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Titre
Date
Durée
Holy Mother & Vāmācāra, The Left Hand Path
19 Dec 2025
04:55:23
Recently, we've been having some fascinating discussions around Sārada Devī = Jaggadhātri = Ṣoḍaśī in order to understand the deep mystery of the pūjā that Śrī Rāmakrsna performed to Her on the Phalahārinī Kālī Pūjā new moon!
Because the worship of the woman's body is considered to be the culminating practice in the Kaula mārga (as per its characterization in Abhinavagupta's Chapter 29 from Tantrāloka), we reflected a little bit on the Kaula (I.e left hand path) elements in Thakur and Holy Mother, especially with reference to elements in Her dhyāna mantra from last week's How To Meditate on the Tāntrik Goddess | Śrī Sāradā Devī Dhyāna Mantra lecture.
In this class, we explore Holy Mother's avatarahood (to make the exciting claim that we have our female Avatāra in Her) and also the significance of this Shodaśī-pūjā, aforementioned. We continue to point out some Kaula or Vāmā mārga elements in Holy Mother's life and teaching!
You'll find all our talks on Holy Mother over the years in this playlist.
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
What is Vāmācāra, the Left Hand Path of Tantra?
18 Dec 2025
01:44:22
When we don't have honest and open discussions, with close scriptural and lineage citation when it comes to the more esoteric dimensions of our tradition and heritage as śaivas, it allows for so much superstition! Now, many are under the impression that Vāmāchāra is nothing more than hedonism masquerading as spiritual practice! What Vāmāchāra is or isn't is surely not up to any one lineage to define but at the very least we can say: it is surely a lot more than just offering transgressive items like meat and wine! In this video, I argue that Vāmācāra/Kaulācāra is about bhāva, an inner disposition of fearlessness and intensity of devotion!
While its true that almost all of our talks are given from a Kaula point of view anyway such that a playlist would be superfluous here, I thought it might still be helpful to have some of the more specific, focused and directed lectures on the more left leaning ideas and practices of our tradition all in one place for you! So here is a playlist for all our Vāmāchāracontent !
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
Vampires, Kali and Christ | A Hallowe'en Special
04 Nov 2025
02:23:01
One of my favorite lectures of all time. We inquire into some "scary" themes in spiritual life like the potential difference between my will and God's will, as it is understood across various traditions with an emphasis on the life-affirming, immanence-oriented and desire-positive view of the Goddess traditions. We make a few remarks about why vampires as such a good metaphor for Tantrik spirituality and point out how the theme of vampirism appears in our tradition in the form Dākinīs and Yoginīs, Mā's fierce fanged, bloodthirsty attendants! We discuss Dākinī pūjā towards the end.
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
Nārada vs Caitanya vs Rāmakrishna on Bhakti Philosophy
19 Mar 2025
01:28:31
After we did our series of lectures on Caitanya and the acintya bhedābedha philosophy of Bengal school of Vaishnavism last year, we did this "bonus talk" comparing Caitanya's philosophy and practice of Bhakti to that of Śrī Nāradamuni (as we see in the Nārada Bhakti Sūtra) and also to that of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa.
It's very good to do this kind of comparative work because then we can appreciate the special features that make each tradition special while recognizing the underlying spirituality unity in which all traditions are established! Also in prevents us from becoming dogmatic or "one-sided" in our approach!
May we all attain to mental and emotional flexibility/dexterity that our spirituality may shine forth with ever-new freshness!
Jai Gaur! Jai Nitai! Jai Nārada! Jai Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa Deva Ki Jai!
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
How To Invoke the 12 Secret Kalis | Krama Stotram & The Wheel of Fire
18 Mar 2025
02:53:56
After our lecture on The 12 Secret Kālīs | & The Most Closely Guarded Secret in Tantra where we introduced the powers of non-dual consciousness which flow in a 12-step sequence (which we argued was one of the subtlest teachings of Tantrik non-duality if not THE subtlest teachings), many were asking: "how do we invoke the 12 Kālīs, worship them, relate to them and incorporate them into our day-to-day sādhanā?" In this talk, we introduce one of the two Krama Stotrams and introduce Abhinava Gupta's "wheel of fire meditation" from Tantrasāra Chapter 4, which he received from his Krama guru, Bhūtirāja.
The 12 Kalis
Prameyam (aparā): KNOWN OBJECT Sṛṣṭikālī = manifesting an object internally, she then Raktakālī (bahirmkuhī) = becomes passionate towards that object Sthitināśakālī = wishes to reabsorb it and starts to internalize it Yamakālī = manifests and dissolves a "vighna" (obstacle) to re-absorption
Pramānā (parāpara): ACT OF KNOWING Saṃhārakālī = reabsorbs the object Mṛtyukālī = and contemplates "svabhava": my very nature is to reabsorb! (i.e savors the experience just had) Rudrakālī = perceives a subtle impression left over from perception + also Pure Consciousness and then devours the subtle impression Mārtaṇḍakālī = reabsorbs the solar-mandala of 12 faculties into the "Lord of the Circle" (ego)
Pramātr (parā): KNOWER Paramārkakālī = reabsorbs the Lord of the Circle (ego) Kālāgnirudrakālī = reabsorbs the separation of one purusha (individual knowing subject) from another (mayīya-mala) Mahākālakālī = reabsorbs the Universal Subject (Shiva) into full expansion Mahābhairavacaṇḍograghorakālī = reabsorbs even that fully expanded ground into...what? void unspeakable! (or rather: articulates transcendence as immanence!)
Here are just the first 5 verses of the Krama Stotram:
I always praise that Passionate Kālī who manifests this world and who savours the world during a pause in dissolution, she who happily drinks the nectarean blood offered to the circle of Mothers by heroes (Tantrik adepts)!
I salute that peaceful one, The Kali Who Destroys Stasis, who is there in the coming and going of the breath and the perfect union of breath which is set in motion by the Wheel of Wind (life-force), who dissolves all notions of purity!
I prostrate before that Kali who out of desire for the play of great devouring and controlling the world dissolves Yama the controller, who controls the destruction of things!
I salute that Destroying Kali who is the endless, ever-radiant and joyful transcendent Void, the Womb of all things, who closes her eyes in order to withdraw the world so as to give rise to the Void (Consciousness).
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 Tantrik Worship of Krsna and Rādhā
16 Mar 2025
01:15:58
Having explored the philosophy and life of Sri Krishna Chaitanya, and having outlined Bhakti in practice as part of last year's Gaur Purnima (Chaitanya Jayanti) celebration, we now turn to some more specialized themes in our study of Tantrik Vaishnavism beginning with some dhyāna mantras (meditation and visualization techniques) for Krishna and Rādhā Rāni!
