Follow the Bhakti Path

Most of us think of yoga as the integration of poses, or asanas, breath, pranayama, and intention, or prayer. In reality, the physical practice is only the tip of the iceberg that draws us into an ancient recognition of our soul’s true nature, the nature of love. Bhakti Yoga is the path of devotion, love and prayer. Love naturally strips away the ego and allows us to focus on someone or something else. It is love that creates an environment conducive to spiritual growth and transformation.
Master Eckhart Tolle says “love is the recognition of one’s Self in another.” Because the life force that breaths through you is the same force that breaths through all living things, to love is to see that connection, to see your Self in another living thing. This force that breaths through us is called many things in many traditions; God, Allah, Holy Spirit, Universal life force, Reality, the One, etc. Whatever you choose to call it love is formless. Love goes beyond fear, beyond our limited perceptions of what it should look like or what it can give us. It is this love that has the capability to transform darkness into light, the unreal into the real. Love conquers all and seeks nothing in return.
Jimi Hendrix so adequately produced a powerful statement on the transformative nature of love when he said “the moment the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.” Imagine a world full of ruled by love and how transformative that would be for humanity. For today, tomorrow and always recognize love in all that you see.

Kali Ma

Kali is the Mother of Darkness, she represents the side of us where light is absent. She also represents our primal urges & recognizes them as a part of us and therefore not bad. "Its not a cry that you heard at night, its not somebody who's seen the light, its a cold & its a broken hallelujah." - Hallelujah (original Leonard Cohen). To me these lyrics further demonstrate that enlightenment means to shed light on your darkness until there is no more darkness. Of course, there will always be some darkness, and if there weren't then we wouldn't have to worry about learning that lesson here on earth. We would be a guide to others who still have lessons to learn. It is important to not run away from your dark feelings like blame, guilt, jealousy, resentment, judgement, anger, fear, sadness, doubt (especially self-doubt) & disappointment. It is important to let feelings move through you. Learn form what comes up in your life and handle the tough stuff with grace, integrity & compassion. Let things move through you so you can learn, move on, learn move on and repeat. There are so many beautiful life lessons to be gobbled up here. So get to it! Embrace Kali when a need to be honest with yourself about your darkness & you need a little extra help seeing, admitting, accepting & forgiving yourself for your darkness. Turn darkness into light.

Invocation to Kali (In Sanskrit):
Aum
Kring Kalikaye Namah
Aum

Meaning (In English):
Mother Kali! Godess Of Death
Mostress Of Justice
Wake Now, Mother & Hear My Chant,
I Call You From Your Slumber,
Come & Bring The Warrior Spirit.

Another mantra you can use when you need to motivate yourself toward positive change is the Asatoma Invocation (In Sanskrit):
Om
Asatomaa sad gamaya
Tamaso maa jyotir gamaya
Mrityormaa amritaam gamaya
Om shanti shanti shanti

Meaning (In English):
Lead me from the unreal to the real
Lead me from darkness to light
Lead me from death to immortality
Om peace, peace, peace