For the Love of Yoga with Nish the Fish

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Vijaya Daśamī & What To Do After Navarātri Oct 02, 2025

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Congratulations on completing another 9 (or perhaps 10) nights of intense contemplation, celebration and worship of Mā! What a powerful Navarātri it's been and each time feels like the first time especially if it was, in fact, your first time celebrating!
But whether you are a seasoned śākta or just now getting acquainted to the festivals and practices of the tradition, Navarātri and its central litany/liturgy, the Devī Māhātmyam remain ever fresh and ever meaningful!
Anyway, at the end of the 9 nights of the Goddess, there is a festival called Vijaya Daśamī, "The Victorious 10th night" when we bask in the after glow of our worship. Essentially, we are celebrating the fact that we've been celebrating...
But it's also very poignant time because Mā's image will be immersed and that is sometimes a very sad thing for some. And not only that, one can feel a little listless on this day or like there's a kind of anticlimactic feeling arising.
In this talk, we discuss what Vijaya Daśamī is, from a philosophical point of view, with an inquiry into form vs formlessness and we also address some of the aforementioned feelings that can come up. Also, I launch into a sustained defense of what some might call "idol worship".
Jai Mā! Śrī Durgārpanam astu!
The books mentioned in this video for further study:
1. Srīmad-Devī Bhāgavatam by Swami Vijñānānanda
2. I didn't mention it in the video, but as a companion to this ^, try "The Devī Gītā" by C.Makenzie Brown
3. Devadatta Kali's "In Praise of the Goddess" (and also "Veiling Brilliance", which I forgot to mention in the video)
And the Sanskrit texts to recite and contemplate as part of your Devī Māhātmya sādhanā moving forward:
1. Devī Sūkta from Rg Veda (10.125) and
2. Rātri Sūkta from Rg Veda (10.127)
You'll be able to find these online quite easily but their also available in Devanāgri and translation in Devadatta Kali's "In Praise of the Goddess"!
and here's the full Caṇḍi & Navarātri playlist featuring all our talks over the years (I'm trying to organize it in a way that makes sense: https://www.patreon.com/collection/784368

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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

Durgā = Kālī = Caṇḍi | & What To Do For Navarātri Sep 23, 2025

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It's that time of the year again, gang! You know what's up. Here's the document we were presenting in this talk: it walks you through a Navarātri sādhanā (spiritual practice) that you can do over the course of the 9 nights of the Goddess.
Remember that Navarātri happens 4 times a year (and in some traditions, 8 times) and so this sādhanā can be done at least that many times but it is also a sādhanā that you can do anytime, for as long as you like.
It is a profound sādhanā because it uses as its centrepiece the most powerful and beloved text of the Śākta tradition, the Devī Māhātmya which is, among many other things, a compilation of unbelievably powerful and transformative mantras! Every word of this text is mantra (or rather, vidyā in the Tāntrik sense of the word) and the sādhana which we outline in this talk will lead you directly into the text and ideally, Mā willing, enable you to access its fullest power!
May Mā bless us all with fervor!
PS: as supplement to all this, you'll find many videos in this Caṇḍi & Navarātri playlist to help you flesh out this sādhanā and to keep you company during this most auspicious of festivals! This talk How To Worship Mā Durgā might be especially helpful in contextualizing Navarātri and the opportunity it presents!
Jai Mā!

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Esoteric Tāntrik Ideas in the Vijñāna-Bhairava Tantra Sep 19, 2025

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A high level talk on some of the subtle and esoteric ideas sketched out by Devī in the opening verses of the Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra.

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The Dark Side of Spirituality | & The Left Hand Path of Kālī Sep 10, 2025

