Understanding Mother Nature's Dance: Kali, Violence, and Life's Brutal Truth

Prakriti Tandavam, the Dance of Mother Nature

by Jayaram V

Summary: Provocative examination of Nature (Prakriti) as violent creative-destructive force symbolized by Kali. Explains we must understand Nature's methods/mechanisms to live harmoniously rather than fight it. Hindu imagery perfectly portrays Nature's brutal impersonal aspect: fierce Kali with skull garland, Shiva's violent forms, Krishna as Time the Destroyer, Nataraja dancing in fire ring over dwarfish human. Describes evil as inherent in Nature's design alongside good - duality exists even in highest gods. Life is battlefield where everyone fights as warrior; death/destruction hidden in birth/creation. Outlines three Nature aspects: lower (gross matter/energy operating mechanically, food of God), higher (subtle manifestations with will/desire represented by mind/breath), divine (pure consciousness/intelligence giving discretion). Details Nature's Way: amoral free-flowing mechanism using violence/wars to remove inefficiencies, morality merely survival tool, transformation requires destruction/reconstruction, Higher Nature (collective knowledge/wisdom) alone qualifies as divinity. Emphasizes nonviolence as highest virtue - not just avoiding aggression but preventing ripples (vrittis) in consciousness. True nonviolence is state where one neither disturbs nor is disturbed, combining detachment, renunciation, and mindful observation.

If we want to make progress upon earth, we must understand the methods, mechanism and intentions of Nature and live accordingly in harmony with it rather than against it. If people eat foods that are rich in sugars and fats, prefer good looking men and women as their partners, or indulge in corrupt and unethical practices to achieve their goals, it is Nature speaking through them.

We may worship Nature, but it does not make Nature more benign or peaceful. Nature keeps moving forward, learning lessons from its past. While we do not know its ultimate intent or design, we know that it is relentless in its functions. You may call it dance of Kali, but in reality it is more a trample than a dance. Watching that dance in which you are both a spectator and a victim you can learn many lessons of life and become wiser in your thoughts and actions.

We may become sentimental in our thinking and anthropomorphically project our beliefs and expectations into inanimate objects. It may temporarily help us overcome our fears and anxiety and live with hope and positive expectations. However, objectively speaking, we cannot live just by good thoughts and honorable intentions only. We have to live mostly according to the laws and principles enforced upon us by Nature by knowing its ways and understanding its design and purpose. If we learn from it, we will be happier and more successful and live in harmony with it rather than fighting it.

For our survival and wellbeing, we must learn to follow Nature as well as conquer it according to our intelligence, knowledge and circumstances. The Hindu school of Tantra follows a similar approach. It suggests that we should not fight Nature but flow with it to become free from it. Liberation comes from obedience to the laws of Nature. To conquer the game of life, you must play the game sincerely like a true champion, obeying the rules that govern it.

Symbolism of Nature's violence in Hinduism

Hinduism comes closest in portraying the brutal, violent and impersonal aspect of Nature, with vivid religious motifs and symbolism. Images of Kali and Shiva in their most violent, virulent, and fierce forms, and descriptions of Death (Kala) in the Bhagavadgita and the Upanishads clearly portray the impermanence, death and destruction that characterize all existence upon earth. Nature has both benign and destructive aspects, and they are well portrayed in the pleasant and fierce aspects of our divinities. The images of Kali with a garland of skulls and her aggressive posture and violent looks symbolize the violence and brutality hidden in the mechanism of Nature.

Evil is as much part of Nature's design as good conduct and both manifest in all aspects of creation, from the highest to the lowest. Hence we find the duality in the highest gods also. The Bhagavadgita portrays the benign aspect of Brahman in the form of Krishna, but reveals His Universal Form as the Duty bound God of death and destruction, who spares none in ensuring the order and regularity of the worlds. In the images of Nataraja you may see beauty and symmetry encircled by the violent fires and resting upon an ugly image of a dwarfish human. It perfectly symbolizes our predicament and helplessness in the dance of a violent God. All these images convey that we live in an inhospitable world surrounded by dualities and contradictions.

Life is nothing less than a battlefield in which everyone hast to participate as a warrior. This is the message you find in Hinduism repeatedly. Our gods are noble, but do not hesitate to destroy demons. They may grant boons with one hand, while they may hold fierce weapons in the other ones. Such images of light and darkness clearly convey that life is not a smooth journey and you must be in a state of readiness to fight your enemies and your battles to protect yourself.

You also learn that death and destruction are inherent in creation. Death is hidden in the birth and existence of all life forms upon earth. None can escape from it. The moment a being is born, it is pitted against the most violent and brutal forces in the universe that work incessantly to destroy it. Hindu scriptures state that the world is ruled by god of Death for whom everything is food. He devours all life as Time to keep his universal body functioning.

The beginning of all that destruction is creation only, just as the source of death is birth only, because only those that are born or created are destined to die. We are caught in the duality of birth and death. They are the twins between whom we try to live as long as possible. Our scriptures describe them as functionally cyclical and repetitive, and compare the whole process to a wheel (samsara). As the Bhagavadgita describes, beings emerge out of the gates of creation only to enter the fierce flames of death.

