Written by Yogini Shambhavi / Tathaastu Magazine : Posted on Sunday, December 04, 2011 2:17 PM
Now, more than ever, women need to open themselves to the flow of divine grace and the power of the Devi, the Mother Goddess, to facilitate the birth of a higher consciousness in the world, not merely at an individual but also at a planetary level. We must recognize and honour the Goddess in all of her forms, of which her transformative manifestations are the most central.
Feminine gentleness, nurturing, healing, sustenance and compassion are the key tools necessary to soothe the turmoil, anguish, pain and anger that is burning us from within, stoked by the voracity and arrogance of the commercialisation, ambition and ignorance that seems to surround us on every side.
Women Hold the Shakti of Dharma
What is Shakti? Shakti has very much been misunderstood. It is not a mere outer self-assertion, control or power over others. Nor is it mere economic or political dominance. Shakti is the inspiration and joy arising from an inner steadiness, contentment and openness to the flow of divine grace. Shakti exists all around us in the forces of nature, particularly in the earth, the cosmic waters and the sacred heavens that carry and sustain all things without rejection. Shakti holds the essence of all existence at an inner and an outer level. Worshipping Shakti through surrendering to her transformational movement, we align ourselves with the Her universal power and unfold our own deeper potential in life.
Women especially need to cultivate Shakti or the Goddess energy to enhance the nurturing and calming nature of the home and the hearth, which sustain the family, community and society. The feminine principle must be revered and protected to allow universal healing at a deeper emotional level. Women must be encouraged to cultivate the flow of grace, love and devotion in order to sustain this.
Shraddha or deep faith is a feeling of understanding and trust with conviction in the beneficent powers of the conscious universe. Shraddha or faith without wisdom, on the other hand, turns into mere human emotion that can be manipulated by ego drives and personal desires. True Shraddha must be born out of awareness, discrimination, maturity and responsibility.
Shraddha is the mark of distinction for every woman who unfolds Divine Love as an expression of gratitude, caring and inspiration. Pure gentle love guides us into conscious relationships beyond illusion and manipulation. It allows us to be harmonious and kind with ourselves, enabling us to heal the anguish and strife surrounding our lives. In healing at the deepest core of our being, we are able to honour and heal our environment as well. We must rediscover the universal love dwelling within our own hearts. In the union of the inner self with the Mother Goddess, there is a divine beauty and purity which reinforces the innate sacredness of the feminine nature.
Honouring the Goddess as Shakti
Today our civilization does not truly recognize the Divinity inherent in the universe. We feverishly pursue human and worldly deities instead, that bring more turmoil into our troubled existence. We have lost touch with the ancient reverential practice of honouring the Devata, the cosmic forces of the Gods and Goddesses that embody the sacred powers of Mother Nature, which we must relate to for our well-being at a soul level.
Our current culture is outwardly oriented, subjugated by lower masculine values of achievement, acquisition and even hostility. We are caught up in trying to manipulate and exploit the outer world to fulfil our urges and impulses that are often excessive and distorted. The feminine values of fostering, surrender and respect for all creatures are being ignored or denigrated by society, even by women.
Women are usually looked upon as mere objects of attraction and pleasure in today’s media world, lured into the new fads of Botox and artificial implants to enhance the world of Maya and its distractions. We end up playing into the forces of illusion and delusion, scarring our deeper psyche by trying to keep up with a teenage youthfulness that denies any deeper maturity or wisdom.
Meanwhile, intellectuals and academics make sweeping statements denigrating sacred ancient traditions that worship nature and the Goddess, as if these were but superstition and oppression. The media holds our minds captive with the world’s violence, corrupting religion with politics, seeking domination and control in the name of God, rather than spreading a message of love and unity beyond all outer identities and beliefs.
