Art of Living: The Nine Forms of the Divine Mother

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Happy Navratri 2016!

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Every Autumn, my Mom and I participate in a festival known as Navratri or "nine nights".

It is a celebration of the feminine principle, or Divine Mother personified in the multiple forms of Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati.  This year it takes place from October 1 - October 11.

In India, it is popular for ladies to wear colorful clothes as an all-day reminder of the beauty and power (shakti) of creativity.

During this auspicious and exciting time, delicious sweets are served, ancient stories are retold, dancing and celebrations spread happiness and the Goddess is said to shower blessings and fulfil wishes.

If you wish to attend local celebrations check out the schedule of events at the Bhartiya Cultural Society of Alberta.

May you (yoginis AND yogis) unleash your creative potential and shower the world with compassion, abundance and wisdom!

Jai Mata Di!

My Favorite Fashion Blogs

Image Source: Anika Designs, Edmonton

Lakshmi is the goddess of beauty and abundance. 

As a tribute to her this Navaratri, I'd like to salute some of my favorite fashion bloggers.

You may be wondering... what does this have to do with yoga? 

Well, not much from the point of view that says not to be attached to material appearances... 

But from another vantage point, why not acknowledge and appreciate the grace with which these earthly goddesses share, inspire, empower and uplift. 

I am in awe of their generosity, humor, whimsy, cleverness, elegance, dedication, openness and individuality. 

As John Fluevog puts it, "Style is Grace".

Jai Ma!!!

Thanks and beautiful blessings to:

• Audi at Fashion for Nerds who proves a woman can be smart and sexy.
• Cute and talented sisters, Elsie and Emma of A Beautiful Mess along with all their super adorable friends.
• Amber at Butane Anvil and Sheila at Ephemera whose layering combinations make me spin with joy and Fluevog collections make me green with envy.
• Tracy from Chubble Bubble and Domino Dollhouse who blows my mind with her cool retro-rockabilly designs and bold presence. 
• And all of the people at Advanced Style and Humans of New York who prove beyond a shadow of a doubt, that there is no one definition of beauty.

Happy Navaratri!

Durga Ma

Tonight is the beginning of Navaratri, nine nights of annual celebration dedicated to the Divine Mother!

For three days, we celebrate the Divine Feminine in the form of Durga, the fierce warrior who clears away the demons of our ignorance. 

Then for three days we honor Lakshmi, the beautiful and generous Mother who bestows wealth and abundance.

The last three days are dedicated to Saraswati, the embodiment of wisdom and creativity.

Durga Ma

There are many ways to honor Shakti, or the creative feminine power within and around you. 

You may like to place reminders around your home or workplace in the form of flowers, images, or symbols.
 

One such tradition is to wear clothes in particular colors for each of the nine days. 



Durga Ma



 

 

Just in case you want to coordinate your "Saris" with the Divine Mother this Navaratri, here's the official listing for 2012. 

 

Please note:  This advice is in no way intended as a substitute for spiritual or sartorial counseling! ;-)

  

Image Source: Wikipedia

 

Tuesday October 16: Red

 

Wednesday October 17: Sky Blue

 

Thursday October 18: Yellow

 

Friday October 19: Green

 

Saturday October 20: Grey

 

Sunday October 21: Orange

 

Monday October 22: White

 

Tuesday October 23: Pink

 

Wednesday October 24: Blue

 

 

Blessings for a Beautiful Summer

Lakshmi by Betsy Schott

Lakshmi is revered as the goddess of beauty, abundance and prosperity.  She represents wealth in both material and spiritual matters.

As we enter the second half of 2012 and the beginning of summer, I wish health, wealth, spiritual awareness, freedom from misfortune, happiness, love, gratitude and generosity to all!

To invoke the energy of Lakshmi you can chant:

Om Sri Maha Lakshmyai Namaha

Or you can learn her Gayatri mantra by watching this video on YouTube.

Jai Ma!

Light in the Lotus

Radha and Krishna Standing on a Lotus

The Sacred Lotus or Padma is one of the most prominent symbols in yoga, representing purity and enlightenment.

