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"Meditation Mantras Podcast - Ancient Chants from India by Mahakatha" by Mahakatha is an immersive and enlightening journey through the ancient chants of India. The podcast delves into the rich history and origin story of these powerful mantras, which have been used for centuries to promote sound healing and personal transformation.
Each episode features a different mantra, such as Shiva mantras, Buddha mantras, Krishna mantras, and devi mantras, with an in-depth exploration of the lyrics and meaning behind each one.
The host, Mahakatha, is an expert in the field, and provides valuable insights and guidance on how to incorporate these mantras into your own meditation practice.
Whether you're a seasoned practitioner or new to the world of meditation and mantras, this podcast offers a wealth of knowledge and inspiration to deepen your understanding. Additionally, it will enhance your spiritual journey. Discover the ancient wisdom and transformative power of these sacred chants from India through the "Meditation Mantras Podcast" by Mahakatha.
Over the last few weeks, we've spoken about the
symbolism of Lord Shiva. We discussed the
legend behind the river flowing out of his hair. We discussed
the snake around his neck. We discussed his
third eye and the symbolic spiritual meaning
of the threshula. This week, we're going to go
one step higher and speak about a much
bigger aspect of Lord Shiva,
bigger than the river, the snake, the eye, the
Threshula, or any physical attribute of Lord
Shiva. Today we speak about the
goddess that is often visualized as not just a part
of him, but an entire half of him.
Today we talk about Goddess Parvati.
Namaste, dear listener. Welcome to this week's episode of
the Mahakatha Meditation Mantras podcast. I'm your host,
Preeti. And today, being perhaps the last episode before
Mahashivratri, I thought we should dedicate this
episode to the soul that Shiva loved the
most, to the soul that is known as half
of him, to the contrasting divine energy
that he embraced to become the
Ardhanarishwar, or the half female God.
And that is goddess Parvati.
The legendary love story of Lord Shiva and
Parvati is filled with astonishing
details and so many different versions.
And while I promise we will speak about their relationship in
their wedding, in their coming together sometime in the
future, today I want to get to the core of who
they are, of what they represent.
Shiva and Parvati.
Shiva and Shakti. This
combination is also known as
Purusha and Prakriti. This is
perhaps my most favorite
explanation of Shiva and Parvati,
that Shiva is Purusha and
Parvati is Prakriti. Purusha is that
masculine energy that we hold
inside us, or perhaps the energy of
pursuit, of ambition, of right
and wrong, of action, of
deep thought, of spirituality,
Purusha represents that aspect of
all of us. And while we all are heavily
focused on this aspect of our lives, on
trying to do more, trying to be more, trying
to achieve more, trying to destroy our own inner
weaknesses, trying to stay away from
negativity, trying to become more spiritually
awakened. While we are constantly
leaning in to the Purusha aspect of
ourselves, there is also a Prakriti
aspect to us. And the Prakriti
aspect will not be neglected. If
Purusha is about change and transformation and
ambition, the Prakriti aspect of us
is about love,
nurturing, nourishment,
growth, empathy,
beauty, and our love for beauty and all
these gentler things. And in our
pursuit of Shiva, in our pursuit of
purusha, we might end up neglecting
parvati or Prakriti but she
is inseparable from who we are.
Our capacity to love, our capacity to
forgive, our capacity to cultivate and
to nurture like a mother or a father and to
be selfless and to watch something grow
and care for it and protect
it is a huge part of what makes
us human. Now, it might seem like
Prakriti is the complete opposite of
purusha, that they don't share anything in common.
But it is also said that you cannot
embrace Purusha without embracing
Prakriti. You cannot embrace Prakriti without
embracing purusha. It is also said that there is no
prayer to Lord Shiva that is
fruitful without the acknowledgement of goddess
Parvati. So if you find yourself
stuck or anxious or directionless
in your path of purusha, if you find
yourself unable to focus, unable to bring
favorable results, unable to change or
transform either yourself or your life, unable to
fulfill your dreams and ambitions,
instead of struggling more and depleting yourself
more, take a step back. Lift
your gaze from the Purusha path of your
life to the Prakriti path of your
life. Instead of tormenting yourself
over trying to do more and be more and create
more and have more and experience more,
try to appreciate more.
Try to find things in your life that need
nurturing, that need caring. Try to find
things in your life that will awaken your
nurturing side, your loving and affectionate
side, your non judgmental, your
forgiving and your graceful side.
The moment you do this, you will stop feeling
inadequate. The moment you do this, you will stop
feeling frustration or hatred or resentment
or anger towards yourself. Instead,
your mind, your body, your spirit will feel this gush
of pure positive energy. You will no longer see
yourself as depleted or exhausted
or empty. You will see yourself as
an endless source of energy and emotion and
power. When you lean into your Prakriti
and you pour out love and affection and
kindness and grace and forgiveness into
people around you and into the life you've created,
you will notice that in the most surprising and
unexpected of ways, you will experience abundance
too. You will experience success too.
You will experience prosperity and
spiritual satisfaction and a complete
transformation as well. When you
balance the Purusha in you by appealing to the
Prakriti in you is when your life
truly begins to change and move
forward towards the life that you desire to
experience. So this week, as
we get ready for Mahashivaratri which is
the day when Shiva is said to have united
with Goddess Parvati, may the
Purusha and the Prakriti in you may
the powerful and the pristine in you,
the relentless and the graceful in you
unite. Speaking of Shiva and
Parvati, in this episode I bring you a
beautiful Shiva mantra to experience the
harmony of Purusha and Prakriti within
you. And that mantra is the Shadakshara
stotram. The Shadakshara stotram is
a meditation and a celebration of the six
syllables that make up the beautiful chant
of om nama shivai, the
sounds being om na ma
shi va and ya. Each
of these syllables has an origin, has a
symbolism, and has blessings associated with
it. And among them, among these
blessings is also the blessing of
Shakti or goddess Parvati. So
this week, if you don't have the Shadakshara stotram
already, then by using the coupon code mentioned in the
description of this episode, you can go ahead and buy this
mantra at a 30% discount and as a
run up to the most auspicious day of
the year, especially if you're a devotee of
Shiva, a follower of Shiva, a learner of
Shiva, use this mantra along
with the Shiva mantras that we've been talking about in the previous
weeks and try and listen to them for as
long as you feel like and surrender as
much of yourself to these mantras as you can,
such that this week ends up becoming the
cleansing week for your soul and it
unlocks everything that you have been asking for,
that you've been working towards for a really long
time. And like we discussed in this episode,
while you meditate to Shiva Mantras, don't
forget to visualize goddess Parvati.
Allow that cosmic balance to be activated
within you and for it to transform you.
With that, we come to the end of today's episode. Dear Listener,
thank you so much for joining in, not just for today's episode,
but for the entire series of episodes that we
dedicated to Lord Shiva. And if you've been with us for
even longer than that, I am eternally grateful to you
for being a part of this podcast journey. If you haven't
already, please take a moment to leave us a review.
We are always eager to hear your experience and your
feedback and your suggestion, so do share your
thoughts. Do try and feel the presence of Lord
Shiva during the auspicious time of Shivaratri,
which comes up soon, and may you stay blessed.