Empowering the YoginiShakti in Every Woman
The Yogini as the Yoga Shakti represents the deep intuitive voice of the ‘Inner Guru’or spiritual guide. The outer guru works to awaken our inner being and to direct us to the sacred practices necessary to connect with it. The quintessential spirit of the Yogini is to provide an expression for our inner being, who unfolds the flow of divine grace. Without the anugraha or grace of the Devi, we cannot move far on the spiritual path. It is her divine benevolence that steers us into surrendering to the higher consciousness, letting go of our outer confusion and agitation.
The teachings of Devi Tantra enhance the Yoga Shakti lying dormant within our deeper selves, through the mystical rhythms of the Mother Goddess’s numinous healing powers. Tantric worship allows us to consecrate the deity within us, bringing out the vibrations of our own deeper Self. Women need to reclaim this power and grace of the Mother Goddess in the prayer that we can once again restore healing, calm, peace and well-being in our homes and in the world around us.
As a form of spiritual instruction, Tantra teaches us a sacred path through clarity of thought and a deep awareness of the intrinsic coexistence between our higher being and the cosmos. Fostering an inner and outer purity along a dharmic path allows us to manifest and sustain this higher reality hidden within all. Tantric symbolism unfolds the mystic secrets of divinity in varying forms, appearances and manifestations, covering all aspects of our lives.
The Devi or Mother Goddess bestows us with the vital source of her mystic grace. Worshipping the Goddess in her various forms reiterates to those of us as women the eternal bliss and grace of creativity at the matrix of the universe. The purity and strength of Devi worship requires that we draw in the Devi energies manifesting the power of the Yogini and enter into her cosmic dance or divine Lila!
Shakti Samkalpa for Sacred Womanhood
Every woman spiritual seeker or sadhak should learn to cultivate the right sacred intention or samkalpa for the yogic path. To consecrate the flow of Shakti in our lives we must first create and hold to a strong samkalpa or sacred intention of honoring the Goddess power. Samkalpa holds the essence of our sacred intent, divine wish or deep desires unfolding both time and eternity.
Together we must reinforce the samkalpa of “sacred womanhood”, where every woman venerates the virtues of divinity through worship, expansion, education and universal well-being. Raising this voice of unison will draw attention to the importance of the feminine principle in this day and age. Consecrating our sacred space will draw the appropriate masculine energy to rest in the warm glow of the revitalized hearth and home. The Shiva force will reciprocate with the protection, security and refuge, harbouring a safe haven for the Shakti to unfold through the gift of sustenance for the well being of humanity.
Women must learn to bond on a collective level, setting aside all trivial attributes of an inconsequential nature. We must encourage education, growth, stability and independence not through aggression and power mongering, but through dignity, nurturing and graciousness. Women need to invoke the power of the divine feminine to capture its deeper essence of healing and universal well-being.
Ma Kali’s Lightning Dance takes Women beyond all suffering
My unique Devi sadhana paved the way for the intrinsic lightning dance of Ma Kali to color my life. Experientially one sought Her in the heart as Subhadra the ever auspicious Goddess of beauty, bliss and abundance. Ma Kali reveals the divine magnificence and splendour in all creation. She gently guides us from darkness to the idyllic light of dawn. Kali lends mystery to Shiva’s enigmatic transcendence. Kali is the yogic power of Shiva which dwells beyond the illusory Maya.
In Hindu thought, Ma Kali symbolizes the power of the Absolute beyond all creation, the supreme consciousness and energy. She is not merely a Hindu Goddess but the benevolent, auspicious Mother who gently guides us through the shadowy illusory world of Maya towards eternal light. Attachment to our personal identity, money and outer existence creates a fear of Kali as eternity and infinity. We are apprehensive about our return to our origin, even though it is merely uniting with our higher self. Yet because it requires giving up our ego’s illusion of worldly knowledge, control and power, we fear the loss of our transient and mortal attachments.
I have not experienced Ma Kali as fierce or even intimidating in any way. For me the Goddess represents the soul’s victory over all darkness, sorrow and conflict, encompassing the higher virtues of feminine divinity. Kali is severe with all that is unconstructive, negative, trivial and narcissistic. She gently purifies the heart, mind and body to help us heal through our karmas. Yet there is no divine being more compassionate and blissful. In surrendering to her, she guides us through the vortex of suffering.
