Editor: Prabuddha Bharata, the magazine from the Ramakrishna Mission came out with a special issue in January 2016 titled ‘Reflections on Tantra’. Esamskriti is uploading select articles from this masterpiece issue. If you like to download the entire issue (one with brown cover) Click here
Excerpts from article – “This is a discussion about kali and her relevance in our lives and also the significance of the Phalaharini Kali puja day, which is observed on a new moon day and has gained popularity because it was on this day that Sri Ramakrishna off ered all the merits of his spiritual practice at the feet of his consort, Sri Sarada Devi. Th e word phalaharini means ‘the female, who takes away the fruits of our actions’. Phala means fruit, the fruits of actions. Whenever we do something, it creates a fruit in the form of tendencies in the mind and that fruit leads us to do another action. Suppose one listens to something good, it leaves a good tendency in the mind and it makes one listen to more good things. This cycle makes you come back over and again to this world, because one has to exhaust one’s mental tendencies. Phalaharini removes all these tendencies by taking away the fruits of one’s actions. Harini means a female who takes away. One continues to get the results of one’s actions because of the thought: ‘I am the doer and I am the enjoyer’. The goal of spiritual life is to remove this thought. This process is hastened by Phalaharini Kali.”
The article covers The Form of Kali, Kali and Tantra, Sri Ramakrishna and Kali, Deification of the Terrible, The Fulfilment of Sri Ramakrishna’s Kali Worship, Transcending Abhorrence, Beauty in the Terrible.
Author is currently Editor, Prabuddha Bharata.
To read full article in PDF format.
This article was first published in the Prabuddha Bharata, monthly journal of The Ramakrishna Order started by Swami Vivekananda in 1896. This article is courtesy and copyright Prabuddha Bharata (www.advaitaashrama.org ). I have been reading the Prabuddha Bharata for years and found it enlightening. You can subscribe online at www.advaitaashrama.org. Cost is Rs 100/ for one year, Rs 280/ for three years, Rs 1,200/ for twenty years and Rs 2,000 for twenty five years.