For the Love of Yoga with Nish the Fish

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Yogic vs Vedāntic vs Tāntrik Non-Duality Jul 24, 2025

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Non-duality is the profound view that only one Reality exists and that you are essentially That! This unitive vision of one-ness, this harmony of all things resonates so deeply in the human psyche, perhaps because we all of us sense the underlying unity beneath and beyond all seeming diversity!

But as you know, there are many different kinds of Non-Dual traditions all around the world, each articulating this revelation of one-ness in different ways owing to the unique experiences of the sages to whom such revelations occurred.

And because we are all different and because we all respond to different things at different times of our spiritual journey, its nice to compare some of the different non-dual traditions that have emerged in the Indian subcontinent so see what they each have to offer.

We have something to learn from every tradition, after all!

In this talk, after comparing a few different schools of Advaita, I make a case for Somānanda's vision: an Advaita of radical agency, a kind of theistic monism that seeks to be as inclusive as possible of everything without reducing anything to void or illusion! This kind of Tāntrik non-duality, which we will unpack together over the course of the next few lectures, uniquely offers a world-affirming, life-affirming, action-oriented one-ness!

This talk is part of a series on Somānanda and includes talks like
Somānanda's Radical Non-Dual Revelation
Race, Gender, Environment & Ethics in Non-Duality | Vijñāna-Bhairava Tantra, Verse 105 Is My Coffee Mug Conscious? | Paramārthasāra, Verse 37 and
Panpsychism in Tantra | Vijñāna-Bhairava Tantra, Verse 105

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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

Somānanda's Radical Non-Dual Revelation Jul 21, 2025

Show notes

And now, our main project is to study Somānanda's radical non-dual philosophy, which is the foundation for Shākta non-duality. Somānanda might be one of the most radical and God-intoxicated of the Shaiva Non-Dual masters. He is Abhinava Gupta's guru's guru's guru. Essentially, the idea here is that nothing is insentient: every thing, even seemingly inanimate objects, are actually none other than Shiva, who is pure non-dual Consciousness reposing blissfully in His own fullness endowed with unceasing powers of Willing, Knowing and Doing. Somānanda argues that every pot, every wall, every chair wills to be what it is and knows that it is that thing and acts as that thing all as an expression of Shiva's desire to play! And what's more? You are none other than this one Shiva who is playfully manifesting a world and embodied Himself in that world as everyone and everything, just for fun.

What a beautiful and stunning conception and realization!

This talk Race, Gender, Environment & Ethics in Non-Duality | Vijñāna-Bhairava Tantra, Verse 105 was our first swipe at study Somānanda and Is My Coffee Mug Conscious? | Paramārthasāra, Verse 37 was our second.

In fact, we're now at that verse in our Vijñāna-Bhairava Tantra (verse 105) which might have inspired Somānanda or at least captures the heart of what Somānanda is teaching and we're also studying a verse in Paramārthasāra (verse 37) which is more or less about the same thing.

So brace yourself!

The barrage of content that is now about to come your way, from Monday night discussions, Thursday night Vijñāna-Bhairava study and Friday morning Paramārthasāra commentary will all be oriented around this theme of "everything, including my coffee mug, cat and AI, is Consciousness AND also Conscious as the infinite expansion of Lord Shiva's playful being!

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Is My Coffee Mug Conscious? Jul 21, 2025

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Naturally, naturalists and physicalists (i.e materialists) are exceedingly challenged by the "hard problem of Consciousness" as David Chalmers put it which is the challenge to explain, in physical terms, this somewhat transcendent reality called Consciousness which cannot at all be said to be caused by any brain activity.
One solution then is to posit "panpsychism", which is more or less the idea that Consciousness is as real as matter and energy and actually inheres in all matter and energy.
At any rate, we are currently studying a verse in the Paramārthasāra of Abhinava Gupta exploring the distinction between a "conscious" and seemingly "unconscious" or "inert" entities.
After all, this is one of the most radical claims of the Shaiva non dual tradition: all things are verily Śiva but Śiva, as you will recall, is not a mere principle of Existence with no sense of self; Śiva is self-reflexive Awareness, the kind of Reality that knows Itself (i.e God) and as such, everything must be Conscious as Śiva is conscious!
How then can we drive at a distinction between "cid" vs "jada", "conscious" vs "inert"?
We take a first swipe at this idea in this talk and we will slowly unpack the view in the course of the next few videos through a close study of Somānanda, the great Tantrik master in whose work, Śivadrshti is present in full force this idea that all things, even pots, pieces of cloth, coffee mugs and Artificial Intelligence, are conscious, willing, knowing, doing things!
TLDR: The world is God. Let's start to explore how!

