One of the most exalted, refined and mysterious aspects of the Tāntrik non-dual tradition is the veneration of the devītraya, the Three Wisdom Goddesses who are linked to three dynamic expressions of Consciousness: Knower (Parā), Knowing (Parāparā) and Known (Aparā). 

More mysterious than this is the idea that Consciousness, the central Goddess (Samvit Devī) expresses Herself simultaneously (akrama) and sequentially (Krama) as 12 phases within those three aforementioned Goddesses.

As such, having taken a first swipe at this topic in the The Knower, The Knowing & The Known As Tāntrik Goddesses | Vijñāna-Bhairava Tantra, Verse 106 lecture from our Vijñāna-Bhairava Tantra class and having explored them in a ritual context in Worshipping the Trika Goddesses we now take up the topic of the One Goddess, the Three Goddesses (devītraya), the Twelve Goddesses (kālī-krama) and the Fifteen Goddesses (pañca-daśa-yoginī) to show how they are in truth, the dynamic aspect of the One Consciousness which you yourself are! 

Jai Samvit Devī Ki Jai! 

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As part our our How To Do Tāntrik Pūjā lecture series, we've recently been exploring the topic of mānasa pūjā, or Mental Worship vs External Worship by looking at theMantra for Mental Worship | Mānasa Pūjā which if you recall, is the mantra we used in this talk How To Worship Mā Kālī Mentally (Mānasa Pūjā)!

Now, I often argue that cultivating of our inner world through techniques such as mānasā pūjā (which is part of a broader practice in the Tāntrik tradition called bhāvanā orcreative, dynamic visualization) is The Most Important Spiritual Resource. The quality of our so-called "external reality" is wholly determined by our inner state since the world is nothing but an appearance within Consciousness! As such, interiorized practices like this are so wonderful for refining our inner state and aligning it with the Absolute.

But Mānasa-pūjā is also very helpful in the context of Kālī sādhana for doing things like Substituting the Pañcamakāras, Forbidden Offerings & also for  Substituting Animal Sacrifice & Other Transgressive Offerings in Kālī Worship for those whose temperament might not lean this way and who might still want to participate somehow in these more vīra-bhāva-esque practices that come with the territory. 

So having given so many lectures now on the beauty and importance of mānasa-pūjā, I wanted to spend a little time in this talk reminding us why external rituals are also so important! After all, Tantra is essentially, ritualism! 

Often, when we understand something of interior worship, we might become very quick to dismiss external forms! And in truth, this is also a valid approach and this what the Samaya-marga or "right hand path" in Tantra tries to do. And in one sense, the Kaula marga is more likely to emphasize externals since in the Kaula view, the "external" is nothing but God embodied! 

And since we tend to lean towards the latter approach in our community, I first present some arguments for the importance of externals before presenting two very important techniques in tantra that complement external worship: substitution and interiorization!

Jai Mā!

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Almost all of us have so man hang-ups lurking in our psyche. Whether through religious indoctrination or societal conditioning of any sort, most of us carry around a strong sense of duality that distinguishes between pure & impure, holy & unholy, right & wrong, good & bad etc. Often we feel like we are dirty or sinful or broken and in need of growth, healing and liberation which we often think we can get through spirituality. And correspondingly, most spiritual traditions take up a kind dualistic vision of the universe which distinguishes the Transcendent principle (i.e God) from the Immanent principle (the world). According to these transcendentalist traditions, the former is the goal that we are practicing towards and the latter is often seen as a debased obstacle to be scorned, avoided and ultimately overcome.

In stark contrast to this is the non-dual Tāntrik view which embraces everything as Divine. God is the world and the world is God for only God is. As such, there is no sense of pure or impure, right or wrong, holy or unholy, good or bad or any other kind of dichotomy in this view since everything is through and through God, or śiva (i.e a blessing). 

But this idea (what to say of the realization of this idea in your own experience) can often wreak havoc with our cherished notions of duality. Although many of us are fascinated by non-dual traditions, in truth, many of us are still scared of non-duality. And who could blame us? If we really understand what is being claimed here and if we were reality to follow through with our realization, we would naturally feel a bit reserved since all our familiar prisons of dualistic thought are destroyed! 