Here is some of what we shared in the talk:
“I meditate on the golden hued Gauranga whose beautiful hair is bound by a string of pearls whose moonlike face beams a gentle smile his body is smeared with sandalwood and other fragrant pastes and a beautiful cloth who is garlanded and ornamented in a divine way. Asborbed in dancing, he delights in rasa (the sweetness of devotion/chanting the name). He shines brighter than the Cupid (kandarpa-veśojvallam) and is attended to by His devotees.”
Brahma Samhita:
A great hexagonal yantra in which the Kāma-bīja is the diamond peg in the center, accompanied by Rādha and Krishna surrounded by the Krishna mantra, the 18 syllabled Gopāla mantra and then the Kāma gāyatrī surrounded by the ashta-manjaris and beyond the petals the abode of the sakis… “evambhūta yoga-pīthe srī srī rādhā-krshnau smaret”
...”mīlitam bhāti mudritam” it blooms and contracts through the desire of rādhā-krishna-līla-rasa (the bliss of the union of Rādhā and Krishna)
rādhaya sahitam krshnam vamśī vādana tat param tribhanga lalitam devam bhaktānugraha kārakam
“Krishna plays in the cool waters of the Yamuna, rests in the shade of the Kadamba tree in Vrndāvan. He is surrounded by cows and milkmen/milkmaids and is with Srī Rādha. He stands playfully with three bends and plays the flute, blessing us with the gift of devotion!
From svayambhuvāgama:
Kāmadevāya vidmahe pushpa-bānāya dhīmahi
Tan no’nanga pracodayāt
From Gaurī Tantra
“I mediate on Rādhā who is shining red (sphurad-aruna) with a smiling lotus mouth, dressed in crimson, the border of her cloth is her veil, from the braids in her hair a lotus flower dangles, and with her thumb and forefinger she offers a tambulam into the mouth of Sri Krishna. She has beautiful long ears and eyes and she is filled with honey, the sweetest in all the three worlds!”
Here is our playlist on all things Tantrik Vaishnavism!
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
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
How To Practice Bhakti According to Sri Krishna Chaitanya
16 Mar 2025
01:26:36
Having explored the philosophy and lift of Sri Krishna Chaitanya, the incarnation of Rādhā and Krsna in one body, it is now time to turn to something very important: the practices! In this class, we do a quick overview of the various aspects of Bhakti sādhanā, the Path of Devotion.
Incidentally, we happened to do this class around this time last year in Lafayette in Caitanya Devī and Sumeru-ji's house, just around the time they were moving in! How wonderful to have returned to their beautiful abode earlier this year for our Spring retreat/ Guhyeśvarī Kālī installation ceremony!
Thank you for hosting us all, you two, and for being such powerful example of true Bhakti!
Jai Gaur! Jai Nitai! Jai Radhakrshna!
Here is our playlist on all things Tantrik Vaishnavism!
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
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
Who is Sri Krishna Chaitanya?
13 Mar 2025
01:45:12
This is the story of perhaps one the greatest lovers of God who ever lived, in whom was manifest both Krishna and Radha and the intense love them bound them together!
We gave this lecture in San Francisco last year during Gauranga Purnima (Holi), exactly a year now to the day as part of a three part series of Sri Chaitanya's life, philosophy and practice.
This is the first of three! I'm about to let loose a slew of Tantrik Vaishnava content to celebrate this very auspicious full moon commemorating this ecstatic lover of God in whom was both Krishna and Rādhā! I'll put them all in this playlist called Tantrik Vaishnavism: https://www.patreon.com/collection/1384235
Here is our playlist on all things Tantrik Vaishnavism!
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
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
Sri Chaitanya's Philosophy of Devotion
13 Mar 2025
02:20:12
Last year on the auspicious occasion of Gauranga Purnima, the full moon celebrating the birthday of Sri Chaitanya (Gauranga), the most ecstatic lover of God who perhaps ever lived next to Sri Ramakrishna, we gave a series of three talks on the life, philosophy and practice of this great devotee.
This is the first of three exploring the philosophical foundation for the Vaishnava Bhakti school known as acintya bhedābheda, Unthinkable Diversity-in-Non-Diversity!
The second lecture in the series was about the life of Sri Chaitanya here and the third is about Bhakti in practice!
I'm about to let loose a slew of Tantrik Vaishnava content to celebrate this very auspicious full moon commemorating this ecstatic lover of God in whom was both Krishna and Rādhā! I'll put them all in this playlist called Tantrik Vaishnavism: https://www.patreon.com/collection/1384235
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
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
What is Holi?
13 Mar 2025
00:34:07
Tomorrow is a very special day: we are celebrating the full moon commemorating the birthday of one the world's most ecstatic lover's of God, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who is considered to be an incarnation of Krishna and Radha in one single body.
The celebration of Holi where we pelt each other with bright, colored powders naturally signifies the fervor and celebration of devotion and the rich and diverse hues of God and the Life Divine!
In this video, we say a few things about Holi and about Chaitanya, I let you in a little on our plans for celebrating tomorrow together on zoom and then I introduce you a very interesting Shaiva take on Holi which is especially celebrating in Kashi, the City of Shiva: "Masan Holy", cremation ground Holi where we use ash from the funeral pyre instead of colored powder!
Jai Gaur Nitai!
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
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
Introduction to Tamil Shaivism
09 Mar 2025
01:10:46
While I was back home at my grandfather's ashram earlier this year I discovered Swami Shivananda Saraswati's beautiful little survey of the 64 nayanar saints of Tamil Shaivism. Since this is my central heritage, I have been a little hesitant to speak on it lest I do it a dis-service! But I was inspired during my visit home to start sharing some Shaiva Dualism (Siddhanta) alongside our more non-dual classes! May this be the first of many videos exploring the rich and diverse traditions of Shaivism from South to North, East to West and beyond!
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
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
Categories of Tantrik Thought: 5 Kalās, 36 Tattvas and 118 Bhuvanas
08 Mar 2025
01:36:02
In today's class as part of our Paramārthasāra series, we take a broad sweeping tour of some of the major categories of thought in the non-dual Tantrik world starting with the 5 Kalās which are mentioned in verse 4 (nivritta, Pratishta, vidyā, śānta & śantatīta) in which shine the 36 tattvas (which are mapped out for us in verses 10-23), in which the 118 bhuvanas (realms) have their being. Also, we make a small mention of the three malas (impurities) which are featured in verse 24 and we intimate the 6 layers of the embodied self which are sketched out in verse 32 of our text.
Having done this survey, we now have some powerful tools for understanding Tantrik cosmology in a systematic and spiritually meaningful way, demonstrating yet again how appropriate the Paramārthasāra is as a text for both beginners and seasoned practitioners!
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
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
Japa and Ritual Worship as a Non-Dual Practice
07 Mar 2025
00:57:44
In this next installment of our How To Do Tantrik Ritual series, we look at three very important moments in Tantrik ritual worship (namely, bhūta-śuddhi, nyāsa and gandhādi pūjā) that all serve to reinforce the idea of Advaita, non-duality in the context of worship.
