ॐ Hindu Of Universe ॐ
“God’s light is within you, It never leaves you.”
Goddess Kalaratri
Origin
When the Goddess Parvati removed outer golden skin to kill demons named Shumbha and Nishumbha, She was known as Goddess Kalaratri. Kalaratri is the fiercest and the most ferocious form of Goddess Parvati.
Navratri Worship
Goddess Kalaratri is worshipped on the seventh day of Navratri.
Governing Planet
It is believed that the planet Shani is governed by Goddess Kalaratri.
Iconography
Goddess Kalaratri complexion is dark black and She rides on a donkey. She is depicted with four hands. Her right hands are in Abhaya and Varada Mudra and She carries sword and the deadly iron hook in her left hands.
Details
Although the Goddess Kalaratri is the most ferocious form of Goddess Parvati, She blesses her devotees with Abhaya and Varada Mudras. Because of her Shubh or auspicious power within her ferocious form Goddess Kalaratri is also known as Goddess Shubhankari (शुभंकरी).
The name of Goddess Kalaratri is also spelled as Goddess Kalratri and Goddess Kaalratri.
Devanagari Name
कालरात्रि
Favourite Flower
Night blooming jasmine (रात की रानी)
Mantra
ॐ देवी कालरात्र्यै नमः॥
Om Devi Kalaratryai Namah॥
Prarthana
एकवेणी जपाकर्णपूरा नग्ना खरास्थिता।
लम्बोष्ठी कर्णिकाकर्णी तैलाभ्यक्त शरीरिणी॥
वामपादोल्लसल्लोह लताकण्टकभूषणा।
वर्धन मूर्धध्वजा कृष्णा कालरात्रिर्भयङ्करी॥
Ekaveni Japakarnapura Nagna Kharasthita।
Lamboshthi Karnikakarni Tailabhyakta Sharirini॥
Vamapadollasalloha Latakantakabhushana।
Vardhana Murdhadhwaja Krishna Kalaratrirbhayankari॥
Stuti
या देवी सर्वभूतेषु माँ कालरात्रि रूपेण संस्थिता। नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमो नमः॥
Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Ma Kalaratri Rupena Samsthita।
Namastasyai Namastasyai Namastasyai Namo Namah॥
Dhyana
करालवन्दना घोरां मुक्तकेशी चतुर्भुजाम्।
कालरात्रिम् करालिंका दिव्याम् विद्युतमाला विभूषिताम्॥
दिव्यम् लौहवज्र खड्ग वामोघोर्ध्व कराम्बुजाम्।
अभयम् वरदाम् चैव दक्षिणोध्वाघः पार्णिकाम् मम्॥
महामेघ प्रभाम् श्यामाम् तक्षा चैव गर्दभारूढ़ा।
घोरदंश कारालास्यां पीनोन्नत पयोधराम्॥
सुख पप्रसन्न वदना स्मेरान्न सरोरूहाम्।
एवम् सचियन्तयेत् कालरात्रिम् सर्वकाम् समृध्दिदाम्॥
Karalavandana Ghoram Muktakeshi Chaturbhujam।
Kalaratrim Karalimka Divyam Vidyutamala Vibhushitam॥
Divyam Lauhavajra Khadga Vamoghordhva Karambujam।
Abhayam Varadam Chaiva Dakshinodhvaghah Parnikam Mam॥
Mahamegha Prabham Shyamam Taksha Chaiva Gardabharudha।
Ghoradamsha Karalasyam Pinonnata Payodharam॥
Sukha Prasanna Vadana Smeranna Saroruham।
Evam Sachiyantayet Kalaratrim Sarvakam Samriddhidam॥
Stotra
हीं कालरात्रि श्रीं कराली च क्लीं कल्याणी कलावती।
कालमाता कलिदर्पध्नी कमदीश कुपान्विता॥
कामबीजजपान्दा कमबीजस्वरूपिणी।
कुमतिघ्नी कुलीनर्तिनाशिनी कुल कामिनी॥
क्लीं ह्रीं श्रीं मन्त्र्वर्णेन कालकण्टकघातिनी।
कृपामयी कृपाधारा कृपापारा कृपागमा॥
Him Kalaratri Shrim Karali Cha Klim Kalyani Kalawati।
Kalamata Kalidarpadhni Kamadisha Kupanvita॥
Kamabijajapanda Kamabijaswarupini।
Kumatighni Kulinartinashini Kula Kamini॥
Klim Hrim Shrim Mantrvarnena Kalakantakaghatini।
Kripamayi Kripadhara Kripapara Kripagama॥
Kavacha
ऊँ क्लीं मे हृदयम् पातु पादौ श्रीकालरात्रि।