The Healing Power of Shakti Yagya or Sacrifice
Women are natural healers, with the power to create, restore, reform and transform. The Garbha or the womb is the sacred kunda or space which unfolds the alchemy of mysticism. This special power invokes an offering or surrendering into the fiery matrix of the Agni as the inner power.
Surrendering is a sacred action which every woman must inculcate into the stream of life. Surrender is not a mark of weakness, it is the sacred art of yielding, to concede, acquiescence that finds the middle path. Kali epitomizes our inner surrender to the great unknown. It is easier to surrender to someone or something that we know and feel a certain comfort level with. Yet it is hard to surrender when it calls for giving up all that is familiar and reassuring in our lives. Shakti sadhana guides us to this deeper surrender which is like taking a leap into the void. In this conscious surrender we realise that we have nothing to fear!
The sacred art of living life unfolds as a Yagya or sacrifice. Life unravels a series of soul stirrings, sometimes stirring up a hornet’s nest through our personal experiences. Suffering arises from a refusal to accept the transformative changes of life that continuously break down our boundaries. We create our own suffering when we refuse to open ourselves up to life’s new movements, particularly those which go against our worldly expectations and cherished beliefs. Only when we learn to honour this power of transformation even in death and destruction will we move beyond the limitations that surround our existence with suffering, strife and pain.
Vedic Yagyasor sacrifices, involving special offerings into a sacred fire, are not mere outer ceremonies; they reflect prime cosmic processes and transformational events in our universe. Everything in the universe is a sacrificial interaction as it were of receiving and giving, taking in and letting out. All that we do on a biological level is a kind of sacrifice. Eating is the first of the bodily Yagyas, an offering of food to the digestive fire or Jatharagni. Breathing is an offering of the inhaled air to the Pranic fire or Pranagni. Sensation is offering sensory impressions into the fire of the mind or Manasika Agni.
Yagya is not simply sacrifice in the rudimentary or outer sense, but the way of transformation inherent in every movement of life, in which all things become interrelated and unified. Yagya entails the active principle of Shakti, in which all life is a perpetual offering to the highest being. As women, these transformative movements are part of our inherent growth and development as the Shakti force. Being aware and making sacred this path of transformation guides us in relating to the deeper factors which colour our relationships in our everyday lives as Mothers, Lovers, Caretakers and Nurturers.
All cosmic processes are a Yagya or transformative action filled with the grace of Shakti. The very movement of time is the greatest Yagya or sacrificial offering of life, comprising creation and destruction, birth and death of all creatures and all worlds, reflecting the power of Kali, the supreme Mother Goddess of time and eternity. Women hold this inherent essence of transformation and creativity as the Yogini, Mother, Wife, Muse, Sister, Daughter, Nurse and spiritual Guru.
Women consecrate the Shakti of fire in the universe. The cosmic form of Agni in the Vedas called Vaishvanara or the ‘Universal Person’ indicates the supreme power of time. The same deity is referred to as KalagniRudra, as the fire of time, the intense, forceful form of Shiva, whose powerful cosmic dance or Tandava dissolves the universe into Divine fire and light. He carries the Kala Shakti or transforming power of time, which is the eternal dance of Shakti through the Goddess.
We cannot really enter into the Yoga Shakti, or power of Yoga, unless we view it as an inner sacrifice or self-offering. Otherwise the asana, pranayama, and meditation we do remain limited to the ordinary human sphere of desire and self-justification. Authentic Yoga begins with selfless sacrifice as Karma Yoga, which is action done in recognition and honour of the sacred. The great powers or Devatas of Yoga are the powers of sacrifice. The Devi Shakti sanctifies and consecrates all things in life, from the flow of prana and blood in our body to the rivers and mountains of Mother Earth enhancing the scripting of every thought and action in our lives.