Over and over we affirm that the One being worshipped and the One worshipping as well as the very tools and items of the worship themselves are all One and the Same Reality: Consciousness-Bliss, Shiva.
As such, we discuss how pūjā (ritual worship) and japa (mantra recitation) can act as powerful sādhanas (spiritual techniques) for truly realizing non-duality beyond mere intellectual concepts.
We also talk a little bit about the importance of the sacred pilgrimage places known as śākta pīthas, and how these might be mapped unto the body in the process of nyāsa. Excitingly, we compare the rather similar mythological structures of the "Dismemberment of Osiris" episode in the Egyptian pantheon to the "Dismember of Sati" incident in the Purānas to make a point about sacred geography and the Immanence of God, following from last week's discussion on Nyāsa as a Sacred Pilgrimage Practice!
A truly exciting discussion! Thank you all for coming!
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
Reflections on Milarepa for Tibetan New Year
04 Mar 2025
01:06:50
On Tibetan New Year, the Friday just after Shiva Ratri, we spent some time practicing non-dual meditation (practice with us here) using the Nirvana Shatakam as a "guided meditation" tool. We sandwich some postural yoga practice to rest, recover and energize after our physical exertions over the course of the week in between two non-dual meditations, using the 6 verses of the text.
Then, right after that, in honor of the great yogi Milarepa, and Tibetan Tantrik tradition, we launch into a discussion on Milarepa featuring Kavindraji who is a lineage holder of the Kagyu, the tradition Milarepa founded. By learning about Milarepa, we can learn about the Tantrik world of magic and liberation, guru and disciple and ultimate freedom.
One day, we will double back to offer a more complete biography and commentary on this greatest of Yogis, Mila of the Cotton Cloth (repa) and about his householder Gurus, Marpa and Dakmema. For now, we offer this light introduction based on Lobsang P Lhalungpa's wonderful book: "The Life of Milarepa".
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
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
Why Did We Fast and Stay Up All Night for Shiva Ratri? + Shiva Puja Walkthrough
03 Mar 2025
01:29:12
On the very auspicious day of Shiva Ratri this year, we got together on zoom in the morning to say a few things about the "art of tapasya", that is, the art of austerities in the name of spirituality. If done too excessively, the body and mind are weakened. But if not done at all, the body and mind are similarly weakened! Compassionate and artful tapasya is the doorway to strength and self-control, which is a pre-requisite in many cases for not only meditation, but devotion. After all, if the self doesn't even belong to you, how can you surrender it to God?
After our discussion of tapasya, we then take up the topic of "How To Perform Shiva Puja", along the lines of this video. We do a little walk-through of the puja together to prepare for the evening's festivities.
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
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
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
What To Do On Shiva Ratri
21 Feb 2025
01:13:23
It's that time of the year again! Many might be asking: 1. what is Shiva Ratri? 2. When is Shiva Ratri? And most importantly: 3. What should I do to celebrate/ why would I even want to celebrate Shiva Ratri?
To answer these questions, we plunge into a discussion of the five modes of Tantra: puja, japa, homa, yoga and vrata, making a case for why vrata is so important and for viewing it as an act of spontaneous freedom.
The TLDR of all this is: you are already Shiva. There is nothing you need to do to be "More" Shiva and nothing you can do to be "Less" Shiva. As such, nobody can tell you what to do or what not to do on any night much less on Shiva Ratri! May all be absorbed in Shiva!
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
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
How To Prepare for Shiva Ratri, the Great Night of Shiva
20 Feb 2025
00:26:42
Next week is Shiva Ratri, which is among the biggest (if not THE biggest) events in our community! This is a night when we really plunge into Shiva with the whole of our being, fasting all day, staying up all night, signing, dancing ecstatically, performing ritual worship and above all, meditating and opening up to the totality of all things! However, "one does not simply walk into Mordor." Just like climbing a mountain or wading into icy water, just like courting a lover or practicing Hatha Yoga, we must ease into Shiva Ratri, gradually and skillfully. As such, in this short little discourse, we say a few things about "how to Shiva Ratri" and how to use the week ahead to prepare yourself body, mind and spirit for this complete immersion into Shiva!
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
Realizing Non-Duality Through Music
18 Feb 2025
01:11:16
Earlier this year on Swami Vivekananda's birthday we decided to do three back to back lectures focusing on different aspects of the Swami's teaching: the innate divinity of the soul, the oneness of all existence and the harmony of all religions.
We start with the idea of one-ness, Advaita which is so wonderfully expressed in Shankara's song "The Six Stanzas on Nirvana" (which you can find the Sanskrit lyrics for here) which Swami Vivekananda himself was very fond of and which he himself translated into English.
As such, in this first of three lectures we sing and contemplate the Six Stanzas on Nirvana using Swamiji's translation (which you can read here) making a case for why music is such an important method for practicing and realizing Advaita, Non-Duality!
For more detailed instructions for how to perform Kālī pūjā, watch this playlist: https://www.patreon.com/collection/233799
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
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 12 Secret Kālīs | & The Most Closely Guarded Secret in Tantra
11 Feb 2025
02:04:07
This might be the most closely guarded secret teaching in non-dual Tantra!
First, we discuss some of the non-dual, "left" leaning traditions within Tantrik Shaivism with an emphasis on the Kaula marga and its profound liturgy and philosophy. Then, we introduce the "formless Kali who is pure Void", the "point in Shiva which even Shiva cannot objectify" and the 12 Kalis that are the threefold expressions of the Four Goddess of the Trika!
Lots of exciting Non-Dual Tantrik material! Let's have at it!
Here are a list of the secret Kali's presented in the lecture:
aparā (prameya)
Sṛṣṭikālī = manifesting an object internally, she then Raktakālī (bahirmkuhī) = becomes passionate towards that object Sthitināśakālī = wishes to reabsorb it and starts to internalize it Yamakālī = manifests and dissolves a "vighna" (obstacle) to re-absorption
parāparā (pramāna)
Saṃhārakālī = reabsorbs the object Mṛtyukālī = and contemplates "svabhava": my very nature is to reabsorb! Rudrakālī = perceives a subtle impression left over from perception + also Pure Consciousness Mārtaṇḍakālī = reabsorbs the solar-mandala of 12 faculties into the "Lord of the Circle" (ego)
parā (paramātr)
Paramārkakālī = reabsorbs the Lord of the Circle (ego) Kālāgnirudrakālī = reabsorbs the separation of one purusha (individual knowing subject) from another (mayīya-mala) Mahākālakālī = reabsorbs the Universal Subject (Shiva) into full expansion Mahābhairavacaṇḍograghorakālī = reabsorbs even that fully expanded ground into...what? void unspeakable!
