Yogic Secrets of the Dark Goddess by Shambhavi Chopra

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

i bought " Yogic Secrets of the Dark Goddess " by Shambhavi Chopra at

the New Delhi Airport on January 7, 2009 on my way back to Canada.

Earlier i had bought " Life After Death: The Burden Of Proof " by

Deepak Chopra at the Montreal Airport on my way to India.

 

Both books make excellent reading and lay the foundation of faith,

especially concerning the Divine Feminine who has emerged from within

with the message of the Resurrection and life eternal. That is why

this quote make so much sense:

 

" Scholars, lacking inner experience, approach Kali with their own

psychological, sociological and cultural preconceptions that fail to

recognize her spiritual energy, beauty and majesty. "

 

Even Shambhavi Chopra, the author of " Yogic Secrets of the Dark

Goddess " , pales in comparison as far as inner experience is compared

with " Shri Adi Shakti: The Kingdom Of God " . And if we compare the

decades of enlightenment by Her incarnation Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi,

Her message of the Resurrection, Her revelations that the Mother is

entrenched in all Holy Scriptures, any book will easily pale into

insignificance as none can include and explain the diverse topics of

various Holy Scriptures. This fact cannot be disputed as the Bible

and Quran demand precise eschatological manifestations and Sure Signs

beyond any human manipulation, events and revelations that can only be

triggered by the Divine! That is why we need not budge a single inch

or compromise our conscience to accommodate any religious group as

none will be ever able to challenge it, all the more over the years

as we add ever more evidence of the Great Mother.

 

Shambhavi Chopra has produced a great book which will go a long way

to provide evidence of the Divine Mother who exists within all humans,

the Divine Feminine whom Kash, Arwinder and Lalita have met and

meditated with thousands of times from 1993-2007.

 

Appended below is the foreword by David Frawley on " Yogic Secrets of

the Dark Goddess " . i will also be posting praise for Deepak Chopra's

" Life After Death: The Burden Of Proof " .

 

regards to all,

 

jagbir

 

 

 

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Yogic Secrets of the Dark Goddess by Shambhavi Chopra

 

Foreword by David Frawley (www.vedanet.com)

 

The Goddess or Divine Mother holds the key to the spiritual

regeneration of humanity in this ecological age. Without reconnecting

to the deeper feminine energy of the universe, we are unlikely to

solve our current global crisis that is based to a great extent upon

ignoring the Divine presence of the Goddess in nature and in

ourselves.

 

Of the various aspects of the Goddess, it is her dark forms that

carry the key to her secrets and her power, her connections to the

Earth, the night, fertility, mystery, magic and transformation. It

has been our inability to understand her dark forms and integrate

them in our religious and social orders, which has caused us to

ignore the Goddess and even to become afraid of her saving grace that

is the real power of inner growth and the enlightenment of awareness.

 

There are many dark forms of the Goddess in various spiritual and

religious traditions, viewed with both reverence and awe. Of these

great Goddesses of the world, perhaps none is as mysterious and

enigmatic as the Hindu Goddess Kali, who represents the Dark Goddess

in all her primeval glory and all-conquering power. To really uncover

the meaning of the Dark Goddess, one must encounter and come to

understand the inner reality of Kali.

 

Kali is probably the most misunderstood and wrongly portrayed Goddess

in the Hindu tradition, if not in the spiritual traditions of the

entire world. She is a subject of extensive sensation, drama and

distortion. The refined, beautiful, aesthetic or philosophical side

of her nature is seldom recognized, if ever clearly portrayed. Much

mystery enshrouds this dark form of the Goddess who holds all the

energies of life and death - and the great journey back to the

Absolute beyond time and space.

 

Even the origins of Kali worship are a subject of much confusion.

There is little understanding of her Vedic roots as the deep blue

flame of the Fire Goddess or as the dark blue light of the Sun that

is reflected in the dark pupil of the eye and its ability to see. The

greater connections of the Dark Goddess to the forces of nature,

particularly the electrical energies of life and perception, are

seldom noted. Kali's cosmic role as the Goddess of Infinite Space and

Eternal Time is ignored for her more creaturely dimensions. Her

preeminent place as the Yoga Shakti or inner power of Yoga to return

us back to our Divine source is not addressed in any meaningful way.

