Sacred Rage: The Untold Power of Feminine Anger
Join our Tantra Tribe, a membership community.
In this soul-stirring episode, we delve into the potent energy of Sacred Rage. Inspired by a personal experience where witnessing a woman suppressing a younger girl ignited a sacred fire within, we unpack why this form of rage is not just justified but necessary.
We examine the historical suppression of feminine energy, discuss the core human need for emotional and sexual safety, and offer practical tools for reclaiming your untamed spirit.
Topics Covered:
The Inciting Incident
The event that sparked this episode and its emotional toll.
Historical Suppression
How goddesses and feminine energies have been controlled and demonized throughout history.
What is Sacred Rage?
Defining sacred rage and its transformative potential.
The Need for Emotional and Sexual Safety
Why these essential human needs are often sidelined in spiritual teachings.
Actionable Tools for Reclaiming Power
Journaling, mindfulness, communication, and community support as ways to harness and validate your raw energies.
Key Takeaways:
Sacred rage is an emotional compass guiding us toward restoring balance and righting wrongs.
Emotional and sexual safety are often neglected aspects in mainstream spiritual teachings.
There are practical steps to reclaim your power and dismantle internalized cages.
-
Loving a wild feminine is unpredictable. Sometimes it would be like a sacred meditation and a dance of ecstasy. Sometimes it would be a full moon exoticism. The wild feminine asks for nothing less than your whole self. She invites you to participate in a dance that's mystical, unpredictable, and liberating. When you love her, know that you are not just signing up for an affair with her beauty, but a sacred pilgrimage within your own universe with her sacred mess, with her sacred sensuality, with the sacred temple she continues to show up at. I'm Chandresh Bhardwaj and this is Leela Gurukul.
Namaste everyone. I hope you are truly feeling safe and easy today. As I talk in this moment, I'm feeling a bit hungover by the Navaratri rituals. While the Navaratri, the nine nights of celebrating the divine feminine, it's beautiful, colorful, playful, musical, it's everything you can imagine in an Eastern festival and ritual. But not many talk about when you invite the Goddess, what happens within, she shows up to completely turn around your universe in a way that you always wanted, but you were hesitant. You felt perhaps lack of worthiness. You felt maybe I don't have the courage, maybe I'll delay it this time. When she shows up, she helps you to understand the roots, the fire, the sacred rage you hold within. And if you trust yourself, if you trust her energy with you, this sacred rage is enough to turn around your entire lifetime.
Of course, I want to talk about the Tantra Tribe that was launched a few days ago, but I want to talk so much more about what happened in the last few days because it has changed my perspective. Or perhaps the perspective was already changed, it just woke me up. It reminded me that this is what's important, not what your rational mind is telling you. So I'll begin.
A few days ago I was at an event, you could call it a religious event perhaps. I don't do well with social gatherings unless it's a gathering I chose myself and I want to be there or I'm doing something there. But 99.9% of the social gatherings doesn't excite me. And the ones who excite me, they are my kind of gatherings, there is tantra in it, there is poetry, meditation, cinema, art. So yeah, I was at one of the gatherings which I had to show up at. And while the crowd outside was chanting mantras of the goddesses and praising the goddesses, I was sitting in a quiet room inside that building and I was hearing all the sounds.
I was sitting by myself and people were coming in and out. It was a room where I guess people were just dropping stuff, picking up, yeah, a kind of room people were coming in and out. And some people knew me, so they would say hi. And one thing started happening, people would show up there and within a few moments of hi and hello, without me asking any question, these women who were showing up, they would start sharing how complex, confused, tamed, manipulated they feel with the men and women in their life. And I was hearing two sounds. One sound was their voice, which talked about suppression, confusion, manipulation, and the other sound was coming from outside where everyone blindly was chanting the Goddess mantras. That's what religion does to you at times. The modern spirituality is going the same way, that we are simply repeating things without knowing why we are doing it. Without knowing the why of it, we're simply doing it because everyone else is doing it.
But what an irony it was, and it didn't happen in my life the first time that there is a human standing in front of me talking about how controlled and manipulated she feels. And then there are crowds of people outside who are chanting the praises of Goddess. And after the event was over, these women who were sharing about the suppression and manipulation, I saw them having dinner, taking happy pictures with the same people that they were telling me about. No one in the world could have predicted that she's with the people where she feels unsafe, uncertain and tamed.
