For the Love of Yoga with Nish the Fish

In this special satsangh, we host our mentor and dear friend Pujya Swami Bhajanananda Saraswati of the Kali Mandir, the foremost authority here on the West Coast and perhaps in the world on all things Kali, Tantra and Puja. 

Some years ago, I asked Pujya Swami Bhajanananda Saraswati at the Kali Mandir in Laguna a beach: “why is it that some people say worshipping Kālī is dangerous?” He said in his characteristic warmth and humor something to the effect of: “worshipping Kali is like mac and cheese. I love Mac and cheese. But if some people eat it, they’ll die!” 
We laughed for a little while and then he proceeded to carefully point out the differences between a Bhakti practice and a properly Tantrik one in approaching Mā. 

I tell you this story to give you some sense of what kind of teacher Swami Bhajanandaji is: indescribably profound and yet simple, grounded, direct and honest; seriously funny; academically rigorous yet supremely practical…ah how rare is such a person in this world! 
Most importantly, he is an expert ritualist and so is uniquely able to transmit the Tantras from within the tradition.
And now we have the wonderful good fortune of grilling him with questions! Hearing from him is an opportunity that no sincere student of our āgamas would ever want to miss! 

In a world where the principle Goddesses of the Tantras like Kālī and Tripura Sundarī have moved into a broader devotional context and have attracted a wider audience who for the most part are befuddled by the twilight language of the primary texts, confounded by misinformation and mischief on the internet and bored by the dry academic speculations of secondary sources who take the philosophies out of their original ritual context, Swamis Bhajananandaji and Ambikanandaji and Usha Devī’s Kali Mandir are guiding lights of inestimable value. 
Usha Devī and Swamis Bhajanandaji and Ambikanandaji have been our teachers and dear friends for years now and if ever I have imparted to you any cool Tantrik secrets, I probably got it from them!

Check out their work at the Kali Mandir, a temple of the awakened Kali here:
https://www.kalimandir.org/

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

For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at:
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To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM

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

Today on this auspicious Friday (Fridays are very sacred to Tripura Devī) I'd like to offer you who are the embodiment of Devī these reflections on Lalitā and the Lalitā Sahasranāma. We gave this talk on a Friday on Lalitā Jayanti earlier this year as a sort of preamble before our Paramārthasāra lecture. May it inspire you to chant the thousand names of Beauty and Power Personified!
Jai Tripura Devī 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

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

00:00:00 Opening Invocations
00:01:54 Auspicious Days in Hinduism: Full Moons and New Moons and Ashtamis
00:06:20 Who is Lalitā? (An aside on the different schools of Devī Tantra)
00:11:40 The Thousand Names of Lalitā (Sahasranāma)
00:16:00 Lalitā in the context of Kaula Trika Tantrism (Kundalinī)
00:22:24 Lalitā Origin Story (Bandhāsura's Slaying)
00:28:00 Why Lust is Helpful in Spiritual Life
00:30:50 Who are Devas and Asuras (Gods and Demons) Really?

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

On the auspicious occasion of Hanuman Jayanti today, we say a few words about Tapasvī Rāja from a Tantrik point of view. Since Hanuman, the Son of the Wind, is Prāna embodied, we say a few words about the Five Faced Hanuman with regards to the five types of prāna. Then, we talk about siddhis, yogic powers and how Hanuman embodies the proper use and place of siddhis in genuine spiritual life. Most of all, we discuss our ideal of Bhakti: devotion from a place of strength and fullness and not from a place of fear or lack which Hanuman exemplifies perfectly. Here we make a few notes as to how one might attain this state of perfected Bhakti. The most interesting part of this talk to me though is the comparison we make between Hanuman and Swami Vivekanandaji. We close it all of with a rendition of Tulsi Das' Hanuman Chaleesa by our beloved Satyaji. 
 
Jai Mahavīraji ki Jai! 

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

Why does God look like a lion riding woman with ten arms holding various weapons slaying a buffalo demon on the field of battle?
Why does God look like a ash besmeared yogi on the tiger-skin mat telling his beads in the highest reaches of the Himālayas?
Why does look like a flute playing mischievous boy who steals the hearts of cowherd-girls?
Or does God "look" like anything at all?

Some schools of Indian philosophy insist that God is formless and impersonal (Advaita Vedanta, Buddhism etc.) and others that God is a person but is formless (Abrahamic faiths etc.) and yet others that God has a form and a particular form at that (Most forms of Vaishnavism, some forms of Shaivism and Shaktism etc.).

Ramakrishna's position with regards to these is most radical: he insists that God is all of the above and so much more besides!

