Materials for the contemplation of the Twelve Kālīs, the most important and most ‘secret’ doctrine of the Krama lineage, collated in one place (and translated) for the first time online. (Translations by me unless otherwise noted.) Part One is here. For a summary overview of the Twelve Kālīs, read this post first. And please note, the materials presented below require the explication of a qualified ācārya to be fully understood. Here the translations alone are presented, for those who already have the necessary background to understand them.
5. Saṃhārakālī – the Kālī of Dissolution.
Abhinavagupta’s Tantrasāra: The element of hesitation devoured, it withdraws (kalayati) the object-aspect into itself by reabsorbing it. / “Awareness now ideates as Saṃhārakālī by withdrawing into itself the object division now that the element of anxiety attached to it has been devoured.” (Sanderson)
Saṃhārakālī - ‘She who articulates (total) resorption (of the object)’ ~ sṛṣṭi of pramāṇa
Saṁhṛtya śaṅkāṁ śaṅkyārthavarjaṁ vā bhāvamaṇḍale |
Saṁhṛtiṁ kalayaty eva svātma-vahnau vilāpanāt || Tantrāloka 4.152 ||
Once She has withdrawn this anxiety, She inevitably ideates withdrawal of the entire array of external phenomena by causing them to melt into the fire of Her inner self. This is simply because the element of anxiety that was blocking the dissolution of the object domain (in Yamakālī) has now been removed. (So anything that is maintaining the illusion of an independent, objective universe is [part of] the socio-religious dimension . . . There is nothing to hold this illusory external reality in place now because anxiety has been removed.) ~ Sanderson
ERAKA’s Krama-stotra:
unmanyanantā nikhilārtha-garbhā yā bhava-saṃhāra-nimeṣam eti |
sadoditā satyudayāya śūnyāṃ Saṃhārakālīṃ muditāṃ namāmi ||
I offer reverence to joyful Saṃhārakālī who is infinite, who holds all things within herself, and is beyond the reach of the mind (unmanī): She who, while perpetually active, closes her eyes in the resorption of phenomenal existence in order to dawn as the [pure and perfect] Void. (Wallis)
I bow to the energy of the perfect void, the joyful Saṁharakālī, Goddess of destruction! Infinite, beyond mind, containing in Herself everything, eternally rising, She, to rise anew, disappears in the form of objective destruction. (SLJ)
Which means, the Pārameśvarī-saṃvit is in the form of unmanā from slaying all the vikalpas of the nature of doubts, keeping all substances within her self-form, she is of unending forms, the Kālikā devī who within her self-fire, on bringing to an end the entire bhāva-maṇḍala, is sheltered in bhāva-saṃhāra-sthiti, and who even on holding up the standpoint of elevation, due to the rise of the extensive external form is śūnya. I laud this cloud of bliss Saṃhārakālī. Here also, according to the previous mode, laudation means to enter (samāveśa) into her. ~ Śrī-krama-naya-pradīpikā
ABHINAVA’s Krama-stotra:
vilīne śaṅkaughe sapadi paripūrṇe ca vibhave
gate lokācāre galita-vibhave śāstra-niyame |
anantaṃ bhogyaughaṃ grasitum abhito laṃpaṭa-rasā
vibho saṃhārākhyā mama hṛdi bhidāṃśaṃ praharatu || 19 ||
O all-pervasive one! When the flood of anxiety has melted and the majesty [of awareness] is suddenly completely full, [when] the ways of the world have departed and the restrictions of the texts have been drained of their force, may the one called Saṃhāra[kālī], whose rasa is insatiability to devour the endless flood of phenomena, complete remove the element of duality in my heart. (Williams & Wallis)
All-pervading Bhairava, when the mass of objects has suddenly disappeared, when the power of the subject has reached fullness, when Brahmanical observance has departed from Consciousness, and the rules of the Vedas have lost their force, may Saṃhārakālī, immersed in Her insatiable appetite to devour the infinite flood of phenomena, completely remove the element of differentiation that remains lurking in my consciousness. (Sanderson)
When the flux of doubts has dissolved away and (Your) glory is completely full (and perfect) in a moment, when worldly life (lokācāra) has ceased, and the regulations and power of scriptural injunction has fallen away, O pervasive Lord, may (the Kālī) called Saṃhāra (who delights in) the aesthetic savour of one who is greedy (lampaṭarasā) to gobble up the endless flux of objects of enjoyment (completely) all around, strike down the part of duality in my heart. (Mark D.)
