What Does Kālī Want From You? | The Yoga of Grief & Fullness

On the last Monday of śrāvana is an especially sacred day for contemplating the Absolute because it is a culmination four or six weeks of very intense Sādhanā (spiritual practice). As such, as a celebration and consummation, I’d like to discuss something quite poignant: the yoga of grief & fullness.

I want to compare some transcendalist schools of Advaita to the Tāntrik approach which emphasizes fullness, especially with regard the full spectrum of flavors (rasa) that arise in Consciousness! We’ll offer some a touching and telling stories of Lord Śiva’s grief, Matsyendranātha's fall, and the pain and grief of Sarada Devi, Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda!

Often I feel there can be nothing more important than presenting this profoundly humanizing portraits of our heroes because rather than subtracting from their spirituality , they only add to it.

Essentially, I want to talk about an all embracing kind of spirituality that leaves no experience unexplored, no facet untasted: in short, the Advaita of Kālī!. Naturally, we’ll explore the 5 phases of the 12 Krama deities too and Abhinava Gupta’s nava-rasa theory to point to the philosophical complexity and poetry of this position!

Many of you will find this lecture someone reminiscent of some our community favorites like:
1. Mā Kāli's Bowl of Blood | Turning Suffering Into Ecstasy
2. Mā Kālī's Non Dual Aspect & Tantrik Sādhanās to Attain It
3. What Does Kālī Really Want?
4. and most especially How To Succeed At Tantra & The Worship of The Terrible

You'll notice that in a sense, this is the key teaching or rather the uttama-vāda, highest revelation of our Kālī tradition! This talk also contains elements from another one of my favorites: What Makes Art Spiritual? | Kashmir Shaivism

At the end we offer a very refined spiritual practice for transforming all our pain and grief into an experience of aesthetic rapture or poetic delight! 

On this auspicious Tuesday, on Mā's sacred day, I lay all of these words as so many flowers at your feet, you who are Mā incarnate!