What is Kali Yantra?
The Kali Yantra is one aspect of the Goddess Kali. Kali is a popular Goddess in the Hindu religion and a particularly important deity that we can work with in Tantra Sadhana.
We call her Kali Ma because she is the Mother. She is personified in a physical form with her long black hair, lolling tongue, wearing a mala of severed heads, and standing atop her consort Lord Shiva. She is one of the most well-known of the Hindu Goddesses. In her highest astral form Kali Ma is shown as her Yantra.
Kali is one of the Das Mahavidhya, the 10 Great Wisdom Goddesses, that we work with in Tantra. She is an aspect of divinity that is extremely benevolent but can also be experienced and known in her fierce aspect which is an aspect or form of the Divine Mother that helps to support life by eradicating negativity, limitations, and impurities.
She has the power to obliterate our ego, as the ego limits us from truly knowing the Divine. And for this reason, among many others, we must bear caution in mind when setting out to work with her.
The Kali Yantra is composed of a series of triangles inlaid within a lotus blossom. This geometrical symbol is the home of the Goddess, and when properly empowered with mantra is the Goddess Kali Ma, herself.
Using a Kali Yantra in spiritual practice would help the Sadhak, the practitioner doing Tantra sadhana, to be able to embody Kali’s cosmic power within themselves. This could be something that is practiced alongside the use of one of Kali Ma’s mantras.
Using beeja mantras can be very effective for establishing a connection to a deity. It is said that Kali’s beeja mantra is kreem. Although this knowledge is open, it is important that the mantra be used with the utmost respect and reverence.
Other Kali mantras, such as those used to anchor her energy in a yantra, are closed mantras and must be transmitted by a teacher or Guru. It is very important that the one approaching Kali in this manner be provided with guidance from an initiated person with sufficient experience to hold the energy. This applies to all yantras.
Much of this knowledge is passed down from teacher to student and does not appear in ancient Vedic texts. One has to be initiated in the specific sadhana being practiced in order for it to be effective and beneficial.
How to make a Kali Yantra?
There are many different methods of creating traditional yantras. No doubt you have seen many different types!
They can be created as ink outlines on paper, with colored rice, or even as living yantras boosting the beautiful plumage of wheat, grass, or barley.
How to draw a Kali Yantra?
A Kali Yantra can be created in the form of a traditional rice yantra. When creating a Kali Yantra in this manner, it helps to have an outline of the geometric pattern of Kali’s yantra on a sheet of fabric or canvas on which to spread the colored rice.
To do this, it helps to draw the yantra beforehand. Moving from the center of the yantra outwards, it is comprised of a set of downward-facing triangles placed within a series of circles. From the circles an 8-petaled lotus blossoms forth, which is surrounded by the 4 gates found in a traditional yantra.
In order for the yantra to truly be empowered, it would need to be embedded with particular mantras for her different qualities. This would transform the yantra from a tool of Prakriti, nature, into the splendid form of the Goddess herself.
How to make a living Kali Yantra?
It is also possible to make a living yantra. This represents one of the most beautiful and potent additions to sadhana. To make the living yantra, a rice yantra is used as a base and consecrated soil is added to the yantra. Wheat or barley grass seeds are then sowed into the soil, which then sprout as the sadhana progresses.
It is not just a beautiful symbol of spiritual growth through the progression of the sadhana that brings the Yantra to life, but also holds the Shakti that is brought into the Yantra through the sadhana and its various spiritual practices.
However, specific procedures are required for this to be successful. One needs particular mantras to anchor the energy safely and also requires a systematic procedure to ensure that the energy can anchor in alignment and in accordance with the directions, planets, and other energies that support the Kali energy to be present in the sacred space.
Living yantras can be fantastic to potentiate your practice, leading to heightened spiritual growth. One can perform puja to the yantra and sit close to it during mantra practice, which will empower your asana and rudraksha mala if you use one.
It is most important to keep in mind that Kali’s mantras need to be received from someone who is initiated to give such mantras. Mantras can change depending on the energies of the planets and stars so it is best to refer to a teacher who can guide the transmission of the mantra to the right person at the right time, astrologically speaking.
To make an even stronger and more potent yantra with more Shakti, one can place copper pots filled with water in specific spaces on the yantra. This knowledge needs to be instructed as well, as it does not appear in texts, such as the ancient Vedic texts, but is passed along as initiated knowledge from Gurus.
Further Guidance
In Satya Loka Traditional Tantra & Yoga, the creation of yantras has been passed down through our lineage Guru and we are initiated to hold yantras. We use yantras in all our Yoga Teacher Training (TTCs), and retreats, as well as the specialized sadhanas we conduct throughout the year.
If you want to learn more about the use of yantras in Traditional Tantra, or about Kali Ma’s yantra in particular, please connect with us. We would feel blessed to have you on the journey.
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