Shiva-Shakti Heart Worship

Relax deeply in the heart space and encounter your eternal Friend in the Self. A sumptuous, experiential, and visual meditation on Lord Shiva and Ma Shakti ending with devotional chanting of Om Namah Shivaya. Recorded live. You can also join Shambhavi for live-streamed worshipful sadhana.

Transcript

We'll start by chanting three Aums,

Letting the M sound be longer than the O sound and feeling that vibration of Aum moving out from the center of our bodies everywhere.

So the center of our feet and toes and legs and torso,

The center of our arms and fingers,

The center of our neck and our head.

Feel that that Aum is coming out from the center everywhere and moving outward like a wave,

Clearing out all experiences of density and obstruction,

Stagnation,

Letting us feel more alive,

More porous and more receptive.

And then as Aum reaches the surface of our skin,

Feeling that our skin is a site of exchange and continuity rather than a boundary.

Aum,

Aum,

Aum.

Please let your sense of self,

Of awareness,

Drop down into the center of your chest,

Into the space inside the center of your chest,

Through Daya Kasha,

The heart space,

Also called the cave of the heart.

Let yourself drop down into that space full of lively darkness and come to rest.

Let yourself come to a complete rest in that space,

Ceasing all effort other than that subtle effort to relax.

Ah,

Forget who you are.

Forget your past,

Your present and your future.

Forget your plans.

Forget your identities.

Forget your positions.

Forget your personality.

Just relax.

Stop trying to be anything or anyone and let yourself be whatever naturally arises.

And in that space of the heart,

The cave of the heart,

Allow yourself to be met by and embraced by the friend,

That tender,

Compassionate,

Living presence manifesting in the heart space.

Feel sweetness and goodness arising in the heart space,

Coming to meet you like the friend you've been longing to meet your whole life,

Goodness without any opposite.

Let your body,

Energy and mind merge with that friend.

Feel yourself completely immersed in that beneficent,

Living presence.

Experience the intelligence of that friend,

Vast,

Unobstructed,

Intelligence and clarity beyond any intellect,

Total clarity of self-knowledge.

Experience the creativity and playfulness of the friend without boundaries,

Without conditions.

Experience the devotion of the friend,

The tender devotion to everything that arises without exception.

And experience the gladness of the friend,

Glad that you're coming home to the heart,

To your true refuge,

To your real nature.

Feel how welcoming the friend is.

Doesn't matter who you are,

What you think is right or wrong with you,

The friend is welcoming equally to all.

And now,

In the heart space,

Experience vastness,

A vast space inside of you.

And in that space,

Experience arising,

Stretching from horizon to horizon,

An ocean made of molten gold light,

Luminous,

Magnetizing,

Magical,

Dancing with light,

Shining with gold,

An ocean announcing the eternal value of the self,

Of this existence.

And in the center of that ocean of molten gold light,

See a mountain island composed entirely of precious gemstones piled high,

Rubies and diamonds,

Amethysts and emeralds,

Sapphires and jade and pearls.

Gaze at this magnificent scene with your inner eyes.

Experience them with all your senses,

The color,

The form,

The light,

The magic and majesty of this scene,

A living symbol of the nature of the self.

And on top of the mountain island of gems,

See appear a 12-petaled blue light lotus,

A lotus in full bloom whose petals are made of blue light,

Luminous and deep.

And as you gaze at these petals,

See within them the subtle forms of more gemstones,

Giving you insight into the wild creativity of the self,

Layer upon layer upon layer of the creation.

In the center of that open blue light lotus is a moon disk,

An asana,

A seat made of moonlight,

Shining white and luminous and cool and sweet.

And seated on that moon disk is Lord Shiva in his Himalayan mountain form.

He's seated in Padmasana,

In lotus pose.

His eyes are wide open,

In wide awake gaze,

Full of self-knowledge,

Full of clarity,

Full of compassion.

He's smeared from head to foot with white ash that shines like diamond dust.

He's wearing a tiger skin dhoti and his upper torso is bare.