For more detailed instructions for how to perform Kālī pūjā, watch this playlist: https://www.patreon.com/collection/233799
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
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
How Jnāna, Philosophy Leads to Bhakti, Love | Swami Vivekananda, Bhakti Yoga
06 Feb 2025
01:16:52
One of my favorite classes in the series so far! We've been reading from Swami Vivekananda's Bhakti Yoga at our Friday evening Bhakti satsanghs and together exploring some of the most refined concepts at the uppermost reaches of the devotional tradition known as Parā Bhakti, Supreme Love. In this talk, we reconcile the idea that Jñāna Yoga, the Way of Philosophy and Bhakti Yoga, the Way of Devotion or somehow incompatible or categorically distinct, as is the commonly held assumption. We also show how Jñāna, Philosophy can lead to ecstatic love and vice verse proving that these two paths are not different but are rather aspects of one Reality: God or Pure Consciousness.
For more detailed instructions for how to perform Kālī pūjā, watch this playlist: https://www.patreon.com/collection/233799
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
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
How To Actually Change The World?
05 Feb 2025
02:21:02
This year, Swami Vivekananda's birthday happened to fall on a Monday, a day sacred to Shiva which also happened to MLK day here in the United States! Of course the two figures, Swami Vivekananda and MLK are both quite similar in a few ways. In his talk on loving your enemies, MLK is famous for having said “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” In exactly the same vein, Swami Vivekananda tells us how we can go about creating actually change in the world along spiritually enlightened lines in his masterpiece address "My Plan of Campaign" delivered in Madras upon his return to India after his triumphant sojourn in the West.
In this video, we read out the transcript for this mighty and earth-shattering talk (which is full of Swami Vivekananda calling out those forces which have opposed his mission) and make a few comments here and there.
For more detailed instructions for how to perform Kālī pūjā, watch this playlist: https://www.patreon.com/collection/233799
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
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
7 Reasons To Keep Tantra Secret & The Secret World of Kaula
04 Feb 2025
02:16:36
One of the most secret (and perhaps misunderstood) traditions in Tantra is the Kaula, the path of radical embodiment. "Kaula" which is the adjectival form of the Sanskrit word "kula", means "the body" and as such presents a spiritual approach that divinizes the body, seeing embodiment (along with all the energies thereof like lust and anger and greed) as an opportunity for spiritual progress and not as an obstacle. More esoterically, the "kula", body here refers to the philosophical view that God in Her fullness is "embodied" as this entire Universe. As such, Kaula is a transgressive, radically non-dual, Goddess-oriented Tantrik tradition. Because of this, utmost secrecy is required and so a third connotation of the world "kula" is "family" either biological or spiritual in which these spiritual teachings are offered in strictest confidence.
Over the next few weeks, I want to explore the Kaula with you in both theory and practice and work our way up to study the Adi Yajnya or the "Kaula Ritual" which Abhinava Gupta presents in Chapter 29 of his Tantraloka. This talk is a bit of a soft introduction to the origins of the Kaula and how it fits into the wider context of Indian Tantra.
This lecture follows closely on the heels of the discussion we had last week on Why is Tantra A Secret? We review some of the ideas from that talk and also make a few new points about the value of secrecy.
Also, because this talk was given on the 6th day of Magha Gupta Navaratri, we say a few things about Mātangi Mā, the Tantrik Sarasvatī in order to express our gratitude for Sarasvatī who appears in the form of teacher, teaching and also our desire to learn!|
Jai Mā Nīlā Sarasvatī Ki Jai!
For more detailed instructions for how to perform Kālī pūjā, watch this playlist: https://www.patreon.com/collection/233799
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
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
How To Get Possessed By Kālī
20 Oct 2025
02:11:06
In this conversation about the mechanism of image-worship and the subtler (and more radical) aspects of the Tāntrik worship tradition, we carefully explain what it is to be a paśu or anu, a discreet unit of consciousness (i.e an embodied soul or jīva) and then carefully point out why the ānavopaya is so suited for most of us, despite our pretense at high-flying non-dual philosophies!
The ānavopaya assumes duality, individuality and the separate, external existence of God that can be invoked, evoked and experienced in the vigraha (image). We discuss how the goal of ānavopaya is a kind of immersion in the Goddess through worship and other techniques that can very well be understood as a kind of "possession" (aveśa) experience.
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
Why You Should Know About Swami Brahmananda
31 Jan 2025
01:21:50
Today is a special day for us because it is Raja Maharajji’s (Swami Brahmananda) birthday! He is my guru’s guru’s guru and his energy is of course the foundational spirituality of the Ramakrishna Mission after Ramakrishna-Sarada; it’s an energy that is very palpably felt at our Hollywood Temple which was founded by his disciple, Swami Prabhavanandaji.
Today would be a good day to contemplate his life and teachings (which you will find in the books “The Eternal Companion” and “Guide To Spiritual Life”) but it is also a good day to do any spiritual practice since it is said that on auspicious days, “a special grace” flows!
Naturally, at our 6:30pm PST puja class, we reflect a little bit on Raja Maharaja to make a few claims about why he's so important to know about and connect to!
We also say a few words about our puja tradition which has a lot to do with Swami Brahmananda and the Hollywood Vedanta Temple.
For more detailed instructions for how to perform Kālī pūjā, watch this playlist: https://www.patreon.com/collection/233799
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
And if you feel moved to donate to support me and this work, you're welcome to here: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/jaimakali
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
Why is Tantra A Secret?
28 Jan 2025
01:55:29
Two weeks ago we gave the talk called "how to perform the best Tantrik ritual & overcome superstitions in Tantra" where we referenced Swami Vivekananda saying in the Introductory Chapter of Raja Yoga that mystery-mongering and superstition weakens the mind: everything that is could she be taught openly, and preached in the street in the broad daylight of reason. In that lecture, I argued that in some case the secrecy of Tantra was the attempt of an unscrupulous few "to keep the power all to themselves", to borrow Swami Vivekananda's phrase.
But perhaps there are indeed good reasons for keeping things secret!
While in the worse cases secrecy is a tool for hegemonizing Tantrik discourse, most of the time, it is an expression of compassion and a necessary tool to create an authentic spiritual community where practitioners are practicing in a meaningful and safe way. As such, to balance out the view I presented in the aforementioned lecture, I'd like to make a case for the importance of secrecy in the Tantrik tradition.
We can think of a few reasons, some of which I briefly mentioned towards the end of the talk and a few others that are coming to mind now:
1. Because these practices can be exceedingly powerful, they can sometimes backfire and cause a reaction in students who are not ready.
2. Because these practices confer tremendous power, a student with the wrong motives might misuse this power to further entrench themselves in samsaric attachment, thus retarding their spiritual growth.
