Part 4: When the Tongue Was Misunderstood

I often hear people saying Maa Kāli’s tongue is protruded because She was ashamed of stepping over Baba. Is that really so?

Such is also Her leela. When the world is going through cycles where women are objectified, who will see beyond the constructs of a trained mind? Even in the land where She once walked, women are now reduced to a mere secondary figure. A term commonly used — “aurat” — literally means genitalia in Urdu not as the sacred portal that brings a soul from the astral to the physical world, but as an object that needs to be covered. How then will one be worthy of perceiving the grandeur behind it? That is also Her leela, for She is Lajjhā — modest when She wishes, invisible until the right time, always underestimated until She decides otherwise… same as she once came and left when nobody could understand that the most auspicious lies in the most inauspicious, however, She always remains Bhayānakā, the most fearful. The One who shakes the 14 lokas. Feared by adharmic beings, loved by the dhārmic. Her presence ends deceit without a word.

It was only with the jñāna imparted by my Guru that I came to understand the widely accepted explanation of Her iconography was not just incorrect — it was revealing how society had long misunderstood the feminine. And now, the Shaktis are reclaiming their rightful place — not beneath, not behind — but as the force that empowers Śiva. Because Śiva without Śakti is Śava. Let the truth of Her form be revealed.

She stands in Her full Ādya Rūpam, with four hands.

In Her upper left hand, She holds the severed head, the symbol of all asuric tendencies in the sādhaka — the uncontrolled, indulgent aspects of self. The blood, the prāṇa, flows into the kapāla, the skull-bowl held in Her lower left hand. That is the journey of sādhanā: ego beheaded, all life-force surrendered to Her fully.

In Her upper right hand, She holds the Khadga — the combined force of all astras in Devaloka. It is the final weapon which cuts entire realities.

In Her lower right hand, She holds the Trishula — the very Shakti of Mahādeva. It does not mean She accompanies Him. It means She has taken it all. She is not His aspect. She is not His other half. She is the One in whom both have dissolved.

She wears the Mundamālā of all. Her skirt of severed arms is karma of the entire creation itself.

Her lolling tongue does not signify shame. It is Her bloodlust, the consuming fire that will end this Yuga. Her unbound hair are the arms of Mahākāla, Her dark body is Digambarī, clothed in directions alone. Stars and planets are Her jewels.

No saree can cover Her. No throne can seat Her. No pedestal can hold Her… except the corpse of Sadāśiva.

He lies beneath Her not to stop Her, but because only He can endure Her complete presence. He becomes Shava. And She takes His full kuṇḍalinī Shakti. That is the moment She is both the mover and the moved. That is the moment She is not one side of the divine — She is the Divine.

This is the Ādya that has returned. Not one among the crore forms. Not a deity of convenience. But the One who was before the Trimūrti, and who remains after dissolution.

Now about Her tongue — still considering it is shame?

She is Jvālāmukhī, the One whose face is fire. She who presides over Jayantī, who was born to drink the blood of Andhaka — and did. She who became fully satisfied after consuming every demon born of his blood. That is not shame. That is Śakti, unfiltered.

Sometimes Her names open up to reveal when She wills — She is Simhavāhinī, seated in the Simhāsana. However, Simhāsana is also a yogic posture which activates the vagus, throat, and facial pathways. Clinical use of this pose proves its power to regulate the nervous system and restore fearless expression. So when a sādhaka embodies Her lolling tongue — it is not shame. It is healing. It is Śakti.

And some — still — say She stuck Her tongue out in shame during union? My Guru made it clear: until you see every woman as Devī, you cannot understand Maa.

Let us dismantle the lie. A woman with her tongue extended and eyes rolled back during union is not a display of shame. This expression is well-documented in neurobiology as a natural consequence of parasympathetic dominance — not inhibition. When rational thought dissolves, when trust is absolute, and when surrender is complete, the body enters a state of deepest orgasmic pleasure. The tongue protrudes, the eyes roll upward — not as a loss of control, but as a sign of full embodiment. It is in that very moment that Śakti, no longer moving in chaos, finds Her ādhāra in Śiva and merges fully. The union becomes Ardhanārīśvara — the divine oneness of mover and unmoved. Shame, by contrast, activates contraction, facial rigidity, and withdrawal. This is not philosophy. This is physiology. This is śāstra. This is truth.

Her Namavalli reveals truly that She is Lola — the One with the Protruding Tongue. She devours time, ends it all to liberate. Her tongue dissolves and creates worlds.

She is also described as Loljihvā — the One whose tongue is long, insatiable, and present in the realised sādhaka. The One whose hunger for truth cannot be quieted. The One whose voice is that of the realised Guru.

The magnanimous Mahishāsurasamhārtrī — the destroyer of duality. The One who ends the inertia, the inner buffalo, the delusion of the sādhaka. The One who cleaves through every confusion with Her Khadga and puts the sādhaka back on the path.

Let this be the final word on Her tongue: it was never embarrassment…

Jai Gurudeva

Jai Bhairav Baba

Jai Mā Ādya