This book details the goddess Kali and the culture of devotion to her in West Bengal and South Asia. The term Adya means primal, original or archean. Adya Kali is the primordial energy, the shakti, that creates, preserves, and transforms/dissolves all existence. She is the womb that births all, and the tomb that swallows all. In Praise of Adya Kali is different from most contemporary books about Kali because it offers a liturgy of worship, a type of spiritual practice (sadhana) that the reader (both male and female) can ...
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This book details the goddess Kali and the culture of devotion to her in West Bengal and South Asia. The term Adya means primal, original or archean. Adya Kali is the primordial energy, the shakti, that creates, preserves, and transforms/dissolves all existence. She is the womb that births all, and the tomb that swallows all. In Praise of Adya Kali is different from most contemporary books about Kali because it offers a liturgy of worship, a type of spiritual practice (sadhana) that the reader (both male and female) can use over the course of days, weeks, or months, to cultivate a direct devotional relationship to Kali. But, beyond that, In Praise of Adya Kali is a context-setting guide. Rather than simply recommending that we recite these sacred names, each one a prayer, the author establishes this practice as a general orientation to life. Furthermore, and most compelling, the text and Commentaries on this liturgy contain an intimate revelation of how the goddess establishes herself in her devotees' bodies and thus intervenes, by unconditional love and acceptance, in their lives. A lengthy Introduction, both scholarly and personal, describes the goddess and the possibilities that these prayers will offer. Aditi Devi guides us in how to build a shrine to Kali, various types of offerings to make to her, and suggests a schedule for how to use this liturgy with a long-term commitment over the course of 108 nights. This book presents a serious practice, not for the faint-hearted. It requires courage, strength and joy to permit the goddess's energy to slowly, sensuously and irrevocably be invoked-conceived, allowed to gestate, birthed according to her will. And while the orientation here is toward realizing her sacred presence in the "womb" of the devotee, the practice can be undertaken by anyone. The physical form of the body is not a limitation, as the author notes: "In this lineage we practice into the depths of whatever form we have, & arise from within that, knowing that we are her, male or female. This Song of the Hundred Names is a powerful teaching that all forms are her forms." Male, female or other gendered, we are presented with the possibility to experience the depths of our own internal feminine energies & thereby come into greater healing & wholeness, more readily able to express this often neglected part of ourselves. Aditi Devi's long study & spiritual practice within living tantric lineages in South Asia has made this book possible.
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This is a fabulous book, suitable for the beginner and the more advanced sadhaka. It is of particular interest for those interested in the feminine manifestation of divinity, present and manifest in many different religions but having a strong force in Hinduism. Aditi Devi gives both practical, theoretical and poetic reflections and discussion. It allows one to take the first steps towards opening and connecting with the Divine Mother yet also allows those who have taken these steps a greater level of intensity and realisation. The particular form of female divinity as Goddess discussed is of Adya Kali - which is the Divine Mother as Primordial or Ultimate Ground. She demystifies some of the stereotypes that the West has of the Goddess/Kali in a wrathful from and opens us to the ultimate compassion and mercy of Kali ? demonstrating that there is no force greater than a mother protecting and defending her children. Aditi is a rare jewel deeply rooted in postgraduate academic research and personal devotion and spiritual practice dedicated to Kali. It is said that to really begin to approach Kali one should learn from one who Kali deeply loves and this we have here in Aditi. Here we have a female, Western teacher deeply realised in the theory, practice and culture of the East therefore unifying these two worlds and allowing us to understand Kali and the Divine Mother in all her glory in a language and context in which we can understand more easily. Highly recommended.
