#yogic teachings

[compassionmattersmost]

Understanding Vrittis and Pratyayas: A Guide to Mindful Awareness

Introduction In the journey of mindfulness and meditation, understanding the nature of the mind is crucial. Two fundamental concepts in this exploration are vrittis and pratyayas. These Sanskrit terms, drawn from ancient yogic and Buddhist teachings, provide insights into the workings of the mind. This guide aims to clarify these concepts, helping you integrate this understanding into your daily…

[wisterianwoman]

Introduction to Chakras: Your Inner Energy Centers

Not so long ago, I sat cross-legged on a yoga mat, skeptical and unsure. Yoga had begun to weave its influence into my life, but there was a concept I couldn't quite wrap my head around: chakras. Let's dive deep into the lessons of our energy centers.

Uncover the lessons to be learned from chakras, their history, and their role in holistic well-being. Learn how to balance and harmonize these vital energy sources for a life of inner harmony and growth. A Skeptic Beginner Not so long ago, I sat cross-legged on a yoga mat, skeptical and unsure. Yoga had already begun to weave its soothing threads into my life, but there was a concept I couldn’t…

[talonabraxas]

Mahakali Talon Abraxas

The Goddess Kali and the Spiritual Heart

Ma Kali and the Yoga of Knowledge

Ma Kali is the primary Goddess of Yoga, the background Yoga Shakti, the power of Yoga or Kriya Shakti. Hers is the force that takes our energy within, which causes us to seek the eternal and lose interest in the outer affairs of life. She is the electrical stirring of the soul to Divinity. She is the voice of the Divine reverberating within us, when we let our ego fade into the background. Kali is the power of the great current of awareness.

Kali is the great Prana or cosmic life-force (Mahaprana). She represents the most primal will of all life, which is to live forever and never die. This core wish for immortality is not some mere delusion or arrogance within us, it is the very reflection of Sat or pure Being into creation, the portion of the Eternal that is our soul.

Kali represents the most primal desire, which is to love all and be one with all, to find the perfect, pure and eternal bliss, which is the presence of Shiva, the Eternal Being and Consciousness hidden in all life. Hidden even in ordinary desires is Kali’s ascending force to get us to seek something more beautiful and wondrous, to take us beyond our boundaries, to make us unhappy with what we already have in order to reach a greater reality.

Her will-power generates the decisive moment of spiritual awakening, in which we realize that true happiness cannot be found in the outer world but only within. Then she redirects our life as a mystic journey to the inner source, the heart of creation, and the Eternal flame.

Kali’s Shakti works to focus our energies back to the heart and the core of our being. Kali’s energy reverses the ordinary process of creation. Hers is the power that merges earth into water, water into fire, fire into air, air into ether, ether into mind, and mind into pure consciousness. She takes us back from the many to the One, reintegrating the world into our deepest Self and Being.

Ma Kali’s energy is like a simulated death experience. She helps us withdraw our attention from the outer mind, emotions and senses into the inner heart. In this regard, Kali is the prime Goddess of Jnana or Self-knowledge. She takes us back to the Self in the heart, unifying all our experience within it. Kali is Nirvana Shakti, the power that takes us to dissolution or Nirvana. She is the magnetic pull of Nirvana within us.

In Yogic terms, Kali is the Nirodha Shakti, the power that gives the ability to dissolve the fluctuations of the mind stuff or chitta, that is the tradition definition of Yoga through Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras. Her power checks, negates, masters and dissolves all the functions of mind and prana into the infinite silent calm of the Purusha within the heart.

One is reminded of the experience of Paramahansa Ramakrishna, who was a great devotee of Kali. After learning the importance of the Self-knowledge of Vedanta through his guru Tota Puri, Ramakrishna meditated on the Self within the heart in order to realize it. In doing so, the image of Ma Kali arose. He found that he had to break through his attachment to her by removing her form with the sword of knowledge. Yet he had to eventually realize that the sword of knowledge was that of Ma Kali. She projects a form to teach us, but removes the form to reveal her formless being as Pure Consciousness.

The Power of Ma Kali’s Mantras

Ma Kali’s Bija Krim

Each deity has its mantras, starting with single-syllable seed or bija mantras and extending to longer mantras, prayers and supplications. Kali’s primary single syllable mantra is KRIM (pronounced Kreem). KRIM refers to Kriya or the power of action, but action of a yogic nature.

KRIM is composed of three primary letters. The letter-k is the first of all the consonants in the Sanskrit alphabet. It indicates manifest existence, power and force. The letter-r is the seed of fire and light. The letter-i is focused energy and will power.

