For the Love of Yoga with Nish the Fish

Latest Episodes:

The Essence of Tantra | & Why You Should Learn Pūjā Nov 16, 2025

Show notes

Some time ago on the 11th of September, we gave this talk on the very heart of our tradition and practice. September 11th in 1893 was the day Swami Vivekananda opened his transmission to the West (and the the world at large) at the Parliament of World Religions so for us it is a very sacred day when we commemorate the "turning of the wheel of dharma" yet again!
Strangely, I haven't uploaded this talk until now. It felt fitting to do so since as I type this, we are in the midst of the vrśchika sankranti, that is, the sun's transition from the solar house of tulā (libra) and into vrśchika (scorpio) as per the Vedic system. Moments like this are considered incredibly auspicious for spiritual practice. There's also a flavor of a new beginning, of turning over a new page.
As such, it is important to return to the fundamentals at a time like so there couldn't be a better moment for this video, I realize! In this talk, we describe Sri Ramakrishna's approach to Tāntrik spiritual practice which is really, at its core, the sincere and fervent performance of ritual worship, pūjā.

If as a result of this talk, you're inspired to take up a dedicated pūjā practice, here is our playlist for step by step, mantra by mantra instruction for pūjā.
May all be flame with awakened Consciousness! Jai Mā!

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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

Vampires, Kali and Christ | A Hallowe'en Special Nov 04, 2025

Show notes

One of my favorite lectures of all time. We inquire into some "scary" themes in spiritual life like the potential difference between my will and God's will, as it is understood across various traditions with an emphasis on the life-affirming, immanence-oriented and desire-positive view of the Goddess traditions. We make a few remarks about why vampires as such a good metaphor for Tantrik spirituality and point out how the theme of vampirism appears in our tradition in the form Dākinīs and Yoginīs, Mā's fierce fanged, bloodthirsty attendants! We discuss Dākinī pūjā towards the end.

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How To Get Started With Kālī Worship Nov 04, 2025

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The best way to start is to just start. Here's everything you need and more.

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How To Get Possessed By Kālī Oct 20, 2025

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In this conversation about the mechanism of image-worship and the subtler (and more radical) aspects of the Tāntrik worship tradition, we carefully explain what it is to be a paśu or anu, a discreet unit of consciousness (i.e an embodied soul or jīva) and then carefully point out why the ānavopaya is so suited for most of us, despite our pretense at high-flying non-dual philosophies!
The ānavopaya assumes duality, individuality and the separate, external existence of God that can be invoked, evoked and experienced in the vigraha (image). We discuss how the goal of ānavopaya is a kind of immersion in the Goddess through worship and other techniques that can very well be understood as a kind of "possession" (aveśa) experience.
Jai Mā

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What is Kuṇḍalinī? | & The Best Kaula Ritual Oct 16, 2025

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One of the most important ideas in Tantra (and often one of the most misunderstood and most difficult to discuss) is Kuṇḍalinī! What exactly is this "serpent power", as Arthur Avalonji once called it? Specifically in this talk, we relate Kuṇḍalinī to Kālī to show her centrality in the Kaula tradition of Tantra! Finally, based on this reflection, we discuss the quintessential Kaula ritual, the "Ādi Yāga" which features in Chapter 29 of Abhinava Gupta's Tantrāloka.

You'll find all of our talks on foundational Tāntrik concepts here

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A Very Powerful Śakti Mantra | 3 Ways To Use The Devī Māhātmya Oct 15, 2025

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After we gave our Secrets of the Devī Māhātmyam | Śākta Theology 101 talk at the start of Navarātri (The Autumn Goddess Festival) earlier this year, we then gave this talk where we examined the Devī Māhātmyam (which we only introduced in the previous talk) in much more detail to see exactly what kind of text it is and from that, learn how we may use it in the context of our day-to-day spiritual practice! Most importantly, I make the claim that the 700 verses that make up this text all of them form a complex and powerful mantra (or more technically, vidyā) that one can repeat like any other mantra for a whole host of both magical and spiritual applications!

You'll find all of our lectures on this profound and ancient śākta text, the Devī Māhātmyam here.

