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Published by Nishanth Selvalingam
The world of Yoga is wide and varied. In this podcast, yogi Nish the Fish shares the deeper dimensions of Yoga, Vedanta and Tantra, asking the big questions: why do we practice? What is meditation? What is the purpose of a human life? What is Beauty? What is Death? Nishanth Selvalingam studied various South Asian philosophies with his Shaivite grandfather in an ashram in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and moved to Los Angeles to study philosophy, teach yoga and play guitar in a rock band. Join him and special guests as they explore Yoga, in all its splendours. For more episodes and instruction, and to support this humble offering of the heart, visit me on Patreon: patreon.com/yogawithnish
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Last week we did something very exciting in out Left Hand Path Rituals & Worship of the Consort class where we shared mantras and instructions for rituals that are typically hard to find because of the censure around vāmācāra (the so-called "left hand path") but to properly explain the theology, soteriology and purpose of these rituals we plunged into this fascinating discussion about the Kāpālika Vrāta, and the spiritual benefit of societal disdain/misunderstanding which is as current today as it was in the time of our ancestors. But more importantly, we discuss the role of bliss, ānanda in the context of śaiva pūjā (worship) and sādhana (spiritual practice)! The ritual manual from last week is in the description of this video: Left Hand Path Rituals & Worship of the Consort Hit Me Up x Support the show Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST Use this link and I will see you there: https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815 For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at: https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM
Every Gaṇeśa Chathurthi (the fourth day of the waxing moon in the month of bhadrapada) we celebrate Gaṇeśa by giving a special talk. In the past few years we've discussed The Tāntrik Gaṇeśa (2024), Who is Gaṇeśa? (2025) and also How To Worship Gaṇeśa (2025) approaching the topic from a few different angles. But this year I wanted to do something more ambitious and direct, something we've never done before. And as such, we gave one of my favorite talks of all time discussing a teaching that I feel in my heart if properly received (and it is certainly a very nuanced and subtle reflection on icchā-śakti & svatantrya-śakti, the absolute power of choice and freedom that inheres in Consciousness, in You in every moment inviolably) will allow you overcome any obstacles anywhere any time: sarva-vighnan-nāśānam siddhi. Hit Me Up x Support the show Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST Use this link and I will see you there: https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815 For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at: https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM
On Kali Jayanti/Krishna Janmāshtamī last week, we were especially inspired and we gave a talk called What Form of Kali Do I Worship? | Ādyā Kālī vs. Kṛṣṇ a and still buzzing from that, we plunged right into Are We Aghoris? | Kapālikās & Tāntrikas of the Deccan & South India where we looked at some historical Sanskrit literature to contextualize just what tradition we're part a of and just what it is we're doing here, especially given all the ambiguity around the internet's conception of "aghoris". In this talk, along the same lines as the previous two, we continue to flesh out the historical context to ground our understanding and practice of Tantra, this time making the claim that its easy to misunderstand our tradition if its seen through a Mogul, British apologetic (i.e Brahmo Samāj) or even "Hindu", lens. I argue for Tantra as a heterodox tradition like Buddhism and Jainism and at the same time argue for a broader understanding of the word Hinduism that includes not just Buddhism, Jainism, Cārvāka etc.(traditions that emerged in the subcontinent but are typically excluded) but also Islam, Christianity, Judaism and even Art and Science as all viable paths of Hinduism. I try to the center the Deccan and South India, as well as South East Asia, Nepal, Tibet and Central Asia as important Tāntrik locations. A pretty deep discussion I thought! Enjoy! Hit Me Up x Support the show Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST Use this link and I will see you there: https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815 For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at: https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM
On Kali Jayanti, we gave one of my favorite talks ever called What Form of Kali Do I Worship? | Ādyā Kālī vs. Kṛṣṇa and buzzing from the inspiration of that one, we rolled into into our Friday morning satsangh with this wonderful introduction to literary depictions of early śaivas (i.e Kāpālikas) in some classical Sanskrit and non Sanskrit historical sources to establish ourselves in a historical context that is often missed when discussing Tantra & Aghoris & whatnot. I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did! Here's a playlist of all our material on śaivism in all its phases and here's one for our vāmācāra classes. Hit Me Up x Support the show Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST Use this link and I will see you there: https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815 For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at: https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM
