Birth of Nageswari: The Serpent Goddess
The teachings of Para Tan have changed my life. When I first arrived in India at
IFC, Shri Param gave me the name Nagarani; Serpent Queen to serve as a focus for
meditation. The constellation star ruling my moon, or Nakshatra illustrates my
soul as having the true nature of a female serpent in Vedic astrology. Over the
last year, with the blessing of Para-Tan flowing through me I surpassed the
arrogance and lower vibration of ego programming and accessed the Devic or
“god-like” nature which I was meant to embody within this incarnation. I didn’t
even know what my true nature was until coming to IFC in India last year. It is
written in my star chart that although I have a high birth my low mentality is
something which must be overcome. Rather than dress like a goddess and
spontaneously join a foot race against a twelve year old girl and suffer from
the humiliation of wiping out in front of 65 village children, I must learn the
lesson of aligning my behavior with the appropriate energy of the situation at
hand. This training and reconditioning is available at IFC Mahavidya temple and
ashram from Tantric Guru Shri Param Eswaran.
Now that I have developed humility and grace I now consider how I may serve and
benefit the world, rather than how the world may serve and benefit me, and I’ve
placed my twelve-year-old girl in the past and now revel in the ecstasy of being
a true woman. Shri Param gave me the new name to celebrate the birth of my truly
divine nature embodied as Nageswari; Serpent Goddess. Softness and humility
have become my most powerful weapons allowing me the capacity to embody inner
strength and slay the demons of ego-attachment. This in turn better enables me
to Serve, Love, and Nurture the universe as a priestess and goddess of creation.
If it were not for the accelerated nadi clearing and activation that the Para
Tan Sound Healing Sessions entail, it is quite likely that another integral
component of Para-Tan’s Teachings would never have gotten through my
western-conditioned-busy-mind:
The real meaning of Woman’s Power. In Tantra, the ultimate dynamic power of the
Universe is worshipped as the Mother Goddess Shakti and women are worshipped and
honored as the microcosmic embodiments of the Divine Mother. Within this
tradition the women create the environment for harmonious co-existing with Love,
Grace, Compassion, Nurturing, Softness, Steadfastness, and Humility.
It is a true woman’s nature to nurture and attend to the needs of her loved
ones, community, and environment, putting the benefit of the whole ahead of her
needs. It is written in the sutras that this is the only sadhana women must do
to attain self realization, while men must undertake many different forms of
sadhana and meditation to reach the same goal.
A true woman is the embodiment of LOVE, which is expansive, giving, sharing and
as such-has no needs.
Did I lose you there? Women have no needs! That’s right, you heard me. As the
daughter of a Baby Boomer Feminist and having been strongly influenced by the
women’s movement which continues today in many Goddess oriented spiritual
groups-this set my teeth on edge.
When Shri Param first told me that women have no needs I dug in my heels,
briefly reviewed my stockpile of feminist ammunition and prepared for battle.
It’s an ironic yet incredibly common characteristic within human nature, thanks
to our ego and free will, even though we know we need to change because our
current situation isn’t working for us, cling desperately to our illusionary
sense of control and false hope and defend our misguided actions and thought
patterns to maintain our misery, as though our lives depend on it. Ego. Ego must
be removed like the head of a demon to surrender to the flow of Divine Grace,
Love, and Compassion: Shakti.
In my preparation for battle with Shri Param I considered the options for his
next (perceived) assault on my life.
“I suppose next he’ll tell me that women should be quiet, seen but not heard,
and dutifully serve their families”.
My inner demons snarled and gnashed their teeth, stomping the ground restlessly,
and feeding my thoughts poison t lend rage to their battle frenzy. Keep in mind
that this perceived battle takes place in India to where I have flown half way
across the planet to learn from the man (perceived) to be attacking my very
character. The bait was hung, the trap was set and BANG! The cage slammed down
around the culprit who would dare challenge my Woman’s Power.
Once the dust settled I was very surprised to see bars around me/my ego, while
Shri Param sat back patiently with a twinkle in his eyes. I set the trap for me.
Rather, my ego was fighting off the sword of truth that decapitates ego so one
may begin or deepen a relationship with the Divine. Only then may one progress
to learn what it REALLY means to Love and be a Spiritual Person.
