For the Love of Yoga with Nish the Fish – Détails, épisodes et analyse

On Gaṇeśa Chathurthi, the auspicious day when we worship Gaṇeśa, the elephant headed God who is so beloved by one and one, we gave a talk on the "Tantrik Gaṇeśa", that is to say, on the more esoteric dimensions of the veneration of this Lord of Wild Forces! 

Gaṇeśa Pañcharatna Stotram

मुदाकरात्तमोदकं सदाविमुक्तिसाधकं
कलाधरावतंसकं विलासिलोकरञ्जकम् ।
अनायकैकनायकं विनाशितेभदैत्यकं
नताशुभाशुनाशकं नमामि तं विनायकम् ॥

"(Salutations to Ganesh) who holds in his hand the modakam (sweetmeat) representing divine joy who always helps devotees achieve liberation (and that sweetness) who holds the moon as his ornament and who playfully protects the world who has no Lord over himself but is himself the Lord of All and his devotees, protecting them by destroying their demons/bondages. To those who surrender to him, he destroys all inauspiciousness. I salute that Vināyaka and bow to him!"

नतेतरातिभीकरं नवोदितार्कभास्वरं
नमत्सुरारिनिर्जरं नताधिकापदुद्धरम् ।
सुरेश्वरं निधीश्वरं गजेश्वरं गणेश्वरं
महेश्वरं तमाश्रये परात्परं निरन्तरम् ॥१॥

He takes a frightening form for those who do not bow down to him and he shines like a freshly risen sun, who is eternal and unchanging, worshipped by Gods and seers, he delivers all those who bow down to him from calamities! He is the Lord of the Gods, the Lord of Wealth, the Lord of Elephants and the Lord of violent forces! He is the Supreme Lord who is Beyond Transcendence in whom I unceasingly take refuge

समस्तलोकशंकरं निरस्तदैत्यकुञ्जरं
दरेतरोदरं वरं वरेभवक्त्रमक्षरम् ।
कृपाकरं क्षमाकरं मुदाकरं यशस्करं
मनस्करं नमस्कृतां नमस्करोमि भास्वरम् ॥२॥

He is the auspiciousness of the whole world, who casts out demons, who has a huge belly, who gives boons and whose face represents the Imperishable Reality, who gives grace, forgiveness, joy and glory, the maker of the mind who exaclts those who bow to him! I bow to him!

अकिंचनार्तिमार्जनं चिरन्तनोक्तिभाजनं
पुरारिपूर्वनन्दनं सुरारिगर्वचर्वणम् ।
प्रपञ्चनाशभीषणं धनंजयादिभूषणम्
कपोलदानवारणं भजे पुराणवारणम् ॥३॥

He easily brushes aside all suffering; he is the receptacle of praises since time immemorial/who is praised by the Immortals! He is the first born son of the enemy of Tripurāsura and he devours the pride of the enemies of the Gods! He himself assumes the terrible form of the devourer of the world, adorning himself with fire and other powers! His cheeks give/are full of the liquor of grace...I praise him with the liqour of the purānas!

नितान्तकान्तदन्तकान्तिमन्तकान्तकात्मजं
अचिन्त्यरूपमन्तहीनमन्तरायकृन्तनम् ।
हृदन्तरे निरन्तरं वसन्तमेव योगिनां
तमेकदन्तमेव तं विचिन्तयामि सन्ततम् ॥४॥

The exceedingly beautiful, single tusked son of Shiva who puts an end to death, your form is inconceivable, limitless and destroys all divisions/obstacles. You are always present in the cave of the heart of Yogis! Like this, I contemplate the single-tusked one!

महागणेशपञ्चरत्नमादरेण योऽन्वहं
प्रजल्पति प्रभातके हृदि स्मरन् गणेश्वरम् ।
अरोगतामदोषतां सुसाहितीं सुपुत्रतां
समाहितायुरष्टभूतिमभ्युपैति सोऽचिरात् ॥५॥

Those who recite these great five jewels of Gaṇeśa, those who chant this contemplation and who remember Gaṇeśa in the heart in the early morning will be free of disease and impurity and will have good company (spouses and children) and will soon get long lif

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Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and Friday 10am PST and again Friday at 6pm PST.
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This talk was given on the sacred 8th day of the waning moon that just went by, which as you know, is not only Kālī Jayanti but also Krishnajanmasthami, the birthday of Kali-Krishna. And I am releasing this midnight on a new moon on Tuesday, the moon sacred day and time for worshipping Mā.

