To know something of Mā Kālī, we have to know something of Her saints, those luminaries who like moths into a flame plunged into ecstasy of love for Mā and as such have become one with Her. As it says in John 14:16, "none can see the Mother except by the way of the child!"

Of course, Mā's most ecstatic child is Ramakrishna. In our community, we talk a lot about Ramakrishna and about his ecstatic love for Kali and we of course talk a lot about Sarada Devi and Vivekananda too who were themselves great devotees of Kali. Last year, during Śyāmā Kālī Pūjā, we gave an inspiring lecture on Ramprasad which you can watch here.

But while we know something of Ramakrishna, Ramprasad, Vivekananda, Sarada, we might not know very much about the other ecstatic saints of Kali like Kamalakanta, Raja Ramakrishna (a different Ramakrishna) and Vama Khepa who are actually quite unknown outside of Bengal. So to inspire you to worship Kali with fervor and intensity, in this lecture, we read a few passages from Usha Harding's book "Kali: The Black Goddess of Dakshineshwar" which introduce us to Mā's saints and the ecstatic and wild lives that they lived!

May we have even one fraction of their divine inebriation!

Jai Mā!

Oh! PS: there are some really beautiful black and white 1950s Bengali films about these ecstatic saints. Here they are:

Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD1TsRBZnn8&t=60s

Sadhak Kamalakanta
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm3q3l3vavY

Sadhak Bamakhepa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSV9PnTdJd8

For more detailed instructions for how to perform Kālī pūjā, watch this playlist: https://www.patreon.com/collection/233799

Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and Friday 10am PST and again Friday at 6pm PST.
Use this link and I will see you there:
https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815

For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at:
https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish

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