Kalika Purana
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An Upapurana centered on Goddess Kalika, describing sacrificial rites, the animal species eligible for authorized sacrifice, and Vishnu's Mahasimha form supporting the Goddess.
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A being carrying unresolved Rinanubandha takes an animal birth to clear it, and sacrifice at a consecrated Pitha ends that karmic cycle
Texts such as the Kalika Purana state that specific species offered in authorized sacrifice attain elevated spiritual realms and liberation (Gati/Moksha); entities carrying unresolved karmic debt (Rinanubandha) incarnate in animal form to clear it, and their sacrifice at a consecrated Pitha dissolves that karmic cycle.
Rama's Kuldevi is Badi Kalika, offerings precede Jagannath's waking at Puri, and the Kalika Purana places Vishnu beside the Goddess as Mahasimha
The Valmiki Ramayana and Tantrik scriptures document sacrificial rites; Lord Rama's own Kuldevi is Badi Kalika, texts like the Krishna Sandapani Tantra describe related rites for Krishna, traditional offerings occur at Jagannath Puri, and the Kalika Purana describes Vishnu supporting the Goddess in his fierce Mahasimha form.
The Kalika Purana on the boon given to Mahishasura
The speaker says that whoever studies the Puranas should take up the Kalika Purana, where Bali is discussed at length. There, he says, one reads why and how Bhagavati gave Mahishasura the blessing that he would be properly worshipped together with her, that he would be worshipped alongside her.
What does the Kalika Purana prescribe for Mahabhairav?
According to the special shastrokta mat written in the Kalika Purana, if you do the pujan of Mahabhairav on the Chaturdashi of the Shukla Paksha of Chaitra, then whatever matter you carry before them and whatever purpose you pray for is addressed. In its shastrokta mat, alongside fruit, flowers and sweets in the naivedya there are also the karan patra and the mans patra; the bali anna of that day is entirely of pure meat.
How did Bhagavati Kali manifest?
Know that, as with japa in a grahan where manifold fruit is obtained, Kali Chaudas too has great importance, he says. As to how Bhagavati Kali manifested: Bhadrakali, who manifested from the jata of Bhagavan Shiva; she who manifested from the forehead of Bhagavati Kaushiki; Bhagavati Chamunda, who is a form of Bhagavati Kali and is also held to be a portion of Bhadrakali, and who is worshipped most of all; and Kalika, who remained in the form of Bhagavati Kalika when Kaushiki separated from the body of Bhagavati Parvati. Of these three principal forms, the origin of one is held to be on Kali Chaudas.
What does he say about Mahishasura and Shiva?
If you go by kalpa bhed there are many such difficult subjects that ordinary and new people will simply not be able to accept, he says. The subject goes as far as this: that Mahishasura, the son of Rambha, was obtained by the blessing of Shiva ji, and has been held to be a form of Shiva ji himself at one time — that Bhagavan Shiva alone saved him, and no one can make a renunciation like his. It is not possible for people to accept it, but if you study the Kalika Purana many subjects will become clear.
Who is Bhagavati's lion vahan?
This you should all know, he says: the lion who is Bhagavati's vahan is Mahavishnu himself. The Mahasingh who is Bhagavati's vahan, whom we call Somanandi ji Maharaj — and according to the form of Bhagavati the form of the lion also changes — and Bhagavan Vishnu is the vahan of Bhagavati Jagadamba, in the form of the lion. That is, when we are worshipping Jagadamba.
Why does Bhagavati need a second support in this kalpa?
In the Kalika Purana it is being said by Brahma ji that according to kalpa bhed Bhagavati's weight is increasing, and Bhagavan Narayana alone will not be able to bear her weight in this kalpa, so now the time has come. This is according to the Ugrachanda kalpa: the subject discussed is that Bhagavati's two feet should be upon two different devatas — one Vishnu ji, and secondly that Bhagavan Rudra too should take an avatar so that he can bear the weight of Bhagavati.
How should the worship of Mahishasura be understood?
Mahishasura's pujan is happening already, he says. That we may take it in a negative way is a separate subject; the form of tantra is a separate subject, the siddhi of Bhainsasura is all a separate subject — leave it. The one who produced all is Mahadev alone; tantra itself is the source of every energy, Mahadev alone is the source of every energy, and Bhagavati alone is present in the nuclear circle of every energy. Nothing will remain positive or negative for us once we go that far up.