KRIM as the sound of Kali sets in motion the primary force of life and manifestation. It is the electrical energy or lightning force that gives power to everything, like the electric current that can run any number of appliances.

Yet when we use this mantra in sadhana or yogic practices, it is the inner current that we are switching on. Once this inner current is available we can use it to empower any sadhana or open up any inner faculty, just like having the electricity on in our house can allow us to do so many things and without it we can do nothing.

The great Goddess Kali, specifically through her mantra KRIM, provides us the support of energy for all that we do in Yoga. More so, she increases our inner energy, both allowing and pushing us on to do more. Her mantra creates a relentless force of spiritual energy within us that does not merely help us but propels and guides us to the higher goal. At some point her current takes over from our minds and directs our sadhana by its flow. This opens up the higher level of working with her power and her presence. Kali’s Kriya Shakti allows the Yoga to work but also as an ascending lightning force can break through all obstacles and veils of karma, prana or mind.

The mantra KRIM also has a fierce side, like a jolt of lightning it can function like a sword to cut things open. It can stimulate, shock, electrify and propel. It can energize the weapons of the Gods to defeat the undivine or Asuric forces. Yet it can energize the ornaments of the Gods, their gems and gifts, which grant bliss to the devotee.

Kali’s Threefold Bija: KRIM HUM HRIM

Out of this single seed mantra is developed a longer threefold mantra or three seed-mantras as KRIM HUM HRIM. This has yet more energy and efficacy in awakening the Goddess within us. It begins with the mantra KRIM and builds upon its power.

The mantra HUM (hoom) is composed of two primary sounds. The letter-h is the seed syllable of the element of space or ether. It also represents the sun, Prana and the Purusha principle. The letter-u creates a force field that can both serve to hold in and to push out. HUM represents an explosion of energy, an expression of great power that is pranic, electrical and fiery. HUM is the power of Agni or fire particularly as directed by the wind or Vayu. Whereas KRIM awakens the electrical force or Shakti, HUM serves to direct it with great force, to use it to make great efforts.

HRIM (hreem) is the great mantra of the spiritual heart, hridaya. It is composed of three main letters. The letter-h, as in HUM, represents, space, prana and light. The letter-r as in KRIM represents light and fire. The letter-i as in KRIM represents focused energy or a ray of light, the Shakti as such. Through the mantra HRIM alone one can enter into the spiritual heart and the small space within its lotus (dahara akasha) in which the entire universe is held.

These put together, Kali’s threefold mantra serves to awaken and energize the spiritual heart, hridaya.

The mantra KRIM serves to cut the knots of the heart. It works like a sword. It stimulates the heart energy within us, its primal desire or wish for immortality, love and light.

The mantra HUM gives power to the heart, expanding the energy of prana and Agni (fire) in a strong, if not explosive manner.

The mantra HRIM opens the energy of the spiritual heart which is like the Sun, spreading it into the Infinite.

This threefold Kali Heart mantra can be compared to a kind of spiritual adrenaline. KRIM awakens the energy of the heart, like an electrical jolt to a heart patient whose heart is failing. HUM expands it this current with great force. HRIM stabilizes it as an infinite power and eternal presence.

KRIM draws the Prana from the breath, the sensory and motor organs and directs it into the heart. HUM turns the Prana into a force of fiery meditative power. HRIM connects the individual prana-mind with the power of the Supreme Self, the power of the light of consciousness (Chid-jyoti). This threefold mantra therefore creates a powerful Pratyahara in the yogic sense, it takes our energy back to the spiritual heart.

Kali Sadhana and the Yoga of Knowledge

Kali mantras serve to develop a Kali Sadhana, in which the true nature of Kali is revealed. In this regard, Kali is the death of the ego, which is the rebirth of the soul. Kali is the Divine Mother in her role of slaying the demon or dragon of the ego or I am the body idea. Her mantras bring about an inner death, which is the rebirth of the immortal Self within us.

Through Kali we can experience a simulated death, the real death which is that of the ego, after which there is no more death. Kali is this death of death by the power of eternity. Kali mantras take us into the spiritual heart. They are a good accompaniment to Atma Vichara.

The Goddess Kali, we might say, is the power of meditation personified as a Goddess. Yet She is meditation not as a mere technique, She is the natural state of meditation as the power of consciousness pervading Infinite Space and Eternal Time, in which the waves of karma, including birth and death, cannot touch us, because we are the All!