"One who performs his duty without attachment, surrendering the results unto the Supreme Lord, is unaffected by harmful action, as the lotus is untouched by water."

—Bhagavad Gita 5.10:

With its roots in the mud, and its fragrant, pure beauty rising up, the lotus is also a metaphor for our human experience. 

We have roots in the muck and mire, and yet we rise above the waters of life to fulfill our aspirations and blossom into the light.

Many spiritual teachers use the image of the lotus to encourage us in times of difficulty to show our highest Self to the world no matter how murky our circumstances.

In other words, they advise us to allow insult and injury to roll like "water off a lotus leaf", or as we say in the west, (like) water off a duck's back. 

It is also said that in the lotus of the heart, or the Anahata Chakra, there is a divine light.




Lakshmi (left) and Saraswati (right) seated on Lotus flowers
beside an altar at the Sivananda Ashram. 
Note the Lotus rising from Vishnu's navel. 
Seated in the Lotus, is Brahma, the God of Creation.

Chapter One, Verse 36 of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali says:  "Vishoka va jyotishmati"

Meaning roughly, "Concentration on the inner light brings stability and tranquility."

Take a look at the following commentary from Swamij.com:

Concentration on painless inner luminosity:

The easiest way to practice this is to place your attention in the space between the breasts, the heart center. Simply imagine that there is a glowing luminosity there, about the size of the palm of your hand.

Whether or not you literally see with your inner eye is not important; the practice works either way. Maintain an inner attitude that it does not matter what other thoughts, images, impressions or memories might arise in the mind field; you will hold that stance that these will not disturb or distract you. Stay only with that glowing inner luminosity in the heart.


And here is an excerpt from The Himalayan Academy, Merging with Siva, Chapter 9, The Lotus of the Heart:

"A beautiful practice is to try to sit quietly, visualizing within the lotus within the heart a light, a strong light emanating clearly, a light that is always there. This light is radiating at a higher vibration than any form with which you are familiar.

Let us say, if you were to have this light in your hand and were able to use it in the external world, each form you turned it upon would disappear under the vibration of the light itself. That is as powerful as the effulgent light emanating from the Self, the Sivaness, which you will see within the lotus of the heart."

Lotus Candle Holder Photo Courtesy of one love origami

If you would like to create an outer reminder of this inner light, I invite you to fold an Origami Lotus Candle Holder.

And if you would like some music to accompany your peace-crafting, click here to listen to a beautiful track from The Beatles, called The Inner Light.  It was recorded in India, inspired by a letter from Sanskrit scholar Juan Mascaro.

Roots of Abundance

Some of you may recognize this painting of Lakshmi. 

If you've ever visited the Sivananda Ashram in the Bahamas, you've seen her smiling face above the benches at the Boutique as painted by Yogini Betsy Schott.

Lakshmi is the Goddess of beauty, wealth, grace, blessings and abundance in material and spiritual matters. 


The fourth, fifth and sixth days of Navaratri, are dedicated to her.

We've all spent our fair share of time cleaning, decorating and organizing to keep our homes, well... homey. 

We know that if we want our homes to feel truly fresh, gracious and welcoming we can't just sweep things under the rug, light an aromatherapy candle and hope noone will notice. 

We need to apply a little "elbow grease". 

An effective, "clean sweep" requires a simple three step strategy:

Step 1: Throw out the trash.  Move everything.  Sweep and scrub.  Give away the things you're not using and someone else can.
Step 2:  Display items which are both beautiful and useful (or at least one of the two!). 
Step 3:  Arrange them creatively to reflect You.  Be sure that there is a place for everything so everything can be put in its place.

Navaratri is a little like that. 

First we focus on Durga who clears away negativity and stagnation.  This makes space for Lakshmi who radiates and attracts blessings and abundance.  Finally we focus on the attributes of Saraswati to guide us in sharing and using our material and spiritual riches wisely.