Around his waist,

His upper arms,

And his neck are wound living cobras standing upright with eyes wide open,

Living symbols of the deep knowledge of how reality works,

The laws of nature.

Around Lord Shiva's neck are draped rudraksha malas made of the seeds of the rudraksha tree,

The tears of rudra symbolizing the fierce compassion inherent in even the most destructive circumstances.

Lord Shiva's hair is in long jheta and dreadlocks.

And above his crown is a brilliant crescent moon with piercing clear moonlight shining from it.

Experience that moonlight piercing your third eye,

Shining through to the center of your head where there is a small jet black Shiva lingam outlined with brilliant white light.

Experience that moonlight falling on this little lingam in the very center of your head and the direct transmission of the nature of the self from guru to disciple.

Beyond words or intellect,

Just let yourself experience that.

And now see upright on the moonlight asana next to Lord Shiva a trishula,

A trident made of living red light.

As large as Lord Shiva is,

As tall as he is,

This is a living symbol of ma shakti and her power that permeates all of existence,

Her power to create all worlds and beings,

All circumstances.

Let your inner eye and your whole body energy and mind experience the energy of this red light trishula.

Feel that you are in one continuous mandala with this trishula and that your own energy is her energy.

See the red light trishula decorated with the damaru,

The drum of creation,

Maintenance and destruction.

And on each of the three prongs of the trishula,

See a red light lotus fully bloomed with a moon disc inside and a form of the primordial shakti seated on each of these moon discs.

See the shakti shining with light,

Their eyes wide open,

Full of clarity and bliss,

Full of knowledge and power,

Their hair long and black and wild,

Symbolizing that they are the swatantriya,

The freedom of self-expression of the Lord,

The power to create every experience in all of existence.

These are the three primordial shaktis,

Icha,

Jnana and kriya shakti are three of their names,

Desire,

Wisdom and action.

Now experience this entire scene of lord shivan ma shakti united in the heart on top of a mountain island of gemstones in the middle of a molten gold ocean.

Experience this entire scene expanding,

Growing as large as your body,

As large as the room that you're sitting in,

As large as the city or the town that you're in,

As large as this planet,

As large as the universe,

As large as all of existence.

Experience this scene as filling all of existence and understand that all worlds are within this living symbol of reality.

And now experience ourselves,

All of us practicing here together this morning,

Seated at the feet of lord shivan ma shakti on the moonlight asana,

Gathered together in worship and practice.

Experience us all gazing at these living symbols of the self and them gazing back at us in mutual darshan,

Mutual recognition.

And now please join me in chanting om namah shivaya and as we chant feel that all beings are chanting with us.

All the devas and devis,

All the yogis and yoginis,

All the dakas and dakinis,

All the kantavas,

The celestial singers,

All the buddhas,

All the rishis and mahasiddhas,

All of the beings of the six realms relieved of their suffering and joining in this worship of the nature of the self,

The self of all.

And as we chant experience flower offerings,

Flower petals falling from the sky and the smell of jasmine and sandalwood in the air.

Om namah shivaya,

Om namah shivaya,

Om namah shivaya,

Om namah shivaya,

Om namah shivaya,

Om namah shivaya,

Om namah shivaya,

Om namah shivaya,

Om namah shivaya,

Om namah shivaya,

Om namah shivaya,

Om namah shivaya,

Om namah shivaya,

Om namah shivaya.

Thank you everybody for joining in with me.

Please remember to integrate this practice with the rest of your day,

Trying to remain in whatever condition you're in now for as long as possible after you get up off your seat or cushion.

And then using any aspect of our practice to drop back into this experience while you're relating to other people and going about your regular day,

Trying to remain in contact with that living presence in the heart space which is everywhere and seeing how that affects how you relate to people and how your day goes.

Lots of love to all of you.

Have a great day everybody.

Bye-bye.

Reviews

Exquisite on Solar Eclipse Totality Alignment Day. Namaste

Filled me with awe and love 🙏 🙏

Thank you for helping me remember my true value.

So much gratitude for the blessing of this beautiful meditation.