 

Scholars, lacking inner experience, approach Kali with their own

psychological, sociological and cultural preconceptions that fail to

recognize her spiritual energy, beauty and majesty. They stop short

at the fierce image of her outer forms and do not see the

transcendent light reflected through them. They dwell on her dark

power and project onto that the negative aspects of their own

assessment of human nature. They see superstition or suppressed

emotion in what is in fact the supreme power of the Goddess to take

us beyond all ignorance and sorrow. They usually do the same thing

with the other forms of the Dark Goddess in the world, looking at

them not as an expression of spiritual mystery but, rather, primitive

impulses.

 

It is best to set such accounts aside and learn to approach Kali with

our inner heart and inner eye, as the spiritual Mother who can take

us beyond the limitations of the world. It is best is to approach

Kali directly within our own deeper awareness, but for this we need

some keys, tools and much inspiration. This is what Shambhavi Chopra

offers in her book on the great Dark Goddess. She approaches Kali

through an inner intuitive vision and yogic sadhana, letting the

Goddess unfold in and through her, providing us a new and unique

approach to her reality.

 

India has maintained a continuous tradition of Goddess worship

throughout the centuries. Its spiritual teachings have never rejected

the role of the Goddess in either creation or spiritual development.

At the same time, India has maintained a continuous tradition of

women gurus, saints, teachers and yoginis. It is from that ancient

Goddess tradition of India, carrying its stream of wisdom and grace,

that Shambhavi speaks to us today, affording India's Goddess

tradition a new voice and a practical teaching that everyone can

understand.

 

In Yogic Secrets of the Dark Goddess: Lightning Dance of the Supreme

Shakti, Shambhavi provides us with a direct experience of Kali, the

Mother, as she is in her inner reality, circumventing all the

confusion and distortion about her. She brings us into a direct and

living contact with the reality of the Dark Goddess both in the

external universe and in our own deeper nature. Shambhavi reveals to

us the gentle face of Kali and her beautiful forms which come to us

once we have let go of the darkness and limitations inside ourselves

and in our world.

 

Shambhavi shows us how Kali actually manifests to her sincere and

dedicated devotees in the ongoing experience of life and in the

continuous spiral of deep sadhana. Kali is not some mere folk deity,

some ancient Goddess, or a strange object for intellectual curiosity

or cultural image. She is the Supreme Power of the magical, awesome,

cataclysmic universe in which we live, of which were are all but

brief expressions, and to which we must all bow down in reverence in

the end. Kali holds our life and our death within her embrace that is

kind to the soul but can be painful to the ego which delays or

restricts the soul's unfoldment.

 

Purification, which implies the destruction of negativity, must

precede any great creation or transformation. Kali provides that

purification but brings about the new creation and transformation as

well. Her destructive force is only for the destruction of

negativity, limitation and sorrow - an invitation for us to look

beyond the boundaries of death, suffering and the ego, to an inner

reality not touched by these shadows.

 

Kali is the beginning and the end of all the things. She has the

first and the last word, as she is the Divine Word in its primal

essence before and beyond any particular expressions. Kali stands

before and after, below and above any mere human teacher, saint,

prophet, guru or even avatar. Even Lord Krishna could only take birth

after her descent! Kali holds all time, all beings and all dharma in

her power. All the religions of the world are but reflections of her

lightning force that links all beings into a unity that is everywhere

dynamic, transformative and overflowing.

 

This great Goddess pervades and underlies all the formulations of God

through Monotheism and Monism both. She is the deepest flame of the

burning bush that spoke to Moses and the Vedic Fire through which the

great Himalayan rishis were born. All the Goddesses and all great

women gurus are aspects of her force. She is the supreme space of

awareness, the Dark Mother of which the pure or white forms of the

Goddess are but one aspect of a light that has no boundaries and

gives its grace to all.

 

Kali provides us the energy to do our spiritual practices whatever

that may be. She is the Divine breath, word, thought and perception.

She is the blood of light through which body, life and mind project

their play through all creatures and all worlds. We may give her

another name or not recognize her by name and form at all, but we

cannot deny the presence and the power of the Dark Goddess who

embraces us on every side.

 

We must learn to worship Kali both in all images and in the formless

space beyond every representation, through both meaningful outer

rituals and by the deepest inner meditation. While every form reveals

her beauty, she is beyond all manifestation. She encompasses every

approach that we may have to expand our horizons to the unbounded

energy behind our world. Inner worship of Kali is the direct path to

yogic realization. Those on whom Kali showers her grace are provided

a clear horizon beyond this world of Samsara. They can hold all time

and space, all history and evolution, in the lotus of their own

hearts as a single flash of lightning from the smile of the Goddess.