The Yogini, as in the conscientious Tantric adept, understands this divine Lila of cosmic power. Her life reflects this transformative Shakti through holding to the equipoise, affability, benevolence and empathy of her role as the Goddess muse. Every girl child must be nurtured in the footsteps of Shakti, to enable her to hold the powers of healing, prosperity and well-being in the world of her unfolding. The grace of this Shakti force steers us in healing ourselves at a subtler level from the vociferous attacks of our society as well enabling us in our adulthood to cope with the vagaries of womanhood, while Motherhood allows every woman to experience the matrix of creativity through the flow of divine grace.
To discover the sacred nature of reality, our lives must become offering to the Divine, a yogic sacrifice or Shakti Yagya. By honoring all things as sacred, we can discover the eternal presence that is Brahman, the Absolute beyond all time, space and action. This must remain the ultimate goal and supreme power of Shakti in every woman’s existence. It is not a matter of antipathy but of the deepest sensitivity to the nature of the universe and the Divine presence that overflows from all that we see. If we open up to the inner surge of grace and surrender to its silent flow, we can draw in the power of the Mother of the Universe, who will draw out the highest in all.
Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Shaktirupena samsthita
Namastasyai Namastasyai Namastasyai Namo Namah!
To that Devi who dwells in all beings in the form of Shakti!
We offer our reverence to her again and again!
We offer our reverence to her again and again!
Yoga Shaktiis the transformative power of consciousness, love and delight pulsating behind the forces of Nature and the very source of life. The key to physical, psychological and spiritual well-being consists of awakening this Shakti within our own minds and hearts and allowing it to flow like a river, permeating our daily experiences of pleasure and pain, happiness and sorrow, or just the necessary activities of sustaining our lives. When Shakti lights up our outer existence, all that we do moves with a certain grace, distilling a higher wisdom and delight to impel us forward on our spiritual quest.
The path that the Yogini follows moves like the flow of a river, its continuity carrying the forces of divinity and leading her into inner experiences through Nature's universal harmonies. Her sacred journey emulatesthe Divine feminine play at every level of consciousness. As a dedicated Tantrika or mystic adept, she perceives and embodies the finer nuances of Nature's grandeur, innate wisdom and gentle nurturing.
The river's course is a meditative study of life, rushing forth from the melting waters of Mother Earth's womb at birth, cascading down great heights of waterfalls in childhood mirth and meandering through youthful streams. In maturing, the river's steady calm currents find their eventual repose in the deep recesses of the ocean waters. The river weathers the peace and fury of Nature's moods, muddying its pristine waters from rainy storms and collecting the debris of for its embankments to nurture the land. Yet at its culmination, the river mirrors the clarity and beatitude of the ocean's vastness in its sedate finality.
The Inner Tantric vision perceives the entire universe as a pyramidal configuration of energetics encompassing diverse worlds through varying vibratory levels; each level expressing a certain quality in relation to its inherent aspect of consciousness. At the summit of this powerful pyramid of energy rests the abode of the supreme cosmic power or divine Shakti. The consciousness-power of Shakti, the Goddess in her exuberant expression, enhances the play of every cosmic field, through her creation and maintenance of all existence.
The Yogini connects to the primal Shakti as Mother Earth, Nature, cosmic space, sacred waters, divine Grace and affluence through her dance with divinity, enfolding love, forgiveness, kindheartedness, open-mindedness and devotion. She cherishes every aspect of life, legitimizing both the passion and pain that script one's existence. The Yogini encompasses life's experiential threshold through a circumspect drawing from the joyous celebrations of earthly existence.
In the Kaula Shakta tradition, bhoga, the experience of pleasure and delight, finds its expression in yoga, in which all negativities take on the attributes of pure perception. The Goddess is called Bhogini, ‘the supreme enjoyer', the Devi who genuinely enjoys every aspect of experience, mirroring every myriad facet of a universal life. She holds the rasa, the rejuvenative power inherent in the Tanmatras,the subtle essences of sight, sound, taste, touch and smell, the sensory influences that color the flow of grace and grant beauty and fulfillment to our lives.