[srbachchan]

DAY 5891

Jalsa, Mumbai Apr 4/5, 2024 Thu/Fri 1:05 AM

Birthday - EF - Caroline 'Coky' Moheb, .. all love and wishes for a wonderful day .. and many days ahead .. from the Ef and me ..❤️

In the quiet of the night when the birds are asleep and the crickets have subdued their vocals , doth the Blogomaestra conduct his voice and unending connection with the dearest Ef .. some that have been with us from the time of beginning .. some having left and some joining in in the newest ..

A quiet day .. a reflective time for the mind .. a few times spent on seated breathing by the yogic columns of thought and teaching .. and that is it ..

One wonders where the thoughts come from .. one wonders why and the how .. one consecrates it as simply not understandable .. and some or rather one particular dubs it as a high end secretive rendition that even the most sophisticated secret agencies, find difficult to give it elucidation ..

It's the making of the modern mind - crammed with a volley of the highest speed rendition through the wires and cables of information .. multiple bombing the targets that have hitherto remained aloof and silent .. making it difficult at times to punch the right word and name that is at the tip of the tongue but simply not forming to be rendered ..

Some naysayers put it at age, and the conditioning of the brain at this age condition .. some dexterously avoiding the obvious strained illness in its politeness and refraining .. and some simply not quite interested in its relevance .. a natural , I believe .. for the interest in the other or another , does not feature in its capacity to be given attention and debate ..

So .. we trundle along ..

Mumbling in the search for the desired word or expression and the relevance of the net and its informative machine that puts the gravest queries to rest at the punch of a black square or the touch on the 'h' ..

The 'h' .. aaah .. such an innovative express, by the Americans ..

The 'h' is for the phone in your hand (h) .. the 'res' is for the land line at your residence (res) .. and 'work' etc., are too descriptive to get into abrieved formulations ..

Abrieved .. !! yes the communication 'funda' .. uff .. hate this expression 'funda' .. wonder how it developed .. but yes there it is .. the shorter the best ..

H R U .. how are you ..

K .. okay

etc., etc., etcetera ..

And the convenient emojis .. blessings in disguise .. for some .. not for the old world or at times for different mobiles .. for , at times your ❤️ emoji comes as a 🀄️ or something .. confusing the reader at all costs ..

🤣

hope this laughing buddha came out right ..

Right .. then time for the retire .. 😴

My love as ever .. 🌹

Amitabh Bachchan

[aahanna]

Happy International Yoga Day!

Today we celebrate the ancient practice of yoga, which has been a cornerstone of Indian culture for over 5,000 years. We honor the "Father of Modern Yoga," Tirumalai Krishnamacharya (1888-1989), who played a crucial role in popularizing yoga worldwide. We also honor the original "Father of Yoga," Patanjali, who authored the celebrated yoga sutras.

_History of Yoga:_

Yoga has its roots in the Indus Valley Civilization, with evidence of yoga practices dating back to 3000 BCE. The word "yoga" comes from the Sanskrit word "yuj" meaning "to unite." Over time, yoga evolved through various traditions, including Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga, and Bhakti Yoga.

Patanjali:

Patanjali was a Hindu author, mystic, and philosopher who authored the Yoga Sutras, a categorization of yogic thought arranged in four volumes. He is regarded as an avatar of Adi Sesha and is believed to have lived between the 2nd century BCE and the 5th century CE ¹.

Tirumalai Krishnamacharya:

Born in 1888, Krishnamacharya was a Indian yoga master, ayurvedic healer, and scholar. He studied yoga under his father and later under the revered yoga guru, Rama Mohan Brahmachari. Krishnamacharya went on to teach yoga to prominent students, including B.K.S. Iyengar, K. Pattabhi Jois, and Indra Devi, who spread yoga globally.

BENEFITS OF YOGA

Yoga offers numerous benefits, including:

- Improved flexibility and strength

- Reduced stress and anxiety

- Enhanced mental clarity and focus

- Improved overall well-being

Popular Yoga Asanas:

1. Downward-Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)

2. Warrior Pose (Virabhadrasana)

3. Triangle Pose (Trikonasana)

4. Seated Forward Fold (Paschimottanasana)

5. Tree Pose (Vrksasana)

[radical-revolution]

"The closer we are to Self-realization, or enlightenment, the more ordinary we become. Only seekers striving for liberation as if it were a trophy glamorize the yogic process and themselves. They want to be extraordinary, whereas liberated beings are perfectly ordinary. They are as happy washing dishes as they are sitting quietly in meditation or teaching their disciples. For this reason, Yoga has from the beginning celebrated not only the path of the world-renouncing ascetic (samnyāsin) but also that of the world-engaging householder (grihastha) who uses the opportunities of daily life to practice the virtues of a yogic lifestyle."

