For the Love of Yoga with Nish the Fish

In this talk, we take up Swami Vivekananda's very powerful reflections on Bhakti Yoga, the practice of Devotion from the talk "Definition of Bhakti" which appears in Volume III of the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. Then, after making a few comments about it, we plunge into a Q&A session exploring broader themes in spiritual life. 
But first we open with some remarks about the three types of Navarātri or Goddess festivals in the calendar year!
Enjoy! 

Lectures happen live on zoom every Monday at 7pm PST and Friday 10am PST and Friday at 6pm PST.  There's Q&A right after the lectures. 
It is free and open to the public. All are welcome!
Use this link and I will see you there:
https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815
Our hatha yoga class is Monday 5pm PST with Amrita and Wednesdays at 11am PST and again at Friday 5pm PST with me via this same link also.

For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at:
https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish

To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM

Hit Me Up x

Support the show

Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST 
Use this link and I will see you there:
https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815

For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at:
https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish

To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM

Sādhanā, spiritual practie is an expression of your innate freedom and not some desperate attempt to attain it! Many people have such a sour face when they are sitting for meditation. How strange! Are you not meditating on the Divine Effulgence within? Are you not meditating on Bliss Itself embodied as your Ishta Devī, your chosen form of God? Shouldn't your face then be beaming with joy?! For many, spiritual life is a bitter struggle but that's only because we often approach things in the wrong way, founded upon a misunderstanding about why we are doing spiritual practice in the first place. 
In this talk, we offer a few ways to keep spiritual life fun, engaging and interesting so you can become increasingly absorbed in the endless joy of the life divine!

PS: we gave this talk in Jayanti and Jayanta's beautiful home shrine in Zurich. Behind me you can seen Sarvesvarī Kālī who was awakened on the new moon (mahālaya) of the recent Chaitra Navaratri. 
May this talk be an offering at Her Lotus Feet.

Jai Mā Sarveshvarī Kālī ki Jai!

Lectures happen live on zoom every Monday at 7pm PST and Friday 10am PST and Friday at 6pm PST.  There's Q&A right after the lectures. 
It is free and open to the public. All are welcome!
Use this link and I will see you there:
https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815
Our hatha yoga class is Monday 5pm PST with Amrita and Wednesdays at 11am PST and again at Friday 5pm PST with me via this same link also.

For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at:
https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish

To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM

If you'd like to support us, you can do so here:
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/jaimakali

Hit Me Up x

Support the show

Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST 
Use this link and I will see you there:
https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815

For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at:
https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish

To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM

This lecture was given on the exceedingly special day of Gāyatrī Jayanti, the day we celebrate not only the most important Goddess of the ancient Vedic tradition but also the most famous mantra to have ever come out of India. In this video, we make a few comments about caste in the Vedic world, the "twice-born" dīkshā into the Gāyatrī, the democratization and popularization of the mantra by reformers and of course gloss the mantra and its meaning along non-dual lines and make some Tantrik interpolations about it. 

ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः
तत्स॑वि॒तुर्वरे॑ण्यं॒
भर्गो॑ दे॒वस्य॑ धमह।
धियो॒ यो नः परचो॒दया॑त्॥

oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ
tat savitur vareṇyaṃ
bhargo devasya dhīmahi
dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt

Ṛgveda 03.062.10

"OM I dissolve my intellect in my own Self, that Supreme Light, the splendour of all the gods in Whom arises the three worlds! May She guide me from within!"

Lectures happen live on zoom every Monday at 7pm PST and Friday 10am PST and Friday at 6pm PST.  There's Q&A right after the lectures. 
It is free and open to the public. All are welcome!
Use this link and I will see you there:
https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815
Our hatha yoga class is Monday 5pm PST with Amrita and Wednesdays at 11am PST and again at Friday 5pm PST with me via this same link also.

