Mohammedan boatman as the symbol of the Divine Mother.
His meditation on Kali became intense, and one day he had a most vivid experience.
He centred 'his whole attention on the dark, the painful, and the inscrutable' aspect of
Reality, with a determination to reach by this particular path the Non-duality behind
phenomena. His whole frame trembled, as if from an electric shock. He had a vision of
Kali, the mighty Destructress lurking behind the veil of life, the Terrible One, hidden
by the dust of the living who pass by, and all the appearances raised by their feet. In a
fever, he groped in the dark for pencil and paper and wrote his famous poem 'Kali the
Mother'; then he fell exhausted:
The stars are blotted out,
The clouds are covering clouds,
It is darkness, vibrant, sonant;
In the roaring, whirling wind
Are the souls of a million lunatics,
Just loose from the prison-house,
Wrenching trees by the roots,
Sweeping all from the path.
The sea has joined the fray
And swirls up mountain-waves
To reach the pitchy sky.
The flash of lurid light
Reveals on every side
A thousand thousand shades
Of death, begrimed and black.
Scattering plagues and sorrows,
Dancing mad with joy,
Come, Mother, come!
For terror is Thy name,
Death is in Thy breath,
And every shaking step
Destroys a world for e'er.
Thou Time, the All-destroyer,
Come, O Mother, come!
Who dares misery love,
And hug the form of death,
Dance in Destruction's dance —
To him the Mother comes.
The Swami now talked to his disciples only about Kali, the Mother, describing Her as
'time, change, and ceaseless energy.' He would say with the great Psalmist: 'Though
Thou slay me, yet I will trust in Thee.'