This gallery contains poetry written by Yogini Tejaswini Shankara, a.k.a. Teja Shankara.

Fresh poetry will be added as it arises, so check here regularly.

This set of poems came through me January – April, 2010:

the bird of awakening’s call
pierces through my dreams
i rise for another day
of worshipping God.

the sparkle radiance
swirling in the golden egg
releases
and the snake
slithers away.

sister rocks
smile upon
simple intentions –
with Gratitude
and openness
to receive,
i laughed down
the Mountain.

Once, a long, long, long time
in the heart of now,
in the center of a galaxy
far, far away….
there lives a space yogi being
named Charam.

Tejaswini says he is welcome
to bring Love gifts
for the Highest Good.

Fire burns
to drum beat
of strong hands –
ancient masculine
beckons
eternal feminine.

Tejaswini says this dance
forever stirs the core.

Raven magic
carries fire energies
through ajna
to green heart center.

Tejaswini says this golden sun
will burn through all the fears.

Gratitude
and
Grace
weave
the tapestry
of life.

When will Lalla help me
shed these earthboy garments
and rest only
in my Shiva Cloak?

letting the curly locks
fall away,
i rest within Shiva,
the very Bliss
at my core.

Tejaswini says this buzz cut
brings the blessing
of Remembrance.

This series of poems emerged during a period of intense heartbreak, Summer 2009.
"Tejaswini" is the name that Amma gave me - it means full of effulgence, full of light, radiant, and bright....

the bird of sorrow
struggles in the cage
of my heart.
when she breaks
free,
unknown strength and brightness
will fly out of there
like fire sparks.
Tejaswini says that Kali Ma
will burn this attachment
to ashes.

the lion roar
inside my heart
is deafening
to the bird of sorrow.
sound vibrations
trump emotions.
Tejaswini says that singing Ma Kali Durge
will burn this grief to ashes.
Wake up, Tejaswini!

the longing to merge
in Rama-Sita union
burns like raging wildfire
in this yogini.
Tejaswini says that in a millisecond Kali Ma
will reduce the whole wildfire to ashes,
and Saraswati Devi will pour urns of snowmelt
into this crown.

the birds of sorrow
will awaken singing songs of bliss
sooner than you realize.
Tejaswini says that the yellow robe
is already dancing in ecstasy
knowing that this yogini will soon enter it.

when the bird of sorrow breaks free,
the heart misses the longing state.
Does this yogini want freedom, or not?
life is full of ironies.
Tejaswini says that the biggest irony
is the relief felt
at realizing
she cannot have
the one she desired.

the knot behind the heart
is woven with metallic rope
that clangs against
the bird of sorrow's cage.
Tejaswini says that Kali Ma
will release them both
at the appointed time.

my heart softens
in the pinkness of sweet pea blossoms.
what is the point of longing
for the one who has rejected me?
Tejaswini says that Kali Ma
will not accept defeat -
She will overcome this pain-body.

i have held a fresh mango in my hand
and watched it rot.
the rancid stench tightens my gut.
Tejaswini says it is time to put her trust and adoration
into only the FruitMaker,
and the sooner the better.

The following three poems are excerpted from
The Rita Lila: A Western Yogini’s Journey to Bliss, by Rita Ann Shankara:

Dear Karl,
tangerines bursting
and sandalwood scent
come to mind tonight
when I think of you.

I am alone
on a sandy desert
the wind is blowing
sand in my eyes
I am choking
on my tears
the air is sultry.

I have been
waiting for you to come
but alas
you are not coming
again
this has happened
before
do you remember?
we’ve had broken promises
and impossible appointments
before
and I’m only just
tasting a glimpse of them now

not that they matter
anymore
the longing is the same
only the scenery changes

the ocean breeze
greeted my tears
with recognition
but the desert wind
fights my tears
with rage

here in this place
surrender is wicked
I fight God
I fight myself
I fight you,
the you of my dreams.
The you I remember
and long to forget.

I am choking on sand –
thirsty for you –
for the endless beauty
of your blue ocean eyes,
for your tenderness,
and now the pain
of its withdrawal

I spin in the chaos,
waiting and wondering,
Rita



With immense reverence for Time,
I went out into the starry night.
Under a waning moon,
I pulled a few weeds from my vegetable garden.