 

Kali comes to us at all the important transitional or

transformational movements of life, of which death is the most

notable. Yet she is there with the movement of every breath, every

heart beat, and every cry, whether of joy or sorrow. She gives our

life meaning, depth, feeling and sensitivity. She gathers our life-

experience to its crescendo at death so that we can return to the

Divine Flame that gave us birth. She is hidden between every moment

and action of our lives as the space and energy that allows us to

function.

 

It was the power of Kali that enabled Ramakrishna to first project

India's great spiritual traditions into the global arena through his

disciple Swami Vivekananda at the turn of the twentieth century. As

the power of transformation through time, Kali holds the keys to the

planetary changes that we need today to move beyond our current

global crisis. That Kali Shakti remains active and will take any and

all forms that it needs in order to lead us through and beyond all

time. There is much more that Kali has to say to us. Unless we face

and surrender to the transforming power of the Mother, in the depths

of her mystic darkness, our world cannot move beyond its present

division, suffering and pain. Only the unifying power of the Mother

can bring about the healing of humanity, not any more war Gods or

exclusive ideologies or divisive beliefs.

 

Shambhavi allows Kali to speak through her, work through her and

guide the movement of her life. She shows us how to do the same.

Shambhavi serves as a conduit for the grace of Kali to enter into our

lives and take residence within our hearts. She shows us how to

approach Kali and awaken her power within us at the core of our

being. This inner resurgence of the Goddess is not a matter of

strictly following some mere ritual or even faithfully doing a

particular yoga practice, however helpful these may be. It rests

first of all upon an attitude of the heart, an impulse to go directly

to the Mother as the source of one's being, as one's closest

companion, rather than relying on any intermediary, whether a person,

a form, an idea or a technique.

 

Shambhavi presents the great Mother to us in her pure essence, apart

from all distortions, secondary interpretations and indirect views

from the distance only. Through her voice, Kali comes alive and

begins to stir within us, bringing about changes and setting into

motion inner energies that we might not have thought possible for us.

Her entire book is a means of bringing the energy of Kali into our

world and into our psychology, to restore the magic of what is beyond

the human to vitalize our deeper feelings and perceptions.

 

Shambhavi's first book Yogini - which unfolds the life of inner yogic

experience from many angles and facets - naturally leads us to Kali

who is the Great Yogini or `Mahayogini', the supreme Yogini of which

all the Yoginis are but manifestations. In the inner Yoga, one must

honor Kali if one wants to quickly cross the barriers of death,

darkness and sorrow into the higher realm of immortality, light and

bliss.

 

Shambhavi's purpose is not merely to revel us in some sensationalized

experience of Kali in cremation grounds or in old temples, but to

show us the gentle face of Kali that can smile away all death and

suffering from within our hearts. Her book is a new and unique

revelation of the Goddess, bringing the reader into a deeper

understanding through which Kali can manifest for them with grace,

charm and power.

 

To really connect with Kali it would be better for the reader to

focus on this book and leave both the old manuscripts and modern

perspectives aside. Yogic Secrets of the Dark Goddess is one of the

most important contributions on Kali, as well as one of the most

original and insightful, to arise in the modern era. It shows the

Goddess as a living power of transformation, a matrix of the deepest

and the highest, the most primal and transcendent powers in unbounded

unity. Every article in the book reveals a facet of the Goddess,

portraying all the myriad colors of her manifold and indefinable

reality.

 

For those who know little about Kali, this book is probably the best

place to begin and will help prevent the usual misconceptions about

her from arising. The Dark Goddess is only dark in the sense of

carrying the fertility of the Earth and the expanse of infinite space

and eternal time, in which all potentials reside. The deeper darkness

of her mystic Night can dispel all the darkness of the human mind and

heart, our fears, desires, anger, aggression, sorrow and pain. May

the book awaken the reader to the inner Goddess, the supreme Mother,

who leads us to our highest nature and Divinity!

 

David Frawley (Vamadeva Shastri)

 

Santa Fe, New Mexico USA, March 2007

[Guest guest]

>

> Shambhavi Chopra has produced a great book which will go a long way

> to provide evidence of the Divine Mother who exists within all

> humans, the Divine Feminine whom Kash, Arwinder and Lalita have met

> and meditated with thousands of times from 1993-2007.

