{"collection":"tantra","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/tantra/htk/htk13.htm","path":"tantra/htk/htk13.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/tantra/htk/htk13.htm","text":"Hymn to Kali, by Arthur Avalon (Sir John George Woodroffe), [1922]\nWHAT, indeed, O Mother, 1 can we of so dull a mind say of Thee whose True Being 2 not even Dh\u0101t\u0101, 3 \u012a\u015ba, 4 or Hari 5 know? Yet, despite our dullness and ignorance, our devotion towards Thee makes us talk of Thee. 6 Therefore, O Dark Dev\u012b, 7 forgive this our folly. Anger towards ignorant creatures such as we, is not befitting Thee 8.\nCOMMENTARY\n'Mother'\nOf us all including Brahm\u0101, Vi\u1e63\u1e47u, and Rudra. In the Devi-S\u016bkta, Vi\u1e63\u1e47u says, 'One, subtle, and unchanged, and yet many, Thou dost give birth to millions of worlds. Who am I Vi\u1e63\u1e47u, and who is the other \u015aiva and who are the Devas that we and they should be able to (fully) sing Thy praises? ' In the M\u0101rka\u1e47deya-Pur\u0101\u1e47a, Brahm\u0101 says, 'When Vi\u1e63\u1e47u, \u012a\u015bvara and myself owe our appearance to Thee who has the power to (fitly) praise Thee?' In Vi\u1e63\u1e47uy\u0101mala, Vi\u1e63\u1e47u says to Dev\u012b 'Oh Mother, none know Thy supreme aspect. The heavenly ones therefore worship that gross (Sth\u016bla) aspect of Thine in the form of K\u0101l\u012b and the rest.' The Mah\u0101k\u0101la-sa\u1e41hit\u0101 says, 'When Dh\u0101t\u0101 was not, nor Vi\u1e63\u1e47u, nor K\u0101la, when the five Bh\u016btas were not, then Thou the Cause wert alone as the Supreme Brahman, the Being of all that is.'\n(Asite) 'Unlimited'\nShe is not limited by the Gu\u1e47as and is Nirgu\u1e47\u0101.\n66:1 J\u0101n\u0101mi; origin of the three worlds.\n66:2 Parama\u1e41, or 'reality' (Commentator K. B).\n66:3 p. 67 Dh\u0101t\u0101 is Brahm\u0101 who dispenses the fruits of Karma. (V)\n66:4 \u015aiva. \u012a\u015ba: Rudra who wields the power of \u012a\u015bvara-hood. (V)\n66:5 Hari: Vi\u1e63nu who dispels the threefold sorrows of J\u012bvas. (V)\n66:6 Tath\u0101pi tvadbhaktir mukharayati. Tath\u0101pi: still, despite our dullness and ignorance (V) Tvadbhaktih: inclination to sing Thy praises (V). Mukharayati: impels to utter words in praise of Thee (V)\n66:7 This is literal but According to V Asite = unlimited one. Mah\u0101kala-sa\u1e41hit\u0101 says, 'Unthinkable, unlimited, \u015aakti Itself, which is That on which all that is manifested rests, beyond the Gu\u1e47as, free of the opposites (Dvandva) to be apprehended only through Buddhi: Thyself alone art Supreme Brahman.' (V)\n66:8 As one does not become angry with animals (Pa\u015bu or animal and ignorant men also called Pa\u015bu) because they do wrong, so do not be angry with us. It is moreover, the part of the great to overlook the faults of their inferiors (Commentator. K. B.)","title":"Hymn to Kali: Text: Verse 9","type":"page"}