ललाटे सततम् पातु तुष्टग्रह निवारिणी॥
रसनाम् पातु कौमारी, भैरवी चक्षुषोर्भम।
कटौ पृष्ठे महेशानी, कर्णोशङ्करभामिनी॥
वर्जितानी तु स्थानाभि यानि च कवचेन हि।
तानि सर्वाणि मे देवीसततंपातु स्तम्भिनी॥
Om Klim Me Hridayam Patu Padau Shrikalaratri।
Lalate Satatam Patu Tushtagraha Nivarini॥
Rasanam Patu Kaumari, Bhairavi Chakshushorbhama।
Katau Prishthe Maheshani, Karnoshankarabhamini॥
Varjitani Tu Sthanabhi Yani Cha Kavachena Hi।
Tani Sarvani Me Devisatatampatu Stambhini॥
Aarti
कालरात्रि जय जय महाकाली। काल के मुंह से बचाने वाली॥
दुष्ट संघारक नाम तुम्हारा। महाचंडी तेरा अवतारा॥
पृथ्वी और आकाश पे सारा। महाकाली है तेरा पसारा॥
खड्ग खप्पर रखने वाली। दुष्टों का लहू चखने वाली॥
कलकत्ता स्थान तुम्हारा। सब जगह देखूं तेरा नजारा॥
सभी देवता सब नर-नारी। गावें स्तुति सभी तुम्हारी॥
रक्तदन्ता और अन्नपूर्णा। कृपा करे तो कोई भी दुःख ना॥
ना कोई चिंता रहे ना बीमारी। ना कोई गम ना संकट भारी॥
उस पर कभी कष्ट ना आवे। महाकाली माँ जिसे बचावे॥
तू भी भक्त प्रेम से कह। कालरात्रि माँ तेरी जय॥
Kalaratri Devi
(7) Kalaratri Devi
ॐ देवी कालरात्र्यै नमः॥
Om Devi Kalaratryai Namah॥
Inevitably on the spiritual path we become acutely aware of our egoistic tendencies.
We witness the ideas of “me, mine, and I,” which are so conditioned in our thinking process that we blindly, yet ambitiously, go through life, trying to get more and more for ourselves.
Unfortunately, unless we get help, these thoughts are an endless succession in a perpetual cycle. What do we do?
To the rescue is the seventh form of Durga, Kalaratri Devi, the fiercest form of Durga who we worship on the seventh night of Navaratri.
Rātri means night. Kāla means time, death, black or dark. So Kalaratri is She who is beyond time, the darkness of night. Kalaratri Devi is the great Dark Night Mother of overcoming egotism.
She represents the unfolding of time: the time on the clock that keeps moving forward, making us older, leading us to our death (hence it also means death- your time has come). It is a heavy crushing energy that makes even the greatest nations fall one day.
Kālarātri can be translated as Dark-night goddess, or Death-night goddess. Death is similar to sleep, you let go from your body and enter the dark realm where you have no body but just the thought forms within you.
She is a fierce form of Durga, who burns our egoistic tendencies in the fire of sacrifice.
Though Her appearance appears fearful to the eye, She is not to be feared, because when She is pleased, She grants very auspicious fruits to spiritual aspirants. She takes aspirants beyond the darkness of attachment into the illumination of wisdom.
For a spiritual aspirant this process of surrendering the ego can feel painful. Ultimately though, the removal of the darkness opens up space for the Divine Light to penetrate our awareness, moving us into wisdom.
Kālarātri is black and naked except for her ear-ornaments on her large ears. Her lips hang open (lamba-oṣṭhī), her body is covered in oil, and she sits on a donkey.
She has a single braid in her hair. Her hair is unbound and flies wildly in all directions. She wears a garland of lightning, and from her body emanates a light, that is as bright as fire.
