The Dark Side of Spirituality | & The Left Hand Path of Kālī

In the Who Should Worship Kālī? | Dakṣiṇa Kālī vs Smaśāna Kālī talk, we explained the technical term "jagadānanda" which describes the bliss of fullness. We argued that from the Kaula point of view, the goal is not transcendence but fullness; not freedom "from" the world but freedom "as" the world.

And we pointed out how Kālī sādhanā is uniquely about embracing this non-dual totality of all things! The Absolute Reality is dynamic, ever-free Consciousness, my very own Self and the goal is to realize this in all things, as all things. Necessarily, this involves coming to terms with realities that the dualistic, conditioned and limited mind often rejects. "Who dares misery love: to him the Mother comes" etc.

Then, in Kālī's Non-Duality of Radical Acceptance | vs. Classical Non-Duality we went in with some finer brush strokes to compare the view of Classical Advaita, which we termed the "path of absolute negation" with that of Tāntrik Advaita, or the Non-Duality of Kālĩ which we described as the "path of absolute acceptance". Both can lead to non-dual realization and yet who can deny that these might be different flavors of non-dual realization! The former path is fit for some while the latter suits the disposition of others and for many, the two paths are practiced sequentially, one after another. All this we discussed in last week's talk.

Now, this week, we take up this topic yet again but using the Sāmkhyan idea of the gunas to show how Kālī sādhana (i.e Tāntrik non-duality) is unique and therefore for some people, uniquely disturbing. I make a case against transcendentalists, "sattva-only" oriented traditions!

Originally, I had intended this lecture to be about staying safe and grounded in Kālī sādhanā or something along the lines of a PSA on kundalini emergencies/spiritual crisis but I spent so much time describing how Kālī sādhanā uniquely leads to destabilization that I never really got around to talking about techniques for grounding! We briefly mention a few towards the end but I suspect I'll want to develop these theme on safety more next week: stay tuned!