A Miraculous Stone at the Kalima Temple

Temples are to India what Starbucks are to America, although they provide a far more beneficial type of energetic nourishment. Temples provide access to divine energy whereas Starbuck’s energy is caffeine-based and therefore temporary rather than eternal. There are so many temples in India that it’s hard to avoid them. When you drive through the countryside, the landscape is dotted with them. Walking through cities, you find them on side streets and down narrow alleyways. There are literally hundreds of thousands of them…perhaps even millions… and they come in all sizes. Some are small, barely large enough for a few people to fit inside, and some are huge, like the ISKCON Krishna Temple that Tara and I visited a few months ago with our friend Shree Ma.



Shree Ma offered to take us to the Krishna Temple, which sits on top of a hill on the edge of Bangalore. It’s an impressive combination of traditional and modern architecture and upon first sight is rather awe inspiring.. We visited the temple on a Sunday, when thousands of devotees come to pay homage to Krishna. The experience was very powerful but, when we heard from a friend at the ashram about the very small Kali Temple that was home to a miraculous stone statue, it drew us like a magnet. It’s called the Kalima Temple of Bangalore and when you hear the story of how it came to be you’ll understand why it’s so special.

About 150 years ago, before the city of Bangalore had become what it is today, a farmer was plowing his field. When his plow hit a stone, he went to remove the stone and was shocked to discover that the stone was bleeding. The farmer ran to the village to summon the village elders and a crowd gathered around the stone. Everyone was amazed to see blood coming from the stone and they were even more perplexed about what to do with it. At that point, a young girl was overshadowed by the Divine Mother who, speaking through her, said that the stone was not an ordinary stone but was a manifestation of the Goddess Kali. The stone was left in the ground, where it was discovered, and a small temple was constructed around it. The local people began to worship the stone by conducting pujas and making offerings to the Divine Mother. As the years passed, they noticed that the stone was growing and that it continued to emerge more and more from the earth. The local people attested to the spiritual power of the stone and reported many blessings and miracles associated with it.

These facts alone were enough to convince us of the miraculous nature of this stone but something else happened later that has added to the reputation of the temple. In 1980, a very devout priest came to the Kalima temple to perform the Navaratri pujas to the forms of Mother Divine. Because the small inner sanctum had been constructed around the stone with the stone very close to the door, the priest had to sit outside the inner sanctum to perform the pujas. At the conclusion of the first day’s rituals, the priest prayed deeply to the Divine Mother, saying that he could better perform the pujas if the stone was not so close to the door and he could sit in the inner sanctum. The next morning, when they went to begin the day’s rituals, they opened the door to the temple and discovered that the stone had moved to the rear of the room.

After we heard about how the stone was discovered and the other miracles associated with it, Tara and I decided to definitely visit the temple on our next visit to Bangalore. A few weeks later we had to go to Bangalore so, early one morning, we hired a rickshaw driver and soon found ourselves turning off Mahatma Gandhi Road and entering a typical Indian neighborhood of narrow side streets. The rickshaw driver had trouble finding the right street but eventually he turned onto an even narrower street that was only wide enough for one small car at a time. After driving a block or two, he parked the rickshaw and said that the temple was just down the street. Tara and I got out and started walking toward the temple.



As we neared the temple we noticed many cows wandering through the street. Since cows are sacred in India, that seemed like a blessing in itself. Soon we saw the tower of the temple up ahead and knew we were in the right place.



After leaving our shoes at the door, we entered the temple and were greeted by the priest who invited us into his office in the rear of the temple. An elderly woman heated up chai on the stove and soon we were sitting, drinking chai, and chatting with the priest. He explained that abhishek (ritual washing of the deity) is at 3 am but that a puja was about to begin. After drinking our chai, he gave us a tour of the temple grounds and showed us the area behind the temple where several deities and shiva lingams reside.



He said that the Shiva lingam was very special and came from Rameshvaram. The stone carvings of nagas (snakes) were very beautiful. Carvings like these are common throughout India and signify the kundalini energy.



When it was time for the Kali puja, we approached the inner sanctum and the priests raised the curtain revealing the statue of Kalima. Tara and I felt very powerful divine energy emanating from the statue.



As the priests performed the puja, I felt a surge of energy flow in through my navel chakra. My heart chakra opened and my third eye buzzed. Clearly, this statue was powerful, much more so than we had expected. I began repeating, “Jai Ma. Jai Ma. Jai Kali. Jai Durga,” and felt immense gratitude to the Divine Mother who had so profoundly blessed us.