Revering our own inner sacredness deepens our awareness of the Self, tapping the aura of divinity through observing, healing, rejuvenating, restoring and celebrating our core existence. Desires, wishes and expectations abound in our everyday life enhancing our worldly attributes and yet slowly dragging us down in a whirlpool of entropy and externality. The key to physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual well-being rests in modulating our outer needs to harmonize with our inner needs, harnessing the powers of the mind and heart. It requires that we let go of worldly pessimism and hostility out of both compassion to ourselves and respect for the dignity and independence of others.
Recognizing the enduring light of love behind the smoke of every transient desire, one creates an awareness of eternal joy, supreme bliss and boundless beauty. The Yogini does not negate disturbed outer manifestations, but accepts them with grace, allowing them to dissolve of their own accord. She wields her inner wisdom to move through this entangling web of illusory veils. All gratification and delight is experienced as energized by the inner power of awareness that is ever content in itself.
The Goddess is the supreme ecstasy of Self-realisation, in which the personal self fades away like the husk from around a seed. As the expression of ultimate joyousness, she draws us by the inner allure of the light of awareness, delivering us from the shackles of bondage into the folds of liberation. She brings out the rasa, the inner luminosity and grace, in every expression of life; be it a great personal achievement or a great cataclysm.
The Yogini learns to ride the waves of life as a master surfer, as it were, the waves becoming a part of the great waters of the ocean, whether tempestuous or serene in movement. The waves are the ocean's reality, not a separate entity. Normally we see the waves and miss the sea. But the waves are the sea. The spiraling movement of life consists of ever returning into the eternal presence beyond birth and death, a movement encompassed by a greater stillness that it cannot diminish. Tantra in the real sense requires searching out the Absolute in every object, and every person who realizes the inner truth of existence becomes one with the universal Self and accepts the flow of life as a display of one's true nature.
As a Yogini, one learned to worship all that is poignant, passionate and transformative within and to embrace their outer reflections as well. Opening the heart through devotion, faith and silence born of Nature, we create a temple space for the universal mysticism to unfold its paradoxical drama. The luminosity of our inner light radiates the true wishes of our hearts, not merely the murky desires of the egoistic self. One's pure nature is the expression of a supreme pleasure or ‘preetih',the joyousness of love personified.
The Cosmic Waters of Ma Ganga
The forces of Mother Nature unravel life's divine secrets through the great five elements. When we learn to train our inner eye to understand and approach our existence with an inner vision, we reach out to the core of our reality, which is our spiritual yogic perception. Yet of the five elements, it is water alone that is the element of life which allows consciousness to be reflected and feeling to be sustained. The cosmic waters are not simply the material element but the underlying bliss or Ananda from which everything arises and to which everything returns. All existence is a flow of the cosmic waters either as a material manifestation or as a spiritual reality. In the coolness of that flow through the mind and heart, we find beauty, peace, calm and joy.
It is these cosmic waters, with emerald sapphire hues, cool and transformative that we find in the flow of the Ganga above Rishikesh, before it reaches the plains of our worldly existence. My experience of Ma Ganga brought home the eloquence of waters' mystic and rejuvenative powers. Ma Ganga as she is affectionately referred unfolds the poetic script of every sadhak's heartfelt wishes, once one enters into her waters and surrenders to their movement.
The Yogini's heart searches out divinity not only in the waters of the earth but through the heavenly waters as well. The yogic perception regards all mediums of expression as waves of deeper awareness, be it the rush of a river, the sweeping waves of the ocean's turbulences, the still waters of pristine mountain lakes or the waters of our inevitable life force and the rasa or divine sap of rejuvenation. We exist within and are surrounded by manifold currents of the cosmic waters. Our spiritual life is an ingress into these mystic streams, in which our minds and hearts merge into their depths, letting going of the outer waves of differentiation.