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Swami Vivekananda on Sri Ramakrishna | "My Master" Jul 18, 2025

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As you know, over the past few months we've been trying to articulate our ideals and values as a community so that we can maintain the highest degree of integrity as possible, according to the ideals of our lineage, as exemplified by our Parameshti Guru, Paramahansa Sri Ramakrishna.
As such, we've been using Swami Vivekananda's 1896 "My Master" (a compilation of two lectures Swamiji gave on Sri Ramakrishna, published in Volume IV of the Complete Works) as a sort of charter or mission statement for our community! We've given about 4 talks based on Swamiji's "My Master":
Advice to Spiritual Teachers & Aspirants
Sex, Drugs & Choosing A Guru | Q&A
Our Mission | A Manifesto
The Most Important Spiritual Idea &
Guru as Transmission of Power
And now this is the 6th, completing the sequence.
In this short talk, we simply read out the rest of the speech, which we've been reading and reflecting upon together in the course of the past 4 talks listed above. This acts as a kind of finale or overture to this profound and moving piece about the highest spirituality exemplified in a human life!
May all aspire to that very highest ideal! Jai Sri Ramakrishna!

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Approaching the Guru Jul 17, 2025

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On the very auspicious day for Guru Purnima this year, we reflected on the role of the Guru and the process of approaching one in humility and surrender. We reflect upon the opening scene of the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna and we offer a running commentary on these profound and moving verses of the Guru Gītā, the Song of the Teacher:
oṁ brahmānandaṁ paramasukhadaṁ kevalaṁ jñānamūrtiṁ
dvandvātītaṁ gaganadadṛśaṁ tattvamasyādilakṣyam
ekaṁ nityaṁ vimalamacalaṁ sarvadhīsākṣibhūtaṁ
bhāvātītaṁ triguṇarahitaṁ sadguruṁ taṁ namāmi
"I bow to that true guru, who alone is the bliss of Brahman and the giver of supreme happiness, the very embodiment of knowledge, beyond all duality, as vast the sky, the very definition of Reality (i.e that which is indicated by the mahāvākyas of the Upanishads), non-dual, eternal, stainless, the Indwelling Witness in all beings beyond the mind, untouched by the three guṇas (sattva, rajas and tamas)."

This lecture is part of our series on the role Guru in the Tāntrik tradition, which you can watch here.

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5 Practices for Śiva | How To Celebrate Śrāvaṇa Jul 16, 2025

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We suggest about 5 different practices you can do to celebrate Śrāvaṇa, the month of Śiva:
1. Vratam. Many people will observing vows like abstaining from a particular kind of food (salt, sugar, pickles etc.) or observing sunrise-sunset fasts or keeping vigils etc. Generally, these vows are observed on all the Mondays of this śrāvana period and so it is often called the Śrāvaṇa Somavara Vrātam (The Monday Observance of Śrāvaṇa) since Mondays are sacred to Lord Śiva. You can decide just what kind of thing to offer or to abstain from as part of your vrāta, vow, just whatever that is do-able and reasonable and makes spiritual sense and is spiritually nourishing to you. This is a bit like the Christian concept of lent, I suppose.
2. Japa (Puraścarana). You can pledge to chant a certain number of repetitions of your dīkshā mantra or any śiva mantra that you like (we often suggest the pancakshara mantra) every day during this period or just on the Mondays. When we systematically chant a certain number of mantras daily for a fixed period of time, we call that "puraścarana". Generally, we recommend that we sit in the same place, at the same time when we do our chanting and generally we suggests that you chant on a rudrāksha-mālā since those beads are sacred to Śiva. You get to decide what number you'd like to pledge, whatever number that is do-able and reasonable and spiritually nourishing for you.
3. Pūjā. Every Monday (or if you want, every day) during this period you can perform a pañcāmrita pūjā and/or a pañcopacāra-pūjā to your Shiva lingam or murti. We demonstrate this simple and elegant pūjā towards the end of this video but you can find all the mantras in Sanskrit with transliteration and translation as well as the ritual procedure in the description of this video.
4. Kirtana/Bhajana. A chanting practice is very beautiful and nourishing since it is essentially, like pūjā, a celebration! Perhaps you might decide to chant some hymns to Shiva on the Mondays or every day; you might simply commit to learning (and memorizing) a specific hymn that you like.
(l) Nirvāna-śatakam
5. Karma Yoga. And our favorite practice of all as part of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda lineage: worshipping Shiva in the form of the jīva, the embodied soul. As Christ said "that which you do unto the least of ye, you do unto me", the best possible pūjā is to actually serve everyone (including plants & animals & spirits & what not) in a spirit of worship. Never think you are helping anyone. Instead, feel that everyone is giving you an opportunity to worship God by coming to you for help. Don't feel that they owe you any gratitude for your having helped them. Rather, you be grateful to them for giving you the opportunity to worship God through them. In this way, your work, your daily tasks, all become transformed into Śiva-pūjā. This is the acme of non-duality, to recognize each movement of life as an encounter with the divine!
May all beings, who are none other than Shiva, worship Shiva! Hara Hara Mahadeva!