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In the Who Should Worship Kālī? | Dakṣiṇa Kālī vs Smaśāna Kālī talk, we explained the technical term "jagadānanda" which describes the bliss of fullness. We argued that from the Kaula point of view, the goal is not transcendence but fullness; not freedom "from" the world but freedom "as" the world.
And we pointed out how Kālī sādhanā is uniquely about embracing this non-dual totality of all things! The Absolute Reality is dynamic, ever-free Consciousness, my very own Self and the goal is to realize this in all things, as all things. Necessarily, this involves coming to terms with realities that the dualistic, conditioned and limited mind often rejects. "Who dares misery love: to him the Mother comes" etc.
Then, in Kālī's Non-Duality of Radical Acceptance | vs. Classical Non-Duality we went in with some finer brush strokes to compare the view of Classical Advaita, which we termed the "path of absolute negation" with that of Tāntrik Advaita, or the Non-Duality of Kālĩ which we described as the "path of absolute acceptance". Both can lead to non-dual realization and yet who can deny that these might be different flavors of non-dual realization! The former path is fit for some while the latter suits the disposition of others and for many, the two paths are practiced sequentially, one after another. All this we discussed in last week's talk.
Now, this week, we take up this topic yet again but using the Sāmkhyan idea of the gunas to show how Kālī sādhana (i.e Tāntrik non-duality) is unique and therefore for some people, uniquely disturbing. I make a case against transcendentalists, "sattva-only" oriented traditions!
Originally, I had intended this lecture to be about staying safe and grounded in Kālī sādhanā or something along the lines of a PSA on kundalini emergencies/spiritual crisis but I spent so much time describing how Kālī sādhanā uniquely leads to destabilization that I never really got around to talking about techniques for grounding! We briefly mention a few towards the end but I suspect I'll want to develop these theme on safety more next week: stay tuned!

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Kālī's Non-Duality of Radical Acceptance | vs. Classical Non-Duality Sep 09, 2025

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Broadly speaking, there are to archetypical non-dual traditions, two very valid paths to bliss: The Non-Duality of Total Negation (Classical Advaita) & Kālī's Non-Duality of Total Acceptance (i.e Tāntrik Non-Duality or paramadvāya).

Of course there are infinite shades of nuance and variation in between these two extremes. In this talk, we do a comparison of these two extreme models (or rather, flavor)s of non-dual Sādhanā, playing off of some ideas from last week’s “Who Should Worship Kālī? | Dakṣiṇa Kālī vs Smaśāna Kālī” talk!

This lecture is mostly a theoretical survey of the absolute state of realization which can anyone anywhere can attained through grace (i.e, sudden spontaneous insight) of course, but which is more likely to be a result of sincere spiritual practice! As for the practical side of this discussion, you might like to pair this talk with the What Do You Need To Start Worshipping Kālī & Practicing Tantra? lecture from two weeks ago!

PS: you might find this lecture somewhat reminiscent of Who Created The World? | Vedanta vs Tantra and also Who or What is God? | Vedanta vs Tantra but we've certainly developed the ideas quite a bit since then!

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A Complete Śiva Sādhana Sep 03, 2025

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After watching What Does Kālī Want From You? | The Yoga of Grief & Fullness, Who Should Worship Kālī? | Dakṣiṇa Kālī vs Smaśāna Kālī and What Do You Need To Start Worshipping Kālī & Practicing Tantra? you might be starting to get the impression that Kālī pūjā and sādhana is (as Sri Ramakrishna himself put it) no joke!
As such, to stay safe and to practice in a meaningful, gradual and integrated way, we have to discuss some foundations. After all, Mother Kālī is always standing on Śiva: isn't this a clue for us? To practice Kālī sādhanā, we should become like Śiva, that is to say, we should build our Kālī practice on top of some firm and stable Śaiva foundations!
As such, in this class, which is the culmination of this year's śrāvana festivities, O walk you through more or less the entirety of śiva pūjā & sādhana with a special emphasis on the foundational mantras of our Tāntrik tradition, known as the pañca-Brahmā mantras from the Taittirīyāranyaka from Yajur Veda, the foundational Veda for Śaivism & Tantra:
sadyojātaṁ prapadyāmi sadyojātāya vai namo namaḥ
bhave bhave nāti bhave bhavasva māṁ bhavodbhavāya namaḥ
I take refuge in the ever-fresh (newly born) Śiva, salutations again and again! Do not let me be born into mundane existence again and again with every birth! Become my very Being! Salutations to You, the source of all Becoming!
oṁ sadyojātāya paschimavaktrāya namaḥ
Salutations to Sadyojāta, the Westward facing Śiva!
vāmadevāya namo jyeṣṭhāya namaḥ śreṣṭhāya
namo rudrāya namaḥ kālāya namaḥ
kalavikaraṇāya namo balāya namo
balavikaraṇāya namo balapramathanāya namaḥ
sarvabhūtadamanāya namo manonmanāya namaḥ
Salutations to Vāmadeva, the eldest, the supreme Rudra (howling one), to Time and Dynamism, to Strength, to the Transformer of Strength and Destroyer of Strength, to the One who Subdues All Beings, abiding beyond the mind!
oṁ vāmadevāya uttaravaktrāya namaḥ
Salutations to Vāmadeva, the Northward facing Śiva!
aghorebhyo’tha ghorebhyo aghoraghoretarebhyaḥ
sarvabḥyo śarvaḥ sarvebhyo namaste rudra rūpebhyaḥ
Salutations to the gentle forms, fierce forms and forms that are both gentle and fierce, salutations to all the forms of Rudra everywhere!
oṁ aghorāya dakṣiṇavaktrāya namaḥ
Salutations to Aghora, the Southward facing Śiva!
oṁ tatpuruṣāya vidmahe mahādevāya dhīmahi
tanno rudraḥ pracodayāt oṁ
May that spirit, may that Great God, may that Rudra guide my intellect!
oṁ tatpuruṣāya purvavaktrāya namaḥ
Salutations to Tatpuruṣa the Eastward facing Śiva!