3. Secrecy ensures the student will seek out a guru to get access to the tradition thus protecting them from the #1 and #2
4. Tantrik practices can be controversial and even transgressive and as such when done openly, there is the risk of public censure and misunderstanding
5. That which is secret is sacred. Secrecy reaffirms the intimacy and privacy we enjoy with God and also helps cultivate reverence and sanctity in the practice.
6. It helps students value what they have more, increasing enthusiasm and reverence for the mantra and for the practice.
For more detailed instructions for how to perform Kālī pūjā, watch this playlist: https://www.patreon.com/collection/233799
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
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
How Do Tantrik Rituals Work?
27 Jan 2025
01:02:02
How do Tantrik rituals work, really? Is it the intercession of spirits and divinities? Or perhaps something far more profound?
IIn this talk, I want to make the case that there are no gods or spirits outside Consciousness. The entire Universe and all the powers in it are contained within the Mind, which is an expression of Consciousness, with reference to verses 160 onwards in Abhinava Gupta's Tantrāloka, Part I, and with special reference to Swami Vivekananda's emphasis on strength and non-duality.
You are Consciousness and as such, all power is within you! All the gods and demons, all the spirits and energies, they are all in YOU, expressing themselves as body and mind. Harnessing these energies is what Tantra is all about. As such, any time your "prayers have been answered", it is only you gracing yourself. You are God, in every sense of that word.
A Tantrik ritual functions only to create the suggestion, through sound and symbol, to call forth that Power inherent in the Self!
For more detailed instructions for how to perform Kālī pūjā, watch this playlist: https://www.patreon.com/collection/233799
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
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
How To Love Everyone & Everything
21 Jan 2025
01:36:16
There is nothing quite so wonderful as hearing great master of Non-Duality talk about God! After all, for far too long The Path of Devotion (Bhakti) has been considered as categorically distinct from The Path of Philosophy (Jñāna).
For instance, the common view is that devotion tends to favor duality while philosophy favors non-duality; devotion prefers to think of God in a personal sense, with form whereas philosophy tends towards the impersonal, formless God which is the Self, Pure Consciousness which is more of a principle than a person.
However, in this stunning presentation, Vivekananda not only reconciles the two paths but also shows how the devotion of God with form can lead to the non-dual ideal of universal love, i.e the ability to see the Divine in everyone and everything and more importantly, the ability to love everyone and everything like the Buddha did!
This is perhaps one of my favorite ideas in the entire world of devotional literature!
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
We present a few different strategies for practicing puraścarana which in the Tantra Lord Shiva describes as the "supreme ritual" (i.e best of all practices). While this is the main feature of the talk, we also offer a reading of the Introductory chapter of Swami Vivekananda's "Raja Yoga", to make a point about the purpose of puraścarana and its true purpose.
Also, we respond to degenerating influences on the mind of the aspirant (superstitions, secrecy and mystery-mongering) that we often find in the Tantrik world and present a strategy for getting the most from Tantrik practice while avoiding the aforementioned elements.
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
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
Swami Vivekananda's Mad Love
21 Jan 2025
00:31:01
Some time ago we gave a talk on Divine Madness in Why is Kālī Crazy? where we looked at the fervor that comes upon the devotee when she is truly in love with God.
Now, in this short talk, we present a portrait of that Divine Madness in the form of Swami Vivekananda specifically with regard to his 1896 letter to "Frankincense", one of my favorites!
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
And if you feel moved to donate to support me and this work, you're welcome to here: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/jaimakali
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
How To Really Love
18 Jan 2025
01:28:42
To love is the essence of what it means to be human.
Love is the sweetest, most meaningful experience in embodied existence and it is for this love that we do everything.
But what does it mean to really love?
We have all of us been disappointed in love. This is because we don't know how to truly, really love. We are content with our little loves and little attachments and as such, we are all of us likely to miss out on the real thing!
Bhakti Yoga, the path of Devotion, is the science of higher love.
In this talk, we give perhaps one of our most lucid interpretations of real, higher love based on Swami Vivekananda's book "Bhakti Yoga". We first discuss the two phases of love, love with form vs ecstatic love. And then, we have a discussion about renunciation, why it is so central to love and how it is naturally produced through love itself, reviewing the material we covered in this talk: How To Get Renunciation | Bhakti Yoga, Swami Vivekananda and then finally, we offer a Tantrik reading of two works by Swami Vivekananda: "The Bhakta's Renunciation Results from Love" and "The Free Soul" from Volume III of the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda.
This is my favorite talk on Bhakti yet! Thank you all who came live and all who are watching the recording! May we become enflamed with awakened Love for the Infinite!
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
Religion is for the Strong!
18 Jan 2025
00:42:00
Religion is only for the strong! No weakling can realize God!
Some time ago, we gave the lecture called "Do I Have To Be Vegetarian To Practice Spirituality" based on some of the remarks Swami Vivekananda makes in his Bhakti Yoga book, in chapter 10 called "Methods and Means".
In this chapter, Swamiji takes up the question of ethics and diet in the practice of spirituality. In this lecture, we pick up the threads of that aforementioned discussion to make the point that only rule in religious life is "keep with you that which makes you strong; disregard that which disempowers you."
Whatever diet and whatever ethical code strengthens you, that is the right thing to do. And whatever diet or moral code disempowers you, however "holy" society says it is, throw that away!
But of course, first we have to ask the question: "what exactly is strength?"
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
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
3 Ways To Avoid Spiritual Burn-out
16 Jan 2025
00:18:48
Those who are very serious about spiritual life will find that from time to time, they get a reaction from doing too many spiritual practices. Usually it's the case that when we clean out the mind with mantra, meditation etc. all sorts of repressed complexes come out to be reviewed, compassionately digested and dissolved.
So it's only natural that as we practice, we can feel like we are regressing because of all this stuff that comes up when in truth, that's precisely what's supposed to happen!
But also, in other cases, it really is possible to do too much, too soon like lifting weights that are too heavy for us in the gym. Because the practices of Tantra are very powerful and because they can have such a profound effect on the body, on the nervous system, on the hormonal system and on the psyche, we must ensure our practice proceeds systematically and sensible, so that we may avoid a reaction or backlash.
In this short piece, we provide 3 keys ways (by no means an exhaustive list) for avoiding spiritual burnout: 1. Practice consistently and intensify your practice gradually and slowly over a period of time. 2. Diversify your practice with the four yogas. 3. Exercise, eat well and sleep well. But perhaps best of all: practice Hatha yoga regularly to prepare the nerves for the shock of spiritual realization!
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
Māyā vs Śakti | & How To Be Free
15 Jan 2025
01:23:32
In October of 1896, in London, Swami Vivekananda gave a series of three lectures on the ancient concept of Māyā, that which causes the One to appear as Many, the Eternal to appear as the Changing and the Real to appear as the Unreal.
Naturally, since Māyā is synonymous with "Ignorance" in the Advaita Vedanta system of Srī Shankara, it is a very, very elusive concept that has eluded even some of the brightest minds of India and abroad.