— Georg Feuerstein

[leannan-sithe]

Okay, I'll give it to you straight: for the most part, Western yoga understands almost nothing about the chakras that the original tradition thought was important about them. [...] I’m just here to tell you two things: first, that when modern Western authors on the chakras imply they are presenting ancient teachings, they’re deceiving you—but they don’t know that they are, because they can’t assess the validity of their own source materials (since they don’t read Sanskrit). Second, for those who are interested, I'm here to let you know a little bit about what yogic concepts mean in their original context (because I'm a Sanskrit scholar, and a practitioner who happens to prefer the traditional forms). Only you can assess whether that is of any benefit to you. I’m not claiming that older is intrinsically better. I’m not trying to imply there’s no spiritual value to Western occultism. I’m just approximating the historical truth in simple English words as best I can.

Learn about how Western concepts of chakras aren't really rooted in the original practices. Know the history to avoid appropriation!

[donnerpartyofone]

Over the course of my long struggle with mental problems I've tried various failed medications and failed therapies and a few meditation practices that were interesting if not really helpful. One of these was this yogic meditation that's supposed to help you prepare for death, and I thought maybe something that terminal-sounding could actually help with my untreatable anxiety, which is in part the product of certain chronic physical ailments that make me feel desperate and claustrophobic. The guy who was teaching the class had been at it for a very long time and he had all these exciting credentials, but I was still a little worried that he was just a pretentious flake who was really committed to a bit. I found that this was probably true when I stupidly responded to something he claimed about tinnitus being some kind of otherworldly message that's trying to get through to you. Part of the reason I was even there was that I was having a really hard time coping with tinnitus, and I explained that it's not some sort of uncanny phenomenon, it's happening because chronic tension in my back is fucking up my neck is fucking up my jaw, which is messing with my ear, and there's nothing magical or mysterious about it at all; I understand it completely and it's pretty horrible. And somehow the guy just kept INSISTING that it was actually something spiritual and supernatural and like trying to poke holes in my medical account of what happened to me, and ultimately I just clammed up and left him hanging and he had to awkwardly change the subject. Anyway the meditation did nothing for me because it was absolutely no match for the constant muscle tension that makes it hard for me to even lie down comfortably, but possibly I was extra tense because I was already so fucking mad at that guy for trying to tell me my business.

[proudhinduforever]

Greatness of Vyadha Geeta

I have always wondered if everyone is worthy of worship. There are people who need to carry out very vile tasks. Do they attain liberation? The Vyadha Geeta offers answers to such questions. This is one of the greatest writings in Hinduism, where a butcher is praised for his devotion through karma yoga. It has always felt incredible to me. For me, the Vyadha Geeta seems to be one of the greatest reflections of karma yoga.

The Vyadha Gita (meaning, songs of a butcher) is a part of the epic Mahabharata and consists of the teachings imparted by a vyadha (butcher) to a sannyasin (monk). It occurs in the Vana Parva section of Mahabharata and is told to Yudhishthira, a Pandava by sage Markandeya. In the story, an arrogant sannyasin is humbled by a vyadha (butcher or hunter), and learns about dharma (righteousness). The vyadha teaches that "no duty is ugly, no duty is impure" and it is only the way in which the work is done, determines its worth.

Story:

The story has only three characters—a brahmin sannyasi, a housewife and a vyadha (butcher). The story begins with a young sannyasi going to a forest, where he meditates and practices spiritual austerities for a long time. After years of practice, one day while sitting under a tree, dry leaves fall on his head because of a fight between a crow and a crane. The angry sannyasi had developed yogic powers and burnt the birds with his mere look. This incident fills the sannyasin with arrogance. Shortly thereafter, he goes to a house, begging for food. Here the housewife who was nursing her sick husband requests the sannyasi to wait. To this, the sannyasi thinks, "You wretched woman, how dare you make me wait! You do not know my power yet", to which the housewife says that she is neither a crow nor a crane, to be burnt. The sannyasi is amazed and asks her how she came to know about the bird. The housewife says that she did not practice any austerities and by doing her duty with cheerfulness and wholeheartedness, she became illumined and thus could read his thoughts.She redirects him to a dharma-vyadha (meaning, the righteous butcher) in the town of Mithila and says that the dharma-vyadha would answer all his questions on dharma.The surprised sannyasi asks the vyadha as to how he could become illumined by doing a "filthy, ugly work". The vyadha says that he is working as per the principles of karma, which placed him in a circumstance into which he is born.

The vyadha further advises, "no duty is ugly, no duty is impure" and it is only the way in which the work is done, determines its worth.