īśāna sarvavidyānāmīśvaraḥ sarvabhūtānāṁ brahmādipati brahmaṇo’dhipatir
brahmā śivo me astu sa eva sadāśiva oṁ
O Lord of all Knowledge, the Lord of all Beings, the Primordial Lord of Brahmā (and the other gods) and theLord of Brāhmanas, may you Śiva be Brahmā for me. You are the eternally auspicious oṁ
oṁ īśānāya urdhvavaktrāya namaḥ
Salutations to īśāna the Upward facing Śiva!

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What Do You Need To Start Worshipping Kālī & Practicing Tantra? Sep 02, 2025

Show notes

The word Tantra essentially refers to a set of texts, or a genre of spiritual literature in which we encounter profound philosophies, intricate visualizations, techniques for meditation involving the phonetic power of language and various other tools for spiritual practice.
In short, the tantras (also called the āgamas) present an entire system of spiritual practice designed to lead the aspirant to the fullest realization of Reality in which all her bliss and fulfillment can be found, in which all her suffering is transcended.
Tantra is a scientific (and artistic path) to God and the tantras (the source literature) come in many, many flavors to account for the many different dispositions and proclivities in the heart of the many aspirants who enter into its many living lineages.
In this talk, we explore a few of the different flavors of Tantra and then present our community's paddhathi (ritual manual) for daily contemplation and practice. We say a few things about why this resource is really at the heart of the Tāntrik tradition. discuss how our role as a Tāntrik community (a kula) is really to refine this resource for the generations to come.
The Kālī paddhathi is unique to our community but it draws from so, so many resources. So many streams pour into it: my upbringing in Tamil Śaiva Siddhanta in my family gurukula, at the feet of my paternal grandfather, my upbringing in Malayalee Śaktism from the jungles of Kerala (from my Mother's side of the family), the paddhatis from the Hollywood Vedanta Temple Kālī Pūjā paddhathi and from the Kali Mandir Laguna Beach as part of my involvement in the Ramakrishna lineage, the paddhathi from Abhinava Gupta's Tantrāloka, from Chaitanyananda Nathaji's (Ayyaji) Śrī Vidyā paddhathi and of course from my study of the tantras throughout my life, in general.
But you know what? While this paddhathi has inherited so much from all the paddhathis that came before, it is a living, growing, breathing resource that responds to the needs, desires and unique expression of our community. Each of you contribute your presence to the guru-mandala (the circle of instruction and practice) and that in turn will affect the paddhathi, the mantras, the sequence, the flavor, and the outcome.
As we grow, it grows.
For in truth, the paddhathi (ritual manual), the priests/priestesses (that is, the practitioners in tthe gurukula using the paddhathi for daily ritual and practice) and the Deity (Kālī) are all part of one dynamic reality, the trinity (trika) of worshipper (pūjāri/pūjārinī), the worshipped (pūjyā) and the act of worshipping (pūjā) reconciled in the Non-Duality of Consciousness which is your essential nature, the sole Reality that inheres in all things as all things!
The ones that came before walked so we could run. They gave their lives to this so we can pick up from where they left of. Let us now live up to that legacy and strive to contribute what we can to the ever deepening treasury of resources regarding the worship and veneration of our Divine Mother!
May this be my constantly evolving and deepening offering to you. May this be our offering to each other. May this be our offering to the world at large and to all those that will come after us!
May Her will be done!