As such, Swami Vivekananda's treatment of Maya over three lectures might be the most comprehensive and illuminating to have ever been given in the history of philosophy. Sister Nivedita considers the Swami's best work.
In this talk, I focus on the third of the three lectures, "Maya and Freedom". The first on is called "Maya and Illusions" and the second, "Maya and the Evolution for the Concept of God" and all three can be found in Swami Vivekananda's Complete Works, Vol II or in the Jñāna-Yoga book.
Particularly in my commentary of this lecture, I would like to compare the Shankarite notion of Māyā as illusion to the Tantrik concept of Śakti, as the playful power of God to hide Herself from Herself (Paramārthasāra, Verse 15) to compare Vedantic Idealism with Tantrik Realism, making the case that Swami Vivekananda's reading might lean closer to the Tantrik notion.
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
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
What is Kuṇḍalinī? | & The Best Kaula Ritual
16 Oct 2025
02:00:37
One of the most important ideas in Tantra (and often one of the most misunderstood and most difficult to discuss) is Kuṇḍalinī! What exactly is this "serpent power", as Arthur Avalonji once called it? Specifically in this talk, we relate Kuṇḍalinī to Kālī to show her centrality in the Kaula tradition of Tantra! Finally, based on this reflection, we discuss the quintessential Kaula ritual, the "Ādi Yāga" which features in Chapter 29 of Abhinava Gupta's Tantrāloka.
You'll find all of our talks on foundational Tāntrik concepts here
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
Be Your Own Religion!
15 Jan 2025
00:37:05
Swami Vivekananda's Message on Individuality in Spirituality: when a seed is planted, it is nourished by soil, sun, air, light and rain. And yet the seed does not "become" soil, or sun, or air, or light or rain.
The seed becomes a plant, growing according to its own sva-dharma, its own unique law of growth.
Similarly, while the seed of spiritual aspiration is nourished by the the various "isms" of the world: Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Taoism etc., the point is not to "become" a Hindu or a Christian or a Muslim or a Taoist or what have you!
The point is to be free and realized!
Books, dogmas, rituals, forms...these are the kindergarten of religion, necessary tools for the "coming up" of the burgeoning saint but they are but secondary details. As such, there should be as many sects as there are people; each person ought to be a religion unto themselves!
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
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
How To Be Devoted to God?
14 Jan 2025
01:31:57
In this talk, we give a comprehensive overview of the Path of Devotion:
00:00:00 How Bhakti Yoga Works: Vaidhi Bhakti (Devotion with Rules) vs Para Bhakti (Ecstatic Love) 00:04:30 The full moon of Bhakti, the scorching sun of Jñāna 00:05:47 An outline of Swami Vivekananda's "Bhakti Yoga": 00:07:10 The definition of Bhakti: " the genuine and earnest quest for God that begins in Love, continues in Love and ends in Love." 00:10:30 The philosophy of Ishvara: the formless pure non-dual Consciousness (Impersonal Absolute), which is the ideal of Jñāna and Buddhism, is exactly the same as the form of God with qualities (Personal God), which is the ideal Bhakti. 00:13:20 Swami Vivekananda's definition of God: unfathomable love. God is Love itself, i.e L.O.V.E Personified. 00:15:00 Bhakti is about realization and for this we need a guru to transmit the wordless, invisible "quickening impulse" 00:16:30 Qualifications for aspirants: what kind of a student is required? Pining, patience and perseverance! 00:17:35 Qualifications for teachers: grounded in the spirit of the scriptures, pure in character and teaching for the right reasons (not for material profit) 00:19:10 The role of the Avatar in Bhakti Yoga in providing a concrete form for the mind to focus on in Devotion 00:26:03 How mantras work in Devotion (and the meaning of OM) 00:30:34 Technical Difficulties! 00:31:32 Technical Difficulties ends... 00:34:00 Invocation of Swamiji 00:34:23 The Worship of Substitutes and Images (and why its so important) 00:47:30 How this idea leads to the Harmony of All Religions 00:49:17 Ishta Nishta, Steadfast Devotion to the Chosen Ideal: while all forms are equally Brahman, we should choose one and dive deep into It without hating any other forms 00:53:19 depth vs breadth in spiritual life 01:02:22 worshipping all deities through your Ishta and worshipping your Ishta through all deities 01:08:00 How to practice Bhakti Yoga, the path of Devotion: the methods and the means.
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
What Was It Like To Hang Out With Vivekananda?
13 Jan 2025
01:33:51
Today, on the 12th of January, we are celebrating India's National Youth Day, to commemorate the birth day by Gregorian Calendar of Swami Vivekananda, who was born on the 12th of January 1863.
Of course, in the Hindu tradition, we celebrate birthdays by tithi, that is, by moon day so this year (2025), Swami Vivekananda's birthday will be celebrated in earnest on Monday, the 20th of January.
But nevertheless, to commemorate this very auspicious day and to get us all revved up for Swamiji Puja that's coming up, I thought I would read you a few excerpts from letters from American disciples describing what it was like to be with the Swami in New York and at the Thousand Islands Park retreat, which was when the Swami was allegedly at his finest.
Over the next few days, I will be unleashing a slew of "Vivekananda content" here so brace yourselves! May my entire breath and being be offered to the Swami's work and mission. I stand ever ready to lay down life and limb for his message!
Ever yours in Vivekananda, Nishanth
For more detailed instructions for how to perform Kālī pūjā, watch this playlist: https://www.patreon.com/collection/233799
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
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
Where Did Tantra Come From? | The Story of Shaivism
10 Jan 2025
01:32:44
We gave this lecture some time ago, in July of last year on Swami Lakshmanjoo's birthday. However it occurred to me that it would be a very good start to 2025 if we could not only review the fundamentals of spiritual life in general but also revisit the foundations, historical, philosophical and spiritual the underlie our Tantrik tradition.
Note: around 14:00 I mention a lecture I did called "Texts and Lineages in Kashmir Shaivism". I never actually got around to uploading that one but if you stay tuned for the video called "Our Tantrik Lineage", I go over the same material with albeit more detail.
Anyway, in this talk, we make a few points about Tantra and texts like the Vijñāna-Bhairava Tantra and then plunge into what I consider, on perhaps a more anecdotal note, to the be the essential flavor of Shaivism and how it developed throughout history.
For more detailed instructions for how to perform Kālī pūjā, watch this playlist: https://www.patreon.com/collection/233799
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
In this short talk, we introduce the idea of Puraścarana, the Tantrik ritual par excellence which Lord Shiva calls the "best of all rituals" in verse 3 of Chapter 15 of the Kulārnava Tantra.
