How to Yoga - Kali (Goddess of Destruction)
Good day, Steemians!
“Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.” ― H.L. Mencken
What an exciting Hard Fork Day it was for me!
It had nothing to do with the Hard Fork,
and everything to do with choosing to do something different
rather than playing it safe.
I made a few posts yesterday; one ruffled some feathers,
and sparked what for me has been one of the most valuable
exchanges I've had on Steemit. I'm so thankful to @onceuponatime
for engaging, and I hope the dialogue continues!
How beautiful it is to see humans who are fed up with being polite,
to see and feel and harness the force that wants to crack skulls.
How powerful is frustration; how deeply rooted is judgment!
How exciting to see these "dark" sides, yet still feel anchored in respect and light.
How thrilling to break them down to make way for evolution;
I'm so grateful to be here and now.
Thank you, Steemit, for enabling such personal growth and development!
What a strong community this is.
As I have shared, first instruction in yoga
came from the Bhagavad Gita, from a war between brethren.
Conflict is the perfect time to practice yoga!
I offer of it today, and I come open and ready and willing to look within
as well. Rather than share an asana, I want to tell you about a goddess:
This is Kali
She is a consort of Shiva - that's him on the ground.
Shiva (pure awareness) is her eternal witness, inseparable from herself.
She comes to slay the ego, to push you out of your comfort zone,
to change and transform and destroy.
She is fierce; she wears a skirt of severed arms and a garland made of skulls.
She devours all things. She is time, and she is death.
Her skin is dark blue, almost black.
She is eternity, the undefined field of infinity and unlimited potential,
from which all things arise and into which all things return.
She is ablaze, an unrestrained force that cannot be contained.
Kali delivers insight, wisdom, and enlightenment.
She cuts through delusion and self-consumption.
The severed head she holds represents the ego;
the skulls around her neck are those she liberated from identification with the body.
At first glance, Kali is gruesome, but she is so much more.
She is fearless; she is protection.
Ever blissful, she nourishes all things.
It is from compassion that she destroys human bondage.
Without the death she brings, rebirth cannot be.
Can you relate to this force? I sure can -
feeling so much Kali energy surging through me lately, with this
wicked world too much to bear and I have a burning desire to VANQUISH!
I crave battle - what is this thing so primordial in me??
It is so powerful, almost scary; can a demolition be controlled if I indulge that energy??
Surely not, but still I want to break it all down, burn it to the ground,
and start all over again, fresh, new, undefined.
C'mon, Kali Ma, do your thing in me, rip it all apart
so I can gather up the pieces and build something better.
💛 Sara!
My little bits of gratitude: thank you thank you thank you to all these wonderful beings who influence me. Thank you for perspective; thank you for change. Thank you for challenge!
I re read your whole Festivus post today that you speak of and that back and forth convo you had there you mention here today, was a good one. It was a clear example for me of this ----in Proverbs
Proverbs 27:17 ►
As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.
Have a nice day everyone.
“Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.” ― H.L. Mencken
I remember a time when I was infuriated with the world and the injustices I "knew" I had suffered. It reached such a level of intensity that I was going to have to go out and destroy, maim and kill or somehow relieve the unbearable tension.
I looked down at my hand and saw that I was smoking a cigarette. An epiphany occurred and I realized that it wasn't the world that I needed to change, but my attachment to it. I took all that Kali energy boiling over in me and focused it on my cigarette attachment with the "persecuting" world. (my reasoning was that, with the taxes on the cigarettes that I was buying every day, it was me that was funding the injustice I thought that I was suffering.)
I focused all my Kali energy on my hand and threw away the half-finished cigarette. That was my last one for 9 years. (At which time I met with the concept of being re-introduced to my dog as its master rather than its slave - a very important concept for addictions such as food or sex).
Jai jai ma!
You would get along well with Hadimba Devi at the Dhoongri Temple that I told you about in a previous post (the one who made my hair stand on end when she possessed the body of the channeler and began berating the government officials from the state capital). She is an aspect of Kali.
I think you're right! Is she on Steemit?
What an interesting post @saramiller I´ve seen that image before but didn´t know the meaning. Hugs from Panama ;)
XOXO
Powerful post...love it !
Thank you @sarahewaring!
You're very welcome!
My ex-wife's name is Kali and though she is of Mexican heritage, she sure splayed my ego and took me out of my comfort zone. Looking back now, I learned a lot from the experience and we are civil to each other. I think we're both happier apart the. We would be together.
Thank you for this post.
Thank you for sharing your experience! It's amazing how much we grow from conflict and destruction, and so cool to appreciate it.
Love this
💛