| | |

The Search Continues (based on some dreaming)

In 2000 or 2001, shortly before I started practicing Anusara yoga, a teacher who regularly played music in class, played for us a recording of Alice Coltrane singing a tantric chant to Siva and the Goddess Bhuvaneshvari.  I only heard the chant once while we were in savasana — corpse pose/final relaxation.  Although I only heard the chant once, for several months afterwards, I found myself having a recurring dream that I was wondering in a neighborhood that looked like the one where I grew up and went to high school and chanting the full chant.  At the time I merely found it curious that I seemed to have learned the sanskrit just by hearing the chant one time.  I have since learned that the recording may have been done right near my high school; that is where the Coltrane’s had a recording studio.  I also learned that the chant was a tantric chant.  At the time, my teachers were coming from a classical yoga perspective.  Did I actually learn the chant by osmosis?  Was having the very vibration of the chanting near where I lived and studied the catalyst for me, as a receptive being, discovering a path of tantric yoga?

I have found other recordings of the chant.  One is Atman’s “Dancing to the Goddess” on the Eternal Dance CD, which is an electronica version.  The other is Ragani’s “Om Mata” on the Best of Both Worlds, which is a very nice kirtan/pop version.  I have several of Alice Coltrane’s recordings, which are great jazz, if you aren’t familiar with Alice Coltrane as a fabulous musician in her own right.  Recently I searched again on the internet to see if the bootleg had become available.  There was nothing on YouTube (though some good Alice Coltrane things to watch).    I bought Alice Coltrane’s “Radha-Krsna Mana Sankirtana,” which was originally recorded in 1977 (when I was in high school) and reissued in 2005, as I thought that was a promising source.  It has some good things on it, but no luck finding the recording I wanted to hear.

The chant goes like this:

Samba sadasiva, samba sadasiva, samba sadasiva, samba shambo.

Om mata, om mata, om sri mata, jagade mata.

Om bhuvaneshvari, sri bhuvaneshvari, hari parashakti, devi bhuvaneshvari.

It is a chant to the benevolent, auspicious one within, the radiant goddess, the creatrix of the world.  Bhuvaneshvari is one of the ten wisdom goddesses.

Please advise if you have access to the Alice Coltrane or another recording of this beautiful chant.

Similar Posts

  • | | |

    In Our Own Back Yard

    It is a great privilege to be able to travel and to experience and witness what is made especially exciting to us by virtue of its difference.  If we are open to it, though, we really need go not much further than our own back yards — I use that the term back yard metaphorically as I don’t really have one — or to shut our eyes and sit for meditation to witness the wondrous.

    Lunchtime walk after the storm blew through.

  • | |

    Shiva-Shakti Tattvas

    The shiva-shakti tattvas, the two highest tattvas, are completely subjective.  The shiva tattva is, according to the philosophy, the ultimate reality, the pure “I,” undiminished and undifferentiated consciousness.  As something purely subjective, it is both everywhere and nowhere, in every being and simultaneously beyond them.  It is not dissimilar to Hegel’s Absolute (though I believe Douglas Brooks, who knows far more than I in this area, might disagree with me on this one), which “is and is not,” or Kant’s “unmoved mover.”

    Shakti tattva is power — the power to tranform, create, manifest, diversify, cloak.  Shakti is the power to become embodied in objective form.  Shiva and shakti tattvas are thus inseparable.  Ultimate unbounded consciousness and freedom (shiva) only has meaning to the extent the power to move, create, and diversify (shakti) pulses and transforms the subjective into the objective, the unimaginable to the observable.

    In our yoga practice and meditation, we seek to use the practices to reveal to ourselves the ultimate pulsation (spanda) between the objective and subjective, the observable and the unknowable, the individual and the completely universal.  One way I experience the first principle of Anusara yoga (open to grace), is taking the mat or my seat with an openness to sense and experience this ultimate pulsation (spanda) and play (lila), so that by using my body, mind, and will, I can better recognize the spirit that shines in all of us and use that recognition to inform how I relate to myself, society, and all beings.

  • |

    September Newsletter (web version of e-newsletter)

    Dear  Friends,

    Even in this hot, dry week, three weeks before the formal start of autumn, the harbingers of seasonal change are coming.  When I sit to meditate in the morning, it is still not quite light out, the scent of the leaves starting to change is evident when the wind blows, apples and winter squash are gradually replacing the summer fruits at the fresh farm market.

    Fall tends to be a busy time of year for us as a culture, and my calendar is chock full with work, workshops, plans to visit friends and family, volunteer work, and the offerings of our great city, but it is always important to take time to pause and enjoy the sweetness of being.  It is just when things are at their busiest, that it is most important to carve out the time for some yoga.  I’ll be doing lotsof my own study and practice to make more joyous offerings for you.

    William Penn House on Tuesday nights continues to be a welcome haven for regulars of all levels and more occasional visitors.  Drop in and join us any time.  More info on my website at www.rosegardenyoga.com.

    My Willow Street classes of the Fall session start on Saturday, September 25th — flow (level 2+) at 8:45 am and gentle/therapeutics at noon in Takoma Park.  It is always great to register for the full session to help get the benefits of the regularity of class every week, but drop ins are always welcome.

    If you have been curious about the gentle/therapeutics class or have friends you want to introduce to the class, please join me at noon on Saturday, September 18th, when the class is offered as part of Willow Street’s free class week.  More information about free class week and the regular session and workshops are available on-line at www.willowstreetyoga.com.

    Mark your calendars for upcoming workshops:  Hanumanasana:  Nemesis No More, Saturday, October 16th and Thanksgiving Day Fundraiser for Oxfam, both at Willow Street Yoga, Takoma Park.

    Hope to see you soon in person and virtually with the blog (it’s now way easier to subscribe to the blog; just a few clicks from the home page) and on Facebook.  As always, feel free to email me with any questions, comments, or just to connect.

    Peace and light,

    Elizabeth

One Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.