For the Love of Yoga with Nish the Fish

As part our How To Do Tantrik Pūjā [https://www.patreon.com/collection/233799], we now start discussing the next moment in our puja-krama, sequence of worship: Gaṇeśa puja! This a bit like a talk we gave some time back called We'll go over the necessary nyāsa, dhyāna, pūjā and pranāmah mantras in the next class for a more detailed worship but in this talk, I just wanted to say a few things about Pauranic vs Vedic Gaṇeśa and discuss Tantrik Gaṇeśawith reference to Mūlādhāra Chakra and our embodied being to contextualize why its so important to get his blessing before beginning any Tāntrik sādhanās. Mainly, we go over the importance of the body in spiritual life, and the symbology of Gaṇeśa's meditation mantra:  oṁ kharvaṁ sthūlatanuṁ gajendra-vadanaṁ lambodaraṁ sundaraṁ prasyandan-mada-gandha-lubdha-madhupa-vyālola-gaṇḍa-sthalam। dantāghāta-vidāritāri-rudhiraiḥ sindūra-śobhākaraṁ vande śailasutāsutaṁ gaṇapatiṁ siddhipradaṁ kāmadam॥ OM, I pray to Gaṇapati, Lord of the Gaṇas, Pārvatī's son, the giver of all perfecton and fulfiller of all desires, who is short and stout of build with a large belly, the beautiful elephant-faced king of the elephants surrounded by bess intoxicated by his fragrance (streaming fluids), whose cheeks are quivering with the blood of enemies torn asunder by the striking of his tusks, making him beautiful (as if) annointed with vermillion! After chanting this mantra, you can worship Gaṇeśa internally, in your heart using your imagination (māsana-pūjā) and/or you can offer a simple red flower at the feet of your picture, statue or lamp with the following mantra: oṁ gaṁ ētē gandhapuṣpē gaṇeśāya namaḥ And then, you can conclude by chanting these prayer mantras: oṁ devendramaulimandāramakarandakaṇāruṇāḥ vighnaṁ harantu heramba-caraṇāmbuja-reṇavaḥ May the red dust of the lotus like feet of Heramba Gaṇeśa, the Lord of the Gods, whose crown is adorned with the red nectar of the mandāra flower remove all obstacles! oṁ ekadantaṁ mahākāyaṁ lambodaraṁ gajānanam vighnanāśakaraṁ devaṁ herambaṁ praṇamāmyaham I bow to the divine elephant-faced, single-tusked Heramba Gaṇeśa with a large body and big belly who destroys all obstacle! oṁ sarvavighnavināśāya sarvakalyāṇahetave pārvatīpriyaputrāya gaṇeśāya namo Namah I salute that Gaṇeśa the beloved son of Pārvatī, the destroyer of all obstacles and the cause of all auspiciousness. Jai Śrī Heramba Gaṇeśa Ki Jai! Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish] Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and Friday 10am PST and again Friday at 6pm 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 krishna-ekadaśi (11th day of the waning moon) right before Phalahārinī Pūjā is known as the Apara-ekadaśi and it coincides with Bhadrakālī Jayanti, the celebration of Mā in her "auspicious" form. While the word "Bhadra" (which can be both a noun and an adjective) means something like "auspicious", "noble", "protectress" etc. we have to ask: what does that really mean? Is this a gentle (saumya) form of Kālī as contrasted with how She is usually depicted in Her smaśāna/ghora (cremation ground/fierce) form? Or do we just have to update our understanding of the word "auspicious" to include even those aspects of life that the mind rejects? In this talk, we read excerpts from Swami Vivekananda's Bengali poem to Kālĩ "And Let Shyāma Dance There" we we learn about the Worship of the Terrible and Mā's Non-Dual, All-Inclusive Form which will radically change the way we understand "auspicious"-ness in the context of spiritual life. Also, we tell some stories from the Puranas to make the case that Vīra-bhadra, in the well-known immolation of Sati/destrcution of Daksha's sacrifice story can be seen as synonymous with Bhadrakālī. Of course, I make a case as to why the latter, female version is better, theologically. This will help us understand why Mā in many of her sahasranāmas stotravalis (thousand names hymns) is called "Daksha-yajña-vināśinī", the one who destroys Daksha's sacrifice. May this be an offering to Her, the auspicious one, who destroys all false ideas and tears down all pretense! PS: here [https://www.patreon.com/collection/266524] is a playlist (our signature series, our flagship course), all of our talks on Mā. Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish] Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and Friday 10am PST and again Friday at 6pm 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

