Last month, we celebrated my favorite time of the year, Kālī Pūjā!  The pūjā itself was on Sunday the 12th of November, the new moon night but on the Friday just before I couldn't at all contain my excitement and felt inspired to do a special class on Ramprasad, the great mystic and saint of Mother Kālī.  His story is a truly remarkable tale of the highest devotion, of the most reckless absorption, of the most unparalleled intoxication in Mā, replete with wonderful legends of mystical...

We start our evening's Q&A with some book recommendations for the study and practice of Tantrik Shaktism, that is, devotion to the Divine Mother. (00:00-07:00) Then we discuss some precautions around the Devī Māhātmyam sādhanā with regards to "fierce grace" with an excursus on the Power of Mantra/the Power of the Written Word. (07:00-16:00) But to soften that, we then talk about Mā's non-dual nature as ultimately compassionate, even towards supposed "demons"! At 19:00 we discuss the...

After two back-to-back Kālī pūjās and a few all nighters, we plunge into a discussion of Mā Kālī's non-dual aspect, to commemorate the Shyama Kali Puja of 2023. My idea was to explore the role of the ferocious iconography around Mā, a few verses of the Candi indicated Her non-dual nature as Pure Consciousness and some similar iconography and motifs from other world spiritual traditions to present the idea that Mā is more than a Goddess in a pantheon but rather the Principle of Creative Power...

Prior to our Hallowe'en lecture on ghosts in the Tantrik world, we recite a few hymns and poems to Mahākāla Bhairava and Mā Bhairavi (Abhinava Gupta's Bhairava Stava and the two Kālī poems by Swami Vivekananda) that feature similar macabre elements to make a point about radical acceptance, non-duality and overcoming fear. Art by Vijayā (http://www.birthlessdeathless.com/) Lectures happen live on zoom every Monday at 7pm PST and Friday 10am PST and Friday at 6pm PST.  There's Q&A right...

Tonight’s lecture is a Hallowe’en special! After all, Śaiva and Śakta Tantra is chock full of ghoulish mortuary iconography: Mā Kālī’s garland of skulls, Lord Śiva’s garland of snakes, their retinue of ghosts, goblins and vampires, their home in the cremation grounds (ghat), fierce fanged dākinī and yoginīs and so much more.  It’s no wonder Hallowe’en is my favorite holiday!  Tonight, to celebrate, let's discuss Tantrik demonology and the role of mortuary and gory iconography in texts like ...

We'll explore how it might be possible for a person to be instantly free here and now, as suddenly and as effortlessly and easily as one "falls from a tree after losing one's footing".  Naturally, this will take us into a discussion on anupaya, the notorious "no path path" of instant liberation and jīvanmukti, the somewhat paradoxical doctrine of being free of the world/body while remaining in it!  Some schools of spirituality, dualistic theistic traditions  foremost amongst them,...

There are few theories regarding God's grace in Indian philosophy: 1. It is earned through good works (karma) 2. It is earned through devotion (bhakti) 3. It is earned through renunciation (tyāga) 4. It comes as a result of two equally strong samskaras bubbling up at the same time and checking one and another, thus artificially stalling all future karmas from fructifying (karmasāmya) Using some arguments from Abinava Gupta's commentary on the Mālinīvijaya Tantra, we'll show why all of these...

We have an exciting series of lectures ahead of us: How To Practice Kashmir Shaivism We've been discussing the theory of Kaula Trika non-duality for some time now, which is, in and of itself, a type of practice. However, it's time now to discuss practice proper! In this lecture, I'm going to 1. make a case for why so-called "worldliness" is itself a very noble kind of spiritual practice, echoing Chapter I of the Bhagavad Gita (vishadayoga). 2. Discuss a graded approach to spiritual life...

In this lecture, we are going to discuss the Abhāsa-Vada (Reflection Model) of Kaula Trika Tantra: how is it that the one Unchanging Absolute, śiva, manifests playfully as this dazzling display of phenomena called the world without (a) losing pristine transcendent nature (b) while actually literally and really manifesting as everyone and everything? This sounds like a flat out contradiction. What's more, tonight I'm going to show how Kaula Trika Śaivism gives us a worldview that is neither...

We gave this lecture on the full moon celebrating the Guru, guru-pūrnimā the day when we honor our teachers and our lineage. You are all of you my guru, my teacher. And it is at your feet that I offer all of these words, like so many meagre flowers. You have all taught me and are continuing to teach me and will go on teaching me so much! I am eternally indebted to each and every one of you. A hundred thousand pranams at your feet! What could I possibly say to you now or offer you that can...

Prior to the British occupation of India, there was no such word as "Hinduism". There was really only a very diverse range of spiritual attitudes all coexisting alongside one another in a spirit of not only tolerance, but celebration.  Notice the tremendous resilience India has demonstrated through her 5000 year old (by conservative Western estimates) civilization. The fundamental truths she articulated in the Upanishads at the very dawn of human civilization continue to be chanted by...

Is there anything quite so joyful as thinking in terms of eternity and infinity? Perhaps that’s why coming together every Monday night for our 7pm PST Satsangh remains ever fresh and ever blissful even after all of these years together. There is just such a sweetness to holding these profound and refined conceptions of the Absolute. By holding and contemplating vast concepts, you taste the vastness of our own being to which those concepts can only point! Tonight’s lecture will explore “The...