Life's sacred reality unfurled through my silent participation with Ma Ganga's tumultuous flow, witnessing my entire existence through its myriad facets. At times the emerald waters spoke to me of my soul's deeper indwelling power. Ma Ganga's comforting voice stilled the outer din of my life with gentle reassurances. The night time rush of melting snows flooded my thoughts with calm aspirations, deepening a yogic awareness of a higher unity through the dissolving world.
Meditating on a river's flow is a natural form of sadhana, a ‘spiritual endeavor' that draws one into whirlpools of heavenly waters, maneuvering beyond the waves of life's illusory course. The hypnotic effect of Ganga's mystic vapors ceases all worldly expressions, luring one into a trance of natural serenity and dynamic stillness. Its meditative silence releases the purity of Mother Nature's nurturing calm, churning the mind's chaos into realms of contemplative bliss.
The Flowering of the Waters
The essence of a Yogini's flowering unfolds through her sacred space. The Goddess power is the extraordinariness epitomizing the soul of every flower, opening us up to the flower of atmospheric space that delights in the heavenly waters from which comes the rain of bliss. The Yogini manifests the Devi or Goddess like a flowing force, as the spontaneous self-originated flower of spatial waters that arises out of receptivity, openness and repose.
The divine feminine force showers one with blessings of flowers, both within and around us. All creativity consists of flowers in the waters of space. The universe, the celestial heavens, the planets, Sun and Moon are all cosmic flowers of light, scripting their movement in space, vortexes of Shakti, the innate energy which creates flower-like patterns, mystic designs and celestial vistas. The blooms of spiritual essences manifest as sacred flowers through all the worlds. Even the clouds gather the waters of the flowers of energy in the atmosphere, raining their essence on earth.
Ma Ganga carries with it Nature's bounty of medicinal properties melting from pure glaciers, rushing through mountain canyons and fertile plains, ultimately offering her abundance into the vast ocean expanses. The ocean itself, in its waves and tides, is an overflowing of the flora of the waters in the essence of Soma, the ‘divine nectar'. The higher self, our atman is the ultimate flowering of divinity. In its sublimity, it gives rise to the fullness of the lotuses of our subtle body. Shakti is the grace within the lotus that generates and opens the power of the Self as the cosmic prana suffusing our spiritual flowering with her life force.
The Yogini's very existence searches out the wonders of the Goddess's flowering flow through a seeking, desiring and nurturing of life's bounty and beatitude. The lure of my mind's eye ripened over years of spiritual grooming allowed me to taste the innate wisdom and sweet bliss of meditative repose. My existence through its subtle nuances of all life's energies came vibrantly alive allowing its cascading vibration to draw me into its magnetic vortexes.
During potent sadhanas by the banks of the flowing grace of the Ganga, I would diligently lure the Goddess with flowers, mantra invocations and fire rituals to entice her into my surroundings. The deluge of incense, flowers and chants created a sea of beatitude, allowing my emotions to express themselves in torrents of fervent Bhakti, uniting with the river's mesmeric roar.
Bhakti Yoga isn't a mere expression of emotion. Bhakti Yoga rests upon a deep philosophy, graciousness and a dynamic movement of honoring divinity as an inner and outer aspect of spirituality. Bhakti unfolds the art of devotion, creating and sustaining the beauty of a poetic flourish through music, dance and prose. Bhakti strains gently lure the heart to a sweet surrender with the spirit of freedom, imbuing our ordinary existence with sacred intent, poise and pride. Bhakti is the flow of the waters of inspiration back to their source within the heart.
Surrendering to the flow of Ma Ganga elevated my soul into her protective confines of peace and happiness. The expression of my surrender sought itself through sacred offerings and intuitive rituals relating to universal elements. Flowers given in rituals hold a poignant meaning and power far beyond mere ceremonial flourishes. In a deeper sense, we are always offering the Goddess or Great Nature our own life's flowering, be it the flowers of devotion or the flowerings of moha and maya (delusion and illusion). Sadhana or divine observances grant us a perceptive and profound understanding of life's journey. Through multi-layered mystical encounters arose an inner awareness as in a deeper flowering. The waters of my inner being sustained various enfoldments, if one could but let the true essence come forth.
