KALI is the Cosmic Life Force (PRANA) of the Universe. Besides absorption (LAYA) into Her Subtle sound (MANTRA), a very efficient procedure of communion with Her is the breathing awareness i.e., continuously focusing the attention upon the breathing process without influencing it, like a non-intruding witness. Merging his attention continuously, even during daily activities, with the inhalation and exhalation (and especially with that which is beyond inhalation and exhalation), the practitioner will discover in a very short time the miracle of mindfulness and the power of introspection. In this way, he becomes ever more aware of the Life Force (PRANA) that sustains his life, starts to control it and can even expand his consciousness toward the Great Cosmic Force that is KALI.
At the beginning, this appears as a Dreadful Gloomy night, the sum of all fears and the exact opposite of what all of us want from life. But in and beyond this state of supreme crisis, the biggest opportunity is found: The Pure Immortal Existence.
Death, dissolution, lack of freedom, compulsion, fighting, suffering, submission to something that appears to be "Not-I" -- all these are the most frightening, terrible and undesirable things to our ephemeral and limited power of understanding. The feeling of being devoured, humiliated, broken into pieces, destroyed, annihilated is the very pricking of death -- the power that pushes us toward evolution. In the TANTRIC tradition, this Supreme Power of Time (KALA SHAKTI), the totality of the present Moments of Time, which form together the Eternity going back toward the beginningless Past and going forward toward the endless Future, is called KALI.
In the TANTRIC vision, the material world in which we live is not an illusion (as it is stated by other spiritual paths) but a magical reality. For the TANTRIC adept, spiritual attainment and total freedom are to be attained here and now i.e., in this material world and during this life. To realize this task, each individual who follows this extremely efficient path has to get a plenary experience, because life is devoured by time and death is the final point of life. The paralyzing and uncontrollable fear of death is the attitude that make us mortal beings. In this respect, no spiritual path will be efficient until the individual has understood the meaning of death and has surpassed, even to a small extent, his illogical fear of it. Death has to be faced permanently with courage. Only in this way can the meaning of time be lived and understood.Maha Kali is sometimes considered as a greater form of Shakthi, identified with the Ultimate reality of Brahman. It can also simply be used as an honorific of the Goddess Kali,signifying her greatness by the prefix "Mahā-". Mahakali is the presiding Goddess of the first episode of the Devi Mahatmya. Here she is depicted as Devi in her universal form as Shakti. Here Devi serves as the agent who allows the cosmic order to be restored.
In the TANTRIC vision, the material world in which we live is not an illusion (as it is stated by other spiritual paths) but a magical reality. For the TANTRIC adept, spiritual attainment and total freedom are to be attained here and now i.e., in this material world and during this life. To realize this task, each individual who follows this extremely efficient path has to get a plenary experience, because life is devoured by time and death is the final point of life. The paralyzing and uncontrollable fear of death is the attitude that make us mortal beings. In this respect, no spiritual path will be efficient until the individual has understood the meaning of death and has surpassed, even to a small extent, his illogical fear of it. Death has to be faced permanently with courage. Only in this way can the meaning of time be lived and understood.Maha Kali is sometimes considered as a greater form of Shakthi, identified with the Ultimate reality of Brahman. It can also simply be used as an honorific of the Goddess Kali,signifying her greatness by the prefix "Mahā-". Mahakali is the presiding Goddess of the first episode of the Devi Mahatmya. Here she is depicted as Devi in her universal form as Shakti. Here Devi serves as the agent who allows the cosmic order to be restored.