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Secrets of the Devī Māhātmyam | Śākta Theology 101 Oct 08, 2025

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As one of the most ancient and important texts of the Tāntrik Goddess (śākta) tradition, the Devī Māhātmyam is of course unspeakably rich in its every dimension!
In its esoteric dimension, it is a very complex manual of mantra, ritual and magical application.
As literature, is aesthetically and poetically sublime beyond comparison.
As a narrative, it is astoundingly complex and ingenious in terms of structure and progression.
And as a philosophy or theology, it is among the most refined and sophisticated that any religious tradition has ever offered!
Politically, never have we encountered a more triumphant depiction of fierce, untamed feminine power!
Theologically, the texts challenges our metaphysical ideas of objective reality & temporality, our ethical understanding of "good & evil" (the narrative is intensely morally ambiguous, after all as I point out in this talk) and our spiritual notions of the One & the Many, the Transcendent & the Immanent, the Absolute & the Relative etc. Studying and contemplating this text (and of course chanting and living the text) will dramatically transform everything about your world view, especially with regards to how you view the self, the world and "God" who in the text is "put to sleep", i.e transcended by this Absolute Reality we call Śakti, Power.
In order to tease out some of this complexity as part of our Navarātri celebrations last week, we offered this talk!

May all this be placed at the feet of our beloved Mā who comes to me in the form of all of you!
Jai Mā!
PS: you'll find all the talks we've given on the Devī Māhātmya in this playlist.

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Dealing with Difficult Emotions & What Happens When You See God | Q&A Oct 08, 2025

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After our discussion on the Three Kinds of Madness | Kālī vs. Laxmī vs Sarasvatī on Laxmī Purnimā earlier this week, we launched into a very beautiful, rich and universally helpful Q&A discussion on difficult emotions and how to transform them into ecstasy! We discuss the importance of setting boundaries and not spiritually bypassing our feelings but we also present that state beyond all boundaries in which everything is seen, accepted, and celebrated as God's will!
We argue against "healing", "growth" and "transformation" as valid goals in spiritual life in favor of unconditional love, Bhakti for the Infinite Reality, God. We argue that there is no such thing as a true atheist! We present a few metrics for gauging our own spiritual growth. And most importantly, we discuss what happens after you see God!
Here is a playlist of our all our Q&A discussions over the years!

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Three Kinds of Madness | Kālī vs. Laxmī vs Sarasvatī Oct 07, 2025

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On this very auspicious Laxmī Pūrnimā (Autumn full moon) I want to discuss the topic we’ve been meaning to discuss for sometime now: “Kundalinī emergency” or “spiritual crisis" & how to say safe.
First, we distinguish between three different kinds of “lunacy”with an emphasis on the destabilizing, “not so fun” kind that can sometimes induced by intense spiritual practice! I argue that the kind of divine madness we see in great realized souls like Sri Ramakrishna is fundamentally different in nature and flavor than the kinds of mental illness that we sometimes fetishize in the name of spirituality but is really a destabilizing and painful experience for ourselves and others.
Although outwardly, the "spiritual" kind of madness might resemble the "not so fun" kind, they are not the same and in this lecture we carefully explain why. We also make a reference to a politicized use of "madness" to disenfranchise groups or ideologies that don't fit into the norm as defined by the powers that be, just so that we can be nuanced in our use of the word "madness" or "lunacy" or "craziness", which are all themes that are very central not just to mysticism and spiritual as a whole but specifically to Mother Kālī & her cremation ground retinue!
You'll notice much of this talk is expanding on ideas that you might have first encountered here in the Why is Kālī Crazy? talk.
And since it was Laxmī Pūrnimā we made sure to have plenty of asides on Mā Laxmī as the embodiment of abundance in every sense of the word. We tell a few Purānic stories to show the secrets of calling in abundance & also, I make a case against understanding "money" (which we point out as a rather superficial conceptual structure) to be the only symbol for wealth!

Naturally, this took us into a discussion of the Goddess in all her aspects as Kālī, Laxmī & Sarasvatī (as encountered in the Devī Māhātmyam) and as per the next three big moon celebrations (Laxmī Pūrnimā followed by Śyāma Kālī Pūjā followed by Sarasvatī Pūjā) that come after Navarātri, the 9 Nights of the Goddess.
We make a few arguments as to why the cremation ground/cemetery is so important for spiritual life as representing that realm beyond the conscious, "civilized" mind of concepts which we are attempting to venture into as part of spiritual quest, in our journey from the finite to the Infinite!
It was a rather rich talk, if I may so myself.
May it be an offering to the Divine Mother!
Jai Mā!

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Some Stories of the Goddess & What They Mean Oct 04, 2025

Show notes

As part of our Navarātri celebrations, we explored some stories from the Devī Māhātmyam and contrasts them to/built up on them with some similar narratives from other Purānic Śakta texts like the Devī Bhāgavatam (i.e the Devī Gitā) to excavate some deeper meaning and significance, from a philosophical and esoteric, sādhana point of view!
You'll find all our talks on Navarātri & the Devī Māhātmya, its central litany here.

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