So, to become a Living Goddess, one must first become a True Woman, which
entails embodying the understanding of WOMAN’S TRUE POWER. To flow with Shakti
is woman’s natural power. To RECLAIM WOMAN’S POWER means placing aside the ego
self; opening and embracing the expression of one’s soul, the spirit. Only then
may a woman create the future and embody the ULTIMATE DYNAMIC POWER OF THE
UNIVERSE: SHAKTI. To become living goddesses’ women must collectively embrace
our femininity and softness. When our internal environment is soft, relaxed and
blissful we are most powerful.
Part of what makes women special is our ability to nurture, create, and birth
life, whether the labor results in another life or the fruition of a creative
project. To fully grasp and understand the important role softness plays in
women’s power, consider the process of gestating, birthing, and nurturing life.
To receive thoughts or seeds of life from Shiva, Shakti must be soft enough to
be open and receptive. When women are soft, open, receptive, loving, and humble
we allow Shakti to flow through, within, and around us. Once the yoni
(Throne-room to Woman’s Sovereign Queendom) receives the thought or seed, it is
best nurtured and tended when the channels of energy and tissues that provide
nourishment and vitality are open.
The emotional state of women directly affects our yoni. When we become stressed,
aggressive, anxious, or angry the network for nurturing is shut down and all of
the vital nutrients and Shakti rush to various battle stations in the body.
Mothers and daughters ‘talk” to each other about their feelings right from the
beginning, though not necessarily in words. They talk through soul
communication, and through a whole series of complicated hormone and
neurotransmitter messengers. Though mothers and daughters have different
bloodstreams, they are so intimately connected that virtually all of the
neurotransmitters and hormones that a mother’s body makes affects her baby, and
that means that every emotion and subsequent biochemical change associated with
that emotion affects her child.
For example, a mother’s sense of well-being or lack of it results in changes in
stress hormones such as cortisol, ephinephrine, and vasopressin that help
regulate placental blood flow and thus affect the amount of nutrients and oxygen
a child is receiving. When a woman’s cortisol levels are high from maternal
anxiety or fear, the result is a metabolic cascade (bathing our
Yoni/Throne-room) that produces elevated levels of other hormones know as
cytokines, which regulate the immune system. If cortisol and cytokine levels
remain chronically elevated, a woman’s immune system and that of her developing
baby may be compromised…Consequently, if a woman is well nourished, feels
supported in her pregnancy, and enjoys a wide range of emotional and physical
intimacy [aka LOVE] with her partner as well as her friends and family, her
levels of the hormone oxytocin, one of the so-called molecules of belonging,
will be increased, which enhances her and her baby’s immunity and helps her to
bond with her child even before it is born. The neurotransmitters circulations
through the mother’s body create a physical imprint on the developing brain and
body of the child, hardwiring her sense of safety and security. Her very biology
tells her, “All is well. I will be cared for. I am at peace”. (Northrup, 2005,
p.66)
As children, girls, and adolescents we have all experienced trauma in our
inherently misogynist society. It is now up to each of us to individually heal
our wounded past, let it go and become the instruments of hope and healing that
Mother Earth’s children so desperately need. When we embody Shakti, as True
Women, we have the capacity and ability to nurture our children when they
experience trauma and create a harmonious world.
Whenever there has been trauma of some kind, the human body pours out a huge
amount of the stress hormones epinephrine and cortisol. This affects every
function of the body, putting it on ‘red alert’ [all hands to battle stations].
in such a state, the reasoning part of the brain shuts down temporarily and
consciousness turns inward…This makes the child hyper suggestible, referred to
as the ‘healing zone’, when people are maximally open to the power of words,
thoughts, and the environment-not unlike a state of hypnosis. During this time
the mother or caregiver has a golden opportunity to use this biological state to
implant hope and healing messages deep in the unconscious to be drawn on then
and in the future.
(Northrup, 2005, p. 259)
Thus it is our power as women to overcome thoughts of despair, which lead to
panic and remain open, steadfast, calm, graceful, and poised. There is a sense
of urgency in today’s world, which I hear as a passionate cry from the Divine
Mother to her daughters to reclaim our birth-right and become living goddesses
and recognize Her power within.