This is a very special video to me because it makes many things that have been very secret for so long available to the viewing public. I trust that if you take up the practice and do it sincerely with no desire but to lose yourself in Her love, then She Herself will send a guru to guide you! Or rather, She Herself will appear in the form of the human guru, if such is needed (as I often recommend) or She will instruct you in dreams or from within.

I want to make an offering to you, you who are Kālī embodied: may all of these words be red hibiscus flowers placed one by one and Your feet! This video should give you everything you need to worship Mā!

Let's get to it:

In the (often very secret) tradition of Kālī-kula (Kali worship), there is a hymn that captures the very essence of how Mā likes to be approached. This hymn details the mantra, the yantra and the form of Mā Kālī (specifically, Dakshina Kālī) that is to be meditated upon. More importantly, it stresses the bhāva, or mood in which to call upon Mother and some of the important elements of ritual worship that is enjoined by the Kali Tantra including animal and human sacrifice, cremation ground meditation and various other transgressive elements.

We already gave a talk exploring this very excellent hymn to Kālī here

You can read the hymn in Devanagri, Roman transliteration and a some other scripts here: https://stotranidhi.com/en/sri-kali-karpura-stotram-in-english/

The book that we reference for translations in this and the other video is "Hymn to Kālī" by Arthur Avalon and Swami Vimalananda.

But before we discuss the hymn and the Kālī mantra, which is of course the main offering in this video, we say a few things about the similarities and differences between Kālī and Krishna. 

Happy New Moon! Jai Mā

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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:
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Many people feel down in the dumps and lethargic often. This is to me particularly tragic because in each and every moment we are each of us swimming in a veritable ocean of energy and enlivenment! 

Only, most of us don't know how to tap into it and be charged by it! 

You see, this entire universe, this magical display of phenomena that you experience within and without is nothing but a manifestation of Prāna, nothing but so many different forms of one and the same field of energy called Prāna. 

This body and mind that you experience is also a manifestation of Prāna.

Tantra then is a kind of "prāna-śāshtra": the science of working with the energies of embodied existence but within and without. 

In this class, we explore 8 or so ways you can increase and refine the prāna (i.e energy) that flows through this body-mind so that you can experience deeper levels of enlivenment and fullfilment!

May all of this be an offering to Prāna-śakti!

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

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

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

Support the show

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 one of our most productive Q&A sessions of all time (in my opinion, at least!) we ask the central question: "why aren't you enlightened yet?" "why have you not seen with clarity that you are Awareness, ever free?" "what is keeping your from claiming with conviction your essential nature as the Self, which is even now the case?"

00:00:00 Introduction: Why Aren't You Enlightened Yet?
00:00:30 Awareness vs Mind: Does Awareness Change? It Seems To!
00:08:45 The Role of Discernment/Intellect in Spiritual Life (And It's Limits)
00:14:30 After Enlightenment, What Do You Do?
00:34:00 How Does Jnana, Knowledge support Bhakti, Devotion and Raja Yoga, Meditation?
00:59:16 What Is Samadhi?
01:08:53 Brett's Success! + How Mantras Mysteriously Work To Liberate Us
01:23:00 Spiritual Health vs Physical Health: Does Spirituality Mean The Body-Mind Will Always Be Healthy? + The "Sin" Narrative In The New Age
01:56:35 Channelising the Power of the Avatar
02:03:13 How To Maintain Spirituality in the Midst of Busy-ness and Overwhelm
02:14:00 The Joy of Monday Night Sangha/ Celebrating Our Community!
02:17:08 Does Enlightenment Go Away? and Flow States vs Meditation
02:26:10 Closing Prayer

Support the show

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

Who (or what) is a Guru? Today we talk about the role of a Guru in our spiritual life as the living embodiment of scripture, as an initiator or empowerer of mantras, as a "broadcaster of reality" and as a living example of the full possibilities of a human life. 
What qualifies the Guru to be a Guru? And when/how does one find one's Guru in this life? Must the Guru have a body?
All this and more in today's class!