The vyadha advises that all work must be done by "dedicating to God" and by sincere and unattached performance of the allotted duty one can become illumined. The vyadha advises the sannyasi that ahimsa (non-violence) and satya (truth) are two main pillars of dharma through which the highest good of all can be achieved. He says that a decision on what is true under difficult circumstances should be made by sticking to that course of action which leads to the highest good of beings.The vyadha, teaches that not birth but dharma and virtuous conduct makes one a Brahmana.

The story describes the importance of performance of swadharma (prescribed duty or duty in life). According to the story, a Vyadha, considered low by birth, but engaged in dharma and doing good to others is capable of teaching a Brahmana, considered higher by birth, but practices austerities for his own good. The attainment of freedom, by the performance of swadharma, is also one of the central teachings of the Bhagavad Gita. Swami Vivekananda, describes the Vyadha Gita in one of his lectures in Karma Yoga and says that it contains one of the "highest flights of the Vedanta".

[bhrm555]

1. Three Aspects of the Absolute                                                             

According to the Naths, an order of yogis associated with the practice of hatha yoga, creation begins with the limitless and eternal Absolute, a transcendent essence that permeates the universe. This painting, read from left to right, represents the origins of existence as a shimmering field of gold. Its successive emanations into consciousness (center) and form (right) are represented as perfected Nath yogis, covered in ash and saffron. Through yogic practice, Naths sought to transform their physical bodies into subtle matter and merge with the luminous Absolute.

Many yoga traditions define enlightenment as the recognition that the self and the limitless Absolute are one and the same, although they appear different. This essential sameness allows a yoga practitioner to progressively transform his or her physical body, known as the “gross” body, into subtle matter.

2. Transmission of Teachings from the Gods

These images of perfected practitioners (siddhas) from Stories of the Naths represent a transcendent lineage of yoga. The practitioners are depicted as teachers in a chain of authoritative revelation; several touch forefingers to thumbs in a gesture of imparting knowledge. Hovering in a subtle realm on a silvery universal sea, they are, from left to right, progressively more material emanations of the Absolute. The Absolute is represented on the manuscript’s first page as an empty space, also on view in this gallery.

[compassionmattersmost]

Post 3: Discovering the True Self: Reflections on Patanjali’s Sutras 1.3 and 1.4

In the previous post, we explored the importance of discipline and of calming the mind’s fluctuations, or vrittis, as described in Sutra 1.2. This brings us to the next essential question: What happens when the mind becomes still? What is revealed in that stillness, and what occurs when we remain caught in the waves of thought? Patanjali’s Sutras 1.3 and 1.4 address these questions…

[blessed1neha]

The Yamas and Niyamas are ethical and moral guidelines

The Yamas and Niyamas are ethical and moral guidelines outlined in the ancient yogic philosophy of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. They offer principles for living a harmonious and fulfilling life. Here are the benefits associated with practicing the Yamas and Niyamas:

Yamas:

Ahimsa (Non-violence): Practicing ahimsa promotes peace and compassion. It encourages individuals to cultivate kindness towards themselves and others, leading to improved relationships and a more harmonious society.

Satya (Truthfulness): Living truthfully fosters authenticity and integrity. Being honest with oneself and others builds trust and strengthens connections, resulting in healthier relationships and a sense of inner peace.

Asteya (Non-stealing): By practicing asteya, individuals learn contentment and gratitude for what they have. This cultivates a mindset of abundance rather than scarcity, promoting generosity and reducing feelings of envy or lack.

Brahmacharya (Moderation): Brahmacharya encourages balanced living and mindful consumption. By practicing moderation in all aspects of life, individuals conserve energy, maintain focus, and cultivate self-discipline, leading to greater physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

Aparigraha (Non-attachment): Aparigraha teaches the art of letting go and releasing attachments to outcomes. By detaching from material possessions, expectations, and desires, individuals experience freedom from stress, anxiety, and dissatisfaction, leading to greater contentment and inner peace.

Niyamas:

Saucha (Purity/Cleanliness): Practicing saucha involves purifying the body, mind, and environment. This fosters clarity of thought, enhances physical health, and creates a conducive space for spiritual growth and self-discovery.

Santosha (Contentment): Santosha promotes gratitude and acceptance of the present moment. Cultivating contentment regardless of external circumstances leads to greater peace of mind, reduced stress, and an increased sense of fulfillment.

Tapas (Discipline): Tapas involves cultivating self-discipline and perseverance in pursuit of spiritual growth and personal development. By embracing challenges and overcoming obstacles, individuals build resilience, inner strength, and a sense of accomplishment.

