Yogic Mystery School ™

Maha Shivaratri is "The Great Night of Shiva." What does it mean? What should one do on this night? Who, or what, is Shiva? The auspicious time begins the evening of March 08 and continues until March 09 sunrise. There's more information below on fasting time, if that's a component you wish to add.

MENTAL PREPARATION

First, Shiva is a name for Ultimate Reality. For instance, we might use the word "God" to refer to this Ultimate Reality as the source of the universe. God, as a word, generally refers to the personal sense of this Ultimate Reality but is often anthropomorphic, described in human terms with human projections, which, for some, if not many, can be a turnoff.

In Shaivism, Shiva is both a personal God and the Ultimate Reality, which, in Hinduism, has a tremendous cosmic existential aspect, spread out throughout the entire universe, present behind the light of stars and the movement of galaxies. We seek to engage and encounter this extensive experience of consciousness on...

Each year, for the past twenty-five years, we’ve taken our pilgrims to a snake temple on the outskirts of the local village. This is no ordinary temple. Upon entry, we are greeted with an image of a beautiful goddess hooded with a five-headed serpent and the body of a snake. What is remarkable about this temple is that a live serpent dwells here in the form of a female cobra.

Eggs and milk are left out daily and are consumed by the snake that dwells in a large mound covered with turmeric as a sign of healing and worship. There is also a stone form of the goddess inside, upon which the priest pours liquids for special pujas. He performed a rather remarkable ritual for us, during which we chanted many of the mantras we use in our school, along with mudras, to engage the experience.

The original snake cults that are also associated with fertility cults continue to be integrated into the Tantric form of Hinduism that dominates popular Hinduism today, especially in our native state...

A few days ago, we performed Rudra Abhisekham on the river bed. The waters of the holy river Cauvery are controlled by a dam in order to distribute the water over many fields and villages. It is a wide riverbed with gorgeous river sand in areas that make for amazing spaces to meditate and conduct spiritual practice.

The effect of this ancient form of worship is to generate a powerful wave of positive energy that, in turn, removes negative vibrations. The Shiva Lingam, which is the focus of the puja, emanates a distinctive vibration for which mantras from the Yajur Veda are chanted, in particular, the Sri Rudra Praśna.

Around 6 pm, on a full moon, we gathered together on the river sand to pour milk and make other traditional ablutions on the Shiva Linga, offering flowers, incense, and fire. It was a magical experience, especially to sit as a community in silent meditation after the ritual was completed.

The Rudra Praśna is a collection of eleven anuvākas (sections) comprising the...

Bede Griffiths would often tell us how important it is to live close to nature, which is why he designed a lifestyle for the monk modeled on Indian village life.

So very often, when we encounter nature, we want to engage the experience through the lens of our phones and cameras, documenting the encounter instead of experiencing it.

Can we experience our experiences as experiences?

If you want to explore what this means, try and become aware of how much of the human experience you are having at any moment is consumed by descriptive and inferring thoughts, images (of others one might be connected to), projections into or away from the immediate experience and associations with other matters, even if related to the experience. 

Imagine the ability to experience an experience, no matter what it is, with a minimal amount of thoughts, associations, projections, and imagination. What would a peach, or some wonderful fruit, taste like? Even the simplicity of eating something...

Our most recent experience was an extraordinary fire ceremony known as homa, havan or yagna. We’ve experienced countless ceremonies like this over the years, but this one was different and amazingly powerful.

First, the ceremony began with a ritual that we learn in our mystery school. This powerful healing Tantric ritual fashions tumeric into an shape that is representative of the remover of obstacles (Vighneśwara). Many of us turned to each other in recognition as we noted that procedure and the mantras that we’ve learned to chant.

The next part was the fire ceremony that began with the homa nyāsa followed by the homam, which was extraordinarily powerful. It was to the Ultimate Shakti, invoking Her as Brihadnayaki (the ancient leader).

Although we have learned to offer mantras and offerings in the sacred fire, there was a fascinating vibration during the priest’s rendering of particular mantras, mudras and offerings, something that cannot be put into words. Some...