This lecture is from our program "Journey Into Tantra"! It is an 18 part, college-level lecture series in audio and video featuring ~44 hours of content with Q&A + a guided meditation. The idea was to create an interactive learning environment in which these ancient and transformative teachings come to life! I'm very excited to share that with you! You can pick up a copy here!
https://nishthefish.gumroad.com/l/journeyintotantra

A Poem to my Guru:

Better than a hundred ministers who preach
Are the lessons that Silence can teach.
A mountain’s instruction unceasing
Is better than the pastor’s wheezing!
And yet how many among us who yearn
For God’s vision can profitably learn
From the Sphinx-like silence inscrutable?
How many are truly able
To draw from the rock it’s sacred teaching
In a way that is stable and far reaching?
A precious few, I say, a precious few!
And even among them there is need too
Of a living emissary between Spirit and matter
Otherwise we remain enmeshed in the latter!

But whence forth comes the one who can teach like the mountain?
Who is truly fit to serve as God’s fountain?
of unfaltering Grace and Wisdom unstinting
To be a holy jewel, glimmering and glinting?
A previous few, I saw, a previous few!
But this I can guarantee to you:
If you are sincere in your search
And if you practice some,
Then to you this true Teacher will come.
A teacher who is strong and infallibly pure.
Of this my friend, you can be sure!

God is drawn to the devotee
Who is pure at Heart
God years for such a one –
She cannot keep apart!
To the one who has no thought
For pleasure or for money
God is drawn like a bee to honey.

After all, the Guru is God in a mortal frame.
The Guru is God’s first name.
Like lightning flashing in the dark of the storm
The Guru is Silence clothed in form.
The Guru is a tree with roots reaching deep.
The Guru is the Witness in dreamless sleep.

The key to meditation
Is the Guru’s face.
The key to liberation
Is the Guru’s grace.
Oh, my friend, haven’t you heard?
The key to your freedom
Is the Guru’s word.

So he who hath ears, please listen well
To what Nishanth has to tell:
The Guru is God in a mortal frame.
The Guru is God’s first name.

Support the show

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

What is it that turns someone away from the shallow, fleeting pleasures of the world and towards genuine spiritual life? Obviously, it is grace. Abinava Gupta, in his masterwork, Tantraloka takes up the very nuanced work of articulating the science of Grace: how did this Grace come about and who is "worthy" of receiving it? Are there practices you can do to invite this grace? And where does this grace come from and why? All these questions are taken up and brilliantly answered in Chapter 13 of Abinava's Tantraloka and in this lecture we sketch out his reasoning so that we can truly understand the Tantrik doctrine of Shaktipata (Descent of Power/Grace/Sudden Awakening). From our discussion of Shaktipata, we learn the 9 different "grades" of awakening which sheds light on Chapter 2 of the Tantraloka, on Anupaya (The Wayless Way) which consequently contextualizes the Anava Upaya we get in Chapter 5 and onwards.

If any of the above discussions on the practice and theory of Tantra are exciting to you, you should know that we do a weekly live class every on zoom every Thursday at 7:30pm PST on the Vijnana-Bhairava Tantra, the central practice manual of non-dual Tantra. In these classes, we discuss together some of the subtlest nuances of our Tradition. All are welcome. You can sign up for these classes by clicking on my name and reserving your spot in the Yoga World Heart website here: https://yogaworldheart.com/schedule

You can of course access all the previously recorded classes in our lecture library here: www.patreon.com/yogawithnish or pick up this introductory program: https://nishthefish.gumroad.com/l/journeyintotantra
(PS: Right now, I’m working on a shorter introductory Tantra program that is not as in-depth, thorough and long as the one linked above. Kind of like a crash course on Tantra. By Mother’s grace, I expect to have that one out by our next newsletter!)