For more detailed instructions for how to perform Kālī pūjā, watch this playlist: https://www.patreon.com/collection/233799
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
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 Non-Essentials of Religion: God, Books and Prophets
10 Jan 2025
00:56:18
After making a few comments about calendars and the power of new beginnings, we make a few points from Swami Vivekananda’s very radical lecture in San Francisco “Is Vedanta The Future Religion” to show how God, books and prophets are not actually essential to religion and if taken too seriously, can all become serious hindrances to genuine religion!
Using Swami Vivekananda’s definition of the Vedas (“by Vedas, no books are meant”) as eternally existent spiritual truths that anyone with refined spiritual perception can access, I contest that Hinduism cannot be defined as a four-book religion the way other religions define themselves according to their books but must instead live up to its name of “Sanātana Dharma”, which includes all religions in all places and at all times.
Also, we discuss some goals for the upcoming Gregorian calendar year as a spiritual community!
For more detailed instructions for how to perform Kālī pūjā, watch this playlist: https://www.patreon.com/collection/233799
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
śhrī bhagavān uvācha: asanśhayaṁ mahā-bāho mano durnigrahaṁ chalam abhyāsena tu kaunteya vairāgyeṇa cha gṛihyate
The Lord said: "Undoubtedly, O mighty armed one, the mind is difficult to control and restless but by practice (I.e intense yearning) and by detachment, it can be controlled, O son of Kunti."
And all throughout the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, we find the Master emphatically stressing this point over and over: through yearning and renunciation, God can be attained!
Perhaps this point is the very essence of practice, the very heart of spiritual life? Having discussed what yearning and renunciation really mean, let's now talk about how to cultivate these!
As such, at our last online gathering of 2024, we discussed the two most important things in spiritual life: yearning for realization of the Infinite + renunciation for the finite and then rattled off a few different ways to cultivate that including but not limited to:
Visiting sacred places like temples and nature which are associated to great spiritual masters (yatra)
Spending time with spiritual people or at least with spiritual ideas through books and media (sadhu-sangha)
Finding a guru and learning under them (parampara)
Consistency in spiritual practice
Pacing so as not to burn out
Ample time in solitude to practice and integrate.
A moderate, simple and ethical life. (Yama/niyama or acāra)
For more detailed instructions for how to perform Kālī pūjā, watch this playlist: https://www.patreon.com/collection/233799
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
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
What Did Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus and Ramakrishna All Have In Common?
01 Jan 2025
02:00:50
While every person and every place is invariably God according to our Non-Dual View, certain places and certain people are particularly strong manifestations of God. Everything is the same in type but different in degree. For example, while every part of the cow is indeed a cow, it is really only from the udder that milk flows. As such, the Avatāra is like the udder and the entire Universe the cow. The Avatāra, Divine Incarnation, is a unique nodal point of Reality through which the very highest can be accessed. In short: the avatāra is the strongest manifestation of God in immanence, in nature.
But what makes an Avatāra(a Divine Incarnation) and Avatāra?
In Hinduism, the idea of the Incarnation is very ancient. We find it in the Bhagavad Gita (Chapter IV, verse VII) and also in texts like the Bhāgavatam dated between ~1000b.ce to 600bce.
The claim is that while various forms of gods and goddesses are each of them emanations or aspects of the One God capital G, the one Divine Reality, the Avatar is a specially concentrated manifestation of that Reality that exists in historicity as an actual person. The gods and goddesses like Kālī, Shiva, Vishnu etc. are all entirely Divine but the Avatāra uniquely is also mortal and like any mortal suffers mortality: birth, old age, sickness, dying etc.
Unique to the Avatāra Doctrine is the idea that God can be a person and a person can be God which when you think about it is a startling challenging idea! Swami Vivekananda could never quite accept Sri Ramakrishna as an Avatāra until the latter's dying breath in 1886. Because for any thinking person, this claim is ludicrously challenging! It is one of the deepest mysteries of spiritual life. It takes a special kind of subtle insight, or a special kind of grace to have some semblance of an understanding of this mystery.
But it is my conviction that anybody who is sincerely attracted to spirituality will also be attracted to the avatāra because they will feel in them (in their lives and teaching) intuitively the strongest dose of spirituality. But notice how I am using the plural! According to the Hindu view, there is not just one Avatāra. In Christianity, the idea is that there is just one Divine Incarnation who came in the form of Jesus and that's that. But in Hinduism, we understand that to teach a particularly stubborn student, you often have to give the teaching over and over in different ways. Repetition is at the heart of all learning! And so the thing about the Avatāra is that She comes again and again each time teaching the same message in slightly different ways.
In this talk, I wanted to tease out some of the similarities in that message between various Avatāras. Also I wanted to continue last week's theme of the emphasis on renunciation and sincerity that we find are at the heart of all genuine spiritual life and also on the warning against affect and pretense in spiritual life. One thing we find about all these avatāras is that they were genuine, simple and willing to give direct answers to sincere questions without any affect or pretense! And because they were free, they did it all for free!
From freedom unto freedom a gift of freedom is made!
May this be an offering to all Avatarās, past, present and future, who are each and every one of them "L.O.V.E personified."
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
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
Why You Need To Realize God Now! | The Urgency of Spiritual Life
31 Dec 2024
00:48:04
As we come to the end of another Gregorian calendar year, and as our body-mind rapidly comes yet another step closer to death and disintegration, we ought to reflect: what have we really accomplished in spiritual life thus far?
Undoubtedly, a lot.
But have we really attained the highest? Have we realized God? Do we feel the ineffably bliss divine flowing uninterruptedly in the chamber of the heart in each and every moment? Have we really attained to truth and truly integrated it into every living moment?
Often we will find that however far we've come, there is always still same ways to go. And precious little time for it too!
In the past few lectures, since it is, after all, the end of the year, we've tried to focus on the very essentials of spiritual life. "Books, churches, dogmas, rituals are all but secondary details."
And what is the very essence? Yearning for infinite + renunciation for the finite!
But often, the engine of spiritual life, the driving force, is a sense of urgency! As the Stoics call it: "momento mori"! Remembering that this body will die, and recognizing the invaluable opportunity this body presents for spiritual realization will fire us to be up and doing always in spiritual life!
Ultimately, that's what this lecture is: a call to action!
May we all be spiritually illumined! May we all plunge into intense (but sensible and gradual) spiritual practice now itself as a reflection of your sincere yearning for Truth!
"Arise! Awake! Stop not till the goal is reached!"
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
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
What Did Vivekananda & Buddha Value Most?
29 Dec 2024
01:23:29
There are of course innumerable similarities between the life and message of the Buddha and Swami Vivekananda: in a future lecture, I hope to sketch this out in much more detail. I think there is a particularly strong resonance between Swami Vivekananda's various spiritual experiences and realizations (and also his highest ideal of serving God as man) and the Boddhicitta/Boddhisattva ideal of Mahayana Buddhism.