Art: George Redreev
6. Mṛtyukālī – the Kālī of Death.
Persistence of the Faculties [without object].
Then it contemplates (kalayati) its intrinsic nature itself: “This capacity to reabsorb [the entity or experience] is my nature.” ~ AG’s TS
Mṛtyukālī ~ ‘She who [can] articulate [the] Death [of any object of awareness]’ ~ sthiti of pramāṇa
Vilāpanātmikāṁ tāṁ ca bhava-saṁhṛtim ātmani |
Āmṛśatyeva yenaiṣā mayā grastam iti sphuret || Tantrāloka 4.153 ||
Saṁhāryopādhir etasyāḥ svasvabhāvo hi saṁvidaḥ |
Nirupādhini saṁśuddhe saṁvid-rūpe ’stamīyate || 154 ||
Moreover, She becomes aware now that this withdrawal of the object, its dissolution, has taken place in Her (or into Her), so She now flashes forth as the realization that She herself is the Devourer. For the nature of this Consciousness, as inflected by awareness of what it has withdrawn, now subsides into a perfectly transparent form of awareness that is free of any inflection. (Sanderson)
ERAKA’s Kramastotra:
mametyahaṅkāra-kalā-kalāpa-visphāra-harṣoddhata-garva-mṛtyuḥ |
grasto yayā ghasmara-saṃvidaṃ tāṃ namāmy akālodita-mṛtyukālīm ||
I offer reverence to that Mṛtyukālī arisen from the Timeless, a voracious form of consciousness that devours Death in the form of pride, puffed up by the excitement that expands from the network of egoic energies [tainted by the belief] inherent in [the thought] “[this is] mine.” (Williams & Wallis)
Obeisance to that voracious consciousness known as Mṛtyukālī, Who beyond time limitation rises unexpectedly. She devours death, which appears in the form of arrogance inflamed by a joyful excitement expanding itself to all ego activities when the notion of ownership expresses itself in the idea “this is mine.” (SLJ)
Which means, “I have assimilated the whole maṇḍala of prameya within my self-form” - in this way promulgated through the group of ahaṃkāra (I-ness) in the form of delight of the self, imbued with remarkable pride, even that Saṃvit in the form of mṛtyu on being ingested entirely by Pārameśvarī-Saṃvid-Bhagavatī – that rasika tending towards Mahāgrāsa, and devoid of Kāla and its acts of impelling, is the Saṃviddevī in the form of Mṛtyukālī, who is lauded by me. ~ Śrī-krama-naya-pradīpikā
ABHINAVA’s Krama-stotra:
tad itthaṃ devībhiḥ sapadi dalite bheda-vibhave
vikalpa-prāṇāsau pravilasati mātṛ-sthitir alam |
ataḥ saṃhārāṃśam nija-hṛdi vimṛśya sthitimayī
prasannā syān mṛtyu-pralaya-karaṇī me bhagavatī || 20 ||
When the power of duality has been suddenly crushed by the goddesses in this way, the persistence of the knower, the life-force of conceptuality, appears in its full strength. Then, reflectively aware of the aspect of dissolution within her own heart, may the Blessed Goddess consisting of persistence (sthiti), who brings about the dissolution of death, be favorable to me! (Williams & Wallis)
7. Rudrakālī – Fierce Kālī.
Resorption of the Faculties.