Aspects of Nature

We may have illusions of grandeur about Nature, our existence, births and deaths. However, Nature favors only those that fit into its grand design and mysterious aims. The following are few observation about the nature of Nature itself, and what we may do about it.

Nature has three aspects: lower, higher, and divine.

Lower Nature consists of the gross manifestations of matter and energy which strictly operate according to their inherent qualities, and universal laws. It is mechanical in its behavior and responses. In the human beings it is represented by the physical body and all the organs located in it. In the macrocosm it is represented by all inanimate objects and lower life forms. In Hinduism, it constitutes the food of God. In Hindu cosmology it is symbolized by the demons.
Higher Nature consists of the subtle manifestations of matter and energy which operate partly according to mechanical laws and partly according to will and desire. In human beings it is represented by breath and the mind. If Death is hidden in the gross body as decay, sickness and aging, it is hidden in the subtle body as desire and attachments. In Hindu cosmology it is symbolized by humans, ancestors, and the gods of Indra's heaven.
Divine Nature consists of pure consciousness or intelligence, also called the higher mind. It gives us the power of discretion and the ability to distinguish things and make decisions according to our best intentions and interests. With the help of intelligence we can transcend our brutal and violent nature and learn to live intelligently rather than mechanically and instinctually. In the cosmology, it is symbolized by the immortal souls and the immortal world of Brahman.

Nature's Way

Nature is the most immediate and universal phenomenon, which we can interact at the most personal level as our own minds and bodies. We can learn from it. It is good that Nature does a lot of work on its own to ensure our existence and survival. Imagine, how tedious it would be, if we have to do all that work on our own using our discretion to perform our bodily functions or maintain our biological clocks. We can learn a lot from Nature by just observing it and understanding its principles, laws, and methods. The following are few examples.

Nature is neither moral nor immoral but a free flowing, transformative mechanism. There is nothing like moral or immoral in the lexicon of Nature. Nature's boundaries are defined by the principle of need and efficiency rather than morality and humanity. Hence in the natural world, brutality and violence are universally present.
Wars, conflicts & evil methods are part of Nature's heuristics to cleanser excesses or restore balance. From Prakriti's perspective, they are neither moral nor immoral, but a conflict between its own higher and lower natures. They happen when lower nature takes control of our lives and prevails over our higher nature.
Violence, wars, calamities, and conflicts are Nature's means or tool. She uses them to remove redundancies, inefficiencies and weaknesses from its creations. In using them, Nature shows no remorse.
From Nature's perspective morality and virtues have no greater significance. In creation, Nature uses them as tools to ensure the survival and continuity of species and recycle its forces and resources. Love, compassion, friendliness, charity and other virtues are meant for forging relationships, earning trust, food, security, and friendship, and increasing chances of survival and enjoyment by each participating organism. Since humans are the most intelligent species, it is most visible in their personal and social behavior.
The so called intelligent design is but a brutal mechanism to promotes and preserves strength beauty intelligence and dominance. God plays no role in this as He lets Nature enforce her laws.
Transformation is essentially a destructive and reconstructive process. Death and destruction are the means by which Nature regulates its production and renewal of life, and the use of its resources.
Nature is very selective, and yet is indifferent and equal to all. She takes everything and anything out of the equation if it does not serve its purpose or fit in its design. Earth air water, fire and space know no morality or humanity. They act according to their nature. So does all material things. It is Nature's Way or what we call one's own nature (svabhava).
Our knowledge wisdom and consciousness constitute Higher Nature. It operates both at the individual and group level. This alone qualifies upon earth as the divinity people worship in numerous forms, the guiding and preserving principle that people will look to in difficulties. We are safe to the extent we honor and cherish it and to the extent we live rationally, discerningly, and intelligently. If we succumb to passions and raw emotions, we endanger ourselves as our lives will become unstable and chaotic.
You cannot avoid sinning, performing unpleasant tasks or causing pain and suffering. You must know how you can avoid this predicament, minimize the damage to yourself and others and escape from samsara. It is where your higher Nature and principles of Dharma come to your rescue and minimize the negative consequences of your karma, if you take refuge in it.
You must subdue your lower and higher Nature and become equal to both, cultivating sameness. When you do that and abide in your divine nature, you become the seer, the Buddha, the enlightened one. With your intelligence (buddhi) liberated from the limitations of your lower and higher natures, you enters the effortless mode of living with higher intelligence and pure consciousness, uninterrupted by Nature's will and intention that guide everyone who are bound to her.

Why Nonviolence is important

Since violence is so characteristic of our existence and mental condition, we can escape from it only by renouncing it and practicing nonviolence, which is considered the highest and the ultimate virtue. Violence not only means acts of aggression and destruction, but any behavior that leads to ripples or modifications (vrittis) in your consciousness or that of others.

In other words, stirring up any feeling or emotion in you or in others that creates disturbances and instability is also violence only, whether such behavior is induced by good or bad intentions and desires. Freedom from all that commotion is the state of nonviolence. Living nonviolently in a violent world is the highest ideal envisaged in our scriptures. As the Bhagavadgita states, it is a condition in which one neither disturbs nor is disturbed by others. It is the combined state of detachment, renunciation and mindful observation. It is the state of the Self and the Supreme Self.