But it’s pretty clear that nothing about the stuff on that card is anything like our Goddess Kali save the name. It’s like Final Fantasy regarding Shiva as the “Goddess of Ice.”

I agree that the misrepresentations of Kali are dumb. But I see no reason to get offended by it. The intent is clearly not to offend. I would much rather just mock them for their ignorance than take umbrage.

“There is nothing here to suggest that Klum or anybody else assumes Kali Ma to be evil.” After all that explaining you must be very naïve to think this.

The link you provided has no bearing on this topic. But you said “These people do not represent me…….” after the link Which people? No don’t bother answering that, I was thinking out aloud. I cant get into another talk on the rights of the beautiful Hare Krishna sect.

But as a final word on Mother Kali and her abuse on Halloween; I will leave you with these links where she has been abused before. 1) Monster in my pocket. Pocket CARD GAMES for children http://www.raumhafen.de/cgi-bin/showp.pl?pic=/galerie/rubber_guys/mimp/s1&titel=Monster%20In%20My%20Pocket%20-%20Series%201 Look at number 19 0n this list Kali the monster! There was complaints about this and it was removed from the monster packets. But look they also included Ganesha, Hanuman, and Yama.

2 ) Kali – Dark Angel of Trecherous Intent http://forum.yugiohcardmaker.net/thread-74574.html

3) Ultimate Monsters in Munchkin cards Described as :- Monsters in Munchkin range in level from 1 (e.g. Potted Plant or Goldfish) to 20 (e.g. Plutonium Dragon, Kali or Great Cthulhu) and when a player defeats them they go up one or more levels and draw a certain amount of treasures, both depending on the particular monster and bonus effects. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munchkin_(game)

4) There are more links where Krishna and Arjuna are used as names of villainous spaceships which you have to destroy! I cant find the link to this.

5) Im sure there is lot more trash out their about our religion. Lets not all turn into Gandhi followers and occasionally be like Arjuna and Defend our religion.

Jai Mata Ki

Here’s an example of “hurt sentiments” run amok by old-world Hindus;

http://www.harekrsna.com/sun/news/11-08/news2326.htm

These people do not represent me and my version of inclusive, tolerant and fun Hinduism.

Here’s an example of “hurt sentiments” run amok by old-world Hindus;

http://www.harekrsna.com/sun/news/11-08/news2326.htm

These people do not represent me and my version of inclusive, tolerant and fun Hinduism.

The Celts believed that evil spirits came with the long hours of the winter darkness. They believed that on that night the barriers between our world and the spirit world were at their weakest and therefore spirits were most likely to be seen on earth. Bonfires were traditionally lit to frighten the spirits away. The people thought they could trick the ghosts into leaving them alone by dressing up as one of them! Hence the tradition of dressing up as ghosts and evil beings.

Hence today the Halloween imagery tends to involve death, evil, magic, or mythical monsters. Traditional characters include the Devil, the Grim Reaper, ghosts, ghouls, demons, witches, pumpkin-men, goblins, vampires, werewolves, zombies, mummies, skeletons, black cats, spiders, bats, owls, crows, and vultures. You may have noble thought but Kali does not fits into these characters today.

Im sure people have a wonderful time whether they dress up as monsters or George Bush! But as Hindus whose religion has already been misunderstood by Hindus and nonHindus alike do not wish to see the good name of Kali tainted further or taken in vain or become and excuse for some twisted person to kill people in her name as has happened in the past.

“”bhayankar” I hope youre not suggesting that because Mother Kali (or any other Gods such as Shankar Bhagvan or Narshima) is described in this way it somehow makes it alright for everyone to abuse them on Halloween. If you knew the story of who she had to kill and how she had to kill and WHY she had to take this bhayankar appearance and did what she did, then you will not have sought to justify Klum using this dress which is what I assume you are trying to do.

Im not surprised that many have misconceptions and misunderstood Kali. She has been misunderstood by many Hindus and hence one of the reasons why we had the evil outcome called Thuggis. In other parts of India sacrifices took place in her name and which I assume may still go on in some backwards regions of the India. These are the result of misconception of Kali which needs to be tackled today. And we don’t need the likes of this Klum woman to spread or reinforce the already misunderstood Kali.

Kali is a Divine Energy Shakti or Prakriti and she can never be looked upon in another way accept goodness and beauty. If you try to relate her to anything else then you are moving away from the basic Hindus philosophy and into the realms of other religions and thoughts. Please do take your time to read the full Hindu Puranas to realise Kali.

Let us unite to rid this world of the misconceptions of Kali and where better to start then by educating Hindus first then others like Klum and spread the word of Devi Mata who is worshiped by many as Brahman Itself.

Dear NaraVara Why should we think that its OK to have a Barack Obama masks on Halloween? Just because some people have sought to make fun of him does not make it right. Not everyone likes him and an attempt on his life has already been made. I just hope he stays alive long enough to be the President. Halloween costumes are traditionally those of monsters. This great man is not a monster of any kind, but he may be perceived as a monster by a spiteful few. Whatever their reason for wearing it we should seek to educate these ignorant folks and not laugh with them …..cute masks or not.

I think you missed the point. The people wearing Obama costumes were Obama supporters. People also go out on Halloween dressed as nurses, cowboys, firefighters, police officers, heads of state, historical figures, Greek Gods and Goddesses, Jesus, Moses, and so on.

Wearing a costume does not mean that you consider the thing you are dressed as to be evil.

Do you even know the story behind why kids dress up on Halloween? Originally it was a Celtic festival in which the spirits of the departed were thought to return to Earth and help the druids to see the future. But along with the good spirits evil ones would also come out and walk around. The Celts would dress up as bears, wolves, and various monstrous creatures with the intention of scaring the evil spirits away.

Dressing as Kali is actually not all that different from the original tradition of Halloween. Kali herself is the most fearsome form of Durga, a form she takes on in order to frighten the hell out of the evil ones.

I dont believe you are ignorant enough to believe that the Kali costume was worn to respect the Mother Goddess.

This is question begging. If you’re going to just assume that anyone who takes issue with your conclusion must be ignorant then I really don’t see how we are going to have any sort of productive conversation.

Suraj – people don’t only wear witch and devil costumes on Halloween but that’s a minor point. Kali is meant to be frightening, even if she assumes this form to fight evil. One of the words used to describe this form is “bhayankar” (fear inducing). Shiva too assumes this form (Rudra)which is his angry aspect and I’m sure there must be tons of regional gods with similar aspects. Pagan gods are all about personification of the passions so it does not make sense to only look at them in light of goodness and beauty. Nor is it appropriate to inflict deep philosophy on people when the tradition itself is largely expressed in the form of simple stories.

Why should we think that its OK to have a Barack Obama masks on Halloween? Just because some people have sought to make fun of him does not make it right. Not everyone likes him and an attempt on his life has already been made. I just hope he stays alive long enough to be the President.

Halloween costumes are traditionally those of monsters. This great man is not a monster of any kind, but he may be perceived as a monster by a spiteful few.

Whatever their reason for wearing it we should seek to educate these ignorant folks and not laugh with them …..cute masks or not.

I dont believe you are ignorant enough to believe that the Kali costume was worn to respect the Mother Goddess.