The Scariest Spiritual Idea | The Advaita of Kālī

Almost all of us have so man hang-ups lurking in our psyche. Whether through religious indoctrination or societal conditioning of any sort, most of us carry around a strong sense of duality that distinguishes between pure & impure, holy & unholy, right & wrong, good & bad etc. Often we feel like we are dirty or sinful or broken and in need of growth, healing and liberation which we often think we can get through spirituality. And correspondingly, most spiritual traditions take up a kind dualistic vision of the universe which distinguishes the Transcendent principle (i.e God) from the Immanent principle (the world). According to these transcendentalist traditions, the former is the goal that we are practicing towards and the latter is often seen as a debased obstacle to be scorned, avoided and ultimately overcome.

In stark contrast to this is the non-dual Tāntrik view which embraces everything as Divine. God is the world and the world is God for only God is. As such, there is no sense of pure or impure, right or wrong, holy or unholy, good or bad or any other kind of dichotomy in this view since everything is through and through God, or śiva (i.e a blessing). 

But this idea (what to say of the realization of this idea in your own experience) can often wreak havoc with our cherished notions of duality. Although many of us are fascinated by non-dual traditions, in truth, many of us are still scared of non-duality. And who could blame us? If we really understand what is being claimed here and if we were reality to follow through with our realization, we would naturally feel a bit reserved since all our familiar prisons of dualistic thought are destroyed! 

For a mind attached to judging others, for a mind hell-bent on duality and on abstract standards of purity, for a mind attached to rules and structures and institutions, non-duality is terrifying. And what mind isn't to some extent colored by judgement, duality and notions of purity? What mind doesn't crave structure? 

When Mā Kālī's sword flashes, aimed at our neck, we would be right to tremble at first, even if we ultimately know that it entails non-dual realization! It is only natural that we tremble. As such, here is a talk about that. 

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