How To Practice The Left Hand Path of Tantra

Last week we gave a talk on the very often misunderstood and misrepresented vāma-cāra, "the Left Hand Path of Tantra"  you can watch that here and then we went over some "left leaning" aspects of Kālī pūjā like the cremation ground Bali as well as the candālinī pūjā which you can watch here.

Sri Ramakrishna once described this path as entering the mansion (of God realization) through the scavenger's door (i.e the back door). What did he mean by that? Also, is there a way to integrate the modalities of this path into our daily sādhanā in a safe and sustainable way? In this lecture, we explore some of these ideas in the context of interpreting the Kālī dhyāna śloka, with the translation by Swami Mahayogananda:

ॐ क्रीं करालवदनां घोरां मुक्तकेशीं चतुर्भुजाम्। 
कालिकां दक्षिणां दिव्यां मुण्डमालाविभूषिताम॥१॥ 
सद्यश्छिन्नशिरःखड्गवामाधोर्ध्वकराम्बुजाम्। 
अभयं वरदं चैव दक्षिणोर्ध्वाधः पाणिकाम्॥२॥ 
महामेघप्रभां श्यामां तथा चैव दिगम्बरीम्। 
कण्ठावसक्तमुण्डालीगलद्रुधिरचर्चिताम्॥३॥ 
कर्णावतंसतानीतशवयुग्मभयानकाम्। 
घोरदंष्ट्रां करालास्यां पीनोन्नतपयोधराम्॥४॥ 
शवानां करसङ्घातैः कृतकाञ्चीं हसन्मुखीम्। 
सृक्कद्वयगलद्रक्तधाराविस्फुरिताननाम्॥५॥ 
घोररावां महारौद्रीं श्मशानालयवासिनीम्। 
बालार्कमण्डलाकार-लोचनत्रितयान्विताम्॥६॥ 
दन्तुरां दक्षिणव्यापिमुक्तालम्बिकचोच्चयाम्। 
शवरूपमहादेवहृदयोपरिसंस्थिताम्॥७॥ 
शिवाभिर्घोररावाभिश्चतुर्दिक्षु समन्विताम्। 
महाकालेन च समं विपरीतरतातुराम्॥८॥
सुखप्रसन्नवदनां स्मेराननसरोरुहाम्। 
एवं सञ्चिन्तयेत् कालीं धर्मकामार्थमोक्षदाम्॥९॥(सिद्धिदाम्) 

dhyānam oṁ krīṁ karālavadanāṁ ghorāṁ muktakeśīṁ caturbhujām। kālikāṁ dakṣiṇāṁ divyāṁ muṇḍamālāvibhūṣitām॥1॥ sadyaśchinnaśiraḥkhaḍgavāmādhordhvakarāmbujām। 
abhayaṁ varadaṁ caiva dakṣiṇordhvādhaḥ pāṇikām॥2॥ mahāmeghaprabhāṁ śyāmāṁ tathā caiva digambarīm। kaṇṭhāvasaktamuṇḍālīgaladrudhiracarcitām॥3॥karṇāvataṁsatānītaśavayugmabhayānakām। 
ghoradaṁṣṭrāṁ karālāsyāṁ pīnonnatapayodharām॥4॥ 
śavānāṁ karasaṅghātaiḥ kṛtakāñcīṁ hasanmukhīm। sṛkkadvayagaladraktadhārāvisphuritānanām॥5॥ 
ghorarāvāṁ mahāraudrīṁ śmaśānālayavāsinīm। 
bālārkamaṇḍalākāra-locanatritayānvitām॥6॥ 
danturāṁ dakṣiṇavyāpimuktālambikacoccayām। śavarūpamahādevahṛdayoparisaṁsthitām॥7॥ śivābhirghorarāvābhiścaturdikṣu samanvitām। 
mahākālena ca samaṁ viparītaratāturām॥8॥ 
sukhaprasannavadanāṁ smerānanasaroruhām। 
evaṁ sañcintayet kālīṁ dharmakāmārthamokṣadām॥9॥(siddhidām)

For more detailed instructions for how to perform Kālī pūjā, watch this playlist: https://www.patreon.com/collection/233799

Lectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and Friday 10am PST and again Friday at 6pm PST.
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