Then, while pondering (kalana) its intrinsic nature as the capacity to reabsorb, it perceives (kalayati) something remaining as a subtle impression, but then perceives something [else] reduced (avaśeṣatāṃ kalayati) to pure Consciousness. ~ AG’s TS
Rudrakālī ~ ‘She who articulates a blockage and (its) dissolution’ (from √rudh ‘block’ and √dru ‘dissolve’) ~ saṃhāra of pramāṇa
Vilāpite’pi bhāvaughe kañcidbhāvaṁ tadaiva sā |
Āśyānayed ya evāste śaṅkā-saṁskāra-rūpakaḥ || Tantrāloka 4.155 ||
Śubhāśubhatayā so’yaṁ soṣyate phala-sampadam |
Pūrvaṁ hi bhogāt paścād vā śaṅkeyaṁ vyavatiṣṭhate || 156 ||
Anyad āśyānitam api tadaiva drāvayed iyam |
Prāyaścittādi-karmabhyo brahmahatyādi-karmavat || 157 ||
Rodhanād drāvaṇād rūpam itthaṁ kalayate citiḥ |
Tadapi drāvayed eva tadapy āśyānayed atha || 158 ||
Although the multitude of external objects has been dissolved, She will at that very same moment (tadaiva) concretize some entity (bhāva) that remains deeply buried in consciousness as a latent trace of the doubt & anxiety (that assailed one in the Yamakālī phase). This trace (if not removed) will give rise [in the future] to a multitude of consequences, good and bad, for this doubt about whether a certain action is good or bad arises either before or after experiencing the consequence of the action in question. At the same time (tadaiva), She dissolves some other entity, even though She has already given it concrete form (just like karmas all the way up to killing a Brahmin can be removed by acts of penance etc.). Consciousness ideates (kalayati) herself in this way by blocking herself (rodhana) and then dissolving (drāvaṇa) those blockages. [This is why in this phase, She is called Rudrakālī.] She may dissolve what She has congealed, [and equally,] She may congeal what She has dissolved. (Sanderson)
ERAKA’s Krama-stotra:
viśvaṃ mahākalpa-virāma-kalpa- bhavānta-bhīma-bhrukuṭi-bhramantyā |
yāśnāty ananta-prabhavārciṣā tāṃ namāmi bhadrāṃ śubha-bhadra-kālīm ||
I offer reverence to that auspicious one, blessed Bhadrakālī: she who devours everything through the radiance of Her infinite power, trembling like a terrifying furrowed brow at the end of the phenomenal world, [when the time has arrived for] the pause between cosmic aeons. (Williams & Wallis)
I bow before the pure and auspicious Rudrakālī furiously frowning in Her dance of destruction. By the flame of Her unlimited power She devours in one gulp the entire universe the time of total dissolution - mahā-kalpa. (SLJ)
Which means, of like appearance to the great end of the duration of the world in the form of the cakra of saṃhāra gone towards pramāṇa, in the state of saṃhāra, with terrifying dancing eyebrows, imbued with unending power, that Cidīśvarī ingests this whole world in the form of prameya-pramāṇa through her own Cidrūpā radiances – that is the auspicious Bhadrakālī Bhagavatī who is lauded by me, i.e. I enter into her. ~ Śrī-krama-naya-pradīpikā
ABHINAVA’s Krama-stotra:
Tad itthaṃ te tisro nija-vibhava-visphāraṇa-vaśād
avāptāḥ ṣaṭ-cakra-krama-kṛta-padaṃ śaktaya imāḥ |
kramād unmeṣeṇa pravidadhati citrāṃ bhava-daśām
imābhyo devībhyaḥ pravaṇa-hṛdayaḥ syāṃ gatabhayaḥ || 21 ||
And thus these three powers [of willing, knowing, and acting] have attained the state that is generated through the sequence (krama) of the six cakras due to the expanding radiance of Your majesty. Gradually, through their unfolding, they fashion the variegated state of worldly existence. As my heart inclines towards these goddesses, may I be fearless! (Williams & Wallis)
imāṃ rundhe bhūmiṃ bhava-bhaya-bhidātaṅka-karaṇīm
imāṃ bodhaikānta-druti-rasa-mayīm cāpi vidadhe |
tad itthaṃ saṃrodhaṃ drutim atha vilupyāśubha-tatīr
yatheṣṭaṃ cācāraṃ bhajati lasatāṃ sā mama hṛdi || 22 ||
I block (rudh-) this state that generates the fear of existence and the disquietude of duality; so too I ordain this state consisting of rasa, the melting (dru-) that culminates solely in awakened awareness. Removing in this way all that is inauspicious, She engages in—and enjoys—blocking, melting, and whatever behaviour she desires. May She sparkle & dance in my heart!
8. Mārtaṇḍakālī – Kālī of the Sun.
The Nameless Ground of the Faculties.