Sri Ramakrishna, like the Buddha before him, often held that what the Absolute Reality, Brahman is cannot be described. It is "ucchishta", meaning, undefiled by the tongue. As such, it is beyond the Vedas, the Puranas, the Tantra or any sacred book. Further, because the ultimate Reality is "one without a second", that is, non-dual, It cannot be compared to any other thing, It being all there is. What does ghee taste like? Well, Sri Ramakrishna would say, it "tastes like ghee!". In saying...

Today I feel quite inspired to talk about mantra and Deity yoga: what is a deity and in what way is a mantra connected to a deity? How does one properly chant a mantra? What should we visualize? (featuring a brief excursus on yantra, sacred geometry!) and why would we even want to do a mantra practice? etc. Lectures happen live on zoom every Monday at 7pm PST and Friday at 6pm PST.  There's Q&A right after the lecture. It is free and open to the public. All are welcome! Use this link...

Guru-Yoga is the central practice of the Tantrik tradition. In fact, I would go so far as to say that in any genuine mystical tradition, the role of a living teacher is highly emphasized: in Christian mysticism, its the spiritual perception/director/elder; in Sufism its the Affendi; in Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism its the Guru.  My guru likes to say: the human Guru is a matchmaker who marries you to God, who alone is the Guru, and Who, in Truth is what You are at the essence of your Being. ...

Every spiritual and religious tradition in the world has some sort of scripture. One very interesting thing about South Asian spirituality (Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and others) is that there is no one authoritative scripture but rather a vast commentarial tradition of scripture that features a peer-reviewed and corroborated account of mystical experiences and the subtlest, most refined truths of spiritual life that are gleaned from them. More importantly, the central claim of the South...

What is "God" and what does it mean to "attain" That? In this lecture, we discuss discuss "The Absolute" on a few different levels from a philosophical perspective but more importantly, we offer a few practice methods for "attaining", that is "recognizing, integrating and acting/thinking/feeling according to"  that Absolute Truth.   This lecture is part of a series on Kashmir Shaivism which you can watch here https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfGGe32PDNMb9bvgn4Vfn1mtrfF7JPZQn In this...

Does your life have a purpose or meaning? In order to ask the question, "what is the purpose of my life?" you have to first take a few steps back and ask "what is the purpose of the Universe?" Since you are an active participant in and a veritable fraction of (if not entirely) the Universe, your purpose must be in some what articulated along with and according to the purpose of the Universe. But does the Universe even have a purpose? Or is it just insentient matter? Is there a God who created...

Every theists (those who accept the existence of God), no matter how strong their faith, will one day have to reconcile for themselves what philosophers have been calling, the "problem of evil": if God is all-good and all-powerful, then, why is there evil in the world? The existence of evil, both natural and man-made seems obvious. Natural disasters, famine, disease, genocides, petty acts of violence etc. So either is this means God is not all-good, because God can intervene but chooses not...

If you'll allow me to be a little controversial, I'd like to make a case in this lecture for why you should have a spiritual ego. I'm going to explain what I mean by "spiritual ego" on a few levels in order to transmit to you strength, self-reliance and confidence. I'm going to say that "weakness" (which typically disguises itself as false "humility") is the ultimate obstacle in spiritual life. To combat that, I want to assure you of your own power, your own indomitable strength! And to do...

This lecture is going to be an exciting one: Can You Become Enlightened From Watching YouTube Videos?    Despite the cheeky title, we're going to explore some of the subtlest linguistic mysticism ever: the Kashmir Shaiva development of the 5th CE sage Bhatrhari's claim of the śabdabrahman, the "sound Brahman".  Interestingly, it is a beautiful commentary on the opening of the Gospel of John, "in the beginning was the logos, the word."  What does it mean for the "word" to be "with" God...

This Q&A from our recent Monday satsangh was so rich especially after Richard asked the beautiful question about learning to see God even in those places and people where its especially hard to see Her!   I suspect this discussion will be particularly valuable to those struggling with theodicy, or the problem of evil in theism: "if God is all-good and all-powerful, why does She permit so much suffering?"  We also make a rather nuanced point about "karma" being the Indian version of "the...

We are about to have a very fascinating discussion: how do I know if I am enlightened? First of all,  while there are certainly different conceptions of realization among the various spiritual traditions, there is a universal principle that is common to the all. We first discuss this and offer a few insights about why this discussion would even be valuable to have from the point of view of spiritual practice. Then, we take up the unique conception of realization offered by Kashmir Shaivism...

How do I bring in the abundance that I need to support myself and my loved ones while still remaining aligned with my spiritual values? What should I do with my life? How do I "make a living" without making myself into the "living dead"? For so many of us, "making a living" involved doing the kind of work we might not want to be doing but feel like we have to be doing to get by!  Interestingly, the tradition of Paramadvaya or Non-Dual Shaivism, offers some very interesting insight into why...

Sooner or later, in spiritual life, we find that there are certain habits, patterns and attachments that are getting in the way either because they prevent us from practicing as much (or as well) as we'd like or because, for whatever reason, they are obstructing the natural joy and peace that should radiate from the depths of your being.    Naturally, then, we become interested in "renouncing" these things! And these things might take various forms: TV, substances, workaholism, sensual...