For a mind attached to judging others, for a mind hell-bent on duality and on abstract standards of purity, for a mind attached to rules and structures and institutions, non-duality is terrifying. And what mind isn't to some extent colored by judgement, duality and notions of purity? What mind doesn't crave structure? 

When Mā Kālī's sword flashes, aimed at our neck, we would be right to tremble at first, even if we ultimately know that it entails non-dual realization! It is only natural that we tremble. As such, here is a talk about that. 

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The one indubitable fact about my life is that I AM. Or rather, I am essentially consciousness because to be is to be aware and to be aware is to be. But what is the nature of that Consciousness? We argue in our tradition that this Conscious Self which I feel myself to be is really one and the same with God, Śiva and that

I am not at all merely localized to this contraction of limited body-mind-personality but that I am, in truth, all-pervasively present in all things as all things. And more than that, I am not only immanent in all things, I also transcend them all! I am full and empty, everything and nothing.

What then do we make of insentience? If I, the sentient Self am all, then are all things sharing in my sentience? Are jugs and pieces of cloth sentient? Is the AI sentient? In fact, are cats and other people even sentient?! (i.e the problem of the philosophical zombie). And if I am all things, then why do I feel like only this one thing (namely this body and this mind)? How do you explain my jīva-tva (my littleness) when in fact I am śiva (the all-pervasive transcendent-immanent Absolute.) 

This is a really profound and beautiful question to ask because it takes us to the very heart of non-dual Śaivism! As such, on this third Monday of the sacred month of śrāvana, I present you with this discussion on the lofiest and most refined ideas of the Śaiva non-dual transmission, as part of our Paramārthasāra, Abhinava Gupta series. 

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Who or What is Kali?

According to Abhinava Gupta , Kālī is: 

क्षेपो ज्ञानं च संख्यां गतिनाद इति क्रमात्। 

कल्लनां कुर्वती काली कर्षिणीत्यभिधीयते। 

She who projects, She who knows, She who delimits, She who vibrates, She who is resonance and She who is process She who imagines, She who acts, She who devours (i.e reabsorbs)....this is verily Kālī 

In other words, Kālī is that resonant, dynamic One from Whom the world is projected outward, articulated and known and into Whom it is reabsorbed in a constant simultaneity of unfolding! 

But what does that mean? And what does Kālī have to do with Śakti and what is Śakti to Śiva? Is there such a thing as a Śākta (worshipper of Devī) distinct from Śaivism? 

In trying to approach some of these questions, we discuss one of my favorite topics: yoginīs, mātrikās & cremation ground deities! 

As our śrāvana festivities and practices intensify with the passing weeks, there is a rising fervor and I am feeling rather inspired to explore the cremation ground roots of our Śaiva heritage, to make a few historical points about Ati Margins and about Kāpālikās and about what they discovered, understanding it all within the wider philosophical context of Somānanda's presentation of Śiva as primordial dynamic Consciousness, inseparable from Śakti, the pentadof powers! (cit, ānanda, icchā, jñāna, kriyā etc.) 

This union of Śiva + Powers (i.e puissance or latency or agency or dyanmism) is what we call Kālī and this is what I hope to explore with you a little bit today in class!

According to Shiti Kanttha in Mahānāya Prakāśa: 

एवं आधौ एव शक्तिः स्पन्दनशीला 

बहिर्विषयोन्मुखी व्यापिनीभावेन सृष्ट्युपदेशभाजनम्...। 

एकैव चिन्नीलाधवाभासरूपा 

अस्थिरहठगवती कुलैव पश्चात्प्रतिसंहतस्वभावा 

अग्राग्रागमिप्रसरत्सहजरूपा लक्ष्यते, 

सोऽयं निरुपाधौ चित्स्फायादुपाधिकृतो भेदः। 

Verily is She is the Primordial Pulsation, inclined towards externality, the all-pervasive receptacle of emission and wisdom. She alone is the Pure Awareness in which shines experiences like the colour blue etc. Dyanmic and forcefully flowing into externality, She is verily "Kula" (the embodied universe) and yet afterwards, she withdraws it back into her nature. Her spotaneous nature is found at the very edge of arising experience. Duality arises in Her when there are limiting adjuncts but in truth She shines non-differently!

