Yoga for Peace 2009

Yogini Shambhavi, a Tantra practitioner and author of the book Yogini: unfolding the goddess within teaches some antidote for the violence that surrounds us today

By Madu Cabral

1. Why is there so much of violence in today’s world?

Aggression and assertion is very much the way of the world these days, which we highlight in the media, in our work places and even in our homes. This creates an inner agitation that easily erupts into some form of conflict or violence. Violence shadows our ego self which colors the world of Maya or illusion. Our existence in the world of illusion reflects an unreal delusion where the material world holds prominence over our deeper aspirations.
Our personal desires overpower our real needs giving rise to a conflict in getting what we want. Violence in our own mind and hearts manifests as domestic violence, which is then transferred into the greater society. So a chain of violence gets forms through all levels of our lives. Spiritualizing our lives will lead us to a more peaceful existence in today’s world. In taming our outer nature and curbing our desires we manifest a simplicity and purity that allows us to experience the subtle grace of higher values.

2.How can Tantra help us?

Tantra is the sacred art of weaving our inner and outer lives with the cosmic reality of consciousness and bliss. It is not, as in much of popular Tantra, a kind of pursuit of pleasure and sensation. Using Tantra as a tool to spiritualize our lives guides us to be in sync with the universal sacredness. Understanding our true nature unfolds the mysticism of love, compassion, tolerance and peace.
Tantra through its tools of meditation, sacred rituals, yoga asana, mantra chanting, Ayurveda, Vedic Astrology and Vedanta guides us into a mode of peace, balance and bliss by revealing to us the universal sacred light. It shows us how to spiritualize our lives in harmony with nature and our higher selves. Tantra if practiced with that inner sacredness can bring a deep peace into our lives balancing the masculine and feminine, fire and water, earth and space energies and all dualities and oppositions within us.

3. What is wrong about our priorities and belief systems?

Our belief systems are entrenched with the me and the mine, whether it is my job, my family, my country or even my religion. So everything gets corrupted with the ego. Our priorities rest up this need to promote ourselves, or whatever it is we believe in by being assertive in the outer world. Finding a balance in life requires us to prioritize relative to our inner being and spiritual life in order to bring clarity into our existence, which means subordinating our desires to some higher aspiration. This requires giving up the consumerist approach to life and once again to revere all life as sacred.

Manifesting divinity in our life teaches us the art of compassion, tolerance and grace, the attributes necessary for a sacred existence. Our belief systems must integrate with universal principles of divinity, setting ego divisions aside. Honoring and revering the Shakti force through Mother Earth, Great Nature and the Mother Goddess allows us to resonate with these higher sacred vibrations prevailing in our universe.

4. How can we get closer to peace?

Peace is not something we reach out to, it is our inherent nature, once we let go of our aggression. Our true higher nature is shadowed by our outer ego nature, which enhances our intolerant impulses. Once we let go of these outer compulsions and turn our awareness and energy within, we can create the sacred space in which universal peace, not just political peace, can come into our lives.
Peace is a universal quality, which has been waylaid by de-sensitizing our sacred nature. All we need to do is to bring the sacred back into our existence and the flow of divine grace will ensure us the deep love, compassion and tolerance of Shakti, the divine feminine power. For this we have to make inner peace the goal of our lives, not merely outer success, achievement or acquisition.

5. How can an individual behavior influence the whole world?

Behavior rests upon deeper attitudes and values. Changing these, action can change at a fundamental level. The universe is a mirror image of our being and its mindset, thoughts and actions. The violent world today reflects attitudes and values that reward aggression and denigrate peace. These values must be changed for the world to change. This must be done at an individual level through a change of heart. Merely changing how we vote is not enough.
A sacred influence in our lives will reflect beautiful qualities of loving kindness, peacefulness and gentle demeanor. Working with divinity allows us to nourish our sacred space, which will allow the cosmic grace to flow into our lives, allowing its reflective rays to embrace and transform our inner darkness and turbulence. Yet it is not we as individuals that can really change the world. The world can change when we open up to the higher powers of consciousness through letting go of our separative urges and embrace the cosmic reality. Shakti, the power of consciousness, embraces all space and time where the benevolence of Mother Nature nourishes her Cosmic Womb, which is our earth!

Ya Devi sarvabhutesu matrirupena samsthita
Namastasyai! Namastasyai! Namastasyai! Namo namah!

To the Goddess who dwells in all beings in the form of the Divine Mother
We bow to her in deep reverence!