At any rate, in this lecture I try to make a case for God with form. Since God is both formless and with form, it might be better for us, given our mind's predilection for form, to work with the latter! Those of you who are committed to the formless (which is also perfect and valid!), give me a chance to convince you! This lecture happened around the Fall Navaratri last year, I think!

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

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

Chaitra Navaratri (the Spring Goddess Festival) is about to come up in only a few days! To usher in these coming 9 nights of the Goddess, I wanted to upload this throwback to the Fall Goddess Festival last year when we had a wonderful discussion on the intersection between art and spirituality, and specifically, on the role of aesthetics (poetry, music, dance, theatre, sculpture, visual art etc.) in the very refined and rich world of Tantrik spirituality. When I was cleaning out. my hard drives I came upon this lecture and couldn't believe that I hadn't uploaded it yet! But I suppose Mā was saving it for the Spring and for Chaitra Navaratri! In any case, here you go! May Mā illumine us. 

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

One of the central questions we ask in spiritual life is, "what about sexuality?"
 
On one side of the spectrum you have world-negative traditions (which seem to be in the majority in classical times and whose effects can still be felt today) which reject sexuality wholesale and on the other side of that same spectrum you have world-affirming traditions that often get abused as a license for hedonism, mitigating greatly their spiritual value. This second type seems to be on the rise in todays consumerist culture (no surprise there: sex sells!) and this often gets linked to Tantra. So then:

Is Tantra really about sex? Like not at all? Not even a little bit?
Well, the answer is both yes and no. The answer is very nuanced. 

And in this discussion, Mā willing, I hope to explore that nuance in several ways. This discussion will take us into the heart of Vedic culture, into the Upanishads, into the Candi, into the Tantras and into the traditions around the Goddess and so I felt like it would be a perfect lecture of this auspicious second day of Navarātri!

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

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

We haven't missed a single Monday night satsangh since we started in 2020. That's a four year streak for our community? Isn't that wonderful? Thank you all for your continued support over the years! 
Anyway, we had a bit of a close call the other day since due to some circumstances, I was not able to start the lecture until 11:30pm that Monday night! Here is the late night "after hours" lecture that saved our streak:

This talk was given on special day, a day that marks the anniversary of my grandfather, my first guru kicking the mortal coil which also incidentally happened to be  the birthday of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsadev by tithi puja (moon calendar)!
And not to mention we are still vibrating off the buzz of the shiva Ratri festivities! 

As such, in this lecture, we say a few words about these things.
Thank you all who came even though it was so late at night.

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

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

On the occasion of Maha Shiva Ratri 2024, the great night of Shiva, we say a few words about the central mantra of Shaivism known as the Panchakshara. First, we explain the mystical significance of "akshara", phonemes (Sanskrit letters) and then we consider the esoteric significance of the number 5 in Shaivism, in a few different ways. Then, we put this all together to explain the hidden meaning of the Panchakshara mantra and conclude by commenting upon and ultimately rocking out to the Panchakshara Stotram.

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

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 talk on the occasion of mahashivaratri 2024, we say a few words about the Tantra in general, the Vijñāna-Bhairava Tantra in particular and Shiva puja in theory and practice. What do we do on shivaratri and why do we do it? We discuss the unique and wonderful features of Shiva Puja. May this be my offering to you, you who are Shiva embodied. 

OM Namah Shivayah!

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

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

Not only was it just Swami Vivekananda’s birthday weekend but also at the time of this lecture it was the anniversary of the composition of Abhinavagupta’s Bhairava Stava, one of my favorite non dual hymns of all time!

As such we’ll celebrate by exploring Swamiji’s highest, edgiest most powerful non dual teachings and more importantly his advice on how to live them alongside a running commentary on the Bhairava Stava!

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

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

00:00:00 Opening Invocations
00:00:35 Swamiji's Edgiest Teachings and Emphasis on Jñāna
00:05:09 Swamiji's Central Message to the West: Religion is Realization
00:08:00 Bhairava Stava of Abhinava Gupta which was composed on this day around 993 AD
00:15:00 How Jñāna-Yoga, the "Direct Path", Works: Shankara Vedanta vs Ramanuja Vedanta vs Vivekananda Vedanta
00:30:25 How Ramakrishna trained Vivekananda to be a Non-Dualist
00:35:45 A Direct Path Teaching for Instant Awakening Here and Now: You Are God, Here's Proof.
00:58:00 How To Practice Jñāna-Yoga: Hearing, Contemplating, Meditating and Stubornness!
01:06:13 Vivekananda's Tantrik Non-Duality: The Power of Consciousness
01:09:22 Real Devotion and Worshipping Kālī as Non-Dual practice.

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