Kali
is regarded as one of the principal deities of Bengal. Kali is a
powerful and complex Goddess with multiple forms. The Divine can be
manifested in many different forms, with various roles and
personalities.
According to legend, not withstanding her husband Shiva’s insult by her
father Daksha, Sati jumped into fire and gave her life. Enraged by this
mishap, Shiva went wild. To pacify Him,Vishnu decimated the body of Sati
with his chakra into 51 different parts. The body parts fell all over
the Indian subcontinent. The places where the body parts fell – have
become centres of worship of the Goddess in different manifestations.
There are 51 of those and they are called Shakti Peethas. Some of them
are in West Bengal.
Sage Vasishtha had seen this form and worshipped goddess Sati in the
form of Tara. Tara is no one but Maa Kali.
Maa Kali is fiery and violent, has four hands and blood drips from Her
tongue. Kali temples are found in numbers all over India. Hindus all
over the world worship Maa Kali in various forms.
Some of the famous Kali temples are at Kalighat, Dakshineshwar, Tarapith
etc.
The great devotees of Maa Kali, namely Ramkrishna, Bamakhepa etc used to
worship Maa Kali in these Kali temples.
The Kali temples draw immense attraction during the festive times,
especially during Kali Puja.
THE STORY OF BAMDEV Although
Bamakhepa is not particularly know for worshipping Kali, he was such a
great Mother worshipper and contemporary of Sri Ramakrishna that he
should be mentioned. Bamakhepa worshipped Mother in the form of Tara and
became a famous Tantric saint practicing sadhana at the Trapith
cremation ground. Tarapith in West Bengal is difficult to get to and,
therefore, only a few Westerners have visited this ancient spiritual
center. Tarapith is situated in the district of Birbhum, home of the
Bauls and birthplace of famous Vaishnava and Shakta saints. Bamakhepa was born in 1837-one year after Sri Ramakrishna-near
Tarapith in the village of Alta. Although his parents were poor
Brahmins, Bamakhepa’s father, Sarvananda Chatterjee, was well known and
respected for his piety and so was Bamakhepa’s mother, Rajkumari. His
name was actually Bama, but since he showed absolutely no interest in
worldly matters even from early youth on, people called him mad and
added “khepa” (mad) to his name. Khepa is a term used mostly by
Tantrics and Bauls and is not an ordinary madness. One who is called
khepa is generally considered a great soul. As a young boy, Bamakhepa had a peculiar habit. At the dead of night,
he liked to steal into his neighbors’ houses, take their images of Gods
and Goddesses and carry them to a riverbank some distance away. There
he worshipped the images all night long. When, in the morning, the
villagers couldn’t find their family deities, they would make a big
scene. Bamakhepa was discovered as the culprit but, no matter how
severely his parents scolded him, they could not prevent him from taking
the images. Bamakhepa’s education never went beyond the simple village school he
attended. There was not enough money in the family to send the boy away
for higher education and study of the scriptures. His father died when
Bamakhepa was very young, and, therefore, his mother and widowed elder
sister were the first ones who gave him any kind of spiritual
instructions. They told the boy ancient Hindu stories from the Ramayana and Mahabharata,
and it was due to their efforts that Bamakhepa developed a spiritual
sentiment early in life. He enjoyed singing devotional songs which he
became rather good at it, to the delight of his mother and elder sister. Financial troubles worsened, and Bamakhepa’s mother had to send him
and his brother to live at an uncle’s house. The uncle made and effort
to make the boys active parts of his family and dispatched them to look
after his cows. But when he found Bamakhepa unfit to take care even this
simple task, he sent him back home to his mother. Bamakhepa proved incompetent to perform any kind of work. All he
wanted to do was worship Mother Tara. When he saw a red hibiscus flower,
he thought of Ma Tara. When he uttered “Ma Tara,” he became unconscious
of his surroundings. Even his mother was convinced her son was mad and,
in order to keep him out of harm’s way, she put him under house arrest.
But at an opportune moment, Bamakhepa broke out, swam across the river
Dwaraka and walked all the way to holy Tarapith. He had heard about Kailaspati Baba, the well-known Tantric who was
believed to be a realized soul. Bamakhepa went straight to his cottage.
Recognizing Bamakhepa’s potential for spiritual realization, the Baba
accepted him as his disciple. Bamakhepa began to practice serious
Tantric sadhana under the guidance of Kailaspati Baba. Meanwhile, Bamakhepa’s mother was worried about her son and, after a
long search, found him in Kailaspati Baba’s cottage. When she realized
that she couldn’t persuade him to come with her, she asked one of her
family members who was a prominent man in town to help him. This uncle,
by the name of Durga Charan Sarkar, was an agent of the Maharaja of
Natore and, using his influence in Tarapith, he procured Bamakhepa a job
of collection flowers for the service at the Tarapith Temple. But Bamakhepa was not meant for work, and couldn’t perform this task.
Instead of picking flowers, he sat absorbed in thoughts of the Divine
Mother. Forgetful of his physical comforts, he was unaware if it was day
or night, hot or cold, rain or sunshine. Smoking hemp, he lived in the
Tarapith cremation ground surrounded by snakes, dogs, cats, and jackals Although Bamakhepa seemed to have caused nothing but trouble to his
mother, and he had not contacted her for a long time, he had great love
and reverence for her. When news reached Tarapith that she had died and
that her body could not be brought to the Tarapith cremation ground due
to excessive flooding, Bamakhepa swam across the flood-swollen river.