For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at:
https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish

To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM

Hit Me Up x

Support the show

Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST 
Use this link and I will see you there:
https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815

For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at:
https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish

To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM

This morning I saw this little clip from the black and white Bengali movie "Sadhak Kamalakanta" on YouTube and it inspired me to say a few words on the Tantrik approach to meditation. Here is the mantra that was chanted in the video and that we used for the meditation:

dhyānam

oṁ krīṁ karālavadanāṁ ghorāṁ muktakeśīṁ caturbhujām।
kālikāṁ dakṣiṇāṁ divyāṁ muṇḍamālāvibhūṣitām॥1॥

sadyaśchinnaśiraḥkhaḍgavāmādhordhvakarāmbujām।
abhayaṁ varadaṁ caiva dakṣiṇordhvādhaḥ pāṇikām॥2॥

mahāmeghaprabhāṁ śyāmāṁ tathā caiva digambarīm। 
kaṇṭhāvasaktamuṇḍālīgaladrudhiracarcitām॥3॥

karṇāvataṁsatānītaśavayugmabhayānakām।
ghoradaṁṣṭrāṁ karālāsyāṁ pīnonnatapayodharām॥4॥

śavānāṁ karasaṅghātaiḥ kṛtakāñcīṁ hasanmukhīm।
sṛkkadvayagaladraktadhārāvisphuritānanām॥5॥

ghorarāvāṁ mahāraudrīṁ śmaśānālayavāsinīm। 
bālārkamaṇḍalākāra-locanatritayānvitām॥6॥ 

danturāṁ dakṣiṇavyāpimuktālambikacoccayām।
śavarūpamahādevahṛdayoparisaṁsthitām॥7॥

śivābhirghorarāvābhiścaturdikṣu samanvitām। 
mahākālena ca samaṁ viparītaratāturām॥8॥ 

sukhaprasannavadanāṁ smerānanasaroruhām।
evaṁ sañcintayet kālīṁ dharmakāmārthamokṣadām॥9॥(siddhidām)

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Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST 
Use this link and I will see you there:
https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815

For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at:
https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish

To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM

This is a very important discussion regarding our backstory as Kali worshippers in the West. How is it that we are all of us in this room right now, hearing this lecture and resonating with its ideas? How did we come to worship Kali and practice Tantra, especially those of us who grew up in the West? Isn't this a profound mystery and blessing that we find ourselves here in this place at this time? How did this strange and miraculous phenomena come to be? Who brought Kālī to us? In answering this question, I'd like to trace the current upsurgence of Kali worship in the world all the way back to a moment on 31st May 1855. Since this lecture was given on Snān Yatra, the anniversary of this significant day, we say a few words about Rani Rasmani, Ramakrishna, Vivekananda and of course Mā Bhavatārini Kālī of Dakshineshwar. 

Lectures happen live on zoom every Monday at 7pm PST and Friday 10am PST and Friday at 6pm PST.  There's Q&A right after the lectures. 
It is free and open to the public. All are welcome!
Use this link and I will see you there:
https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815
Our hatha yoga class is Monday 5pm PST with Amrita and Wednesdays at 11am PST and again at Friday 5pm PST with me via this same link also.

For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at:
https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish

To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM

Hit Me Up x

Support the show

Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST 
Use this link and I will see you there:
https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815

For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at:
https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish

To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM

About a month ago, we celebrated Dhūmāvatī Jayanti. Of the 10 esoteric forms of Kālī known as the Daśamahavidyās, Dhūmāvati, the widow is perhaps the most mysterious, misunderstood and feared of all the Tantrik Goddesses.

She bears a striking resemblance to the Morrigan and the Cailleach in Gaelic/Celtic traditions and her dhyāna mantra (presented below) might remind you of the (albeit often somewhat cartoonish) caricature of the "witch" you find at department stores around Hallowe'en. No coincidence there!

In this video, we talk all about this and more! Also: Before we gave our lecture on just who this mysterious Tantrik Goddess is and what she represents, we first went and performed her worship using her dhyāna mantra (presented below) in a guided meditation.
You can practice that here.

विवर्णकुन्तला रूक्षा विधवा विरलद्विजा ॥
काकध्वजरथारूढा विलम्बितपयोधरा ।
शूर्पहस्तातिरूक्षाक्षी धृतहस्ता वरान्विता ॥
प्रवृद्धघोणा तु भृशं कुटिला कुटिलेक्षणा ।
क्षुत्पिपासार्दिता नित्यं भयदा कलहप्रिया ॥

Pale and restless, irritable and old
Clad in soiled garments
Pale-haired, dry-skinned
A widow with few teeth
Mounted atop a chariot whose flag is a crow
With drooping breasts and surpassingly cruel eyes
Who holds a winnowing basket
Who shows the boon bestowing gesture
A crone with crooked nose and crooked eyes
Who is always hungry and thirsty, quarrelsome and fearsome.