She holds an iron scimitar in her upper left hand and a lightning bolt in her lower left hand. Her other hands are granting blessings and protection. Here is the significance of her form:
black: takes away darkness from mind
donkey: strong and sure-footed
iron scimitar: sharp cut to negative forces
lightning: diamond hard shakti
upper right hand: grants boons
lower right hand: blesses with fearlessness
braid: single braid representing mourning
unbound hair: fierce, wild, untamed
This energy of lightning has a very special significance. Lord Shiva gave Rishi Dadhici the boon that his bones would be indestructible. Indra needed a very strong weapon with which to fight the asuras, and so he asked the rishi for his bones. Rishi Dadhici gladly gave up his life so that his bones could be fashioned into Indra’s weapon.
The weapon had so much energy and shined with the radiance of tapasya, and it was that weapon which was used to slay many of the asuras. For that reason it is often called shakti (energy), vajra (lightning or diamond hard), or parigham (fashioned like an iron bar).
Kaalratri is also known as Shubhankari (शुभंकरी) – meaning auspicious/doing good in Sanskrit, due to the belief that she always provides auspicious results to her devotees. Hence, it is believed that she makes her devotees fearless.
She is also associated with the crown chakra, thereby giving the invoker siddhis (perfection in qualities).
Today, chant Her mantra and pray for Kalaratri Devi to destroy the darkeness in our minds, to let go of attachments, and to open the mind to the light.
A Deeper Philosphy on Kālī
(for those who want to hear the naked
Truth of Kali‘s energy)
Kālarātri is the night- the dark unknown that allows our mind to fill itself with fears.
Fear is all relative to the thought forms we have in our mind and how we relate to them. There are many small fears, but the fear of death is one of the largest, most frightful of them all.
She can be the acceptance of fears, as they are. You can have a fear of something and know that it is there, and not have it run your life.
Kālarātri is the Kālī form of Durgā, just as Kamalātmika is the Śrī-śakti form of Kālī. She is associated with death, killing, murder, maiming, and disease that makes us suffer slowly and painfully.
In the Mahābhārata (Sauptika Parvan 10.8.64-65), there is the first textual reference to Kālarātri. She is seen on the battle field where men are killing each other, limbs and heads being hacked off in battle; rivers of blood flowing. In this destruction, it states
“The warriors in the Pandava camp beheld the embodied form of Kālarātri- a black image, of bloody mouth and bloody eyes, wearing crimson garlands and smeared with crimson unguents, attired in a single piece of red cloth, with a noose in hand, and resembling an elderly lady, employed in chanting a dismal note and standing full before their eyes, and about to lead away men and horses and elephants all tied in a stout cord.”
Another reference to Kalaratri in the Mahābhārata (Karṇa Parva 8.34), states,
“each part of Śiva is described as it is composed of the various gods and goddesses. Śiva’s bow is made of the cycle of the year and decorated by the seasons. And Rudra’s own shadow which is the Kālarātri is the indestructable string of his bow.”
In modern psychology, Kālarātri represents our shadow nature. She is symbolically god’s shadow- the darker side of life, the darker power of being. This intense dark energy lives in all humans. Everyone has a shadow nature. It is a power that is a part of who we are, and so we must acknowledge and accept it.
To avoid looking at this darkness is to give it power over you. To take the appropriate time to look deeply at yourself, acknowledge these darker forces of consciousness pacifies these forces.
This is why Kālarātri is worshipped – not to bring darkness, but rather to acknowledge that it exists so that we can be at peace with it.
Carl Jung talked about how we bring more light into ourselves not by going only towards the light, but by bringing light to our darkness. He recognized that this darkness was in everyone. By not avoiding it, he helped to heal others and bring greater discrimination in dealing with it.
Kālarātri is the destructive part of who we are. In the Mahābhārata (Śalya Parvan 9.11), she can be likened yo the energy of Bhīma on the battlefield. He was infuriated with rage and had a mace (resembling the bludgeon of death) that is compared to Kālaratri – exceedingly destructive, fierce as a she-snake, hard as thunder, smeared with marrow, fat and blood, resembling the tongue of the God of Death, producing shrill sounds like the thunder of the King of Heaven.
In a nutshell, Kālarātri‘s energy is the heavy, dark, painful, suffering force that exists in the universe. Worshipping Her pacifies this energy; it removes poverty, sadness, grieving and sickness.