Shiva = Kali, as in Shiti Kanttha:

शिवस्वभावैव शक्तिः न वस्त्वन्तरम्,

इत्येकम् एव शिवव्यपदेश्यं शक्तिव्यपदेश्यं 

च वस्तुतत्त्वं नापूर्वं किञ्चित्। 

The essential nature of Shiva is Shakti; they are is no seperate reality! That which is called "Shiva" and that which is called "Shakti" is the same thing! And this essential reality is wholly ordinary and not something bizzare! 

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Last week, on the first Monday of Śrāvana, the sacred month of Lord Śiva, we gave this exhaustive account of Śaiva Tantra in both theory and practice. 

It was indeed an exceedingly auspicious day for the worship and contemplation of that Absolute Consciousness which is our very own essence nature in which all things shine forth blissfully!

As such, I present you with this discussion on c 3 Ways to Practice With The Pañcākshari (The 5 Syllable Mantra)! 

Since we've been discussing a lot of theory and philosophy recently in our gatherings, I felt it might be good to ground it all in some practice. And what better practice than this central practice of the tradition using the central mantra that appears in the middle of the Śrī Rudram of the Yajur Veda, arguable the central Veda of the Tāntrik tradition! 

ciddṛśātmani dṛṣṭveśaṁ tyaktvā vṛttimarīcikām |
labdhvā śivapadacchāyāṁ dhyāyet pañcākṣarīṁ sudhīḥ (9)

Having seen the Lord as one's own self through the eyes of Consciousness,
Having abandoned all other modifications of the mirage-like mind &
Having reflected upon the state of śiva (i.e having taken refuge in the cooling shade of śiva, i.e having received His grace)

The wise one should meditate on the 5-syllable Mantra!

Jai Shambho!

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As you approach Mā Kālī, you will likely encounter many transgressive (and for some people of a certain temperament, even disturbing) practices. Things like animal sacrifice (Bali) and offerings of meat, fish, liquor, intoxicants and sex (pañca-makāras) are featured quite strongly in some of the primary sources on Mā Kālī & Her worship and this has created a mixture of fascination and aversion, superstition and misunderstanding and in some cases, an obstacle to approaching Mā and ultimately realizing Her. As such, in this short exposition, we say a few things about these Kaula/Vāma mārga-type offerings, picking up the thread for our last two conversations on the subject from last week: Substituting the Pañcamakāras, Forbidden Offerings & Kaula Elements in the Vijñāna-Bhairava Tantra

Jai Vāme! 

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Right now in our How To Do Tāntrik Pūjā lecture series, we're exploring the topic of Mānasa-pūjā, mental worship, the process of internalizing everything that we would otherwise be doing outwardly.

This approach is of course very, very helpful when it comes to things like pañca-makāras or even bali (animal sacrifice) because although these things are very much part of Kālī pūjā, the external observance of these things might not be appropriate in some contexts and certainly won't suit the temperament of many practitioners! 

The solution for such practitioners? Omit it/substitute it or internalize it! 

In this talk, we discuss what the pañca-makāras (the 5 forbidden offerings) are and make a points about for whom this practice could be beneficial and for whom it could, perhaps potentially be ruinous! 

Given all the fascination (as well as superstition) around this topic and of course, given its centrality in the Kaula marga and the worship of deities like Mā Kālī, it's worth taking a swipe at in a mature and grounded way! 

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Today on the very sacred and auspicious day of Nāga Pañcami, the day when we honor serpents in the holy month of śrāvana, the sacred month of Lord Śiva, I felt it would be wonderful to contemplate Mā (śakti) as the all-pervasive enlivening/animating energy that is in all things and IS all things. 

This energy or life-force is inseparable from Consciousness, the all-pervasive reality that in this tradition we call Śiva. But what does it mean to say that? In this lecture, we point to how Śiva is not just quiescent, formless, impersonal Reality but that He is always endowed with ever-free and ever-blissful self-reflection (vimarśa) which in this tradition we call Śakti (i.e Mā Kālī) and that this self-reflection manifests as the eternal triad of the powers of willing (icchā-śakti), knowing (jñāna-śakti) and doing (kriyā-śakti) which is in effect what this entire universe is! 