That's what sometimes structure of marriage, family dynamic does to you, you just become a great actor, a great performer. No one gets to know what's going within because when you were a kid, that's when the training started to happen. You wanted to cry and they said, "Don't cry." You wanted to laugh and they said, "You can't laugh." You wanted to express your playfulness and they said, "No, this is a serious place. You can't play." You wanted to embrace your sexual energy and that was obviously never allowed. So your mind, nervous system, body, skin, heartbeat adjusts itself to just be a performer, that's all.
So while I was still processing this hypocrisy, this interesting dynamic, something else also happened. Two people are involved in this and let's call them A and Z. I've known them for at least 15 years. They're two different people, don't belong to same family. They're not friends. A is just older, I guess she would be in her fifties or sixties. And Z, she's in her twenties. And take a deep breath as you listen to this because I've been doing that for the last few days.
So Z is standing there doing her thing, A shows up and she's like, "What are you doing here? You've got to be outside. The women are all outside." And A is like, "Oh, CB is also here. There are other men also. All the men are not there." A is like, "They can do that." And she looks at me and she's like, "You don't need to come." And she holds her hand. A holds hand of Z and almost forces her to walk out.
I had seen this person, A, with very controlling toxic tendencies with her family, her children, it's her personality. And the other person, Z, she's very close to me. So when I saw this happening, a part of me wanted to get up and really mess up things that night for A. It takes a lot to make me angry and in that moment, anger is not the word. All of my past experiences with the toxicity of A just got triggered. But also in the past few years, I have worked very hard in understanding the root of my anger and channeling it to create the change. And I took a deep breath and I looked at Z. I looked into her eyes and I knew in the past I have interfered. I have stood up for her, but she's not that fragile and weak person at this point. She's strong. She's probably a bit shocked that why someone so random is trying to control where I should stand and where I shouldn't stand.
And in that moment, Z spoke that, "You can't control me like this." And a says, "Oh, because I love you and I know I can tell you things because I love you." Z didn't know how to react. She walks with her and in five minutes she comes back. She came back with eyes red, face angry but not weak, not fragile. And I said, "I hope you know I didn't get up because I wanted you to dismantle and mess up the system. I have done that in the past for you and I guess that worked out well at the time, but I want you to do it this time." As I'm saying this, I still want to mess up the system for A, but that's not how Tantra teaches the unleashing of the fierce goddess energy within. I know Z has to stand up and rewire everything. And the good news is Z has been taking some powerful measures, some powerful steps to not only draw the boundaries but speak up for herself and defining her entire persona, redefining what it means to be a raw, real fierce woman. In the modern times.
As I find my calm in this situation, I truly feel I could have gone in any direction that night. The anger makes you do, say and indulge in things that might be so impulsive, but they don't create the change. If you truly, truly wish to create an impact and transform your existence, the number one skill you've got to understand is calmness is your superpower. Not reacting to the anger is your superpower. I'm still angry in this moment, but I'm not letting the anger create an impulsive situation around me. Instead, I've been working really hard at how this could create a change in life of Z in my life and I'm seeing that happening.
Another thing that happened that night as I was driving home, I couldn't sleep until 3:00 AM, I realized my body's so tired and yet I'm not able to sleep. Filled with rage. The mind is telling me many things, but I had to take a moment to breathe in, breathe out and ask myself, what's the lesson here? And the lesson that showed up is I have been overthinking what to offer to the wonderful seekers and women in Tantra Tribe. I have been thinking, oh, I'll create this powerful advanced meditation. I'll talk about the 10 prime goddesses. I'll talk about the chakras and how there are not seven chakras, but more than 1000. And this is how you can simplify it. And guess what? That night, all the women who showed up, none of them said or asked, what's the mantra for this? What's the Tantra teaching on this manipulation?
All of them wanted to feel safe and feel validated for their rawness. It made me realize all these years it could be my student, my client, a woman I've come across in life, none of them ask about Tantra teachings. They ask about how can I feel safe? They want safety, they want validation. They want to be seen, to be heard. And that moment changed my entire mission about Tantra tribe. It made me realize a deeper dharma that exists in the Tantra Tribe. It made me realize that of course, Tantra meditation, lectures, talks, all of that will be there. It has to be there. However, the priority, the highlight, the top thing that will happen in Tantra Tribe is a space where the feminine could feel safe, empowered, validated, and seen as who they are. If I can't do that, I don't need to run this show. If I cannot do that, I don't deserve to be part of Tantra itself then because what is Tantra without the feminine? It's irrelevant. It's shallow, it won't exist. Tantra is all about the honoring of the feminine energy.