With gusto and gratitude,
I embraced the whole process
of the ongoing journey home
to my Self.

With earth in my fingernails,
I bowed to what Is
as I offered this prayer
to Heaven:

May all beings find themselves
free
and full of bliss
in moments of time.
And may all beings know
how truly Connected
we all Are.




I cannot choose between the red and yellow roses

I cannot choose between my sons –
How, then, could I choose between Shiva and Krishna?

I cannot choose between my brothers –
How, then, could I choose between Sita and Radha?

I cannot choose between my parents –
How, then, could I choose between Hanuman and Rama?

I cannot choose between the sun and the moon –
both are shining always within and without.

Nothing is separate
All is One –
my nature, the greater Nature, God,
and all the emblems of the Divine.

This Oneness is always within and without –
How then, could I align with only one?

How can you ask me, great teacher,
to choose between my fingers?

How can I choose only one chamber of my heart?

With much weeping and delusion and doubt,
I tried to close down the open chambers,
but they refused to close!

My Heart dances in many directions
with enough love for All –

I fall back into my Self
and listen within

I look out at Ramana
and breathe in his gentle guidance –
to remember –
to return to stillness –

And, there, the love for Shiva and Krishna
blooms quietly
like the red and yellow roses.

The following three poems are excerpted from Love Soups: A Vegetarian Soup Cookbook Inspired by the Soup Devas, by Rita Ann Shankara:

the bell dongs!
in the long wooden hall
where curried lentils
fill the monks’ bowls…
again I awoke having dreamt
of another time and place…



the distinct taste
of caraway –
such a singularity
in this vast universe!



how can i turn my back
on spring blossoms
while plopping dates
into the dal?

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There is a living angel walking in our midst. Meet Michael Meade: author, mythologist, and storyteller extraordinaire. Gratefully, I have been blessed to experience his great work a number of times, in Ashland and also at the Beloved Festival (2009). Last week, I watched his latest video, “Voices of Veterans: A Welcome Home Ceremony”, and I was moved to tears… not just a few tears, but uncontrollable sobbing.

Why was I crying so much while watching this ten-minute video? Well, I was crying in general for all the pain and suffering created by wars; for all the men and women who endure the horrors of war and for all their families who must endure the nightmarish effects of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) after the soldiers return home. When I really tune in to all that suffering, I cannot stop crying… and in the first few minutes of the video, Michael Meade says something that strikes a really deep chord in me. He says, “We’re trying to reduce the suffering that’s inside the veterans, and we’re also trying to spread it, I’m sorry to tell you, into the community. Don’t take too much, but if everybody takes a little bit, then they have less to carry.” When I heard that, I felt as if he was talking directly to my compassionate heart.

I am happy to cry for the veterans, especially if my tears might just help relieve some of their pain… And, I wasn’t just crying in general… I was also crying because the one I love (but cannot be with) served almost a year in Vietnam, and I was crying for his pain. All of his experiences in Vietnam (at least the ones he shared with me) came rushing back into my mind, and I was overwhelmed with the desire to take that pain away and somehow make it better. Even though we are no longer in physical contact, I will always love him and I pray that someday, some way, all that war pain will release and he will experience deep, profound healing. 

I am so grateful for all the healing work that Michael Meade is doing with the veterans. Truly a living angel, he is shining light in a realm of darkness. May his work ripple out and out and out, touching the lives and hearts of all veterans everywhere. May their pain be lessened.

May all beings be healed in the Light.

Om Shanti (Peace), 

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of angel on Teja’s faux fir tree taken by Teja Shankara.

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As I mentioned in my last blog article (“Spiritual Purification through Releasing Impurities”), this year 2011 has required me to do a lot of release work. Although that work has been painful and exhausting, I am now seeing the Light at the end of the Dark Year of the Soul! The Light is shimmering through this amazing process that I am now witnessing in my being: I am now more healed and more whole than I have ever been… So Much Gratitude!

Even with all this healing and wholeness, I still relapse into negative thinking in some not-so-cheery moments, and when that happens, I ask ‘What is the point of it all? What is the meaning behind all the sorrows and suffering in this manifest realm?’ Rather than asking those questions to the void and remaining stuck in negativities, this past week I’ve been hearing an answer. The only answer that makes any sense to me right now is about Beauty. As I continue my journey of self-healing and self-love, I see that I need to be surrounded by and continuously creating Beauty.