I always find it feels like things are hitting the fan those first three days - we kick up alot of dust when we start clearing stuff out! 

But then we can see what we've got, so during the second set of three days, no matter what I think I'm lacking, I find myself saying "Thank You" alot! 

And that's where I was yesterday when I wrote this. 

Cooking Roasted Carrots and Beets and saying thank you to the friends who grew and gave them! 

Writing this post and feeling grateful for the miracle of technology keeping us connected.   

Reading The Yoga of Snakes and Arrows by Harish Johari and thanking the Guru for coming to me in so many wonderful ways!

The yogis say the root of abundance is generosity.  Give a little, get a little.  Give a lot, get a lot.

And they also say that the Siddhi, or superpower of giving is that everything you need will come to you! 

Today we begin the three days of Navaratri dedicated to Saraswati. 

She is the patron of actors, artists, musicians, spiritual aspirants and creative folks of all descriptions. 

I don't know exactly what these three days will bring, but usually it is some wisdom... a creative solution, an inspiring song or poem, a language lesson, a spiritual teacher... who knows?

I'll just keep chanting and stay open.  Radiate abundance and gratitude, and it will surely be reflected back! 

Jai Ma!

Happy Navaratri!

Today is the first day of the annual Hindu nine-night festival of the Divine Mother! 

Each fall for the past ten-ish years, my Mom and I have celebrated this festival together. 

Our first introduction to Navaratri was in Val Morin at the Sivananda Ashram.  We arrived just as the leaves were turning from lush green to a spectacular rainbow of gold, orange and red, clueless but eager.  We left the morning of the year's first snowfall with more than we could ever have expected!

Tantric priests performed Pujas, offerings of rice and flowers, japa, Devi Bhajans, and readings from the Devi Mahatmya. 

 photo borrowed from Wikipedia

Written by Rishi Markandeya around 1500 years ago, this Great Glory of the Goddess tells the story of how the Divine Mother (known by many names including Kali, Chandika, Devi, Shakti, and loads more) kicked some serious demon butt and saved the Devas!  They had to put all their powers together to create her and then had to spend aLOT of time writing and singing songs about how awesome She is to thank her!

We were told that if you practice all nine days (plus a tenth for blessing books and tools of your work or spiritual path) with sincerity and devotion, all your prayers, spoken and unspoken will be answered.

The End.

Or not...You know how it goes - every year I come up with new prayers, and so every year it's like starting from scratch...

On our own, we don't practice as formally as we did at the ashram.  Our pujas are held each day whenever our schedule allows, and we act as our own pujaris.  Our altars are dynamic and personal. 

Our flowers are simply whatever we grew ourselves or nature provided us.  Mostly we're just grateful for whatever the frost hasn't taken! 

This year we've been blessed with a bumper crop of marigolds that we have been re-seeding ever since that first Navaratri when part of our karma yoga was deadheading the flowerbeds in Swami Vishnudevananda's Samadhi Estates. 

This humble little flower, sacred in India for it's fiery color, represents "Plasticity" according to Sri Aurobindo's disciple, The Mother who considered that the highest attribute of a yogi.

Styling our own ritual has become a part of the devotional practice.  We honor our own craftiness, courage, creativity and abundance.  We trust that our "mistakes" will be overlooked. 

We embrace unconventional thanks and praises too, like Rob Brezny's heartfelt and hilarious poem/prayer:  A Prayer for Us.

And we eat fruits and Indian milk sweets and just in general - whatever we please - as in, whatever we think would please the Goddess in us!

I encourage you to craft your own ritual to the Divine Mother for the next couple of weeks. 

Make a little altar somewhere where you can sit for a few minutes each day and offer your longing, your dreams and your gratitude to the Divine Mother.  See Her in your Self.

I will post more in the next nine days as we celebrate the three main personalities of Shakti:  Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati.  Shakti means power.  Empower your yoga practice by checking out the tools and rituals of the ancient yogis for yourself, embracing those that feel right to you now. 

I'd love to know how and where you're celebrating so please leave your comments and feedback!

Jai Ma!