I wanted to explore the relationship between spiritual wellbeing and physical health to make the somewhat surprising claim: intense spiritual practice can sometimes compromise health! This is because, in the course of intense sādhana, Kula Kundalinī, our personal Shakti, progressively loosens its hold on the physical body. As such, in this talk I argue for the importance of Hatha Yoga practice to purify the prāna, to purify the blood and to fortify the nerves to account for this strain on the system sketched out above. Many "spiritual emergencies" might come down to just this: experiences have occured in a body ill equipped to whitstand the electrical shock of realization So we must prepare the body! I want to share with you our Kaula heritage of Hatha Yoga as articulated by the Nath Sampradāya and I want to tell you the story of Kukuripa and the black dog, arguing for the power of mantra and the allyship of Kula Kundalini. We read a little bit from the "Life of Swami Vivekananda by His Eastern and Western Disciples" towards the end! I pray this conversation inspires you to take up the study and practice of Hatha Yoga in a systematic and dedicated way! Here [https://www.patreon.com/collection/143251] is our full playlist of our Hatha Yoga classes over the years. We meet live on zoom for practice every Wednesday at 11am PST and again on Friday at 5pm PST via the house link here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7028380815 [https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7028380815] And Kuleśvarī Mā teaches Mondays at 5pm PST, Tuesdays at 3pmPST and Thursdays at 5pm PST, before the evening talks. Image from https://mydattatreya.com/matsyendranath/ [https://mydattatreya.com/matsyendranath/] Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish] Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and Friday 10am PST and again Friday at 6pm 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 was a fire Questions & Answers [https://www.patreon.com/collection/137588] discussion!  After our Monday evening talk earlier this week, we explore some of the ecological, economical, political & sociological implications of Kālī sādhana. I make a case for overcoming all guilt and shame in the quest of personal self-expression, especially for women who are so often socialized to feel that their every impulse and desire is morally and culturally problematic. We discuss what it would be like to remove all barriers to a woman's being and, for lack of a better word, wild-ness and how Kālī sādhana demands just this.  Along the same lines, we discuss the "taboo of menses": can I woman enter a temple and do sādhana during the time of her month? is there any reason behind this idea? We explore the reverence that Kaula Marga has for menses as the most potent and magical substances, with a reference to Mā' yoni in Kamakhya, Assam and Ambuvachi, when Mā bleeds. And then we compare this to the Dakshina marga or Brahmanical orthodox view that blood of all kinds is an impure and polluting substances to have a more well-rounded view of the issue across the entire spectrum of the tradition!  Such wonderful questions and rich reflections. Thank you all for coming and participating!  Jai Mā Kālī! And here [https://www.patreon.com/collection/266524] is a playlist (our signature series, our flagship course), all of our talks on Mā. Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish] Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and Friday 10am PST and again Friday at 6pm 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

Here is a brief and exultant sketch of Mā Kālī's journey from ancient pre-history into the most esoteric and elite Tantrik circles and into the mainstream Bhakti movement of Bengal and from there into the hearts and homes of people all over the world!  Without all of those who have come before us (and I was only able to mention so few of them in this talk), who have each given their entire lives to the work of making Mā accessible to all sincere devotees, we quite literally would not be here all together, enjoying each other's holy company and talking Tantra for hours on end week after week, year after year.  I am so grateful to all of them.  I am so grateful to all of you.  I am so happy.  Here's to many more years together playing in Mā's playground! May all of this be an offering to Mā Kālī who comes to me in the form of all of you. May I have no God but you, O Mā who appears as all of these people! May I worship you in them with all of these words, which are offered as so many flowers to you in the form of this sangha! I love you, I love you, I love you. I am mad with love for you! I give you my life!  Jai Mā! Jai Mā! Jai Mā Kālī! Jai Thakur! Jai SwamijI! Jai Gurudeva!  Relevant References: And here [https://www.patreon.com/collection/266524] is a playlist (our signature series, our flagship course), all of our talks on Mā. Some of the material from this talk is fleshed out a little more in talks like Ramprasad Sen, Mā Kālī's Mystic Poet [https://www.patreon.com/posts/ramprasad-sen-ma-93490941?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link], Ramakrishna & Ma Bhavatārini Kālī at Dakshineshwar [https://www.patreon.com/posts/ramakrishna-ma-107748998?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link] and What Does Kali Actually Look Like? [https://www.patreon.com/posts/what-does-kali-104443202?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link] which is all about the dhyāna-mantra (visualization chant) that we offered in beginning. Usha Harding's pivotal book which I mentioned in the video is called "Kali: The Black Goddess of Dakshineshwar." Do check out Usha Mā's documentary "A Day at the Dakshineswar Temple" which you can watch here. [https://youtu.be/W9WlDq2pX_4?si=ecwgk2erAlXVybAt] Here [https://kalimandir.bandcamp.com/] is all the music and pūjā recordings from the early Kali Mandir Laguna Beach pūjās which I mentioned in the talk. You can hear Sri Haradhanji's unique chanting voice! And importantly, I only briefly mentioned it, but here [https://youtu.be/H_egUyrAraQ?si=pL5YOKP_4Ak-wIpA]is Uma Sanasrayan's important documentary about our Hollywood Kali Puja tradition. Uma is the one who has been making the murtis for Mā for our annual Hollywood temple Shyama Kali Puja.  Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish] Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and Friday 10am PST and again Friday at 6pm 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