Living kukkut utara for Ugra Bhairav when a maran with bali threatens a life
The speaker says that when a maran prayog was set going with a Bali, the shakti running it demands a life for a life, so the ordinary lemon utaras and deity vidhans may bring no relief. If in an emergency, with the doctor already tried, two to four hours pass and it looks as if the person may die, a jeev has to be released: a kukkut of a single colour — fully white, fully black or fully red — brought without any disgust in the name of Kshetrapal Rakshak Ugra Bhairava, with the Kalika Purana as the proof-text for Mahabhairav. It is sprinkled with Gangajal, fed a little arwa rice with a prayer naming the person and Gotra, taken off over the head in reverse three, five or seven times, and released alive in a deserted place beyond one's own boundary — never cut, never killed. What becomes of it is the deity's affair, and the running abhichar is finished, one hundred percent.
Who should not keep the Ashtami fast?
Those who have only one son — no other daughter, no other son, only a single son — should not keep the Ashtami upvas; they should keep the Navami one. He says this is described in the Kalika Purana and in the Srimad Devi Bhagavat Mahapuran, and that Jagadamba placed this subject before Shri Ramchandra ji when he performed her upasana for the slaying of Ravana.
What does the Kalika Purana say about Saubhagya Kund?
In the Kalika Purana, the speaker says, you will find it stated that this kund was constructed by the devatas, by Devraj Indra and the devatas. And when one bathes on its western bank according to the vidhi, performs mundan, or does any karma for the sake of one's pitr, then the pitr obtain the attainment of devi lok. One should bathe there, give arghya, and afterwards — and especially when bathing — always make a sankalp.
Does every Mahavidya pitha here have its own water source?
In the Kamakhya mahatmya in the Kalika Purana there is this subject too: that of all these kunds — kund meaning the kunds of the garbhagriha — it is not only Bhagavati Kamakhya who has a water source. Bhagavati Tripur Bhairavi has one, Bhagavati Dhumavati has one, Ma Chhinnamastika, all of them have a water source there. There is an underground water flow which issues from that same pitha's place. So if, touching that pitha and touching that water, you do japa of your mantra even 10 times, that mantra becomes utterly pure and its awakening increases.
Every Mahavidya at Kamakhya has her own bali pitha, and the Mahanil Tantra says ten japa with the hand in the garbhagriha water purifies the mantra and 108 lead towards siddhi
This is Bhagavati Dhumavati's bali pitha; here each of the ten Mahavidyas has her own bali pitha, and bali is offered at every place. Bhagavati is seated within, in the garbhagriha. Keep in mind, the speaker says, that of the water source in the garbhagriha there is a description in the Kalika Purana, in the Yogini Tantra and in the Mahanil Tantra as well. In the Mahanil Tantra it is even said that if we dip our hand in this water and do japa of the mantra 10 times, the mantra becomes pure and awakened; and when one does japa 108 times, then by Bhagavati's kripa one advances towards mantra siddhi.
Is Kamakhya's worship accomplished only by the Vam marg?
There is one more subject about Bhagavati, the speaker says: mostly you will find it said that the puja and seva of Jagadamba is accomplished only by the Vam paddhati. But the view of the Kalika Purana is that whether you perform the puja of Jagadamba Kameshwari Kamakhya by the Dakshin marg or by the Vam marg, in both you will obtain the benefit of siddhi. Therefore do not hold the view that siddhi will come only by the Vam marg.
What should one do at the water source inside a pitha's garbhagriha?
If it is available to you, then after darshan and pujan, go to that place in Bhagavati's garbhagriha from where the water is issuing, put your hand there, and remembering Mai with a full feeling of bhakti, if you do japa of the Ashtottara Shatanama even once, or japa of the mantra even 108 times, then that mantra and the Ashtottara Shatanama become awakened and accomplished. This is the word of the shastras: read the Kalika Mahapuran, study the Yogini Tantra, the Mahanil Tantra and the rest and you will find it. Leave aside the claimed experience of others; if you go by the letter, look at what is written and then experience it in your life — you will not accept it merely because he says it happened to him. Do it yourself.
How does the Kalika Purana compare Kamrup with other kshetras?
It comes in the Kalika Purana, the speaker says, that if Bhagavati is worshipped in Varanasi — Kashi Vishalakshi ji — then the complete and entire fruit is obtained. In comparison with that fruit, if pujan is done at Purushottam kshetra where Bhagavati Viraja is seated, Bhagavati Vimala, then it is double; and if done at Dwaravati, double. If one worships at Ganga and Vindhyachal, then a hundred times more fruit is obtained. And describing it in the same manner for the Kamrup region, it says that worshipping in the Kamrup region brings the attainment of sarva siddhi, the attainment of all fruit, and swiftly the benefit of mantra siddhi.
What is the fruit of even one puja at Kamakhya?
