Official website
of
HAN MARIE STIEKEMA

 


VIVA! JAVA
* Javanese mysticism (Kebatinan) & Traditional Javanese religious tolerance: a model to the world?
*The Yogya Kraton Myth
*Taman Sari 
*The Gunungan 
*Tutup Ngisor
*What we can do for Java....
*Java: Land of Kala, its Candi's (Temples):
*
Borobudur 1
*Borobudur 2

*Borobudur 3
*Borobudur 4

*Borobudur 5
*Borobudur 6
*Candi Mendut

*Candi Pawon
*Candi Ngawen
*Candi Sari
*Candi Kalasan
*Candi Sambisari
*Candi Prambanan
*Candi Lumbung
*Candi Bubrah

*Candi Sewu
*Candi Plaosan
*Candi Gebang
*Candi Ijo
*Candi Banyunibo

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prambanan-3
Kala decoded/Mystery of Life Revealed

KalaMakara
The Womb with Her two Cosmic Forces

 

I went to Java because I KNEW that it kept the Mystery of Life, like I had experienced in my LINK Threefold Realization (1977). First I saw it confirmed at Borobudur, now overwhelmingly also at Prambanan. In the previous pages I researched the mythological links with the pre-patriarchal past, now I will reveal the Truth about Kala Herself. The picture on top contains all elements to understand the Cosmos. Nowhere on earth people have understood it like the Javanese did (after which they forgot it for many centuries!). I feel great joy and gratitude, together with a bond for life with Java, the land and its people.

I couldn't believe my eyes. The galleries are all carved with many, many Kala's

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Coming closer.....

.......they are on top of the niches with Gods, under the small stupa's

At least six of them can be clearly located

 

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Here at least five can be detected. Very similar to Borobudur!

What you see is a "monstrous" head, on top and on both sides decorated with foliage, leaves and flowers. Her eyes are very big, protruding. Her mouth is stretched to the sides, devouring everything that comes in its way. However, the under jaw is "missing", so She cannot bite. Left and right two beasts - Dragons - are sprouting out of Her head, bending downwards, and eventually inwards, ending as two open mouths. In between these mouths a vertical structure can be seen. It looks like a tree. At last at both ends there are two animals. They appear to be two lions (the one on the left side is damaged)

 

The inside of a gallery

One of the entrances to the Vishnu-temple

How could it be otherwise: above the door a huge Kala Head

A second one

Look at the proportions: A very big Kala with a meditating God beneath Her. The God seeking refuge in the Numenous

 

From the other side. Remarkable are the worshippers around the Head

In my Threefold Realization - the deepest Realization possible - first my entire Being was destroyed by Absolute Nothingness (Blackness). Immediately after "I" dissolved into the Eternal Light e.g. the Divine. This lasted all day. That same night I was confronted with an "Ocean of Horror", my "descent into the "Underworld". In order to finally resurrect as a New Man into A New World. This primordial Event was first described by Inanna, MotherGoddess of Sumeria. Ever since it has captured the hearts and minds of people of all times: in the West from the Hellenists to Goethe; in the East from the Tibetans to the Javanese......And.... miraculously to the indigenous (Aztek, Maya) cultures of Mexico....

A third Kala

Stupa's representing the Cosmic Womb, Kala's as Her visible manifestations with the Gods as Her Sons. Consciously or unconsciously the Javanese Kings must have known about the Ultimate Truth.

The fact that Kala is on top of a meditating Shiva means, that he acknowledges Her as His Origin. Even in current India he is portrayed that way!

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I immediately understood the implication of it. Enlightenment (Buddhahood) is NOT the Ultimate, for it was born out of Darkness. The latter is the Origin of all*. In ancient times this was called the Cosmic Womb. The Light is Her "Son", Her first emanation. While She Herself is the Essence, Her "Son" is a Cosmic Force, being born in Her Bottomless Depth. What Hinduism has called "Creation". To be balanced by the other complementary Force: Destruction, corresponding with my experience of the Underworld. The Cosmos thus being ruled by the Womb and "Her" two Cosmic Forces: Creation (the Light, the Divine) "moving" from the Centre to the periphery, and Destruction, "moving" from the periphery to the Centre. It corresponds with the findings of science, which also postulates a "Vacuum" as the Source of the universe, together with two major Forces: the Light on the one hand and Gravity (Dark Matter) on the other (LINK "The Supreme Design")

* Curiously enough in Indonesia the oldest ancestors were a.o. called "The clever grandmothers" ("nenek-moyang")

Isn't this INCREDIBLY beautiful?