When we give up our tenuous grasp or desperate clinging to illusion/Mother Maya,
we see that true control, the only control with real power is not an external
power to control the behavior or direction of others, but an internal flow of
power. To flow with internal power means surrendering the ego to bask, bathe,
and delight in the ride along ecstatic currents of gratitude. We optimally
utilize control over our own ego. It is our ego that finds faults within
ourselves as well as with other people, places, situations etc. It’s a downward
spiral. One may always find fault. It’s up to us to accept responsibility for
creating a harmonious environment to nurture future generations. To do this
successfully we must instead focus our energies on embodying the qualities of
the Goddess: Love, Grace, Compassion, Nurturing, Steadfastness, Softness, and
Humility.
When we are humble we acknowledge that we are responsible for maintaining
harmony as gratitude and softness within. Humility is recognizing the joy and
blessing in serving the Circle of Life and feeling gratitude for the opportunity
to express love in new dimensions. When situations or people behave
inconsiderately, antagonistically, selfishly, rudely etc. that is their business
and their poor expression of where they are at in the battle between ego self
and the Soul Self. Engaging with them or even giving energy to harsh judgments
that may arise in the mind only harms us, increasing our stress level and
calling all hands to battle stations. Why would we harm ourselves that way?
Yet another layer of the profound Teachings of Para-Tan surface to encompass and
answer this question: Why would we behave in a manner, which is unloving and
detrimental to our own soul? The answer is simple: It’s al about LOVE! The
western world has separated, suppressed, repressed, out-lawed, and forgotten the
essence and message of LOVE. Love is expansive, sharing and giving, not
self-centered, fearful, constrictive, and arrogant; the latter are qualities
that define the western mind set. This must change! We must open to the flow of
LOVE, embody LOVE by considering HUMILITY and come from the perspective of: HOW
MAY WE BENEFIT THE WHOLE? Rather than HOW MAY THE WHOLE BENEFIT ME?
The divine being Jesus Christ embodied the teachings of Love, Compassion, and
Grace and look how the world received him. Not only did our human race condemn,
abandon, torture, and crucify the embodiment of Divine Grace, Love, and
Compassion, millions of people around the world since then have been fanatically
waving and thumping the bible as a message from God when it was written and
edited with much the same bias responsible for Christ’s crucifixion!
There is absolutely no one to blame! The Creator of the Universe has a divine
plan unfolding. However, it remains our individual choice in each moment of
every day to utilize the gift of free will to surrender ego, control,
selfishness, greed, arrogance, etc and embrace the Teachings of LOVE, GRACE, and
COMPASSION.
It is our ego that gets offended when others treat us disrespectfully. Whatever
they say or do does not touch the true essence of our soul’s expression. This is
a wonderful phrase that helped me find serenity amidst a jammed packed, crowded,
loud, hot, overnight train in India. When I was letting go of the remaining
molecules of cellular memory regarding rape and sexual abuse I repeated: “They
may touch my body, but never me”. This brought me immeasurable waves of peace,
relaxation, and serenity.
As Shri Param has many times lovingly repeated, “The world is a trying place.
Life will try you. It is not a question. The challenge is: Are you going to
‘try’ or be ‘tried’? Are you going to ungratefully give your power away to
little boys who taunt you? Or to the neighbors who are too loud?”
It is through great suffering we find the greatest joy! Each trying experience
and interaction is a gift from the Divine Mother to help you spend your karma
and speed your journey HOME! Although we are presently living in one of the most
difficult ages to be on Earth; it is also the easiest age to make the return
journey HOME! With misery, suffering, greed, ego, violence, war, etc. available
in mega-doses on every street corner and with the flick of a switch-the soul
cries for a Divine Vision for hope and healing, much like a traumatized child.
As I am writing this, flakes of dried baking soda crumble into dust making a
mess of my book, keyboard, chair, and the carpets throughout my house. However
it’s a preferable option to the intense burning, itching, and weeping of the
poison ivy rash I enthusiastically yet unwittingly covered myself in last week.
Anyone who has had poison ivy outbreaks in the past will immediately know what I
mean. For the rest of you (lucky)-it’s an itching, spreading, weeping rash
contracted from the incredibly potent oils of the rhus tox (poison ivy) plant,
which lasts from two to three weeks.
