The ShivaRatri event Wednesday night in Ashland was incredibly amazing! Before the opening puja (ritual to worship a deity), about fifty of us joined hands in a large circle to share intentions and blessings for the night. I described Lord Shiva as a “Big Cosmic Mirror” who reflects all of our attachments, expectations, and illusions to us, so that we can release them and enjoy being in the Bliss that is our True Nature.

I also shared, “These are amazing times we are living in. Yesterday one of my Facebook friends in India wrote to say that he hasn’t chanted on ShivaRatri the past 3 or 4 years, but this year he planned to chant because he was inspired by my postings about ShivaRatri. How amazing is that? Little American yogini inspiring a guy in INDIA to chant on ShivaRatri!”

At the community altar, adorned with candles, incense, flowers, food offerings, and a dancing Shiva, Prema Mayi guided the opening puja, in which people took turns coming up to bow and pour coconut milk over the Shivalingam, while Prema’s son Krsna Deva led the first Om Namah Shivaya chant of the evening. Already I was a yogini-in-Bliss, and the night was still quite young!

We are so blessed to have so many beautiful chant artists in this area. I am super grateful to all who donated kirtan and music that night, including: Prema Mayi, Krsna Deva, Mark Forest, Paul Atkinson, Andy Bayliss, Pure Love with Beloved (Beloved, I’Will, Gerry Lehrberger, Prakriti Das, Faun, Paul, Rishi, and Mark), Vivek, Kim Carson, Paul Luthi, Debbie Sterling, Paul Jones, and Ken Abbott. I am also grateful to Chris Iverson of the Culture Works Café ~ that midnight coffee and chocolate Amazon Bliss Bar really kept me going!

During Prema Mayi and Krsna Deva’s first chant, a beautiful priestess ~ Sharron Rose ~ led a very fun dance to help us embody Shiva’s qualities as the Cosmic Dancer.  While we danced, more and more people arrived, so that by midnight there were about 75 people creating the Shiva chant vibrations.

By 4:00am, when this blog photo was taken, there were about 20 people left in the room, many of whom were cuddled up resting inside mummy sleeping bags! At 5:00am, while Debbie played the crystal bowls (amidst a few snores), I ate some more chocolate and enjoyed some quiet time with my journal.

During the closing circle (at 7:45am!), we distributed prasad (little cups of coconut milk with rose petals); consciously sent healing energies out (anywhere they are needed for healing and for peace); listened to a Yogi Bhajan discourse (“Dwell in God and befriend your Soul”); enjoyed Ken’s transmission of some Rumi poems (“return to the root of the root of your soul”); and chanted Om Namah Shivaya some more. After cleaning the room, we stepped out into the daylight, and when I felt the cold, grey day, I exclaimed, “Oh, it’s still winter in Oregon!”

In that moment I realized how utterly HAPPY (and in my element) I had been all night long in that ShivaRatri Field. With colorful Persian rugs spread across the floor, candles glowing, and continuous chanting to my Beloved Husband Shiva, the night had been so warm, which was in great contrast to the cold day outside. I wanted to go back into the ShivaRatri night and stay there forever… But alas, it was time to go home to my cottage temple, where I slept until 3:30 in the afternoon. When I awoke, I looked in the mirror and spontaneously said out loud, “You are some kind of wonderful!” Then I sat down with Deep Self-Love and a cup of hot tea, and sighed… Ahhh…

The next morning when I returned to work at the outdoor gear shoppe, I spotted a silver snake ring in a pile of hardware on the counter! Amazed, I slipped the ring on my finger, knowing that I will wear it until my gold snake wedding ring arrives in a few weeks. (Last week I ordered a cobra snake ring to be married to my Beloved Shiva Shankara!) Even though I was sad to let the ShivaRatri night go, when I found that snake ring, I knew that the warmth and the magic will continue through the remaining winter days and on into Spring!

Thank you again to everyone who helped make the ShivaRatri night so special. I am pleased to announce that we raised almost $400 for the Goddess Temple of Ashland!

Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya!

May all beings know the inner Bliss that is their True Nature.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

See me live talking about Peace (interviewed by Yogi Pete, August 2009) here: Yogini-Bliss on YouTube

Photo of Teja Happy at ShivaRatri by Debbie Sterling.