In Hinduism the Original MotherGoddess is called Adi Parashakti. She is the Creator of the Trimurti - Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. One of Her manifestations is Parvati - "She from the Mountain"*. Both prove that Hindu's acknowledge the pre-Vedic origin of the Mother. Apart from being the Origin of All - later turned into "shakti" or energy aspect of the Gods - Her main Mission is to destroy evil.

* Like Kybele, many ancient MotherGoddesses were "from the mountain"

"When Mahishasura, the male, contains energy, it leads to evil, the self-centered unguided might breeding ego, greed to acquire and possess more, an ambition to conquer and rule, but when contained in a female frame, it is only the guided power eradicating evil, perpetuating the good and virtuous"

Prof. P.C.Jain

Referring to the old tale of Goddess Durga slaying the Bull Mahishasura

The bright sunshine didn't make taking pictures easy...

Meditating God with Kala and Stupa on top

 

These are only fifteen out of many tens

The miracle: all this is exactly reflected in Kala. Or, more accurate, KalaMakara. The Head ("Kala") being the Cosmic Womb, while the Dragons ("Makara") symbolize Her two Cosmic Forces of Creation and Destruction.   Her protruding eyes reflect Her Limitlessness e.g. Bottomlessness*. In Her Absolute Emptiness She embraces Life - symbolized by the foliage - and Death - Her wide mouth. However, these aspects are not active, emphasizing Her Absolute Emptiness. That's why She doesn't bite. The active functions are being done by Her "masculine" parts: the two Makara's. In the universe these two Forces constitute a dynamic balance. This balance - always fluctuating! - maintains Mother's web of life, symbolized by the tree (of life) between the two mouths of the Dragons. Finally, as a memory of earliest times - in which Kala was depicted as the "Lady and Her Beasts" - to lions (Shiva was also portrayed as a lion) complement the scene. Durga, the Hindu successor to the Original Mother, has a statue in the cella of the Shiva temple.... Moved by tears, a shudder went through me.  

* I have a photo of myself during the ecstasy of Emptiness which confirms it

It is astonishing how the Kala's - both at Borobudur and Prambanan, yes, throughout entire Java - have remained "unnoticed". The consequence: they have never been integrated in the historical/mythological/spiritual/religious/cultural deliberations about Java. Omitting a vital part is not without effects. It means that all results until now in the field of Javanism are inadequate at best or worse - leading to wrong conclusions. On the other hand: re-introducing vital omissions will inevitably lead to a shift in paradigm. To the world this will be a revelation. For the trouble mankind is in cannot be overcome without a new start in spirituality. The old beliefs simply are not able to give answer to our most urgent questions. I feel great gratitude for having the opportunity to putting Java in the centre of this New Era. The only question: how will the Javanese people respond? For they have been living with their past - without knowing the true meaning of Kala - for many centuries. My hope is the many "mystic" (kebatinan) groups, that are searching for the Origin of their culture, beyond all established (Hindu, Buddhist, Islam, Christianity) religion  

Again my question to those who maintain that Kala is the "God of Time". Why all these Gods (like the Buddha'sa at Borobudur) have a Kala on top of their heads? Isn't timelessness (and limitlessness) the former's very Essence? Their Being is beyond time. Hence, being guarded by the "God of Time" is entirely inappropriate. On the other hand, the concept of "Sons of the Mother" is highly realistic. Look at these pictures with an unprejudiced eye. The Numinosity of the Kala's is undeniable. Light is born out of Darkness.....


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Prambanan-1

Prambanan-2

Prambanan-3

Prambanan-4

 

"Proto-Shiva" from Mohenjodaro

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Last revising: 07/18/12