Shri Param and his Para Tan Teachings have instilled within me the importance of
a spiritual practice and way of life that maintains gratitude aka Shakti and the
bliss that comes with the practice. This is not just to be grateful for a day
then to forget, but to flow with the expansive, ecstatic essence of gratitude.
With intense itchiness burning the body it’s a mind over matter practice. In
each moment (even while sleeping) I have the choice to surrender to the itching,
flowing with gratitude for the teaching gift the plant is giving me, with the
inherent bliss that comes from this choice, OR collapse into madness, crazy
scratching and unbearable mental grumblings. Gratitude is BLISS! The reward is
immense when we take the time and discipline to practice gratitude especially in
the difficult situations. This is my current state.
As a result of the poison ivy coming into my life I gratefully have a constant
and very present teacher reminding me to focus on gratitude and humility, with
almost immediate sensational outcome. I have digested yet another soul nurturing
plate from a multi course meal prepared and served by Shri Param, in the form of
lessons in Steadfastness.
To embody the divine quality of Steadfastness requires one not get excited or
anxious. They have same affect on the body. This was very clearly illustrated to
me by my present poison ivy teachings. I became very excited after getting off
the phone with an Osteopathic Physician friend of mine, who informed me that the
rash was no longer contagious and wouldn’t spread anymore. While I was
ungracefully clapping my hands, singing, dancing, and cavorting around the
kitchen the heat intensified and with it the bliss evaporated into crazy
itchiness. I grimaced gratefully as I saw and heard Shri Param in my heart, “A
goddess does not get excited. She is passionate, enthusiastic, and Steadfast”.
As a result of the itchiness, wearing clothes has been unbearable. I have been
contentedly cloistered in my home, sunbathing (to dry the rash) and writing-all
the while enjoying the blissful sensations of awakened Kundalini, making love
with the air, dancing shadows and taking in the rustling, shimmering buds and
birds fluttering, dipping, singing, and celebrating spring in the White Oaks and
Beech trees surrounding my home sanctuary. Spending these last few days
reflecting upon the Teachings of Para-Tan in my birthday suit in poison ivy and
gratitude induced ecstasy has deepened my relationship with the cycles of Mother
Nature. The last two dawns my ivy friend woke me up in time for chanting my
Gratitude east into the rising sunlight.
Focusing on gratitude for the ever present poison ivy sensations has had an
incredible affect on the state of my hormones, in combination with the mandatory
gratitude practice that is healing the previously intense pain that taught me so
much in the two weeks between ovulation and bleeding every month for the last
seventeen years. Spontaneous eruptions of yogic poses, dance movements, and
sound saturated in extremely vivid and colorful symbolic images combining
Para-Tan Teachings with those of the Maya Shaman and Native Medicine Wheel flood
though me. I enthusiastically share these details from my personal life to
illustrate how I have benefited from several of the profound Para Tan Teachings,
which indicate that most trying and challenging situations in life are the best
teachers.
It is within woman’s nature to intimately relate through the spirit. We may only
know our spirit and become spiritual people when we put aside our ego,
negativity, cynicism, and the vast assortment of selfish diseases with which we
westerners are plagued. WOMAN’S POWER is that of the ultimate dynamic power of
the Universe: Adi-Para-Shakti, whose powers are LOVE, COMPASSION, GRACE,
NURTURING, STEADFASTNESS, CREATIVITY, and SOFTNESS.
To reclaim our power collectively each one of us must reclaim and accept
responsibility for the power to create her environment. To create a hopeful,
peaceful, harmonious, and above all LOVING environment to nurture future
generations, we must use our inner control and discipline to maintain a SOFT,
RECEPTIVE, OPEN, and FLOWING NATURE. It is the wisdom of these Para-Tan
Teachings and through the Mother’s Divine Grace bestowed upon me by Para-Tan
Tantric Guru Shri Param Eswaran that I share to benefit the whole. Meeting Shri
Param and receiving the blessings of the Ten Wisdom Goddesses has changed my
life, and made me a new woman, a TRUE WOMAN. I surrender my humble self to SERVE
THE UNIVERSE with the blessing of Guru Shri Param Eswaran AND THESE TEACHINGS.
Shri Nageswari
In Her Service,
Harrison, Maine, USA
May 2007