Every time Krishna Janmāshtamī/ Kali Jayanti (the 8th day waning moon of the holy month of Shiva, śrāvana) I find that I am especially inspired. It is no insignificant thing that Kālī & Krishna share the same "birthday"! Last year, we gave a talk on the subject called Krishna = Kali and I still think it's one of the best talks we've given, like, ever. Last night, similarly inspired, we went even further into the issue by asking: what is my Ishta, chosen ideal actually? What does our lineage understand Kālĩ to be in our highest theological conception? And as such, what does the worship of this form of Kālī actually look like in our day to day (or rather, night to night) Tāntrik practice. Essentially, in this talk I discuss my favorite form of Kālī, the sarvākāra nirākara, the formless Void which shines as all forms. Our central thesis is as follows: Premā svarupā iti şaktih: God is not love; rather, love itself in all of its forms is God. You cannot love Shakti because she is not the lover nor the beloved but the relational act of loving itself. So Kali is not Kali! Kali, I.e Ādyā is Love in and of itself in all of its forms. Our Ishta (Chosen Ideal/Main Deity) as such is not Kali understood as God; our Ishta by whatever mantra we approach Her, is God understood as Love in all of its forms . As such, my final claim: Krishna is the greatest expression of that Love Herself. There is no such thing as Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism, Materialism or any ism. There is no conflict anywhere. Krishna, Radha, Christ, Ramakrishna are Avatāra because they are the greatest historical experience we’ve had of the most intense love, that love which is not for God but IS GOD. Hit Me Up x Support the show Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST Use this link and I will see you there: https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815 For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at: https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM
By now it's probably quite obvious that our spiritual community is like the Protestant church you grew up in. Although all of our content on the internet is listed as "adult-content", often I have overestimated the maturity of our audience because I am only just now starting to understand how deep seated our preconceptions can be regarding hierarchies of power and institutions of authority, what to say about these things in the spiritual world. The thing is: we tend to always look outside ourselves for answers and more often, we tend to hold everyone and everything responsible for choices that we fear to own up to ourselves. But in the world of Vāmācāra/Kaula-mārga, the so-called "left hand path" of Tantra, there is no substitute for real discernment, grit and maturity. It really isn't for everybody because we're all of us different and so we'll all need different things to make spiritual progress/we'll all find different things spiritually nourishing. But how will we know if it's for us? To help with discernment and to provide a "CAUTION:HOT" disclaimer for our stuff, we put together a little playlist called C ommunity Safety + Guidelines to help audiences get the most of our community starting with Dream Initiation | & Are We A Legitimate Tāntrik Lineage? where we ask some serious questions about lineage authority and then in How To Practice Tantra & Guru Yoga Responsibly we laid out the traditional safeguards for interacting with spiritual teachers and their communities and in Can You Learn Tantra From Books | & Am I A Tāntrik Guru? we lay out our principles and commitments as a community so you can know what to expect and what to watch out for. In this next installment, Who Should You Learn Tantra From? we offer some very important disclaimers regarding risk appetite and bhāva (spiritual predisposition) not only to carefully explain the bhāva of our community but more importantly to make the case that everyone is valid, each according to their own disposition. There is room for us all! Hit Me Up x Support the show Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST Use this link and I will see you there: https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815 For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at: https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM
Because it was the close of the eclipse portal with the lunar eclipse on śrāvana pūrnimā (pisces full moon) tonight, we were all in a reflective and contemplative mood and so in this talk, we discuss some of the tensions, paradoxes and contradictions inherent in the transmission of Tantra throughout the ages with the early sadhus in the Vedic era to the Śaiva Siddhantins to Ramakrishna to Vivekananda and to us in the modern context, before plunging into some practices from the Kāmakalā-Vilāsa & the japa krama from our vāmācāra paddhathi. Here is a playlist of all our lectures on Tantra over the years. Hit Me Up x Support the show Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST Use this link and I will see you there: https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815 For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at: https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM
On the auspicious occasion of Nāga Pañcamī, the sacred day for worshipping dragons, I was inspired to give a slightly more dynamic and comparative talk this time compared to our talk last year ( Snakes, Dragons & Nāgas in Tantra ) which focused more on the āvatāras of the nāgas (Patañjalī, Abhinavagupta etc.). In this second talk on the subject, we explored the concept of the Dragon (a more literal reading of Nāga) as a personification of wildness and primordial chaos, tracking the idea in the Campbellian Hero's Journey (to make an exciting claim about merging the princess, a symbol for the lost anima with the dragon, which also symbolizes both the shadow and the anima, to use Jungian terms) with comparisons to Tiamat from Mesopotamian myth, Apep or Apopohis/Typhon in the Ancient Egyptian tradition and of course tracing it into its corollaries in the Vedic/Hindu world with reference to Indra's battle with Vrtta, the earliest "dragon" to appear in the tradition. I make an exciting claim comparing Patañjali, the Serpent (whose name literally means "fallen offering", or rather, "fallen angel) to Lucifer in the Garden of Eden and an even more exciting claim about why we should not try to slay the dragon, but rather learn from Her and even become Her. Here are some of the mantras we referenced in the class: अनंतं वासुकीं शेषं पद्मनाभं च कंबलम् शंखपालं धृतराष्ट्रं च तक्षकं कालियं तथा एतानि नव नामानि नागानाम् च महात्मन: सायंकाले पठेन्नित्यं प्रात:काले विशेषत: तस्य विषभयं नास्ति सर्वत्र विजयी भवेत् anaṃtaṃ vāsukīṃ śeṣaṃ padmanābhaṃ ca kaṃbalam śaṃkhapālaṃ dhṛtarāṣṭraṃ ca takṣakaṃ kāliyaṃ tathā etāni nava nāmāni nāgānām ca mahātmanah: sāyaṃkāle paṭhennityaṃ prātakāle viśeṣatah: tasya viṣabhayaṃ nāsti sarvatra vijayī bhavet “Ananta, Vāsukī, Śesha, Padmanābha and Kambala Śankhapāla, Drstarāshtra and Takshaka and Kāliya: These are the 9 great Serepents: I bow to them all! If (this mantra) is recited always, especially in the morning and in the evening, all poisons and fear will be destroyed and one becomes victorious everywhere!” If you can, feed some snakes today with hard boiled eggs and milk! That is to say: leave out a bowl of milk and a hard boiled egg under a tree somewhere! And here is a mantra for invoking and worshipping Patañjali: योगेन चित्तस्य पदेन वाचां । मलं शरीरस्य च वैद्यकेन ॥ योऽपाकरोत्तमं प्रवरं मुनीनां । पतञ्जलिं प्राञ्जलिरानतोऽस्मि ॥ आबहु पुरुषाकारं। शङ्खचक्रासि धारिणं॥ सहस्र शीरसं श्वेतं। प्रनमामि पतञ्जलिम्॥ yogena cittasya padena vācāṁ । malaṁ śarīrasya ca vaidyakena ॥ yo’pākarottamaṁ pravaraṁ munīnāṁ । patañjaliṁ prāñjalirānato’smi ॥ ābahu puruṣākāraṁ śaṅkha cakrāsi dhāriṇaṁ sahasra śīrasaṁ śvetaṁ pranamāmi patañjalim Yoga, for the mind Grammar, for the speech, Medicine for the impurities of the body, I bow to that great sage Patañjali who has given all these! Pure spirit incarnate in form, Holding the conch, discuss and sword I bow to Patanjali, that thousand headed white (cobra)! Hit Me Up x Support the show Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST Use this link and I will see you there: https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815 For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at: https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM
A nuanced and radical question in then singularity that is the modern experience of Tantrik transmission and education on the internet in post-modernist late-state capitalism! This lecture is part of a series on not only how to interact with spirituality as a whole but particularly with regards to how to interface with our community. PS: Here's a playlist of all our community guidelines+ safety Hit Me Up x Support the show Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST Use this link and I will see you there: https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815 For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at: https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM
We gave this talk in the lobby of a hotel in Seattle, discussing a few traditional safe guards around approaching Tantra and finding teachers/lineages/institutions that suit your predispositions. These three-fold safeguard (sat tarka, guru, āgama) becomes especially important when approach Kaula or Vama (i.e "left hand") type traditions and so in many ways, these ideas are foundational not only to spirituality as a whole but certainly to interacting with our community. Inadvertently, this talk ended up becoming guide of like a sort of "community guidelines" for us! Jai Mā! Here's a playlist of all our community guidelines+ safety Hit Me Up x Support the show Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST Use this link and I will see you there: https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815 For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at: https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM
A lot of the recent controversy had to do with an event that happened in Seattle where one of our friends left the retreat and many felt that I was wrong for letting her walk off into the night as she did. Anyway, since then, many actors with various motives have used said friend and spoken for her as part of their virtue signaling, misguided activism & gofundme grifts. All is fair in love and war so no love lost but I thought it was rather special to be able to finally hear from said friend and see what she thinks and has to say about all this. She also just dropped a poetry book chronicling her journey and her insights and I think its wonderfully written and an important piece of revolutionary literature, a singularity even in our understanding of care, mental "illness", institutionalism & Tāntrik communities. You can pick up the book here and check out Ruma's stuff here. This feels like the best book launch marketing campaign ever tbh, we might inadvertent marketing genuises... Maybe one day they'll study us in a college business program or at the very least an abnormal Khan academy psychology course.. Anyway, this recording is from our discussion immediately following my statement re: recent allegations which you can watch here Hit Me Up x Support the show Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST Use this link and I will see you there: https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815 For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at: https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM
Gang, let’s get back to work. Last night, I started lecturing again, and in light of recent events, I thought it would be good to address: 1. White knights and neocolonialism 2. The projection of disempowering narratives into marginalized groups especially women in the name of “protecting them from themselves” 3. The weaponizing of those narratives of disempowerment for a consumer capitalism obsession with internet controversy at the expense of truth for the currency of attention and acclaim 4. The Reagan-esque virtue signaling and explicit hypocrisy 5. Ineffectual fear based anger driven activism. Live weekly classes are back: Monday 7pm PST, Thursday 7pm PST & Friday 11am PST here . Jai Mā! Satyam Eva Jayate, truth alone triumphs. Hit Me Up x Support the show Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST Use this link and I will see you there: https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815 For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at: https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM
Okay wow. What a week. There’s so much value in our coming together to discuss grievances, clear up misunderstandings, ask questions & clarify our roles and relationships to one another, especially in the wake of the out of control narratives on the internet that has me guilty of everything and anything including human sacrifice. For this, the public forum/open discussion style satsangh we did last week is ideal. So we did another one tonight, as we had planned last week. Although we’ve decided Jvalamukhī (albeit coming from an ultimately good, if not a tad misaligned, place) as moderator is not the way forward, we still value the role of a neutral 3rd party moderation team to facilitate our forum discussions. To that end, I’m so grateful that Vera Devī was moderating this discussion! We met at the regular zoom link at our Monday night satsangh hashed it out for a few hours together and here's the complete recording. Satyam Eva Jayate, the truth alone triumphs. Jai Mā! Hit Me Up x Support the show Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST Use this link and I will see you there: https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815 For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at: https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM
We gave this talk on a special occasion: the amāvasyā (the new moon) that opens the gupta navarātrī period (the 9 nights of the summer goddess festival) and so to celebrate, we reflect upon dīkshā, spiritual initiation & the systems of accountability to ensure the credibility of Tāntrik lineages so that we can better contextualize our place as a community in the midst of all of that . Mainly, I want to revisit the validity of intrapersonal mystical experiences like dreams and intuitions as reliable metric for religious authenticity even beyond texts and institutions and to substantiate this claim, we consider 4 important cases: 1. Vasugupta & the Śiva Sutra 2. Maheśvarānanda & the Mahartha Mañjarī, 3. Rāni Rasmani & the Dakshineshwar Temple, 4. Swami Ashokananda's "śaktopaya dīkshā" (to borrow Swami Turiyananda's phrase here) from Swami Vivekananda in meditation & dream experience Here is a playlist of talks on our guru-paramparā & thoughts on lineage. And here are some videos on our mission , ideals, manifesto etc. Hit Me Up x Support the show Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST Use this link and I will see you there: https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815 For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at: https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM
To celebrate the Gupta Navarātrī (Summer Goddess Festival) this year, we got together in Portland and decided to take up a new text, the Saundarya Laharī, an exceedingly beautiful Śrī Vidyā primary source & primer attributed to Ādi Śankarācarya to study alongside the Yoginī Hṛdāya which we started studying together last week. In this first of many talks on the Saundarya Laharī ( follow along with this lecture series here ), after a little introduction & discussion featuring Mahadevaji (which you can watch here ), I jump in to introduce some foundational & preliminary ideas about Tāntrik Goddess worship starting with the Aṣṭarasā (अष्टरसा) (the “8 flavors of consciousness”) model and the Aṣṭamātṛkās (the 8 fierce yoginīs that correspond to the 8 sets of the Sanskrit alphabet) to which these rasas are often mapped. Here are some citations & resources: From Bhārati’s classical source: शृङ्गारहास्यकरुणरौद्रवीरभयानकाः । बीभत्साद्भुतसंज्ञौ चेत्यष्टौ नाटये रसाः स्मृताः śṛṅgārahāsyakaruṇaraudravīrabhayānakāḥ | bībhatsādbhutasaṃjñau cetyaṣṭau nāṭaye rasāḥ smṛtāḥ || Śṛṅgāra (erotic love) Hāsya (comedy) Karuṇa (compassion/grief) Bhayānaka (terror) Bībhatsa (disgust) Vīra (heroic) Adbhuta (amazement) Raudra (anger) And the bonus +1 from Abhinava: Śānta (quiescent/transcendent/spritiual) note: Aṣṭarasā (8 flavors) is the classical list; Abhinava adds the 9th to make “navarasa” (9 flavors). The source for these is Abhinava Bhārati, Abhinava’s commentary on the Nātya Śāshtra of Bharati but also for the “9th”, see Abhinava’s Dhvanyaloka Locana, his commentary on Anandavardhana’s “dhvani” idea (what makes poetry poetic) Here are the 8 sets (mātrikā-Varga/Mātrika Kula) of Sanskrit letters: स्वर (vowels) अ (a), आ (ā), इ (i), ई (ī), उ (u), ऊ (ū), ऋ (ṛ), ॠ (ṝ), ऌ (ḷ), ॡ (ḹ), ए (e), ऐ (ai), ओ (o), औ (au), अं (aṃ), अः (aḥ) कण्ठ्य (gutturals) क (ka), ख (kha), ग (ga), घ (gha), ङ (ṅa). तालव्य (palatals) च (ca), छ (cha), ज (ja), झ (jha), ञ (ña). मूर्धन्य (retroflex) ट (ṭa), ठ (ṭha), ड (ḍa), ढ (ḍha), ण (ṇa). दन्त्य (dentals) त (ta), थ (tha), द (da), ध (dha), न (na). ओष्ठ्य (labials) प (pa), फ (pha), ब (ba), भ (bha), म (ma). अन्तस्थ (semivowels/liquids) य (ya), र (ra), ल (la), व (va) ऊष्मन् (sibilants + aspirant) श (śa), ष (ṣa), स (sa), ह (ha). In the next class, we’ll look at another set of 8 (the 8 shadows/pāśās) to complete our understanding of today's material! Hit Me Up x Support the show Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST Use this link and I will see you there: https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815 For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at: https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM
We ended our last conversation ( What Is The Śrī Cakra? | Yoginī Hṛdāya, Verses 1-18 ) with an invitation to start chanting regularly the Devī Khaḍgamālā which you can learn more about here: A Simple Way To Worship The Srī Yantra | Khaḍgamālā Stotram if this text is new to you. It is perhaps the best introduction to the practice of Śrī Vidyā because until we understand the names of all the deities (emanations of the one deity, Tripurā), we will likely not be able to map them on to the cakra, which is just the sort of thing visualization and worship requires. So before we can start performing the daily pūjā or take up any practices, and to supplement our understanding of the philosophical principles of the cakra as the auto-erotic, blissful expansion of the ever-free, self-willed Goddess, we often recommend just chanting this hymn every day until you have it down by memory! You'll find all our talks on Śrī Vidyā here. Hit Me Up x Support the show Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST Use this link and I will see you there: https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815 For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at: https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM
Since we recently took up a concerted study of a rather high level text in the non-dual śākta tradition, the Yoginī Hṛdāya (the last 3 chapters of a much larger work in the Śrī Vidyā tradition, Vāmakeśvarīmatatantra in 8 chapters) at our weekly Thursday evening text study, I thought I'd share this little voice recording from the other night after our Kālāshtamī pūjā where we offer a brief run through of the first of three chapters of this text with some loose commentary. I'll drop the videos for this class moving forward in this playlist. Hit Me Up x Support the show Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST Use this link and I will see you there: https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815 For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at: https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM
Tantra has often been considered a closed tradition because its texts and the teachings transmitted in them on maṇḍala/cakra (geometric diagrams representing the retinue of deities as emanations of the central deity/ a philosophical presentation of the Absolute nature of reality), mantra (a sacred sound formula which is synonymous with the Deity/Absolute Reality as a vibrational pattern) and pūjā (ritual procedures detailing the employment of mantras to contact and assimilate the energies of the maṇḍala) have been given most often in the strictest secrecy and most reverent ritual settings. We've often stressed that unless these things are received directly from the mouth of one to whom it was similarly given, even if we were to learn these things ourselves on the internet or from books, they might not work for us with the same power and aliveness compared to if we had received it from a living lineage. Often, inspired by ideals of accessibility and out of an enthusiasm for this material, I've tended to ignore some of those disclaimers around who should be let in and let out, and I'm starting to understand more now why those disclaimers can be helpful and why in my zeal, my mass distribution of some of the more esoteric material might not always be as compassionate or as helpful as I had hoped. Still, I can't help but to want to make as accessible as possible to all who are sincerely seeking these ideas and practices that have meant so much to me over the years. Perhaps the most responsible thing to do then is to really emphasize the traditional safeguards and disclaimers which are often presented in the beginning of any primary source in our tradition so that viewers can be maximally discerning about whether or not they want to opt in! In this talk, as a sort of preamble to our class on the Yoginī Hṛdāya, one of the central texts of the Śrī Vidyā tradition, we take up the first 5 or so verses of the text which, like many texts in the Sanskritic spiritual tradition, carefully explains: 1. a dhikari (the intended audience of the transmission, i.e who will benefit from hearing this) 2. prayojana (the goal that the text outlines for study and practice) 3. artha (the contents of the text, in this case as mentioned above cakra, mantra & pūja9) 4. prayojana-artha sambandha (the relationship between the content and the goal) with an emphasis on the 1st of these 4 things. We continue this discussion in the next video where we take up a study of the Yoginī Hṛdāya in a serious way, having established some of these disclaimers around adhikari, competency. We'll drop all our classes on this text and other Śrī Vidyā adjacent material here. Hit Me Up x Support the show Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST Use this link and I will see you there: https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815 For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at: https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM
Because we are all of us different, naturally, we want different things out of life and out of spirituality and we so all come to it with different expectations and values and backgrounds. Often, this means we're going to have different (and equally valid) ideas about “Tantra”, “Guru” & most importantly “Dīkshā”, spiritual initiation. In Indic spiritual traditions, we tend to value texts (śāstra) to substantiate our claims and this is especially true of Tantra which is in a large part a textual transmission (without dispensing with the importance of human to human spiritual transmission, through living lineages, of course.) And in the name of integrity and transparency, as is the responsibility of all acāryas, śaiva or otherwise, it's important to be accountable to our textual tradition, to cite our sources and innovate within the parameters of tradition. But the thing is, we might just all be reading different texts and have different ways of interpreting and evaluating the legitimacy of those texts themselves! We should first acknowledge that there are different interpretations of these things and they are all valid even if they differ from one another because our traditions are so vast and diverse. Also, each person is entitled to going about things and understand things in their own way since, again, we are each of us different; what works for one person might not for another. Now, a lot of the time, people conflate what we're doing with what others might be doing and judge us by standards or values that we might not share. All too often, our detractors feel that we are illegitimate (and again, everyone is entitled to their opinion and this is perfectly alright) but in response we say: just because it doesn't work for you, does not mean it isn't valuable to another or rather; just because it doesn't match your standards of legitimacy, doesn't mean it is inherently illegitimate. Perhaps the Indic traditions are just more diverse and more inclusive than we're willing to allow for? As such, I want to be clearer about my definitions and understanding of terms like “tantra”, “guru” and most of all, “dīksha” moving forward so that you can better evaluate whether or not this material (and my interpretation and presentation of it) is spiritually nourishing for you! In that direction, here’s a little excerpt from a conversation I was having in the car re: dīksha, in particular. Hit Me Up x Support the show Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST Use this link and I will see you there: https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815 For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at: https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM
Earlier this year, on Vivekananda Jayanti, I gave a talk on the early days of the Vedanta movement in America, when a few enthusiastic Americans in New York in 1895 gathered in a one bedroom apartment to hear this strange man from India with strange and exciting new ideas talk for hours on end. This is an especially exciting story if you are participating in yoga in any capacity and even more exciting and inspiring if you are, or are aspiring to be, a teacher of yoga, vedanta, tantra or any other Eastern spiritual tradition that emerged in America since then. Mainly though, this talk shows us that times now are not that different from how they were then. This talk is meant to, in looking back, inspire us to look forward and pick up where Swami Vivekananda left. Let's get to it then... Hit Me Up x Support the show Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST Use this link and I will see you there: https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815 For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at: https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM
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