So my first request to you is find yourself a community, a place where you could feel safe. If Tantra Tribe calls you, if you resonate with it, please join women like you who are looking for a place where spirituality, sensuality, safety can coexist, then Tantra tribe is the space to be. Not only you will learn, you will grow, but you'll create a safe space for many other women. And above all, I'll be learning with you. I'll be growing with you. I'll be so inspired to share the teachings that not only resonate with your soul, but helps you bloom your soul.
The strength of Z that night inspired me to go deep into my own journey and to curate a place to cultivate a playground where the feminine could feel empowered and strengthened just the way Z did. And she has told me a few times since that night that, "I'm so glad I acted that way. I responded that way." She forgot little details. I didn't. I'm known to remember the details and I watched everything. There was a moment that happened within 20 seconds when I saw that sacred rage waking up in Z. And that's exactly when I took the backseat because I was rooting for her. And what a beautiful moment it was. And I know her journey has changed, her life has changed already. Every day now it's going to open up in a way she has not imagined. Many times, that's what it takes, a moment where you are pushed, a moment where your kindness is taken as weakness and you are called to take the action.
The unfortunate part is since the ancient times, the feminine always had to fight, always had to take her space. One of the popular stories about Navaratri is there was an evil man, devil, whatever you want to call him, he was running after her. She was a little girl and she hides herself in a cave and she starts to meditate on Goddess Kali for those nine nights. And as she emerges out of the cave, she becomes as powerful, as brave and bold and stronger like Goddess Kali. And she gets rid of all of those men who were chasing her, making her feel unsafe and harassing her.
Now, this story is thousands and thousands of years old and how sad it is so true, still so relevant today. And absolutely by no means I'm saying all men are like that. I'm a man. I get it. As a man, there comes a time in our life when we realize we only have one emotion, and that could be just an unconscious anger. And when we look at the woman, we are like, oh, wow, seems like she has a lot of emotions, a lot of wide spectrum of emotions. Oh, she also has sensuality, playfulness. And maybe as a man, I'm not supposed to have it, maybe that's not part of it, but something like Tantra wakes you up and tells you, you are ardhanarishvara. You have that inner feminine and inner masculine within you. So it's totally fine and beautiful to have leadership-rooted energy, strength, but also softness, but also playfulness, but also sensuality within you.
The study of goddesses teaches us that it has never been easy for the feminine to claim her truth, to claim her courage. It's not designed to be easy. And that's how you shake up the system. That's how you create a dent in the universe. And let me tell you one thing, it's a fact. From the time you are born, the planets, your prana, your life energy, it wants you to win. I'm using the word prana here, prana, P-R-A-N-A, sexual energy, creative energy, spiritual energy, it's all part of the prana. The reason why women were always made to feel ashamed of their sexuality, their sexual desires, their sexual expression, because that is so connected to the prana. And experiencing the strength of your prana through your sexual energy is one of the easiest and safest way.
Now, the challenge is when the woman experiences it, she becomes 100 times more wild, raw, and powerful. Men handle that very differently. This is why the sadhana of men at one point becomes a bit different. Ultimately, both men and women meet at the same point. But the middle journey is so interesting many times. The feminine has been made to feel ashamed, has been made to feel embarrassed about her sexuality, about her desires, about her longings, because that could unleash the gateway of that prana and it could make her 100 times more creative, spiritual, free, sexual. That does not go well with patriarchy. It does not go well with the dead norms they have been trying to brainwash you with.
Now, did you note one thing in this story, two women were involved. And it's so unfortunate to see that, and I see that very, very often. Often it happens between two age groups, a woman who has probably gone through her own unconscious trauma and suffering, and now she's in her fifties, sixties, or above that. Instead of accepting her trauma or healing it, she projects it on others, and then she starts controlling others because she was controlled by someone and now she wants to find the weakest, fragile, most vulnerable being in the crowd and wants to control her. You could see that in your mother or an older person around you. It's not your journey to fix that. Your journey is to go within you. But it's their journey to understand how to get out of that cycle. Because the chances are if they're already in their fifties or sixties and trapped in it, they'll be born again with the same unconscious trauma. But the life, the universe, it's designed in a way, it keeps sending you back to the circus until you realize it's not my circus and I want to be free from it. I don't want to be a clown in it.
