Kashmir (Trika) Shaivism

Primary Saiva and Sakta Schools

Saiva and Sakta Foundations

You need an icon or a deity – you can have a small statue of bronze or brass, a śiva-liṅga stone, a crystal representing the presence of the divine, or virtually any other representation of divinity that is central on your altar.

Begin with the water offering.

oṁ vaṁ amṛtam udakaṃ samārpayāmi

A water offering is optional, but if you make a water offering, then you can collect the water, which is now consecrated, blessed water, and you can drink it as an offering from the goddess, from the deity to you.

Next we have flower offerings. 

oṁ huṁ puṣpaṃ samārpayāmi  

oṁ huṁ puṣpaṃ samārpayāmi  

oṁ huṁ puṣpaṃ samārpayāmi 

Next we have the incense offering, you can optionally ring a bell while you offer incense. When you light the incense, always wave out the flame, never blow it out.

oṁ yaṁ dhūpaṃ samārpayāmi 

Then we have a flame offering, and you might repeat that mantra a couple more times to really bask in the offering.

oṁ raṁ dīpaṃ samārpayāmi

oṁ raṁ dīpaṃ samārpayāmi

oṁ raṁ dīpaṃ samārpayāmi 

And finally, the food offering.

oṁ laṁ naivedyaṃ nivedayāmi

Once all the offerings have been made, representing all the elements – water for water element; flowers for space element; incense for wind element; flame for flame element; and food for earth element – you might just sit quietly for a few moments and then consume the food and water as a gift from the goddess, as blessed prasād, pure grace in the form of, in this case, apple and water.

We have come to the end of the first module of our deity yoga facet. You have been introduced to various deities, and are ready to select one to do sādhanā with.

There are a couple of different ways that you can do your deity sādhanā:

• You can do the sādhanā of your chosen deity every day for one lunar cycle, that’s about 29 days (from new moon to new moon or full moon to full moon);
• Or you can do the sādhanā of your chosen deity once a week for a year;
• Or you can do the sādhanā of your chosen deity once a week for as many weeks as you are old. 

These are all valid options and if you do choose the once-a-week option, you can also do the sādhanā as often as you feel like it, such as twice a week or three times a week, as long as it’s at least once a week. 

When you’re engaging in the sādhanā of a deity from the course you can repeat their mūla mantra, 108 times a day in one or two sittings. You can repeat their mūla mantra while gazing at their yantra. You gaze into the center of it with the eyes in soft focus, while you do one mālā. This is not required, as you can also do mantra repetition with your eyes closed. In addition, you can do the meditation practice you’ve learned here in the deity yoga facet; working with the recording until you have it memorized. 

While you are doing the sādhanā of a particular deity, learn as much as you can about them, reading all the books you can get your hands on; learn their different names, and how to sing their different mantras or hymns. 

Do not share or teach others the mantras you learn in this facet but you can share your enthusiasm for a deity. When you undeniably experience the fruit of the sādhanā, then you may be qualified to pass teachings on to others 

You may also want to engage with or become familiar with the animal ally or vāhana of your deity (swan for Sarasvatī, brahminy bull for Śiva, rat or bandicoot for Ganesh, etc.). Not all deities have vāhanas, but most do. 

The last element is pūjā – we’ve included a pūjā video with the mantras and offerings to a particular goddess in the form of a crystal ball. Your locus of offering can be a statue of the chosen deity, a yantra, or a smooth polished surface where you imagine the yantra of your chosen deity (if you’ve memorized it). When you do the sādhanā, you should have a stated goal, a saṃkalpa, and invoke this saṃkalpaevery time you do pūjā. In the video there are several mantras spoken and you simply substitute the bīja mantra of whatever deity you are working with (e.g. SHRĪM for Lakṣmī, AIM for Sarasvatī, etc.) and there are five or six offerings that go with those mantras. 

You don’t have to bring in all of these elements into your sādhanā from day one, you can start simpler and then add in more elements as you go along to increase the power of the sādhanā. 

It is a truly powerful and beautiful experience to commit to deity sādhanā; for a month or a year or longer. It can happen after a while of doing sādhanā of a particular deity, you may receive a sign that the sādhanā is working. For example, someone may give you a gift that features an image of the animal ally of that particular deity, or you might have a dream in which there is some sort of sign of the deity, or its color might keep showing up, etc.

Amriteshvara Practice

Amriteshvara

Kali Practice

Kali

Durga Practice

Durga