Eleventh Night: Nilapatika Nitya
Eleventh Night: Nilapatika Nitya “She who is Always Falling Into the Blue”
Energy: dreaming
Nilapatika is covered head to toe in blue sapphires and pearls. She carries the noose, the goad, a shield, a bow made of horn, a sword, a dart, and a blue flag or standard. Two of her hands are held up in vara mudra (receptivity) and abhaya mudra (fearlessness).
Nilapatika is the first of the third set of five goddesses in this cycle, representing the moment after ecstasy. Interestingly, we’ve past sexual climax now (see Nitya Nitya), but haven’t yet reached the full moon. This sexual narrative folds in the experiences after climax, including this moment of falling into the blue, that moment before reality comes rushing back, the sleepy, dreamy, let’s-not-ever-leave-this-bed moment.
Nilapatika’s blue indicates the dreaming state, especially lucid dreaming. In Hindu mythology, the blue also indicates the poison that arises from stirring up the cosmic lake in an attempt to access the amrit, the nectar of the gods. In the classic story, the god Shiva is the only one who can hold this blue poison in his throat so the seekers can continue on their search for immortality. The story is often told as an explanation for why we need the teacher or guru on our yogic path: when we stir up the demons and poisons of our deep subconscious, we find things that are toxic to us, and we need help to hold them. From our perspective, however, the world as we knew it ended already in 2012, and thus the age of the guru is over. After all, “I’m nothing but you”: if Shiva can hold my poison, I can hold it for myself.
Nilapatika is fearlessness in the face of her own subconscious. She’s willing to reside in the place where rules and regulations can’t hold her. Our sweetest fantasies and most terrifying fears live side by side in the blue. The poison we find there is the amrit, the nectar of the gods: we are the gods, and this journey belongs to us alone.
Meditation:
Lie down in a comfortable position, maybe even as you are about to go to sleep for the night. Imagine the moon, tonight in an ovoid shape reminiscent of a human eye, looming at your own third eye in between and just above your eyebrows, governing your dreams and intuition. Keep your mind on that image, and see what other images arise for you. If you fall asleep, let it happen. If you dream, write it down when you wake up.
Writing prompt:
What binds you to the life you are living now? What conventions, fears, expectations, or laws of physics prevent you from acting on what you desire? What would your life look like if those boundaries were to disappear?