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How To Give & Receive Spiritual Power Jul 15, 2025

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Back in the day, the guru was very necessary because without one, we could not access the Tantras at all (that is, the ritual manuals in which we encounter the practices and philosophies of the tradition) because they were all physical manuscripts that were actually kept in the Guru's abode or even as part of the Guru's memory. As such, without dīkshā (spiritual initiation), it would be nearly impossible to get access to the tradition!
Now, many of these texts are available online, in many different translations. One can encounter them and study them and practice out of them without ever having contacted a living teacher. And as such, a very important question comes up: is a living guru even needed anymore? Couldn't one just study from books and from videos on the internet?
Perhaps!
However, the role of the guru is far more than just one who gives us access to concepts, theories & techniques.
The guru is far more than a role model who demonstrates with their lives the proof of the practice and the path.
The guru is far more than a personal mentor in whom we can confide and find solace, which are very important things for a real life human who is attempting to practice spirituality intensely!
Although these things are all very important and are included in the role of the guru, the main function of the guru is the transmission of spiritual power, what Swami Vivekananda called the "quickening impulse" in his talk called "The Need of a Guru" (Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume III).
But what exactly is this "quickening impulse"?
Because this is the most mysterious dimension of Guru-Yoga, we explore it in this lecture by referring to some events in the life of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda.
This is one of the lectures in our series on Swami Vivekananda's "My Master" along with Advice to Spiritual Teachers & Aspirants Sex, Drugs & Choosing A Guru | Q&A Our Mission | A Manifesto & Guru as Transmission of Power!

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Guru as Transmission of Power Jul 14, 2025

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Because last week's Capricorn Full Moon was the celebration of the Guru (it was actually the birthday of Veda Vyāsa, the OG Guru), in our Friday evening restorative yoga class (which you can watch here), we explored the idea of "Guru as Consciousness", as a principle rather than a person which seems to be the emphasis of so many texts and verses describing the Guru! This conception identifies the Guru with Śiva or rather, Brahman which is Pure Existence-Consciousness-Bliss, the One Reality and the Ground of All Being. It is a quietistic sort of expression.
Then, we explored the concept of the "Guru as Transmitter of Power" (which I will upload next) right after this class, and here we see a more dynamic conception, that of the Guru as guru-śakti, "spiritualizing force" or "the quickening impulse", as Swami Vivekananda called it.
Together, these conceptions of Guru as quietistic Consciousness and as transforming Power taken together form the idea of Śiva AND Śakti as the Guru, with the third aspect in the triad being the human teacher, the body in which the above two conceptions are harmonized and actualized.
The Guru as such is the trika, the resolved trinity of God-Power-Individual, i.e Śiva-Śakti-Nara.
Enjoy!

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The Most Important Spiritual Idea Jul 06, 2025

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Recently, we've been giving a series of talks on our values and ideals, based on what Swami Vivekananda said about his Master, Sri Ramakrishna. Having discussed our heritage in Where Did Kālī Come From? | A Brief Herstory we express how wonderful what we inherited is and how important it is for us to aspire to the very highest of ideals in order to maintain and transmit that heritage for future generations.
In articulating those values, we first took up the subject in Advice to Spiritual Teachers & Aspirants and expanded inSex, Drugs & Choosing A Guru | Q&A. Finally, in Our Mission | A Manifesto our discussion reached somewhat of a crescendo. In this class, we continue our reading of Swami Vivekananda's "My Master" (a compilation of two talks he gave in 1896 on Sri Ramakrishna) to emphasize the central value that is at the very heart of our lineage; we point out its metaphysical foundations and its implications in our spiritual lives.

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Our Mission | A Manifesto Jun 20, 2025

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In our recent lectures like Advice to Spiritual Teachers & Aspirants & Sex, Drugs & Choosing A Guru | Q&A we've been going over our ideals and values as a community, using Swami Vivekananda's reflections on Sri Ramakrishna as our guiding principles.

Recently also we took a look at our lineage and heritage to see where we've been! Now, we can look into the future and ask, "well, where are we going?"

I want to discuss "our mission" as per Myra Mā's excellent inquiry in class the other day. What's our purpose? What's the manifesto? What's to be expected from me and from our community in the years to come?

Mainly, with regard to our "mission", I want to say "we have none!" I'd like to talk a little bit about the risks of having "a mission" and the kind of grandiosity that it can bring.

Importantly, I want to show how Swami Vivekananda's mission was not at all "his", but God's. Mā alone is doing everything through us and if we were to all simply surrender to the expression that arises naturally from moment to moment, Her līlā will unfold without us having ever to plan or to think about it or force outcomes.

Really, in a deeper sense, this class is about how to stay calm and compassionate in trying times, during political instability, personal tragedy etc.and how to act in a way that is aligned with God's will!

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