Lectures happen live on zoom every Monday at 7pm PST and Friday 10am PST and Friday at 6pm PST.  There's Q&A right after the lectures. 
It is free and open to the public. All are welcome!
Use this link and I will see you there:
https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815
Our hatha yoga class is Monday 5pm PST with Amrita and Wednesdays at 11am PST and again at Friday 5pm PST with me via this same link also.

For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at:
https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish

To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM

Hit Me Up x

Support the show

Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST 
Use this link and I will see you there:
https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815

For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at:
https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish

To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM

The Ultimate Reality is beyond time, all pervasive, formless and inexpressible. 
And YET in the day to day practice of Tantra, there are certain times, places, forms and words (mantras) that are considered to be especially sacred. 
How is that? 
Is it not a paradox to say that the One Eternal Reality which is everywhere and all the time immediately available is "more" available at this or that time, in this or that place? 
In this very deep discussion (if I may say so), we talk about the best times and places for practice (especially for the worship of Mā Kālī) while explaining carefully, in a direct-path pointing sort of way, the timeless and all pervasive nature of Consciousness.

This class is part of a lecture series on puja, a step by step, mantra by mantra guide to daily tantrik worship of any deity, with a focus on Kali. You can watch the previous lectures in this series here:
https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815

And of course, you can always come to the live puja classes which happen every Thursday at 6:30pm PST via this link:
https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815

Lectures happen live on zoom every Monday at 7pm PST and Friday 10am PST and Friday at 6pm PST.  There's Q&A right after the lectures. 
It is free and open to the public. All are welcome!
Use this link and I will see you there:
https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815
Our hatha yoga class is Monday 5pm PST with Amrita and Wednesdays at 11am PST and again at Friday 5pm PST with me via this same link also.

For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at:
https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish

To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM

Hit Me Up x

Support the show

Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST 
Use this link and I will see you there:
https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815

For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at:
https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish

To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM

With the changing of the seasons, there is a particular kind of Prānā available. Usually in the summer, with longer days and freer schedules, and generally uplifted moods, many are now ready to plunge into deeper, more meaningful Sādhanā (spiritual practice).

This is also true of the winter when there is more time indoors and all of nature seems to conspire with you for inward-ness, contemplation and reflection.

And what to say of the monsoon seasons where the raw power of Mā Kālī dancing as the storms forces you to consider what is eternal amidst all that is changing around you!

 नौमि देवीं शरीरस्थां नृत्यतो भैरवाकृतेः।
प्रावृण्मेघघनव्योमविद्युल्लेखाविलासिनीम्॥३॥

Naumi devīṁ śarīrasthāṁ nṛtyato bhairavākṛteḥ|
Prāvṛṇ-megha-ghana-vyoma-vidyul-lekhā-vilāsinīm ||3|| 

Salutations to that Goddess, the pure energy that abides in the body of the dancing Śiva who is playful and beautiful like a streak of lighting flashing across the cloudy sky in the monsoon season!

With all of that said, in this lectures we will focus on “how to practice” and the foundations for a spiritual practice along the lines of the Four Yogas of Swami Vivekananda. I will share a few simple techniques and practices that my teachers have passed down to me with a reflection on Śaktipāta from Abhinava Gupta to give you everything you need to get your practice going or to revitalize a practice that might have fallen to the wayside or even just to refresh yourself on the foundations of Sādhanā so that you may energize and enliven an already thriving practice.

My prayer is that this lecture will meet you where you are in your spiritual life and inspire you to intensify your practice whether you are a beginner or a long time practitioner!

Happy Summer to our friends in the Northern Hemisphere and Happy Winter to those in the Southern Hemisphere and Happy Monsoon Season to those in the tropical parts of the world!
May you become increasingly absorbed in spiritual practices and find more and more joy in them! May you be aflame with awakened Consciousness!