One day, I will make a strong case for the Mahayana Buddhist interpretation of Sri Ramakrishna's life and teaching. Of course, in terms of modality, Sri Ramakrishna emphasized a Tantrik, deity-oriented approach which leads us into exciting Vajrayana territory too. A discussion comparing Nirmanakaya, Sambhogakaya and Dharmakaya to Vaikhari, Madhyama and Pasyanti Vak is of course fore coming.
And I have a desire to do a short biography on Milarepaji also, perhaps on his Parinirvana which is the full moon of Bumjur Dawa (by the Tibetan Lunar Calendar) I believe. It will be around Shiva Ratri time!
Naturally all these links between Shiva, Swami Vivekananda and the Buddha are particularly pronounced in Varanasi, especially near Sarnath where the Buddha spoke the words that would resound timelessly through eternity!
There is a striking resemblance to what he spoke about and what Swami Vivekananda spoke out, a resemblance that is of course more tangibly felt in this place than intellectually cognized.
Since I happen to be in Sarnath on Christmas Eve, I thought I'd reflect a little on that in this talk.
Jai Jesus Christ! Jai Buddha! Jai Swami Vivekananda Guru Maharajji Ki Jai!
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
And if you feel moved to donate to support me and this work, you're welcome to here: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/jaimakali
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
A Very Powerful Śakti Mantra | 3 Ways To Use The Devī Māhātmya
15 Oct 2025
01:54:54
After we gave our Secrets of the Devī Māhātmyam | Śākta Theology 101 talk at the start of Navarātri (The Autumn Goddess Festival) earlier this year, we then gave this talk where we examined the Devī Māhātmyam (which we only introduced in the previous talk) in much more detail to see exactly what kind of text it is and from that, learn how we may use it in the context of our day-to-day spiritual practice! Most importantly, I make the claim that the 700 verses that make up this text all of them form a complex and powerful mantra (or more technically, vidyā) that one can repeat like any other mantra for a whole host of both magical and spiritual applications!
You'll find all of our lectures on this profound and ancient śākta text, the Devī Māhātmyam here.
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
What Is The Goal of Spiritual Practice?
26 Dec 2024
01:43:25
Before we start walking a path, we should have some idea at least about why we are walking it and about where it leads. In the Buddha's eight-fold system, this is called "samyak drshti", the right view.
When we consider the lives of great masters like Swami Vivekananda and Sri Ramakrishna, we are not only fired up by their fervor, intensity and renunciation but we can also learn something about what is to be valued in spiritual life and what is to be aimed for (and perhaps also what is to be avoided).
In this lecture, as we come to the end of the year and wrap our 5th circumambulation around the sun together as a community, I thought it would be good to have a cutting conversation about the essentials in spiritual practice!
I want to explore Sri Ramakrishna's central practice modality: yearning and sincerity, the sole means by which he was able to attain the direct perception and constant communion of Mā Kālī. As you know, Sri Ramakrishna first had the vision of Kālī and then only did he set out to practice spirituality in a formal way. And then years later, when instructing disciples and devotees, he would constantly return to this theme of yearning (vyakulatā) and sincerity as the principle method for realization, which was of course true in his case. In exploring this idea, we can ask a few questions:
1. Often it is said that Sri Ramakrishna had no formal spiritual practice, only yearning at first and by that alone he attained Kali. But is that really true? I'll challenge this idea a little bit by discussing the two main initiations that Sri Ramakrishna had before he developed his yearning for God-vision.
2. What does it really mean to "see" Kālī? Is this a goal everyone aspires to? Why would this even be a valuable goal to achieve in spiritual life? Here we can explore Sri Ramakrishna's first experience of Kālī as formless Pure Consciousness and then what happened after.
3. Why did Sri Ramakrishna do spiritual practices after the vision of Kālī? What could spiritual practice accomplish after a profound spiritual experience like this? Here I want to make a very important point about integration and maybe we can have a slight digression exploring the "dangers of Bhakti and sentimentalism." Perhaps we can read a litle Swami Vivekananda excerpt on this!
4. What does Sri Ramakrishna have in common with the Christ? Well...lots of things but mainly this one: the emphasis on prayer, yearning and the spontaneous renunciation that follows. May this be an offering at the altar of your spirituality!
Jai Mā!
For more detailed instructions for how to perform Kālī pūjā, watch this playlist: https://www.patreon.com/collection/233799
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
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
Tantrik Techniques for Overcoming Addiction
16 Dec 2024
00:29:30
Giving in to our desires (which is to say: following them into externalized action) can sometimes be just as repressive as avoiding them altogether. In either case, the energy of desire is not fully experienced:; it is instead dissipated through repression or expression. One wonders: what would it be like to simply sit with the energy of agitation or inspiration, breathing into it and following it back into its point of origin?
In the Vijñāna-Bhairava Tantra, there is a very subtle technique that falls into the category of "Śambhavopaya", the Way of Śīva because it is a practice centered on icchā, the creative desire of Non-Dual Consciousness to bloom outward into expression. The source of all expression is Consciousness and it is back into Consciousness that all expressions dissolve.
As such, any urge, inspiration or desire that we experience has its origin point and resting point in Awareness. By experiencing fully the blooming of any icchā, creative outpouring we can "guide it" to a still point and thereby experience enlivened Awareness!
We took a first pass at this practice here but because we didn't have as much time as I would have liked to discuss it, we decided to revisit it in this short discussion before we took up a Hatha Yoga practice, which you can watch here.
Our Vijñāna-Bhairava Tantra series: https://www.patreon.com/collection/143200 Classes meet live every Thursday at 6:30pm PST. You can sign up to attend the zoom meetings here: https://yogaworldheart.com/schedule
Also, 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
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
How To Become A Bhairavi, A Tantrik Adept
14 Dec 2024
01:32:28
On this auspicious Mrgaśīrsha Pūrnimā (full moon) to which is ascribed Bhairavi Jayanti, Annapurna Jayanti and also Dattatreya Jayanti, we decide to say a few words about just who Mā Bhairavi might be. She is one of the most mysterious of the mahāvidyās (the ten terrifying forms of Mā). In this video, referring to the meditation mantra below, I make the case that Bhairavi is a euhemerized Tantrik adept! We of course discuss Bhairavi Brāhmani, Sri Ramakrishna's Tantrik guru and we spend the first half of the talk discussing what makes Tantra, Tantra in order to clearly indicate the path upon which we ourselves must trod to become a Bhairavi/Bhairava!
Radiant like the splendour of a thousand suns, clad in red garments, garlanded in heads Breasts smeared with blood, holding a rosary and a book, assuring fearlessness and granting boons With her lotus like hands, Her third eye shining with the beauty of blood-red lotus flowers, She is the Goddess who wears a red crown in which is tucked the moon- I worship Her who is smiling gently!
For more detailed instructions for how to perform Kālī pūjā, watch this playlist: https://www.patreon.com/collection/233799
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