If Bhagavati is worshipped on the Nilachal hill then a hundredfold fruit is obtained, the Kalika Purana says. The human being who performs even a single puja of Bhagavati Mahamaya at Kamakhya obtains the desired fruit in this world and in the next world the attainment of the Shivatva pad; there is none as fortunate as he, and he obtains all the fruits. What fruit is it? If a man donates a crore of cows, the fruit he would get is the very fruit of the puja of Bhagavati Kamakhya. And the human being who performs even one puja of Devi Kamakhya causes the deliverance of his own ten forebears and ten descendants — ten generations each way — who then go to devi lok.
What does the Kalika Mahapuran say about Ashtami and Navami worship here?
It is also described in the Kalika Mahapuran that if any sadhak, on any Ashtami or Navami tithi, inscribes the separate mandalas of Bhagavati Pancharupa Kamakhya Devi and worships by the independent pancha-tantra — but all of that, the speaker says, then issues from your own kula parampara, in the manner in which pujan is done by vidhi vidhan in the kula parampara. Put plainly: if you have received mantra diksha, do it accordingly. And if you perform yantra archan and pujan, then go to Kamakhya ji sometime; if you have done at least a hundred shatarchans of your yantra, take your yantra along, and sitting near Saubhagya Kund do the mandala pujan, abhishek and shatarchan you know.
What does the Kalika Purana say about Durga's threefold manifestation, and her connection to Rama?
The Kalika Purana describes Durga destroying a great asura three times across three kalpas, manifesting each time in a different form — eighteen-armed Ugrachanda, sixteen-armed Bhadrakali, and ten-armed Katyayani — and Shakta lore credits Rama with initiating the sharad ritu Durga puja before defeating Ravana.
Where is the origin of the Shmashan Bhairav form described, and who may worship it today?
The chief and original form of the Shmashan Bhairavs is the one we can name with proof, he says, because the puranas describe it. In the Shiv Mahapuran, in the kathas he has heard, the subject arises that at the time of the war the Shmashan Bhairav certainly arrived, and many forms of the Bhairavs came to fight on Bhagavan Shiva's side. But in the Kalika Purana there is a very detailed description of how the Shmashan Bhairav form of Bhagavan came into being and what its purpose is. Today, he says, the pujan of this form is limited to the tantric parampara acharyas remaining in kula paramparas — and that is proper — but ordinary sadhaks should, at the divine times, perform its avahan and pujan to the best of their capacity even by the sattvik dakshinacharya vidhi, so that we may be protected.
What falls on the day before the Purnima?
And one day before it, he says, is the day of that Bhagavan Mahabhairav, the Shmashan Bhairav, whose avataran and form they had been discussing in connection with the Kalika Purana.
The Kalika Purana makes clear how Varaha, Sharabha, Bhagavati Janaki and Shri Krishna are all connected with the Kamakhya kshetra
If you wish to know it better, he says, do yourself a kindness and study the Kalika Purana once; it will all become clear how Varaha, Sharabha, Bhagavati Janaki and Shri Krishna are all connected with the Kamakhya kshetra. And this is only speech — everything will be known when Bhagavati shows grace and your diksha takes place in a proper kula. Then, when you go to make some mantra siddha, especially one of your own kula parampara, it will be known; as when you read about Bhagavati Baglamukhi and find that several of her mantras have Rishi Narada.
How was Shmashan Bhairav born, according to the Kalika Purana?
When the war between the two was over and Bhagavan Varaha had gone back into his mula swaroop, he says, then Bhagavan Sharabha began to send all his forms back into their mula swaroop — the eight ashtamurti he had taken shelter in, having gathered eight separate murtis to assume the Sharabha form. When all the forms had gone back to their places, from the mula swaroop that remained the birth of Bhagavan Shmashan Bhairav took place; he assumed the form of Shmashan Bhairav. The description, he says, you will find in the 53rd adhyaya, and they have written it in the video description too.
How many arms does the Shmashan Bhairav form have?
There is a full description of his form, he says: he has eighteen arms. Think about it — how the arms are connected with shakti, what is said about it, upon whom he is present; the eighteen-armed Durga, the sixteen-armed Durga who has been called Bhadrakali, what the connections are. The whole subject, he says, will go on becoming clear to you from this.
On which tithi should Mahabhairav be worshipped?
The description there, he says, is that Bhagavan Shmashan Bhairav, Mahabhairav, having become present, and of the pujan of Bhagavan Mahabhairav — that on the tithi of Chaitra Shukla Chaturdashi the pujan of Bhagavan Mahabhairav should be performed.
Should a listener read the 53rd adhyaya himself?
You may read the 53rd adhyaya in the Shri Kalika Purana, he says, but there is a great deal in it and he will not tell you to read that much, because if you read it you may well become disturbed. Puranas, he says, should somewhere be read, heard and understood only under the guidance of some guru; otherwise people become disturbed, and then the matter becomes something else — you will not understand, and there will be difficulty.
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