Then She reabsorbs (kalayati) the wheel of the 12 faculties, making them one with Her realization (kalana) of Her nature.~ AG’s TS
Mārtaṇḍakālī ~ “She who retracts the (twelve) ‘suns’ (of the sense-faculties)” ~ anākhya of pramāṇa
Itthaṁ bhogye ’pi sambhukte sati tatkaraṇāny api |
Saṁharantī kalayate dvādaśaivāham ātmani || Tantrāloka 4.159 ||
Karma-buddhy-akṣa-vargo hi buddhyanto dvādaśātmakaḥ |
Prakāśakatvāt sūryātmā bhinne vastuni jṛmbhate || 160 ||
Ahaṅkāras tu karaṇam abhimānaika-sādhanam |
Avicchinna-parāmarśī līyate tena tatra saḥ || 161 ||
Yathā hi khaṅga-pāśādeḥ karaṇasya vibhedinaḥ |
Abhedini svahastādau layas tadvadayaṁ vidhiḥ || 162 ||
Tenendriyaugha-mārtaṇḍa-maṇḍalaṁ kalayet svayam |
Saṁvid-devī svatantratvāt kalpite ’haṅkṛtātmani || 163 ||
Now that the objective experience has been fully devoured by Consciousness in this manner, She goes on to retract the twelve faculties that perceived it, and in so doing, She ideates them as one with the thirteenth faculty, that whose nature is to generate “I” awareness (ahaṃkāra). For the faculties of action and cognition, up to and including that of buddhi or judgment—which we refer to as ‘suns’ in that their function is like that of the sun, to illuminate—remain manifest only when there is a specific differentiated object for them to reveal. ~ But the faculty of “I-generation” has no function other than to create the perception in the perceiver that the cognitions arising in his awareness through the 12 external faculties are his. It is engaged in an uninterrupted stream of self-referential awareness [that remains the same in every perception]. It is therefore into this that the array of the 12 outward-facing faculties dissolves. ~ It is just as with the sword, the noose, and other tools of war, each is an entity that has its own independent existence, but they, like our faculties, become our instruments when they are firmly grasped in our hand and are part of us (or in the case of armor, attached to some other limb). ~ By virtue of Her sovereign power, the radiant Goddess Consciousness spontaneously ideates the circle of 12 suns (mārtaṇḍa-maṇḍala) that are the totality of the faculties, withdrawing them into the hand, as it were, which is the constructed identity that is “I-generation” (ahaṃkāra). (Sanderson)
ERAKA’s Krama-stotra:
mārtaṇḍam āpīta-pataṅga-cakraṃ pataṅgavat-kāla-kalendhanāya |
karoti yā viśva-rasāntakāṃ tāṃ Mārtaṇḍakālīṃ satataṃ praṇaumi ||
I continually offer reverence to that Mārtaṇḍakālī who culminates & completes the aesthetic relish (rasa) of everything: She who generates the Sun that consumes the wheel of the twelve suns for the sake of fuel for the power of Time, like a moth to the flame.
Salutations to Martāṇḍakālī, Who as the destroyer of the wheel of cognition, puts an end to all objective flavors. Desirous of consuming all worldly activities, She caused the twelve sun gods, in the shape of the bird wheel, to be completely consumed like a moth entering a raging fire. (SLJ)
Which means, in spite of being united with the section of Bhogya (the “to be enjoyed”), the Parā-Saṃvid-rupā Jagadīśvarī restrains the Mārtaṇḍa i.e. the pramātā in the form of ahaṃkāra in this way, that all the means of enjoyment in the form of the Pataṅga-cakras, i.e. the twelve indriyas, are ended, as an insect filled with extreme enthusiasm and velocity, flies towards a burning lamp, giving up its life and ending its self-form. Assimilating within her own self-form in this way the rasas of the nature of viṣayas like śabda, etc., that Mārtaṇḍakālī is always lauded by me, i.e. I continually remember her self-form. ~ Śrī-krama-naya-pradīpikā
ABHINAVA’s Krama-stotra:
kriyābuddhyakṣādeḥ paramita-pade mānapadavīm
avāptasya sphāraṃ nija-nija-rucā saṃharati yā |
iyaṃ mārtaṇḍasya sthiti-pada-yujaḥ sāram akhilam
haṭhād ākarṣantī kṛṣatu mama bhedaṃ bhava-bhayāt || 23 ||
She resorbs, with their respective radiances, the expansion of the faculties of cognition and action which constitute the range of the mind on the limited plane: forcefully drawing into herself this entire essence of the ‘sun’ that has attained [those faculties], conjoined with the state of stasis, may She draw the duality out from my fear of worldly existence!
Next: the third and final tetrad of Kālīs.