I am Durga, goddess of the proud and strong,--- Kali when I kill,

I am Durga, goddess of the proud and strong,--- Kali when I kill,

(Savitri 509/26-510/31)

I am Durga, goddess of the proud and strong,
And Lakshmi, queen of the fair and fortunate;
I wear the face of Kali when I kill,
I trample the corpses of the demon hordes.

I am charged by God to do his mighty work,
Uncaring I serve his will who sent me forth,
Reckless of peril and earthly consequence.

I reason not of virtue and of sin
But do the deed he has put into my heart.

I fear not for the angry frown of Heaven,
I flinch not from the red assault of Hell;
I crush the opposition of the gods,
Tread down a million goblin obstacles.

I guide man to the path of the Divine
And guard him from the red Wolf and the Snake.

I set in his mortal hand my heavenly sword
And put on him the breastplate of the gods.

I break the ignorant pride of human mind
And lead the thought to the wideness of the Truth;
I rend man's narrow and successful life
And force his sorrowful eyes to gaze at the sun
That he may die to earth and live in his soul.

I know the goal, I know the secret route;
I have studied the map of the invisible worlds;
I am the battle's head, the journey's star.

But the great obstinate world resists my Word,
And the crookedness and evil in man's heart
Is stronger than Reason, profounder than the Pit,
And the malignancy of hostile Powers
Puts craftily back the clock of destiny
And mightier seems than the eternal Will.

The cosmic evil is too deep to unroot,
The cosmic suffering is too vast to heal.

A few I guide who pass me towards the Light;
A few I save, the mass falls back unsaved;
A few I help, the many strive and fail.

But my heart I have hardened and I do my work:
Slowly the light grows greater in the East,
Slowly the world progresses on God's road.

His seal is on my task, it cannot fail:
I shall hear the silver swing of heaven's gates
When God comes out to meet the soul of the world.”

(Savitri 509/26-510/31)