Learn to change your “I can’t” into “I can!”

Lakshmi Tantra is the quintessential method of manifestation. Many teachers of manifestation have taken their methods from this ancient system without giving credit to their sources. Now you can study the traditional way to assist your process as a practitioner of manifestation techniques or as a teacher of such techniques.

Are you ready to undertake the Lakshmi Tantra?

Can you identify a sense of lack in your consciousness, in relationships, your career, your finances, your location, your environment?

Can you determine that you are willing to do something about this lack, that you are determined to commit to the process daily?

Can you decide that you are willing to commit to building your relationship with Lakshmi because you see her as a way towards.

If you can say YES to all three of these questions, you can change every “I can’t” To “I can”

What does the practice of...

While temple elephants might be seen as emissaries of Ganesha, could we, as humans, also explore this possibility? On this pilgrimage of life, what does Ganesha symbolize for us?

One of our secret expectations on pilgrimage is to encounter a temple elephant. Somehow, these elephants are different. Could it be because people approach them as Ganesha, the God of Wisdom and Remover of Obstacles? Could it be because they are trained to bless those who come to them by gently touching their trunk on the bowed head of the devotee?

Although live elephants can draw people to the temple, that is not the intended reason for their presence there. It is their connection to divinity and sacredness that is paramount. The unmistakable connection is to Lord Ganesha, Hinduism's beloved elephant-headed God, a child born of Shiva and Shakti. Receiving a blessing from a temple is especially auspicious.

In ancient times, elephants were used in India to clear the forests for agriculture, so...

If you like stories and lessons learned from life, this blog is for you. On the one hand, it is an invitation to engage in self-discovery on the order of bija mantras for the chakras. And on the other hand, it encourages you, the seeker and the practitioner, to not take anyone's word for granted but to seek and discover the truth for yourself. 

The Buddha taught:

"Believe nothing because a wise man said it,
Believe nothing because it is generally held.
(and there'e more to this quote below...)

It was called Y2K: the year 2000. People were terrified that something terrible would happen at the turn of the millennium, particularly around digital clocks not resetting and the chaos ensuing. But, paradoxically, my life was getting exciting. Just the year before, I had recorded my album Nada Yoga at an incredible studio deep in the California redwoods. Kenny was an engineer who recorded the Grateful Dead and many other greats. I was excited about a multiple-album contract...

Are you ready to TAP the POWER of Maha Shiva Ratri on Feb 18? Then, prepare for this momentous event by understanding how to engage your spiritual practice on this auspicious night.

What is Maha Shiva Ratri?

The word “rātri” means night, so this is the night of Shiva. Technically, it occurs once a month on the day before the new moon, so there are twelve such nights each year. Maha means great! The Great Night Of Shiva, which often occurs in February or March, is exceptional. In a nod to Tolkien, it is a night to rule them all.

The night and the moon have a special place in spiritual practices associated with Lord Shiva. For those who have a solid connection to feminist spiritual traditions, like Wicca or Paganism, it would be refreshing that a male deity is associated so strongly with the full moon, usually with goddess worship.

Shiva has a strong feminine side to him. He is also ardhanari, the half-lord, who is half-woman, featured with one breast and posturing an...

I'm sure there is much about Shiva that you know. However, here are three things about "Shiva" that, even if you did know, are expanded upon with new information, or at the very least, some new associations.

Each year, we make a pilgrimage to India, where we visit many Shiva temples. We are there now with our students exploring our spiritual practice together in community. The mystery of Shiva is also one of the essential tracks in our Yogic Mystery School called "Sacred Masculine."

1. Shiva is a Hindu god. Somewhat true!

Shiva, the God, is part of a vast pantheon of Gods and Goddesses within the Hindu spiritual framework. But there's also a very different sense of Shiva's deictic nature. Shiva, within Shaivism, one of Hinduism's principal traditions, is also the absolute supreme being, which means Shiva is more than a God: He is the creator of this universe, a bit like the Biblical Yahweh.

And it is not just the power of creation that he wields, but that of...