Igniting the Inner Fire: Durgā Sūktam, Yantra & Tāntrik Alchemy

Written around the thirteenth century, seemingly modelled on the Bhagavad Gītā, and drawing upon several different philosophical systems (darśana), this text sings the praise of a Goddess who is subservient to none.

Like the Bhagavad Gītā, the Devī Gītā is part of a much longer work, although it is frequently circulated as an independent text. Its 507 verses constitute the last ten chapters of the seventh book of the Devī-Bhāgavata Purāṇa — one of the most important Purāṇic texts of the Śāktas.

The Devī Gītā situates itself in the traditional setting of the conflict between gods and demons. The Goddess appears to console the gods who were defeated by the demon Tāraka and to reestablish them in their celestial realms. Yet the battle between the Goddess and the demon — in contrast to earlier Śākta texts such as the Devī Māhātmya — is given very little room. Instead, its real focus is its devotional, philosophical, and spiritual counsel, apart from any cosmic or social crisis.

Just as Kṛṣṇa offers Arjuna his wisdom more than his strength in battle, so too the Goddess offers wisdom teachings to her devotee, the Mountain King Himālaya.

We take the text at the pace of the festival: one chapter each night. Our sādhana opens on Ghaṭasthāpana, October 11, the morning the Kalaśa is established and the Goddess is invoked into the vessel, and closes on Vijayadaśamī, October 20, the day of visarjana. Chapter 10 ends with the Devī dismissed from the external image, led back into the lotus of the heart, and then vanishing from sight — the same gesture the whole subcontinent performs as the images go to the water. We read her disappearance on the day she disappears.

Understand the Devī Gītā as a whole — its narrative frame, its ten-chapter architecture, and its place among the gītā literature of South Asia.
Practice with Hrīṃ, the Hṛllekhā — the Goddess's own seed-syllable, encountered as sonic essence, meditative object, and ritual thread running through every day of the cycle.
Encounter the Goddesses various forms — from the benevolent, four-armed Bhuvaneśvarī and the world-devouring Virajā — and sit with the question of how they all express the same divine absolute.
Learn about her various yogas — the yoga of knowledge, the eight-limbed and serpentine disciplines, and the paths of devotion, as she herself discusses them.
Understand Śākta cosmotheism — how "the Goddess is the world" differs from both illusionism and pantheism, and what that difference asks of a practitioner.
Install the practice in the body — engage in a Tantric mode of practice through mantra meditation, always returning to an experiential sense of Devī flowering from the lotus of your heart.

Jacob Kyle is a meditation teacher, writer, philosophy educator, and the Founding Director of Embodied Philosophy. His guiding mission is to re-imagine the modern function of the yoga teacher in alignment with the teachings, texts, and traditions of yoga's profound history. He believes that by building a network of teachers who share a commitment to disseminating the deeper teachings and practices of yoga, we can build a world based on wisdom rather than ideology and divisiveness.

Jacob is a doctoral student at the University of Oxford, researching Abhinavagupta's Philosophy of Language and Meditation with advisor Diwakar Acharya. He holds an MPhil in Classical Indian Religions from Oxford (2023), an MA in Philosophy from the New School for Social Research (2017), and an MSc in Political Theory from the London School of Economics (2007). Jacob is a passionate advocate of Kashmir Śaivism and a devoted practitioner of the Śaiva-Śākta Darśana.

Tova Olsson is a scholar of religion, author and yoga teacher with over 20 years of experience in education. She is appreciated for her deep knowledge, her ability to explain esoteric ideas and philosophical concepts in an accessible way, for her immersive storytelling, and heart led teaching method.

As a 'Scholar-Practitioner', she strives to combine an academic, critical understanding with the experience of a long-term practitioner, offering teachings that provide liberating knowledge - on many different levels. She holds a MA in Religious Studies and is currently working on her PhD, researching the construction of gender in contemporary tantra in Europe. Tova is the author of Yoga and Tantra: History, Philosophy and Mythology, published by Motilal Banarsidass, as well as numerous academic articles. She also runs the online school Saraswati Studies and is part of the teaching faculty on several international yoga teacher trainings, where she shares her passion for yogic and tantric philosophy and mythology.

Navarātri & the Devī Gītā

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