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Who Should Worship Kālī? | Dakṣiṇa Kālī vs Smaśāna Kālī Aug 26, 2025

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Last week, we had a profound and poignant discussion on the heart of Kālī sādhana in What Does Kālī Want From You? | The Yoga of Grief & Fullness where we explored what Swami Vivekananda called "The Worship of the Terrible"!
Notice that the imagery around Mā Kālī doesn't just focus on terror, chaos and death in an amorphous or abstract way; it presents some very concrete motifs of intoxication, arousal and madness.
The idea that Mā dwells in the jungles or in the cremation grounds (i.e in a realm of the chaotic unknown beyond all law, reason and order, perhaps a symbol for the wild and untrammeled Subconscious) surrounded by bloodthirsty female spirits (dākinīs), ghosts and jackals (perhaps symbols for the dark, violent and often repressed dimensions of the human psyche) is very important and deserving of a courageous, careful, considered, serious and earnest inquiry. What does all of this mean? And why are such (to some people) disturbing images so insisted upon when it comes to Mā Kālī's iconography? I want to discuss some of this tonight, playing off some ideas we first encountered in the Why Is Kālī Drunk? & Mā Kālī's Non Dual Aspect & Tantrik Sādhanās to Attain Itlectures.
And so at tonight's 7pm PST zoom satsangh, I want to take up this inquiry with you in the context of a discussion on the different shades of insanity, i.e discerning between the fun kind that we saw in Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda vs. the not-so-fun and often, debilitating kind that can sometimes come about as a result of ungrounded, unsupervised śakti sādhana like we did in the Why is Kālī Crazy? lecture to answer these questions:

Is there a difference between Dakṣiṇa Kālī and Smaśāna Kālī?
Is one for householders and the other for ascetics?
What will happen if I start worshipping the former, and what if I worship the latter?

Etc.

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What Does Kālī Want From You? | The Yoga of Grief & Fullness Aug 19, 2025

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On the last Monday of śrāvana is an especially sacred day for contemplating the Absolute because it is a culmination four or six weeks of very intense Sādhanā (spiritual practice). As such, as a celebration and consummation, I’d like to discuss something quite poignant: the yoga of grief & fullness.

I want to compare some transcendalist schools of Advaita to the Tāntrik approach which emphasizes fullness, especially with regard the full spectrum of flavors (rasa) that arise in Consciousness! We’ll offer some a touching and telling stories of Lord Śiva’s grief, Matsyendranātha's fall, and the pain and grief of Sarada Devi, Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda!

Often I feel there can be nothing more important than presenting this profoundly humanizing portraits of our heroes because rather than subtracting from their spirituality , they only add to it.
Essentially, I want to talk about an all embracing kind of spirituality that leaves no experience unexplored, no facet untasted: in short, the Advaita of Kālī!. Naturally, we’ll explore the 5 phases of the 12 Krama deities too and Abhinava Gupta’s nava-rasa theory to point to the philosophical complexity and poetry of this position!
Many of you will find this lecture someone reminiscent of some our community favorites like:
1. Mā Kāli's Bowl of Blood | Turning Suffering Into Ecstasy
2. Mā Kālī's Non Dual Aspect & Tantrik Sādhanās to Attain It
3. What Does Kālī Really Want?
4. and most especially How To Succeed At Tantra & The Worship of The Terrible
You'll notice that in a sense, this is the key teaching or rather the uttama-vāda, highest revelation of our Kālī tradition! This talk also contains elements from another one of my favorites: What Makes Art Spiritual? | Kashmir Shaivism
At the end we offer a very refined spiritual practice for transforming all our pain and grief into an experience of aesthetic rapture or poetic delight!
On this auspicious Tuesday, on Mā's sacred day, I lay all of these words as so many flowers at your feet, you who are Mā incarnate!

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4 Esoteric Tāntrik Goddesses Aug 16, 2025

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One of the most exalted, refined and mysterious aspects of the Tāntrik non-dual tradition is the veneration of the devītraya, the Three Wisdom Goddesses who are linked to three dynamic expressions of Consciousness: Knower (Parā), Knowing (Parāparā) and Known (Aparā).

More mysterious than this is the idea that Consciousness, the central Goddess (Samvit Devī) expresses Herself simultaneously (akrama) and sequentially (Krama) as 12 phases within those three aforementioned Goddesses.

As such, having taken a first swipe at this topic in the The Knower, The Knowing & The Known As Tāntrik Goddesses | Vijñāna-Bhairava Tantra, Verse 106 lecture from our Vijñāna-Bhairava Tantra class and having explored them in a ritual context in Worshipping the Trika Goddesses we now take up the topic of the One Goddess, the Three Goddesses (devītraya), the Twelve Goddesses (kālī-krama) and the Fifteen Goddesses (pañca-daśa-yoginī) to show how they are in truth, the dynamic aspect of the One Consciousness which you yourself are!

Jai Samvit Devī Ki Jai!

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