhere the same as perfect union in meditation?

Swamiji: When we achieve perfect union in meditation then we see that everything is part of me. And all are within me and I am within all and I am in the heart of God. So they are synonymous. Yes, I agree with that.

Question: How do we overcome the passing arrows of previous lifetime’s karma?

Swamiji: By sitting still. There is only way to overcome our prarabdha karma and that is to not react to it when the arrows land. No matter where they land, sit still. And as still as we can sit, so effectively do we deplete and diminish the prarabdha karma, all that past karma that’ s coming to fruition now. It just depletes itself.

Question: In verse 5, we talk about two souls. Soul is mentioned two times. You had explained to us about the atman and Paratman. Is this the Paratman helping the atman? Or does it not matter?

It does not matter. At this point there is no distinction between the space inside and the space outside. If the soul is one with God and the soul is raising us up because of our capacity of recognizing the purity and the clarity of our sankalpa.

And that’s what makes it incumbent upon us to pursue a dharmic life. It becomes incumbent. It’s not a decision we make, it is the natural propensity of the soul. It’s more than a decision, it’s a necessity. When I fall in love with you, my heart knows. I can’t say, “Oh well heart, let’s logically decide.”

When I first met my Guru, my feet knew the way to His ashram. I could never tell you in a million years. I was in Vrindavan, in the galis of Vrindavan. And those galis are like a labyrinth. I could never tell you his address. I went there in the morning, I came back in the night, I didn’t see anything .There was no address, there were no street maps, there’s no guide to the city. You can’t google it. My feet knew the way. It was incumbent upon me to go again and again and again until I didn’t leave.

When I first met Shree Maa, I had no address. Shree Maa, the respected Holy Mother! Go around India and try to find Shree Maa. I knew She was from Bengal, or Assam, or Orissa, or somewhere in the North-east. Could be Shillong or Manipur, it could be anywhere. But my heart knew the way and I found Her. It wasn’t an intellectual decision.

Dharma becomes incumbent upon us. Let the soul be raised by the soul. And once that happens, when that starts taking place, the love affair commences. It quickens. And sometimes it gets really fast. We just have to go.

Dharma is the decision of our lives. It is the way of our lives. It is completely compulsory behavior. And that’s what happens when the soul is raised by the soul.