In Bengal and other regions of India, there have been certain individuals—rather, great spiritual adepts—who claimed that through intense austerities, they had received visions of the Mother. Here is a look at the great souls who had seen Goddess Kali in Real.
It is believed that in the 15th century, the great saint of
Sanatan Dharma, Thakur Sarbananda Dev, received a vision of the Mother
after severe austerities. Around the place where he attained spiritual
perfection arose the Meher Kalibari. It is said that Mother Kali herself is
always present there, and therefore no idol is installed. His book is titled Sarballas
Tantra.
Krishnananda Agamavagisha, a renowned scholar of
Tantra Shastra, was born in Nabadwip in Nadia district. According to tradition,
he prayed to the Mother to appear before him in a physical form so that he
could create her idol and worship her. The Goddess instructed him that at dawn,
after the end of the great night, whichever woman he first saw—that form would
be the manifest form of the Goddess. Krishnananda beheld the serene form of the
Mother, known as Dakshinakali, and today it is this form of Kali that is
worshipped throughout Bengal and the world. His famous work is Tantrasara.
Tantric practitioner Brahmananda Giri, in the 16th
century, also received a vision of the Mother. His works include Shaktananda
Tarangini and Tara Rahasya. He is the one who created the stone idol of
Dakshina Kali at Kalighat, modeled after the family deity of the Sabarna Roy
Chowdhury family, Mother Bhuvaneshwari.
The great saint Purnananda also had a vision of the
Mother in the 16th century. His book is Shyama Rahasya.
In the early 17th century, the saint Gaudiya Shankar
received a vision of the Goddess.
In the same century, Ram Toshan Vidyalankar also
received the Mother’s darshan. His book is Pran Toshani Tantra.
Raja Ramkrishna was the adopted son of Rani Bhabani
of Natore. After the Queen’s death, he inherited the responsibility of the
kingdom, but renounced his title and all worldly possessions in pursuit of
spiritual knowledge. He too received a vision of the Mother.
Among Kali devotees, very few have not heard of Ramprasad
Sen. Born in Halisahar, he spent most of his time in deep spiritual
practice and composing songs for the Mother. He was a disciple of Krishnananda
Agamavagisha. It is said that he would meditate for hours seated on a panchamundi
asana. He saw the Mother in her primordial form as Mahamaya.
In the late 18th century, the great devotee of Mother Kali, Kamalakanta
Bhattacharya, was born in Bardhaman. His mastery in language, poetry, and
music impressed Maharaja Tejchandra of Bardhaman, who appointed him an advisor
and later accepted him as his guru. He never saw Kali as an idol—she was always
living and vibrant to him.
It is said that one night, while singing in deep absorption
in a cremation ground, a bodiless tantric Kapalika initiated him with the
mantra of Kali. Repeating that mantra, he witnessed the dancing, blissful form
of Mother Shyama.
There are also accounts of Ardhakali, a woman tantric
practitioner from Mymensingh in the 18th or 19th century, who received a vision
of the Mother.
Among all Kali devotees, the foremost is Sri Ramakrishna
Paramahamsa. At the age of 16, he came to Kolkata with his brother Ramkumar
to assist him in his priestly duties. In 1855, Ramkumar became the head priest
at the Dakshineswar Kali Temple built by Rani Rashmoni. After his death a few
months later, Ramakrishna was appointed priest.
Ramakrishna’s deep devotion to Mother Kali led him to spend
long hours in worship and meditation. He claimed to have seen the Mother not
just once, but many times. It is even said that he conversed with the Goddess.
Bamakhepa’s original name was Bama. From his youth he
showed no interest in worldly life, so people called him “mad,” adding khepa to
his name. He was a great devotee of Goddess Tara. He lived near the temple and
meditated in the cremation ground. According to legend, offerings meant for
Tara had to be given first to Bamakhepa. It was in that cremation ground
that the fierce form of Tara appeared to him.
For Shibchandra Vidyarṇava, visions of the Mother
were almost commonplace. He addressed her not as Kali but as Tara and
Sarvamongala. He did not know English, yet his spiritual greatness was such
that Sir John Woodroffe, a judge of the Calcutta High Court, learned Sanskrit
just to converse with him. Later, Woodroffe became his disciple and wrote an
English book on Kali under the name Arthur Avalon.
There are also accounts of Satyadev, a Kali
practitioner who had a vision of the Mother. His interpretations of the Chandi
are still widely discussed.
Premik Thakur Mahendranath Bhattacharya of Andul also
received a vision of the Mother.
Among those in the twentieth century who witnessed Mother
Kali, one of the most notable is Swami Vivekananda. Initially he
disliked Kali, but after his father’s death, his family fell into severe
financial hardship.
To overcome this crisis, he decided to ask his guru Sri
Ramakrishna to speak to Mother Kali on his behalf. But Ramakrishna advised him
to pray to the Goddess himself that night.
When he finally received a vision of the Mother, the entire
world around him vanished. Before him stood only Mother Kali. That was the
first time he beheld her. He even forgot to pray for his family’s financial
needs.
Another saint of the twentieth century was Sri Aurobindo. He had visions of both Krishna and Kali together.