Sadhana by the Ganga
The Ganga's eclectic flow yields the Yoga Shakti, reveling in the spell of her water's intimacy. Her energies awaken the soul stirrings, guiding one to meander towards the ultimate source. Mother Ganga's rushing currents spin the aspirant into the centre of her creation when she perceives our readiness for the higher realms of celestial ecstasy.
I have learned to share this experience of Ma Ganga in all her grandeur and grace, which is what she in fact exhorts us to do. Our beautiful Inner Tantric Yoga retreat by the waters of Ma Ganga every March brings sadhaks from all over the world to return to their spiritual home in the river's flow. Every sadhak learns to tap their divinity through healing, rejuvenating and celebrating life in sync with Nature's benevolence.
We move through the gentle rigors of Bhuta Shuddhi, the Vedic ritual of purifying the mind, prana and senses in the aura of the river. We honor Ganga's celestial nature with arati, hymns in praise of the cosmic powers accompanied with the effulgence of light. Our arati plates are decorated with flowers surrounding the lamp lit with camphor and pure ghee (oil). The offering of arati serenades the divinity in both the sacred flow of the river as well as the rivers of our being, invoking the blessings of the great Divine powers.
Calming the senses creates a foundation for stilling the being from an outer restlessness and letting go of the stagnant energies of the outer world, so that we can effortlessly flow within. Stillness is the calm which rejuvenates and energizes our intrinsic holistic nature. Stillness restores, holds and enhances our life prana or force. Spiritual stillness evolved through contemplative sadhana is the calm after the storm. Only when we learn to weather the storm with grace will we appreciate the serenity of being still in quiet repose.
We steer every sadhak to become immersed in body and soul with the purity and healing force of the sacred river. Nature unveils its own graciousness when we learn to sanctify the five elements within and around us. Worshipping the elements grounds our personality allowing the Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Ether to imbue us with their cosmic energetics, but in this process water is the connective link and the transformative flow.
A full Moon night in quiet meditation by the banks of Ganga tunes the heart to resonate with the sound of the river's rush, contemplating the Moon's reflection in the waters, absorbing the mystic vapors while feeling the wisp of night breeze and the sand beneath one's feet. Nature has a surreal effect on our sensitivities, once we let go of our minds, forget the world and remember our eternal Mother.
Our retreat draws out every sadhak's higher energy through sacred rituals, Vedic fire offerings, meditation, mindful asana practice, mantra chanting and mudra initiation into the whirlpool dance of Shakti's ecstasy. The footwork of Mother Earth's dance leaves one touched with energy, compassion and a passionate fervor for divinity. Embracing the still waters of life is not about exhaustive competitiveness with our inner and outer worlds. It is about harnessing the grace of divinity through gentle contemplative sadhana with the universal elements.
Sacred rivers are part of our universal spiritual heritage. Civilization itself grew up on great rivers which allowed agriculture and cities to arise. The ancients worshipped their rivers, which sustained their traditions, wealth and aspirations. In honoring Mother Nature through her great rivers, we sustain our link to both the earthly and the cosmic waters, and with the plants, animals, plains, mountains, glaciers, clouds and sky that they connect us to.
We must learn to let our inner rivers, the channels, currents and nadis of the soul flow again with all their vibrancy. Unless our inner rivers are flowing, our outer lives will remain dry and empty, dependent upon an external world of want to sustain a mirage of happiness. Let the pure grace of Ma Ganga flow within and all that is impure or sorrowful will quickly be washed away into a current of eternal delight. Let us join together in creating a harmonious, conscious and spiritually evolved existence through awakening the higher Self, empowering the divine grace within, and embracing the Inner World of Shakti!
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