For example, when I see a string of colorful lanterns glowing on the porch of a cute little house, that beauty fills me with such joy. Beauty feels like the healing balm for my soul at this stage in my evolution. Today, through the beautiful cedar sprigs and colored glass on my living room table, I am finding nourishment and meaning.

May all beings everywhere heal all their wounds and love themselves, deeply, deeply. May delightful visions of Beauty fill your heart with love now and always.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of cedar sprigs and colored glass by Teja Shankara.

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This morning the sunlight is shining through the pine needles outside my window, as another gorgeous autumn day is dawning in Ashland. I am breathing incredible Gratitude for my new work as medical assistant at Morningstar Healing Arts. The work is very satisfying and the people are so beautiful!

And, as I am ever cultivating the witness, I am watching the amazing ability of the heart to feel immense joy and immense sorrow at the exact same time. For the sorrow, I am fortifying myself today with this photo of Mt. Shasta.

May all beings everywhere open to Healing, within and without. May the Fire of Ram burn through all the sorrows of all the creatures on this sacred planet earth.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of Mt. Shasta by Teja Shankara.

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I just can’t stop writing blog articles about my last pilgrimage to Mt. Shasta! You know when you have one of those peak experiences in life, and you just want to keep talking about it? Well, that’s how it is for me now with that sacred time on that holy mountain. In this photo, I am sitting at Bunny Flat, meditating on the majesty of Mt. Shasta, and relaxing my left knee which I had injured on my hike to Southgate Meadows the day before.  On that hike (see “A Vegan Yogini’s Radiant Shiva Bliss on Mt. Shasta!”), my left knee felt a little funny as I hiked into the meadows, but I ignored that funny feeling because I was so elated with the scenery. Well, when I stood up to hike back out (after lunching on the rocks at the top of the rushing waters), I was surprised at how much pain I suddenly felt in my left knee. As I began the long hike back to my car, I prayed to my Gurus (Ammachi and Neem Karoli Baba-ji), and I asked the Reiki Guides to send Reiki healing energies into my knee as I hobbled along… And, every few steps I leaned down and “iced” my knee in the rushing waters!

When I returned to my friends’ home for the Amma Satsang, I was surprised that my knee didn’t hurt anymore… And it didn’t hurt again until I got up to Bunny Flat the next day. As I sat there gazing at the mountain, I reflected on the strangeness of it all. You see, I had never had any problems with my left knee before those two days!

And now as I sit here typing, with a left knee that has been just fine since I returned home, I am delighting in the strange mysteries of life, especially the magical mysteries of that Sacred Shiva Mountain!

May all beings everywhere experience Delight in the Great Mystery. May all beings know the Happiness that arises from a Grateful Heart.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of Teja by Mt. Shasta by Teja Shankara.

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“Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.” ~ Fannie Lou Hamer, American civil rights activist, 1917-1977. (Some sources credit this quote to Martin Luther King, Jr.) When I reflect upon how everything and everyone is interconnected in one continuous web of energy and vibration, I really deeply understand the truth that no one will be free until everyone is free. I recently visited a city zoo and my experience there with the birds got me thinking about freedom.

While passing the rather smallish cages containing pairs of large birds, I really studied their facial expressions and overall energies. As a Reiki practitioner (see my new business page, www.RadianceRisingReiki.com), and as a Raja yogini, I tend to see beneath the surface of people and things. The melancholic look in the eyes of the turkey vultures saddened my heart. The energy of depression around the majestic bald eagles was almost too much to bear. And then, the anguish of despair in the faces of the red-tailed hawks hit a deep chord of compassion in me. Spontaneously, I began talking with them. I said, “Try to make the best of it. Think of Nelson Mandela, and all those years he spent in prison.” I’m a bit teary as I type that last sentence.

So then, after all that, we came to a building in which this pair of blue macaws were chattering away on top of a barrel… and I marveled that they were not at all depressed. On the contrary, they didn’t seem to even know that they were confined in a zoo. It was as if they knew that they were free on the inside, no matter what external environment they might be placed in. It was such a delight to witness their happiness.

Now that is something to contemplate!

May all beings be free inside themselves, no matter what is going on around them.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of blue macaws in zoo taken by Teja Shankara.