This universe is God reflecting on Herself; it is the blazing forth of God's enlivened energy! For God IS Herself nothing but enlivened and enlivening Energy! 

We get this very radical Śakta view that everything is alive from Somānanda, the great Tāntrik master who might have been the first to articulate, in philosophical terms, this pantheistic pan-animism of Consciousness-Energy. In this lecture I argue that Somānanda's revelation in Śiva-drshti is the foundational philosophy of Śaktism, the view that everything is Mā, living, pulsating, throbbing Power! Also, in this talk, I share some insights from a conversation I had with Pujya Swami Bhajanananda Saraswati at the Kali Mandir in Laguna Beach regarding Animism and its link to Śakta theory and practice. Pujya Swamiji proposed a diachronic approach to understanding these traditions and in this view, Śaktism might be most universal of all traditions! So we attempt to argue for this also. 

Anyway since Nāga-pañcami is also a day to contemplate Kundalinī Śakti (or the "Serpent Power" as Arthur Avalonji beautifully called Her), this discussion on Power, Vitality and Śakti in the context of Śaiva Non-Duality seemed very fitting! 

Jai Nageśvarī Devī Ki Jai! 

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What is the most important spiritual resource? Since spirituality is the process of going inward, of checking the natural inclination towards externalization, naturally, the most important thing we can learn how to do is to take responsibility for our inner world!

This is essentially what spirituality is.

When our inner world is taken care of, when our mental state is cultivated and established in the highest frequency, the outer world (which is really nothing more than an experience arising in the mind) will follow suit. The moment we sort our mind out, it seems that the whole picture changes, the outer world transforms and suddenly we understand what it means to "be the change we want to see in the world" since the world in nothing but a reflection of my own mind and to change the mind is to change the world-image that appears!

But having understood this, the next question must be: how do I take responsibility for my inner state? What tools can I use for creating an oasis of peace, joy and blessedness within which is not at all conditioned by "external" events? Of course there is a whole slew of practices and techniques for achieving this end since is the most important thing we can do I spiritual life. However, one particular practice that I wanted to highlight that is so good for just this sort of thing is mānasa pūjā, the Inner Worship of the Deity.

As such, here is another class in our How To Do Tantrik Ritual series exploring the sacred science of inner/mental worship. 

Here's the mantra we used:

hṛtpadmamāsanaṁ dadyāt sahasrāracyutāmṛtaiḥ।
pādyaṁ caraṇayordadyāt manastvarghyaṁ nivedayet॥
tenāmṛtenācamanīyaṁ snānīyaṁ tena ca smṛtam।
ākāśatattvaṁ vastraṁ syāt gandhaḥ syāt gandhatattvakam॥
cittaṁ prakalpayet puṣpaṁ dhūpaṁ prāṇān prakalpayet।
tejastattvaṁ ca dīpārthaṁ naivedyaṁ syāt sudhāmbudhiḥ॥
anāhatadhvanirghaṇṭā vāyutattvaṁ ca cāmaram।
sahasrāraṁ bhavecchatraṁ śabdatattvaṁ ca gītakam॥
nṛtyamindriyakarmāṇi cāñcalyaṁ manasastathā।
sumekhalāṁ padmamālāṁ puṣpaṁ nānāvidhaṁ tathā॥
amāyādyairbhāvapuṣpairarcayet bhāvagocaram।
amāyamanahaṅkāramarāgamamadaṁ tathā॥
amohakamadambhaṁ ca adveṣākṣobhakau tathā।
amātsaryamalobhaṁ ca daśapuṣpaṁ vidurbudhāḥ॥
ahiṁsā paramaṁ puṣpaṁ puṣpamindriyanigrahaḥ।
dayāpuṣpaṁ kṣamāpuṣpaṁ jñānapuṣpaṁ ca pañcamam॥
iti pañcadaśairbhāvapuṣpaiḥ sampūjayet śivām॥

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