Svadhyaya (Self-study): Svadhyaya encourages self-reflection and introspection. By studying sacred texts, exploring personal beliefs, and observing one's thoughts and actions, individuals gain insight into themselves, deepen their understanding of life's mysteries, and foster spiritual evolution.

Ishvara Pranidhana (Surrender to the Divine): Ishvara Pranidhana involves surrendering to a higher power or divine intelligence. By relinquishing the ego's need for control and trusting in a greater purpose, individuals find peace, guidance, and spiritual connection.

Overall, practicing the Yamas and Niyamas promotes personal growth, ethical behavior, and spiritual development. By aligning one's actions with these principles, individuals cultivate virtues such as compassion, truthfulness, contentment, and self-discipline, leading to a more fulfilling and meaningful life.

[talonabraxas]

The Goddess Kali and the Spiritual Heart

Ma Kali and the Yoga of Knowledge

Ma Kali is the primary Goddess of Yoga, the background Yoga Shakti, the power of Yoga or Kriya Shakti. Hers is the force that takes our energy within, which causes us to seek the eternal and lose interest in the outer affairs of life. She is the electrical stirring of the soul to Divinity. She is the voice of the Divine reverberating within us, when we let our ego fade into the background. Kali is the power of the great current of awareness.

Kali is the great Prana or cosmic life-force (Mahaprana). She represents the most primal will of all life, which is to live forever and never die. This core wish for immortality is not some mere delusion or arrogance within us, it is the very reflection of Sat or pure Being into creation, the portion of the Eternal that is our soul.

Kali represents the most primal desire, which is to love all and be one with all, to find the perfect, pure and eternal bliss, which is the presence of Shiva, the Eternal Being and Consciousness hidden in all life. Hidden even in ordinary desires is Kali’s ascending force to get us to seek something more beautiful and wondrous, to take us beyond our boundaries, to make us unhappy with what we already have in order to reach a greater reality.

Her will-power generates the decisive moment of spiritual awakening, in which we realize that true happiness cannot be found in the outer world but only within. Then she redirects our life as a mystic journey to the inner source, the heart of creation, and the Eternal flame.

Kali’s Shakti works to focus our energies back to the heart and the core of our being. Kali’s energy reverses the ordinary process of creation. Hers is the power that merges earth into water, water into fire, fire into air, air into ether, ether into mind, and mind into pure consciousness. She takes us back from the many to the One, reintegrating the world into our deepest Self and Being.

Ma Kali’s energy is like a simulated death experience. She helps us withdraw our attention from the outer mind, emotions and senses into the inner heart. In this regard, Kali is the prime Goddess of Jnana or Self-knowledge. She takes us back to the Self in the heart, unifying all our experience within it. Kali is Nirvana Shakti, the power that takes us to dissolution or Nirvana. She is the magnetic pull of Nirvana within us.

In Yogic terms, Kali is the Nirodha Shakti, the power that gives the ability to dissolve the fluctuations of the mind stuff or chitta, that is the tradition definition of Yoga through Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras. Her power checks, negates, masters and dissolves all the functions of mind and prana into the infinite silent calm of the Purusha within the heart.

One is reminded of the experience of Paramahansa Ramakrishna, who was a great devotee of Kali. After learning the importance of the Self-knowledge of Vedanta through his guru Tota Puri, Ramakrishna meditated on the Self within the heart in order to realize it. In doing so, the image of Ma Kali arose. He found that he had to break through his attachment to her by removing her form with the sword of knowledge. Yet he had to eventually realize that the sword of knowledge was that of Ma Kali. She projects a form to teach us, but removes the form to reveal her formless being as Pure Consciousness.

The Power of Ma Kali’s Mantras

Ma Kali’s Bija Krim

Each deity has its mantras, starting with single-syllable seed or bija mantras and extending to longer mantras, prayers and supplications. Kali’s primary single syllable mantra is KRIM (pronounced Kreem). KRIM refers to Kriya or the power of action, but action of a yogic nature.

KRIM is composed of three primary letters. The letter-k is the first of all the consonants in the Sanskrit alphabet. It indicates manifest existence, power and force. The letter-r is the seed of fire and light. The letter-i is focused energy and will power.

KRIM as the sound of Kali sets in motion the primary force of life and manifestation. It is the electrical energy or lightning force that gives power to everything, like the electric current that can run any number of appliances.

Yet when we use this mantra in sadhana or yogic practices, it is the inner current that we are switching on. Once this inner current is available we can use it to empower any sadhana or open up any inner faculty, just like having the electricity on in our house can allow us to do so many things and without it we can do nothing.