>

 

Table of Contents

Foreword xi

Preface xvii

Introduction xxiii

Part I: The Beauty and Bliss of the Dark Goddess 1

The Dark Goddess of, Red Roses 5

Mystic Devi of Night and Death 10

Kali's Mystic Death Unfolds Our Consciousness 13

Mystical Flow of the Divine Artist 16

The Dark Goddess Eternalises Every Lotus 20

Flowering

The Beautiful Flow of Womanly Grace 23

Ma Kali as the Great Mother 27

The Dark Goddess Transforms the Hour of 31

Sandhya

Bhavatarini, Saviour of the Universe 34

The Unfolding of Samarasya, the Harmony of 38

Bliss

Kali as the Celebration of Cosmic Waters 42

Holding the Dark Goddess in the Spiritual 47

Heart

Kali's Celestial Repose is Her Flowering 52

Suvarnavarna Kali, Golden Kali Full of Light 59

The Mother Who Grants All Good Fortune 65

The Dark Goddess' Flow of Heavenly Grace 69

Part II: Secrets of the Dark Goddess' 73

Mysterious Power

Rakta, the Blood Red Mahakali 77

Kali's Dance of Lightning in the Void 81

Gentle Lasya of the Dark Goddess 85

The Flow of Kali's Sweet Soma 88

Shambhava Samavesa, the Profound Insight 93

Vameshwari Kali as the Expansion of Shiva 97

Vamedeva

Kali as the Conduit for Shiva's Revelation 102

Nila, the Deep Blue Void of the Dark Goddess 106

Krishna and Kali: In the Reflection of the 110

Dark One

Kali and Shanideva, Lord Saturn 115

The Mystic Hues of the Dark Goddess 121

Mahaprakriti, the Play of Shiva and Shakti 126

Nirguna Kali Takes Us Beyond All Dualities 128

Jai, Ma Kali! 132

Part III: The Blazing Fire of Kali's Energies 135

Shamashana Kali Enfolds My Fear 139

Rudrani Agni Klesha, the Fire of Suffering 144

Ghora Kali Embodies Fierceness 148

Prachanda Chandika Kali, the Supreme Power of 151

Powers

Chidagni, the Fire of Consciousness 154

Kali Ignites Her Kundalini Shakti 158

Para Shakti as the Spirit of India 162

Kali as the Deeper Expression of Shiva 165

Kali as Kama, the Seed of Desire 167

Kali as Shiva's Mahamaya, the Great Illusory 171

Power

Kali as Mrityunjaya, the Conqueror of Death 174

Paramesha Kali, the Supreme Shakti 179

Ananda Shakti, the Power of Beatitude 182

Kali as the Supreme Sound of Lightning 185

Kali Shadows the Great Himalayan Mountains 188

Into the Oceanic Fires of Kali's Dance 191

Part IV: Kali, the Tantrika 195

Dakshina Kali's Pervasive Tantric Mysticism 199

Kaalasankarsini Kali Holds Shiva's Trident 205

Kali as the Stillness of Transformation 208

Kali Transforms the Three Gunas 212

Mystic Moon Rays Fill My Chalice with Ecstasy 215

Yogini, the Divine Energy of Shiva Bhairava 219

The Mithaas (Sweetness) of Shiva Kameshwara 223

Great Awakening of a Mahayogini 226

Parameshwari, the Ultimate Tantrika Goddess 230

Sensationalising Kali, the Mystic Queen 235

Mahagraha-hara Kali, She Who Controls All 239

Planets

Dasha Mahavidya Kali, the Ten Wisdom 242

Goddesses as Kali

The Maharani Behind the Veil 249

Devis of Kolkata in the Kali Raat 252

Part V: Invoking the Dark Goddess Within You 257

A Lover's Ode to Ma Kali 261

Tapas of Surrender, the Emerging Inner Fire 263

Mahablava, the Exalted Emotion of Bhakti 268

Kali's Nada Yoga, the Creative Sound and Light 271

Sin, the Devilish Damnation 274

The Smoke Clouds of Samsara 279

Mokshadayini Kali, the Giver of Liberation 282

Kali as the Mystery of Sundari 285

The Dark Goddess in the Form of the Guru 287

Mahakali, Who Holds All Mantras and Mudras 291

Kali is Invoked with Mantras 296

Kali's Mystical Yantra 299

Seeking Ma Kali's Divine Protection 304

Kalika's Kavacha 307

At the Lotus Feet of the Dark Goddess 310

Kali's Eternal Sankalpa, Her Deepest 313

Resolution

Kali as Yuga Shakti, the Power to Create a 316

New World Age

Kali to Kaivalya, the Ultimate Liberation 321