"Take only memories, leave only footprints."
— Chief Seattle. 

In a small village not far from the culturally rich town of Pudukottai in Tamil Nadu, there is a remarkable spiritual vibration that endures to this day.

The town dates back 2,000 years to a period when Jainism was quite prominent in the region. The Jains are ascetic monks who practice extreme forms of deprivation, as evidenced by their hard stone beds carved out of rock. Similar to Buddhists, they beg for food in a nearby village and limit their intake to one meal a day. They also spend long periods in silence and meditation.

“Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.”
― Anita Desai

What surprised me was the security guard's knowledge of Nada Yoga. He demonstrated this by creating resonant tones inside the rock temple, once used by the monks. He accomplished this using a ventriloquist-like technique, producing sounds from various spots outside the main shrine. It was nothing...

In Tantric mantra practice, the keys refer to specific elements that can enhance the effect of mantras. These keys are direction, bija, and the deity's name. Each of these elements plays a crucial role in the effectiveness of the practice, and understanding them can significantly improve your Tantric mantra practice.  

Our experience of teaching Tantric practice over four decades has led us to a significant realization: the clarity of our perspective is as important as our actual practices. This understanding can enlighten and empower you, as it reveals that if the underlying message of our practice is muddled, no amount of effort will yield the desired results, leading to disappointment and frustration.

In this blog, we delve into invoking the goddess Lakshmi for abundance. Amidst the plethora of information (and misinformation) out there, the application of the 3 keys, by themselves, can indeed help with our manifestation process, reassuring and boosting our...

What better way to begin a new year than with fundamentals? At the heart of mantra practice, which for us in our Yogic Mystery School is quite sophisticated, is what we identify as our core mantra practice.

 In my book, The Yoga of Sound: Tapping The Hidden Power Of Music And Chant, I describe our core mantra as one that simultaneously, by its sound and its meaning, conveys to us a sense of the highest reality. 

This understanding is just the starting point of our process. The two significant forks on the road are: 

1. Do you have such a mantra?
2. Does it continue to serve its purpose?
3. Is this mantra sufficient for all your needs?

If you can answer yes to these questions, it is unlikely that you need mantras.  

On the other hand, most people will not answer no to at least one question. 

Each of these questions deserves its own process of discovery.  

Let's begin with the first.

1) Do you have a core mantra?

If you don't...

Often, at the close of a year, we talk about how fast the year has gone by, which, when you think about it, is a disservice to the gift of time, life, and consciousness.  

In case you didn't know, there are 31,536,000 seconds in a year. In other words, we have thirty-one-and-a-half million opportunities for awareness, awakening, and realization in the coming year, as much as we've had for this one.

Here are some journaling questions to ask ourselves at the end of this year in view of upping our game in 2025:

What did I do with my time, energy, and consciousness this year—2024?

Am I genuinely satisfied with my choices for improving my consciousness this year?

 Has the quality of my consciousness improved over the year as a direct result of my choices?

What do I hold responsible for my consciousness this year: my choices or my circumstances?

The biggest realization I've had in my life is that quality of life equals quality of consciousness. No matter what one...

There are three dimensions of music worth discovering, and although the three are related, we may value one above the other. In our Yogic Mystery School, we are discovering all three of them at this time, even though we emphasize one during our current process. These three dimensions are aesthetic, therapeutic, and mystical, and each offers specific benefits.

In our process, the method is primarily directed toward the aesthetic, because, in order to create beauty with our voices, we've got to learn theoretical and technical components that have been simplified into three parts: chromatic calibration, developing ragas, and rhythm that involves timing.

We are three groups working as one whole. On the one hand, some are tone-deaf and have no sense of music theory or technique, while on the other, there are skilled musicians who are well-trained technically and theoretically. In between are the developing musicians who have various levels of theory and technique, some more than others....

Life is precious, and it is precious to be in a relationship with other humans. There is a beautiful mantra that we pray that goes, Sarvesham Svasthir Bhavatu.