The great Goddess Kali, specifically through her mantra KRIM, provides us the support of energy for all that we do in Yoga. More so, she increases our inner energy, both allowing and pushing us on to do more. Her mantra creates a relentless force of spiritual energy within us that does not merely help us but propels and guides us to the higher goal. At some point her current takes over from our minds and directs our sadhana by its flow. This opens up the higher level of working with her power and her presence. Kali’s Kriya Shakti allows the Yoga to work but also as an ascending lightning force can break through all obstacles and veils of karma, prana or mind.

The mantra KRIM also has a fierce side, like a jolt of lightning it can function like a sword to cut things open. It can stimulate, shock, electrify and propel. It can energize the weapons of the Gods to defeat the undivine or Asuric forces. Yet it can energize the ornaments of the Gods, their gems and gifts, which grant bliss to the devotee.

Kali’s Threefold Bija: KRIM HUM HRIM

Out of this single seed mantra is developed a longer threefold mantra or three seed-mantras as KRIM HUM HRIM. This has yet more energy and efficacy in awakening the Goddess within us. It begins with the mantra KRIM and builds upon its power.

The mantra HUM (hoom) is composed of two primary sounds. The letter-h is the seed syllable of the element of space or ether. It also represents the sun, Prana and the Purusha principle. The letter-u creates a force field that can both serve to hold in and to push out. HUM represents an explosion of energy, an expression of great power that is pranic, electrical and fiery. HUM is the power of Agni or fire particularly as directed by the wind or Vayu. Whereas KRIM awakens the electrical force or Shakti, HUM serves to direct it with great force, to use it to make great efforts.

HRIM (hreem) is the great mantra of the spiritual heart, hridaya. It is composed of three main letters. The letter-h, as in HUM, represents, space, prana and light. The letter-r as in KRIM represents light and fire. The letter-i as in KRIM represents focused energy or a ray of light, the Shakti as such. Through the mantra HRIM alone one can enter into the spiritual heart and the small space within its lotus (dahara akasha) in which the entire universe is held.

These put together, Kali’s threefold mantra serves to awaken and energize the spiritual heart, hridaya.

The mantra KRIM serves to cut the knots of the heart. It works like a sword. It stimulates the heart energy within us, its primal desire or wish for immortality, love and light.

The mantra HUM gives power to the heart, expanding the energy of prana and Agni (fire) in a strong, if not explosive manner.

The mantra HRIM opens the energy of the spiritual heart which is like the Sun, spreading it into the Infinite.

This threefold Kali Heart mantra can be compared to a kind of spiritual adrenaline. KRIM awakens the energy of the heart, like an electrical jolt to a heart patient whose heart is failing. HUM expands it this current with great force. HRIM stabilizes it as an infinite power and eternal presence.

KRIM draws the Prana from the breath, the sensory and motor organs and directs it into the heart. HUM turns the Prana into a force of fiery meditative power. HRIM connects the individual prana-mind with the power of the Supreme Self, the power of the light of consciousness (Chid-jyoti). This threefold mantra therefore creates a powerful Pratyahara in the yogic sense, it takes our energy back to the spiritual heart.

Kali Sadhana and the Yoga of Knowledge

Kali mantras serve to develop a Kali Sadhana, in which the true nature of Kali is revealed. In this regard, Kali is the death of the ego, which is the rebirth of the soul. Kali is the Divine Mother in her role of slaying the demon or dragon of the ego or I am the body idea. Her mantras bring about an inner death, which is the rebirth of the immortal Self within us.

Through Kali we can experience a simulated death, the real death which is that of the ego, after which there is no more death. Kali is this death of death by the power of eternity. Kali mantras take us into the spiritual heart. They are a good accompaniment to Atma Vichara.

The Goddess Kali, we might say, is the power of meditation personified as a Goddess. Yet She is meditation not as a mere technique, She is the natural state of meditation as the power of consciousness pervading Infinite Space and Eternal Time, in which the waves of karma, including birth and death, cannot touch us, because we are the All!

Mahakali by Talon Abraxas

[askreistar]

Can you draw your favorite of your OCs?