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Today my boys and I are going traveling by airplane, to visit family across the country. I’m not taking my computer on the trip, so I will be away from the Teja Blog until after August 20^th… And, when I return from this little journey to meet my new niece Zoe (born on April 10^th, 2011), I am excited to announce that I will be expanding my offerings in Ashland, Oregon, and beyond. I am super grateful for this expansion that the Universe has placed in front of me: under my new business name, Radiance Rising Reiki, I will be offering Reiki healing sessions, Vegan Cooking, and Meditation Circles in people’s homes.

I’ve already invested in a portable massage table… “have table, will travel!” Stay tuned for more information on this when I return to the Teja Blog…

May all beings everywhere know the Happiness that arises from a Grateful Heart. 

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Teja’s business card designed by Gaelyn Larrick.

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Today’s blog is a continuation of my last article “Soul Sisters Meet through the Teja Challenge”. The first night that Kate and I spent together at Amma’s ashram in California, we received Amma’s darshan at two o’clock in the morning… and we were quite blessed because Amma was very engrossed in a conversation with someone, so we received extra long hugs! Before the hug, I handed Amma this photo of my sons and she blessed it.

During that embrace with Amma, I felt very happy and blissful. Her sweet rose fragrance lingered around me for some time, and as I sat near her, after the hug, I experienced this really deep sense of how okay everything really is. I was filled with okayness… and I knew without a doubt that in Amma’s Love, everything really is allright… and I felt so much Gratitude for the way Amma heals me from the inside-out.

And then, while walking to my car at nearly 3am, we saw a silver fox on the trail! Kate and I joked that it was just like us: silver-haired, bright-eyed, and bushy-tailed! (Kate later told me that the fox is a symbol of patience and of acting at the right time.)

May all beings everywhere experience okayness…

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of Teja’s sons, Zak and Gabe, taken by Teja Shankara.

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My pilgrimage to see Ammachi down in California in June included a very special highlight this time: meeting my soul sister Kate! We had actually already met through emails, but it was our first time to meet in person… and it was such a delight!

The background story: at the end of March, one evening I was sitting on my red couch asking the Universe if I should continue blogging or not… and at the exact time that I was questioning the fate of the Teja Blog, a woman in Texas was sending me an email… that woman was Kate, and she wrote to thank me for writing the Teja Blog articles. She said that she had been following my blog and my life for many months, and she asked if she could begin taking the Teja Challenge the very next day! (See my blog article of 1-11-11, “The Teja Challenge: For Healing, Light, Peace, & Love”)

When I read that first email from my beloved sister Kate, I was overwhelmed with emotions. How often does the Universe answer our questions that clearly and that immediately?! I thanked Amma again and again for Kate’s message… and I replied immediately saying yes of course, let’s begin the Teja Challenge tomorrow morning. Over the next few months, I sent Reiki healing energies to Kate each morning, and we corresponded frequently by email. It was an amazing experience for us both. (Kate will soon write an article too, so stay tuned here on the Teja Blog.)

During our time together in Amma’s Field, we enjoyed the depth of our sister connection, through healing tears and laughter… and Kate recommended that I read a small pocketbook by Amma, called Immortal Light: Divine Mother Ammachi’s Advice to Householders. I read that gem of a book, and I’ll close today’s blog article with a quote from it: “Live with the firm attitude, “I am every one’s servant.” Then the whole universe will bow down to us.”

May all beings everywhere know the Happiness that arises from deep connections with our soul sisters and brothers.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of Kate and Teja by Amma’s Pond taken by Rebecca Grado.

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On August 17^th, 2010, I posted a blog article entitled “My Experience with the Tanran Reiki Relationship Healing Symbols” with a link to my Reiki Teacher William Bagley’s blog that contains visual images of the symbols. Now one of my beloved Reiki healer sisters has sent me her artistic renditions of those symbols. I just love Art and Beauty, so I am thrilled to share her gorgeous artwork here with you today. To order these prints, and others, by D. M’Chelle, go to: www.yessy.com/verbalimagery or www.cafepress.com/verbalimagery.

Hope you all enjoy these images…

May all beings give the Universe permission to deeply heal them on all levels.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Tanran Reiki Relationship Healing Symbols by D. M’Chelle:

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