Kali Eyes

Kali’s blackness symbolizes her all-embracing, comprehensive nature, because black is the color in which all other colors merge; black absorbs and dissolves them. Or black is said to represent the total absence of color, again signifying the nirguna (beyond qualities) nature of Kali as ultimate reality. Either way, Kali’s black color symbolizes her transcendence of all form.

Kali might be thought of as a symbol of ultimate reality, an embodiment of the highest truths. By interpreting her features and habits allegorically and imaginatively, which is a widely accepted and practiced approach to understanding her, the adept can glimpse secrets that point to certain central truths of the Hindu tradition. In this latter approach, Kali’s dramatic, often offensive, always shocking appearance is not necessarily to be taken literally. Her real meaning is not obvious to the uninitiated; it reveals itself only to imaginative and spiritually sensitive interpretation.

Excerpt from “Tantric Visions of Divine Feminine” by David Kinsley