It's a beautiful mantra to pray for the world because many mantras, Vedic mantras in particular, are praying for the well-being of all. Sarvesham means everybody, all creatures, all beings. Sarvesham Svasthir Bhavatu.

Svasthi is this beautiful word that connotes blessing on the one hand and well-being on the other. May there be a sense of well-being that prevails in our world with everybody. Sarvesham Svasthir Bhavatu.

Sarvesham Shantir Bhavatu. That there be peace, that there is this prevalence of peace in human consciousness. Sarvesham Purnam Bhavatu.

Again, the word Purnam, in the middle of these other words that are recurrent, Sarvesham and Bhavatu, means fullness, and we can interpret it two ways. On the one hand, we can say that this is a prayer asking everybody to be filled with the fullness of God's presence, and we...

Science, we know, is constantly making discoveries in ways that reinforce some theories while others are either discarded or forced into being modified or upgraded. In Darwinian fashion, only the fittest theories survive. In this manner, science mimics the development of our consciousness in our lives.

As we evolve, some of our thoughts, behaviors, habits, and beliefs are reinforced because they align with the discoveries we make in life. In many instances, however, we are challenged to discard outmoded ways of thinking and behaving or upgrade them to be in alignment with our evolving consciousness. Many humans resist this process.

We often tend to embrace only those discoveries that align with our established thoughts, behaviors, habits, and beliefs. Adapting ourselves to change does not come naturally to us, especially when the rate of change is as rapid as it is in our post-modern civilization. It is our predicament today, and mantra practice can help.

The way to work with...

It is a time for healing. Since COVID, we've all been through a lot, some more than others. Whether directly or experienced vicariously through our news feeds, life has been stressful. Music is a modality that offers us much.

When modern music therapy was discovered during the Second World War, nurses documented wounded soldiers healing much faster when music was part of their process. They also noted a reduced dependence on morphine.

Many cultures knew the healing power of music. Of significance are the ancient Greeks, including Hippocrates, the father of ancient Greek medicine, honored by our present-day system of Western medicine.

It is fascinating that as far back as 400 BC, around the time of the Upanishads, Hippocrates was inspired to use music as part of the treatment for ailments. And it wasn't just the physical dimension that was addressed through music. Hippocrates realized that mental health was integral to overall health and that music could "heal the mind."

In the Yoga...

I am inviting you to begin a daily engagement of prayer, puja, and practicing peace. Each of these pieces represents an aspect of the spiritual life. Practicing peace is part of our self-development process. It is founded upon meditation, which is part of our self-care and cultivates our capacity for self-control. For some of us, meditation is the only spiritual discipline we engage in daily. Prayer and puja (sacred ritual) involve different sensitivities.

In our Yogic Mystery School, we are, for the first time, consciously exploring the role of prayer in our mystic, gnostic, and meditation approaches, particularly in what we call Absorption, which for us is the most profound experience of Tantra, Yoga, and the Vedas, aka samadhi, moksha. Prayer is a respectful communion with the dimension of Ultimate Reality.

Puja is powerful because it is profoundly healing. The knowledgeable use of sacred gestures (mudras) with mantras (sacred sounds) and contact with natural elements (fire,...

Diwali is the most auspicious time in the Hindu calendar, celebrating the triumph of light over darkness metataphorically and practically as daylight gets shorter.

Diwali, among other symbolisms, venerates Lakshmi, one of the most ancient harvest goddesses. She symbolizes abundance, wealth, and beauty. In our school, we study and practice Lakshmi Tantra.

To help you invoke the goddess Lakshmi during this auspicious time, in a 15-minute abundance meditation, visualize what you want to manifest for yourself, your loved ones, and the world. 

We hope you can feel the blessing of this moment when the stars and deities configure to grant us prosperity and well-being. Wear a good headset for an immersive effect, and make yourself comfortable before you begin the meditation.

Diwali starts a new year in the Hindu calendar. We grow in abundance consciousness over time. Without this daily application and constant growth in what abundance consciousness is and what it can be for each...