Mira Eris.

she's not a known oc of mine, specifically because I didn't develop her directly. and have a special connection to her that is more occult and studious than artistic.

her cutiemark itself is a give away of the way she was developed indirectly as an avatar of my imagination and female aspects mentally that involve creation and study. a lot of this is deep occult and mentalism. its hard to get into here because of its...idiosyncratic qualities.----

however I am able to share details about her, its not directly up to "me" to express her existence, her Meer existence as a thing in my mind running my imagination and urges to learn are yogic and very *self* intimate. its that male and female internal union. -but she may make some appearances occasionally as she did want me to include a sona for her as a pony cx it was a ride watching my arm move and make it up on the fly XD. "free writing expressed in art"

Mira is a almost voiceless individual, she expresses herself in body language and gesturing to external beings when drawn. to me its direct emotional expression. I know how she feels through my own emotions basically, she's the pilot to the centers of my mind that I don't actively run. but she will info dump when asked.

she's nearly all-knowing. the limiting factor is me and what im able to comprehend as she draws in new knowledge. she can answer almost any spiritual based questions or those about the mind and soul. she's highly occult and scientific, her joy is finding the fringe line where science and physics becomes spiritual at its furthest boundaries.

she's an isolationist and a stoic, making her an observer and a silent protector at times. solving problems and unknown issues before they become active spreading issues for others at large.

she is affectionate and almost cat like when I give awareness and attention to her side of my mind, meditation is where she's most active.

highly artistic and obsessive. leads to her obsessively drawing and praticing many mediums. her favorite is chemistry. (she considers it art lol)

Thank you for this experience in giving her a new form also, this ask revealed to me she likes to shape shift also as a thing in my dreams as im realizing now.

she's kinda this thing i developed as a method I learned from Carl Junng and the red book teaching individuation of the mind and its aspects. meaning she exists but is incorporeal and formless but not shapeless. "its light and illusions after all. "

[mahayanapilgrim]

Living like a wounded deer, My heart's desire is to watch the show of mind within;

All past siddhas stayed in remote rocky mountains too, Capturing the kingdom of experience and realization.

The sixteen-year old Dilgo Khyentse used the famous example of a wild and wounded deer seeking seclusion to investigate and apply all the teachings and instructions he had received from his masters.

According to The Union of Sun and Moon Tantra the yogic practitioner's first conduct is like a bee that tastes various fowers. Likewise, he or she tastes various teachings and instructions before he or she digests, evaluates, and discerns their meaning by retreating into a secluded hermitage.

Longchenpa explains in his Treasury of Words and Meanings that a practitioner should first engage in the study and contemplation of various teachings according to sutra, tantra, and dzogchen before he seeks seclusion in order to avoid further distraction and confusion due to external circumstances.

Moreover, the bee extracting the essence of the flowers is like the yogic practitioner's ability to discern through his studies what is appropriate and what is not. Then, through contemplation and reflection the practitioner reduces his negative thoughts and emotions, and through meditation he governs and finally completely overcomes the five negative and conflicting emotions.

Longchenpa states that through one's study, reflection, and meditation one gains the three kinds of discriminating awareness, prajñã (shes rab), that enable the practitioner to become free from outer, inner and secret doubts.

The actual support for mastering one's thoughts and emotions is to become free from one's doubts by discerning the actual meaning from the more general and conventional meaning. Thus, as the dzogchen practitioner after direct introduction reaches the point where he remains without doubt, here practitioners cut the cord of doubts through study, reflection and meditation.

Therefore, it says; "Like a swallow entering its nest remain without doubt." As a swallow quickly and without the slightest hesitation enters its nest the practitioner immediately remains free from doubts.

Now, in order to sustain one's practice one engages in one's practice like a wounded deer seeking a secluded valley or mountain cliff not frequented by humans. Like that, at that stage the yogic practitioner frightened by death, impermanence and samsaric experiences retreats to a secluded place and a life in solitude.

Namkhai Naldjor

[radical-revolution]

All the promises we have heard are pure seduction. We expect the teachings to solve all our problems; we expect to be provided with magical means to deal with our depressions, our aggressions, our sexual hangups.

But to our surprise we begin to realize that this is not going to happen. It is very disappointing to realize that we must work on ourselves and our suffering rather than depend upon a savior or the magical power of yogic techniques. It is disappointing to realize that we have to give up our expectations rather than build on the basis of our preconceptions.

We must allow ourselves to be disappointed, which means the surrendering of me-ness, my achievement.

We would like to watch ourselves attain enlightenment, watch our disciples celebrating, worshiping, throwing flowers at us, with miracles and earthquakes occurring and gods and angels singing and so forth.

This never happens. The attainment of enlightenment from ego's point of view is extreme death, the death of self, the death of me and mine, the death of the watcher. It is the ultimate and final disappointment.

Treading the spiritual path is painful. It is a constant unmasking, peeling off of layer after layer of masks. It involves insult after insult.

~ Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

*** "The Myth of Freedom"