For the Love of Yoga with Nish the Fish

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 b...

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...

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 yo...

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 o...

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...

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...

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 act...

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&quo...

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...

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...

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 spiritu...

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...

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 "renou...

What is the ultimate goal of spiritual life? I’m going to propose that it’s freedom, however we choose to articulate it. But what is that exactly? And does freedom mean the categorical end of all suffering and the attainment of the supreme bliss? What’s so blissful about freedom?    Today we’re going to articulate the Kashmir Shaivism position on freedom and contrast it against the freedom of othe...

This lecture is an exciting one: we’re going to discuss sex and more specifically sexual repression! To what extent are all spiritual experiences just hallucinations caused by repression, narcissism and grandiosity as the Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysts suggest?  As spiritual practitioners we must take these kinds of critiques seriously and really engage thoughtfully with them since they can...

In this lecture, we do a lot of philosophical work to show, at least for the sake of theoretical understanding, that everything you see in this world is nothing but Consciousness.  From this, we come away with three insights: 1. To judge, criticize or resent anyone is to judge, criticize and resent God. 2. To serve and help anyone is really an act of worship to God.  3. You yourself are God so you...

In Non-Dual Shaivism (paramadvaya) the word "shiva" doesn't always refer to the blue fella sitting atop a tiger skin mat meditating in the Himalayas.  While "shiva" literally means "blessing" or "auspicious", the word "Shiva" in this context comes closer in meaning to Satchidananda Brahman, which means pure, Formless Awareness...but with a few...

On Saturday, Feb 18th 2023, millions if not billions of people all over the world will be pulling and all nighter to celebrate the great God of renunciation  and yoga, Lord Shiva. But what's all the fuss and hullabaloo about anyway? In this video we discuss what mahashivaratri, the Great Night of Shiva is and what about it makes it special. Lord Shiva is the symbol of meditation, renunciation...

Happy New Moon!  Because this is the first New Moon of the year and an important puja to the Divine Mother (Ratanti Puja), I thought it would be nice to discuss an important approach to spiritual life! This is a rather foundational topic and with Mother’s grace, I pray I can do it some justice: How To Practice Spirituality. My only prayer is that something in this lecture inspires you to start pra...

Many people feel like their path is the only path to salvation and that their God is the only God.  However, if you wanted to get to the beach, aren't there many routes, each unique in their own way and yet each equally capable of taking you to the same destination?  Further, if God is an infinite being, then shouldn't such a being express Itself in (and allow Itself to be reached by) an...

Since prayer is at the heart of the Christ’s sadhana (and also that of Sri Ramakrishna) we’re going to ask the question “How To Pray?”  What is prayer exactly and how can I do it?  In this lecture, we first have a discussion on the centrality of prayer in spiritual life before defining prayer and then asking "who should I pray to?"  We present the theory of the Ishta Devata, or Chosen Id...

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays one and all! Your very nature is Love, Purity and Simplicity.  The Christ as such is a perfect mirror to reflect back to you the truth of your being.  That’s what a perfect Master is: a reminder.  He is an invitation to be what you already are and yet have forgotten. We see in Christ, the Buddha, Ramakrishna the highest possibility of humanity. Perhaps that’s why...

My intention tonight is to ask the question: “did Christ suffer on the cross?” Some would argue that he did and only then is there value in his sacrifice. I’m going to argue rather that he didn’t suffer at all and therein lies the real teaching. After all, how else could he have had the strength to forgive his oppressors? I’m going to suggest that he could forgive them because they were not really...

This is the first of a three part lecture series on the teachings of the Christ in the light of Vedanta, Yoga and Tantra. Today, we take up Jesus' message of renunciation. Above all, the Christ, like all the avatars before and after him, exemplified total absorption in God and uncompromising renunciation. What is renunciation, anyway?    You see:    We all want to be happy. The goal of life i...

If you have ever felt love for anybody or anything, in any capacity, then, you have felt God. God IS love. And the essence of all love, however worldly or misdirected, is ultimately divine. As such, Bhakti Yoga (the Path of Divine Love) is the refinement of and the conscious cultivation of our capacity to love until it reaches an all-consuming, one-pointed intensity for that which is most sacred,...