Tomorrow (October 1st, 2024) is a very, very special day: a new moon night on Tuesday, the eve of Navarātri, the 9 nights of the Goddess!
Mā Kālī tells us in the Tantras that this is the best time to worship Her!
Naturally, those of you who might want to worship Her will ask "well how do I worship Her?!" Of course, the worship of Mā Kālī is some very high level Tantra being that She is the Goddess of the Tantras! But there are some wonderful resources out there for beginners to get started:

For example, Swami Bhajanananda Saraswati's beautiful book "Simple Kali Puja", which you can pick up on the internet or find on the Kālī Mandir website: https://www.kalimandir.org

If you're totally new, I recommend starting here. As with all things, start small and slowly expand according to capacity and interest. Pujya Swamiji's book is very complete as it is concise, walking you through all the main mantras in Kālī worship which for so long has been kept secret!

Some time ago, on the new moon night of Phalahārinī Kālī Pūjā, we gave this talk on How To Worship Mā Kālī which focused more on the "internal worship" (mānasa Kālī pūjā):
https://www.patreon.com/posts/how-to-worship-105659438?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

Now, we present an abridged, abbreviated external worship in 16 steps/sections!

The mantras can all be found in written form here:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/how-to-perform-113071076?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

For more detailed puja instructions, 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

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Starting this upcoming Tuesday, on the New Moon, we will be entering into a very sacred and transformative period!
Perhaps the most exciting and intense time in our community, Navarātri (The 9 Nights of the Goddess) typically features:

1. collective sādhanā that many of us opt into doing together according to our capacity and interest
2. many lectures on the various aspects of the Divine Mother as usual and of course
3. copious Candi recitation!

Last year, we did an Introduction to the Devī Māhātmya, The Most Sacred Texts of the Śāktas which you can watch here:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/introduction-to-91791288?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

For this upcoming Navarātri, some of you have expressed a desire to perform the Candi (recitation) sādhanā in addition to or as an alternative to the mantra-japa sādhana described here:

A Mantra Recitation Practice for Navarātri
https://www.patreon.com/posts/mantra-practice-113025541?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

In this video, we go over a few preliminary things you might like to do and tiknow regarding this type of chanting practice which when done with devotion, can be a real game changer, a total singularity in the aspirant's life and spiritual practice!

Jai Srī Durgā!

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

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In this class, we read from "The Preparatory Renunciation" from the Parā-Bhakti (Supreme Devotion) section of the Bhakti Yoga book in Volume III of the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda to learn how we may "cultivate" renunciation which as we'll learn, is a necessary pre-requisite for higher spiritual life! But first, we make a few opening remarks about renunciation, about what it is and what it is not and most importantly, what it is for!

Here is a playlist of videos for classes in this series on Swami Vivekananda's Bhakti Yoga:
https://www.patreon.com/collection/728434

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

Support the show

I know the title sounds new agey and off the wall but only because it is. I intend to discuss cremation ground sadhana a little and present three or four reasons for it, focusing on the concept of “spirit traffic”. This is a bit of a pre-Hallowe’en Hallowe’en talk I suppose!

Today will be the last talk of our “summer semester” before we shift gears for the fall!

You’ll recall the project this summer was to cover some foundational concepts in Sadhana and we started with "How To Get Started In Spiritual Life" exploring some basics and then we discussed “right motive” in spiritual life and suggested an attitudinal shift that can make for a long term and sustainable sadhana to prevent burnout in "How To Enjoy Spiritual Life"

In Should Worship One Deity or Many, Chant One Mantra or Many? we looked at the underlying reality behind every mantra and deity-form to make the argument for one-ness and to show a way to work with many different mantras and murtis without losing a sense of that one-ness!

Then of course we had to take up the question of the all-too-necessary living spiritual guide in How To Choose A Guru & What To Do If You Don't Have One

Then we thoroughly analyzed Tantrik subtle anatomy to explain the dynamics of sadhana, spiritual practice.

We explored some basic puja techniques and then we took all of those foundational ideas into the signature lecture of the summer The Secret Worship of Mā Kālī which we gave on Kali Jayanti and which presents a rather complete Sadhana for Mā Kālī.

So now that you have everything you need to begin an intense and productive and complete Sadhana, there’s only one question left to ask: “how do I stay grounded and not go insane?”Sadly “spinning out into madness” is something that happens far too often to sincere spiritual aspirants who go about things in the wrong way. So today, we’ll cover that as a nice closing sentiment for summer semester!

Enjoy!

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

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This lecture is undoubtedly going to be somewhat controversial for some! Brace yourselves!

In this week's Bhakti Yoga lecture, we take a few excerpts from Swami Vivekananda's "The Methods and the Means (for practicing Bhakti Yoga)" from Volume III of the Complete Works to explain the role of diet, ethics and other preliminaries in spiritual life.

"If I want to practice spirituality, then, should I become a vegetarian? How important is a vegetarian diet to spiritual life, anyway? Should I avoid onions and garlic and other rājāsic foods? Should I stay clear of mushrooms and leeks and such tamasic foods? What really qualifies as a "sattvic" diet, after all?"

These questions naturally come to mind when we take up spiritual life, especially within the context of Sanātana Dharma.

Also, a naturally related question to vegetarianism is the ethical question of Ahimsā, non-violence. The Buddha and Mahavīra, the founder of Jainism made this ideal the very heart of their respective traditions and everywhere it is emphasized: one should not harm others in word, thought or deed. But what does that really mean? And do I have to be perfectly non-violent before I can take up spiritual life?

As we explore these dietary and ethical pre-requisites, we discover that there is only one real pre-requisite to spiritual life which Swami Vivekananda emphasizes towards the end of the reading: strength! Physical and mental strength!

May Swami Vivekananda bless us all with strength!

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This is perhaps the most new-agey title we've ever given for any of our videos but bear with me! It's appropriate, I promise!

In this lecture, we explore the exciting world of Kavaca (spiritual armor), devices or mantras which serve an apotropaic (protective) function. We say a few things about physical kavacas that can be worn and which are often made out of specific metals, stones and yantras before introducing three forms of "mantra-kavaca", mantra-armors you can start using immediately to protect yourself from all harm whether physical, psychical or spiritual!

Finally, I make a comparison between the Devi Kavaca from the Chandi and the Old Irish prayer "St. Patrick's Breastplate" to introduce some Kavacas in the Christian mystical tradition also!

May you be safe and protected always!

Jai Mā!

Our pūjā class meets live every Thursday evening at 6:30pm PST via this link:
https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815

If you want to follow along with the "How To Do Tantrik Puja" course, you can watch or rewatch previous lectures here:
https://www.patreon.com/collection/233799

Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and Friday 10am 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

Support the show

In the Tantrik worship of Mā Kālī, after She is worshipped, we then worship Her āvarana devatās, attendant/auxiliary deities which can be each of them conceived of as emanations of Her Being.

Among these emanations are the 15 yoginīs, also known as the Nitya-Kālīs, often described as banshee-like dākinī figures that make up her retinue. There is very little on the internet about these yoginīs/dākinīs/nitya-kālī because their worship is rather esoteric and quite guarded.

In this lecture, I first make a few broad overarching comments about spiritual life and particularly about how to gauge your progress in spiritual life just so that we can get clear on the goal and the proper motivation behind worshipping Mā in this Tantrik way.

Then, we offer a brief description of the 15 Kālīs and what they represent in the context of Tantrik embodiment. Finally, I suggest a simple way to worship these energies in the context of your daily pūjā. Below is their meditation mantra which can also be used to invoke them:

ध्यानम्
ॐ सर्वाः श्यामा असिकराः मुण्डमालाविभूषिताः।
तर्जनीं वामहस्तेन धारयन्त्यः शुचिस्मिताः॥
दिगम्बरा हसन्मुख्यः स्व–स्व–भर्तृसमन्विताः।

dhyānam
oṁ sarvāḥ śyāmā asikarāḥ muṇḍamālāvibhūṣitāḥ।
tarjanīṁ vāmahastena dhārayantyaḥ śucismitāḥ॥
digambarā hasanmukhyaḥ sva–sva–bhartṛsamanvitāḥ।

"They are all black, holding swords, garlanded in heads; they are each holding out their index finger of their left hand and they are all smiling sweetly. They are naked, joyful and filled with the bliss of the self/self-satistified."

To offer a flower to the whole group of 15 simply chant:

OM ete gandha pushpe kālī devyāmbādi-panca-daśa-yoginībyho namah:

or you can offer each one a flower (or a flower petal) individually as follows:

OM ete gandha pushpe srī kālī devyāmba srī-pādukam pūjāyami namah
OM ete gandha pushpe srī kapalinī devyāmba srī-pādukam pūjāyami namah
OM ete gandha pushpe srī kullā devyāmba srī-pādukam pūjāyami namah
OM ete gandha pushpe srī kurukullā devyāmba srī-pādukam pūjāyami namah...

etc. Just work your way down the list of names! Notice the mantra is pretty much the same for each offering; it's only the name of the nitya-kālī in question that is changing!

Here are all their names, perhaps published for the first time for the general public on the internet as far as I know:

1. Kālī
2. Kapālinī
3. Kullā
4. Kurukullā
5. Virodhinī
6. Vipracittā
7. Ugrā
8. Ugraphrabhā
9. Dīptā
10. Nīlā
11.Ghanā
12. Balākā
13. Mātrā
14. Mudrā
15. Mitā

Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm 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

Support the show

As is our tradition in this community, to commemorate today's auspicious anniversary of Swami Vivekananda's 1893 address at the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago, I make a few comments about why this is such a special moment before reading out to you can excerpt from Sister Nivedita's reflections. Finally, we read the speech and celebrate this moment as being inextricably linked to that one when on the 11th of September in 1893, Swami Vivekananda changed the world!

Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm 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

Support the show