Jai Mā

Lectures happen live on zoom every Monday at 7pm PST and Friday 10am PST and Friday at 6pm PST.  There's Q&A right after the lectures. 
It is free and open to the public. All are welcome!
Use this link and I will see you there:
https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815
Our hatha yoga class is Monday 5pm PST with Amrita and Wednesdays at 11am PST and again at Friday 5pm PST with me via this same link also.

For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at:
https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish

To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM

Hit Me Up x

Support the show

Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST 
Use this link and I will see you there:
https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815

For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at:
https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish

To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM

Today is a personally special day for me: the birthday of Mahāmaheśvarācharya Rājānaka Abhinavaguptapada, the foremost Shaiva philosopher-saint of our Kaula Trika tradition!

Abhinava Gupta is, in my opinion, the brightest mind and the biggest heart India has ever produced and the most brilliant philosopher the world has ever seen, on par with Shankara and the Buddha. Importantly, there are striking parallels between  Abhinava Gupta's theistic, devotional non-dualism and that of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. In this lecture, we do a brief biographical sketch of this great master and point out some of the things that make him so admirable and important and above all, relevant for the needs of modern day spiritual aspirants. 

May this be an offering placed lovingly at his feet, he who is Bhairava incarnate. 

विमलकलाश्रयाभिनवसृष्टिमहा जननी 
भरिततनुश्च पञ्चमुखगुप्तरुचिर्जनकः।
तदुभययामलस्फुरितभावविसर्गमयं 
हृदयमनुत्तरामृतकुलं मम संस्फुरतात्॥१॥

Vimala-kalāśrāyabhinava-srsti-mahājananī
Bharita-tanuś ca pañca-mukha-gupta-rucir janakah
Tad-ubhaya-yāmala-sphurita-bhāva-visarga-mayam
hrdayam anuttarāmrta-kulam mama samsphuratāt  (1)

May my heart, filled with the nectar of the embodied Absolute, which has emerged from the ecstatic union of the Mother who is the radiant and pure ground of ever new creation and the Father who is the five faced Shiva ever expressing and delighting Himself in that creation shine forth! 

Lectures happen live on zoom every Monday at 7pm PST and Friday 10am PST and Friday at 6pm PST.  There's Q&A right after the lectures. 
It is free and open to the public. All are welcome!
Use this link and I will see you there:
https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815
Our hatha yoga class is Monday 5pm PST with Amrita and Wednesdays at 11am PST and again at Friday 5pm PST with me via this same link also.

For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at:
https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish

To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM

Hit Me Up x

Support the show

Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST 
Use this link and I will see you there:
https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815

For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at:
https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish

To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM

In this lecture, we discuss one of the main purposes of Aghora Sādhana by referring to the “8 fetters” from the Pashupata Sutra to explain the cremation ground practices of the early Shaivas. I’m going to explain the value and meaning behind these practices which often get seen with disgust some circles and with a morbid fascination in others! Whether we are averse to this aspect of Tantra or attracted to it, that we are fascinated by it is undeniable. And as such: after having thoroughly investigated the purpose of such sādhanas, I want to give you a few "Aghora" practices you can immediately apply. 

उपायजालं न शिवं प्रकाशयेद्घटेन किं भाति सहस्रदीधितिः।
विवेचयन्नित्थमुदारदर्शनः स्वयम्प्रकाशं शिवमाविशेत्क्षणात्॥६॥

Upāyajālaṁ na śivaṁ prakāśayedghaṭena kiṁ bhāti sahasradīdhitiḥ|
Vivecayannitthamudāradarśanaḥ svayamprakāśaṁ śivamāviśetkṣaṇāt || 6

“The various techniques and practices cannot reveal Shiva! Does a pot illumine the thousand rays of the sun? By thus discerning, in a single instant, the broad-minded aspirant becomes absorbed in Śiva who is one's own Self-luminosity!" 

Lectures happen live on zoom every Monday at 7pm PST and Friday 10am PST and Friday at 6pm PST.  There's Q&A right after the lectures. 
It is free and open to the public. All are welcome!
Use this link and I will see you there:
https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815
Our hatha yoga class is Wednesdays at 11am PST and again at Friday 5pm PST via this same link also.

For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at:
https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish

To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM

Hit Me Up x

Support the show

Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST 
Use this link and I will see you there:
https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815

For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at:
https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish

To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM