The idea of a Shamshan ghat brings darkness and death to the mind. It brings a gloomy picture to those who visit it to cremate their dead. Yet to a few others it is a place of intrigue and for some others its a strange place of worship. Kalighat is a place that brings you so powerfully close to the truth and we just wonder about what is beyond this familiar world.Kalighat's shamshan ghat is one such mystical place. Few come here though this cremation ground is well lit and has enough architecture to leave you dizzy in its overpowering presence. The glint of turquoise blue is felt in the presence of the Mother here who paints the night with her hue.
Kalighat is silent, a little cut away from the bustling streets just outside. Kali reigns here in all her supremacy. Feared as she is, and deadly as she appears, the world of Kali and Lord Shiva means different things to different people. It brings fear to those who know little or nothing about them; it brings love in the hearts of those who have familiarized with her terrific form. Here she resides keeping control and living with all the lesser spirits that inhabit the other world.
She stands here, over the body of Lord Shiva in shavasana. With a foot over his thigh and the other over his chest, Kali signifies the transition of the soul from one world to the other in the blazing fire of cremation as Shiva whispers the Taraka mantra into the ears of the dead as they burn to ash. Kali at the Kalighat temple, has fury in her eyes and yet within this wild nature there is a coy side. A coy side brought forth by her posture as she stands on Shiva.
Kali belongs to the realm of death, she brings alive a different world which can be felt very deep but cannot be expressed in words. While we assume that death is all about light and darkness, there is a different feeling that is invoked when one comes close to Kali and Bhairava Shiva, and looks at them through the eyes of the Aghoris and tantriks.
Aghoris might have a strange approach, and might have an even more stranger lifestyle that is completely indigestible to us. Yet they bring one truth to us that death is not about light and darkness which is an extension of an illusion but that of magnetic power.
Shiva sadhana and Kali worship and associated mantras increase the magnetic power of the self. The energy is that which attracts and not that which can be seen. This power is not entirely dependent on light, though at some stage it might bring the person to glow extraordinarily, that is they almost seems to have a halo around them.
One thing we need to realize is that when we feel the power of sacred shrine, we actually feel its magnitude, we feel its power to attract us and intrigue us, a kind of magnetism. We do not see any light either internal or external. The unknown magnetic power of these sacred shrines is what draws us close to them.
This is the supreme power, this is the power that gives rise to siddis, this is the power that makes us walk on water, or levitate, or exude light or live longer and cut out external dependencies of food and water. This is the power of the Gods we search for, this is the power that wakes our Nadis and gives us that extra strength which separates us from all others. This is when we are at Nirvana, this is when the lotus blooms at the Sahasraha, this is when we walk into samadhi, this is when Lord Shiva and Kali embrace us. This is when we attain Mrityunjaya.
Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantihi
Related topics:
Awakening the Nadi Gantham at the Nabhi Kamalam
Taraka Mantra - Passage to heaven
Manikarnika Ghat: Where life meets the world beyond