With his mother’s dead body in his arms, he returned to Tarapith and
asked his brother Ramcharan to perform the funeral rites. How could this
poor family afford to pay for the funeral? By divine providence, as it
were, money and good came to feed all the guests. People in Tarapith
still tell the story about the dark clouds that appeared in the sky as
the body of Bamakhepa’s mother was burnt. Though a sudden heavy downpour
flooded all of Tarpith, not a single drop fell on the funeral
gathering. Bamakhepa was in the habit of moving around completely naked. One day
someone asked him, “Why are you naked?” Bamakhepa replied, “My Father
(Shiva) is naked; my Mother (Tara) is also naked. So, I am practicing
that. Moreover, I don’t live in society. I live in the cremation ground
with my Mother. So I have no shame or fear!” Under the guidance of his guru Kaliaspati Baba and the Tantric master
Mokshananda, Bamakhepa completed all the major Tantric rites and
sadhana in accordance with the shastras (scriptures). It is
interesting that Bamakhepa, like Sri Ramakrishna, practiced Tantra while
remaining absolutely celibate. Just as Sri Ramakrishna, Bamakhepa also
looked upon women as mother. One day a beautiful, young woman tried to
tempt Bamakhepa by offering herself to him as his bhairavi
(here meaning: “partner in sexual practices”). No matter how much she
tried, she could find no “male sign” in him. Suddenly, Bamakhepa cried
out “Ma Tara” and bit the woman’s breast. Blood oozed from her breast
and she fell down unconscious. When Bamakhepa’s spiritual guides saw that their disciple had
attained perfection, Kailaspati Baba and Mokshananda installed him as
the spiritual leader of Tarapith and left. Yet nothing, not even this
high honor, could bind Bamakhepa. He neglected to follow temple
regulations and did not obey social rules. Sometimes he sat with stray
dogs, sharing his food with them, and sometimes he answered calls of
nature within the holy temple terrain. He was not concerned, and the
thought of purity or impurity did not enter his mind. He had practiced
same-sightedness for so long. One day the temple priests caught Bamakhepa eating the temple food
before it was offered to Ma Tara. They were so angry with him that they
stopped supplying him with food. Four days after this incident, the Maharani
(queen) of Natore had a strange dream. Ma Tara appeared to her and
said: “I am thinking of leaving this place. I asked my favorite son
Bamakhepa to eat, the priests have beaten him and taken away his food.
If my son does not eat first, how can I, his mother?” When she woke up,
the Maharani ordered that, henceforth, Bamakhepa should be fed before Ma
Tara. After that, nobody dared to obstruct Bamakhepa. The mad saint of Tarapith became famous for his yogic powers and even
people from far away came to see him. Some sought nothing but his
blessings while others asked to be healed or helped in distress. Bamakhepa healed many sick people with his psychic powers. Once a dying man came to Tarapith and asked Bamakhepa for prasad
(consecrated food). Bamakhepa took pity on him and fed him with his own
hand. Soon after, the man miraculously recovered and walked home. There
was a leper in Tarapith by the name of Nanda Handi, who belonged to the
untouchable caste. Nanda often brought Bamakhepa food and, although he
was a Brahmin of the highest caste, Bamakhepa accepted Nanda’s food. In
return for the favor, he gave Nanda some mud one day and asked him to
rub it on his sours. Nanda did as told and the terrible leprosy left his
body. A man form Balagram by the name of Nimai suffered terribly form
hernia problems. He had so much pain that he was unable to maintain his
family. Thinking he was of no use to anybody, not even to himself, he
resoled the commit suicide. Rope in hand; he came to Tarapith one dark
night with the intention to hang himself. Suddenly, he heard a terrible
voice. It was Bamakhepa calling upon Ma Tara. Nimai was too scared to
commit suicide and, not knowing what to do with himself, he remained in
Tarapith near Bamakhepa. One day Nimai enraged Bamakhepa because he lit
his pipe on Bamakhepa’s holy dhuni fire. The angry saint kicked
the hernia patient in the lower part of his abdomen and Nimai fell down
unconscious. But to his great surprise, when Nimai got up some time
later, he was completely cured of the hernia afflictions. Another story about Bamakhepa tells of a dying tuberculosis patient
who was brought to the saint on a stretcher for final blessings. Instead
of blessing the man, Bamakhepa caught him by the neck. Furiously
choking and shaking the man, Bamakhepa shouted, “Now, will you commit
any more sin?” Strangely enough, after Bamakhepa’s rough treatment, the
man got off the stretcher, asked for some food and drink and then walked
home, healthier and wiser.
But not all people who approached Bamakhepa were so lucky. When a
couple of snobbish young men made fun of Bamakhepa because he shared his
food with stray dogs, Bamakhepa suddenly touched them. To their horror,
they saw in a vision that Bamakhepa and the dogs had turned into Gods
while they had turned into hideous bats. Having heard about Bamakhepa’s healing powers, a priest by the name
of Nagen Panda brought a dying man to Tarapith. The sick man was very
rich, and Nagen Panda thought that he would be richly rewarded if he
could get Bamakhepa to cure him. But contrary to Nagen Panda’s
expectation, Bamakhepa did nothing of the sort. He just uttered the word
“phat” and the man died immediately. Furious, Nagen Panda accused
Bamakhepa of killing the man. “I am not responsible,” said Bamakhepa,
“for it was the Mother who spoke through me.” Bamakhepa was not learned but the Mother revealed everything to him,
as he used to say. The saint of Tarapith lived a long life and through
his holy presence sanctified the place and the people who came in
contact with him. He entered mahasamadhi (final liberation) in 1911.
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