Support the show

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

Who or what is Kali? In what form does Shakti create this Universe? And how can I (a) interact with that and (b) BECOME that?
In perhaps one of our deepest discussions yet, we explore the ultimate nature of Reality: the mantric body of Shiva, i.e Shakti. Everything that you see around you is a mantra, a subtly vibrating phoneme that gives rise to thought structures in the mind which in turn produce language structures in speech which ultimate filters down into your subjective and intersubjective realities as you perceive it and negotiate it against others. Does that sound philosophical and obtuse? Necessarily it must! Because today we are discussing the subtlest and highest of Tantrik philosophies. In this lesson, we unveil the "Way of Shakti", a particularly subtle and exciting approach to spiritual practice. We contemplate verses 99 and 102 of the Vijnana-Bhairava Tantra.
May your contemplations of these two verses flower into the full bloom of Enlightenment, the attainment of your own innate Shiva-nature of Pure Consciousness.

Jai Maa Kaali!
OM Namah Shivay!

Support the show

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

In 10th CE Kashmir, there were a slew of Tantrik masters who wrote brilliant commentaries on principal texts in Tantra and in so doing developed a wholly unique, thrilling and sophisticated approach to spirituality. These masters wrote within the tradition of Shaivism, the spiritual philosophy centered around Shiva as the principal divinity. Naturally then, their approach came to be called "Kashmir Shaivism." While this is a broad and far reaching school with many technicalities and subtleties, I wanted to share with you one particularly striking feature of Kashmiri Shaivite meditation, namely, the Shambava Upaya (Way of Shiva) approach that attempts to seize every day moments of ordinary cognition as profound opportunities to recognise the deepest Truth of your own being. If you properly master this technique, the idea is that in each and every moment of your embodied existence, you will constantly be reawakened to the ever-fresh joy of rediscovering your essence nature as Lord Shiva himself.

If you'd like to come and have your question answered, LIVE lectures happen every Monday at 7pm PST on Zoom. It is open to the public. Use this link and I will see you there:
https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815

For more videos, guided meditations and instruction, access to our lecture library, and to support this work, 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

Support the show

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 Buddha Purnima special, we celebrate the birth, death and enlightenment of one of the world's greatest spiritual teachers, Gautama the Buddha by having a Q&A discussion on various themes in Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and spiritual life in general. 

00:01:16 Is Buddha's Enlightenment and Sri Ramakrishna's Enlightenment the same?
00:07:46 Nagarjuna's "Nirvana = Samsara"
00:12:15 The Buddha as an Avatar of Vishnu?
00:21:45 How is Advaita Vedanta different from Soliplism/Subjective Idealism?
00:34:51 Westopher's Firm Footing
00:50:30 Why Is There Suffering In The World?
01:09:25 Dzogchen and Tantrik Buddhism with Orion
01:45:50 What Is Bhuta Shuddhi, The Essence of Tantrik Puja? + Kundalini 
01:56:03 How Stay Motivated On The Path
02:03:29 "Let He Who Hath Ears Hear" (The Importance of Reviewing)

If you'd like to come and have your question answered, LIVE lectures happen every Monday at 7pm PST on Zoom. It is open to the public. Use this link and I will see you there:
https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815

For more videos, guided meditations and instruction, access to our lecture library, and to support this work, 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

OM Tat Sat

Support the show

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

On May 1st this year, the Ramakrishna Mission turns 125 since Swami Vivekananda established it in 1897, in Balaram Bose's house in Calcutta.
As an offering to my Guru, I say a few words about the central theme of this mission that to me represents the Highest Ideal of Spiritual Life: service to our brothers and sisters, not out of the delusion that we can "help" them or that they are in need of "our help", but out of the recognition of the innate divinity of the soul. As such, our service to others is really nothing but worship of the Divine as She appears to us in this or that person. Really, this is conversation about turning every moment of your life into spiritual practice. 

May this words serve you.
Jai Shri Ramakrishna!
Jai Maa Kaali!

Support the show

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