I want to talk about two things. Number one, why emotional and sexual safety gets overlooked in so many spiritual teachings. I have so many examples that I've seen. It could be the greatest philosophy school, greatest religious settings, brutal setting, and yet the emotional and sexual safety gets overlooked. The problems are so deeply rooted in all of these structures.
Number one problem is the hierarchy of these structures. It's written and created in a way that it historically prioritized male experiences and perspectives. As a result, the emotional and sexual aspect are often overlooked for women. It's a tragedy because many times in Tantra, in Eastern practices it's written, wherever the feminine energy is seen, heard and loved. That's where the abundance grows. That's where the Davies, the divine energies show up. I sometimes, many times actually come across books where they describe the essence of Goddess Kali, Goddess Durga, but the way they describe it, and I'm quoting them, that, "The head of Goddess Kali comes from Shiva, the arms of Goddess Kali comes from the male God Vishnu, the strength of Goddess Kali comes from the male God Brahma. And the conclusion is she doesn't have anything of her own. And it all came from the male gods."
Many times they talk about how the partner of Shiva, she jumped into fire, killed herself because the dignity of her husband was not respected. And after jumping into the fire, she was worshiped as the goddess. The messages many women get on a subconscious level from these stories is that you should jump into the fire if your husband's respect isn't valued or honored. And I've seen many, many women, I continue to see women who live through these stories and the message they have in their subconscious is Goddess has did that. So all I'm required to do is just please him, cook for him all the time, take care of him all the time, and live my life around him and continue to suffer and suppress my desires because the Goddess did that. I mean, who am I to demand my desire and truth? Because the Goddess has did that. Be aware of these stories. Be very aware of these stories because they subconsciously mess up how you show up for the inner feminine.
Many traditions, they systematically create a structure where you are brainwashed to judge your sexual energy. If you notice, you could be eating less or more. You could be having some other emotional fluctuations, maybe too much happiness, too much anger, too much of anything else. That will not be judged as much as the embracing of your sexuality will be judged because this creates a serious threat to the so-called civilized system out there.
And the third challenge is the misinterpretation. Even the so-called bestsellers, they have information that is just so wrongly written there. And when you listen to their interview, the way they wrote the book, they spent one month in India, did some research and got a book in one year. That is the best way to ruin how you should understand the feminine energy. And of course, I think one of the worst thing that happens in the spiritual settings is one size fits all. The bigger the guru becomes, the more standardized their teaching becomes. The bigger the brand is, the more one size fit all sizes sent out there. They generalize the spiritual growth. They offer one blanket to everyone. And there goes the emotional and sexual safety you are looking for. It creates a disconnect between your mind, body, nervous system. And at the end of the day, all you have is a bunch of knowledge about bunch of things, and that only strengthens your intellect, which makes you feel like a scholar. But deep down there is zero shift that has happened. There is zero transformation that has happened.
As I speak this, I've been writing all of these things in my business book that this is what needs to happen in the Leela Tantra Tribe. It feels honestly such a beautiful sacred responsibility, but also so exciting, so playful. I feel as I've discovered a deeper terma of a sudden. And although my beliefs, my philosophy have always been around these elements, but something shook me and hit me so deep on that first night of Navaratri that I can get it out of my mind. And I know if even a handful of people become part of Tantra Tribe and start living that way of life, I cannot imagine the generational impact, the deeper healing within, the actions that could start creating the change.
Now I want to share few simple steps for you to deepen this powerful energy of sacred rage and transmuted to that divine feminine rawness. And number one, understand the storyteller within you. When you hear or read someone else's story, it can be very validating. It could make you feel seen, understood, and create a spiritual and mental shift toward your freedom. So not only absorb the stories, but tell the stories. Talk about your story. And you'll notice when you open up and share your story with the right tribe, you validate their experience and suddenly you start to gain strength for yourself.
Understand your art. We all have an artist within. And the art should not be defined by just one dimension, that ruins the definition of art itself. Your art could be anything. Remember, art is a statement of creativity. And one of the powerful ways to transmute sacred rage is through your art.
Now, I know I didn't define the way I see sacred rage. For me, it's that deeply rooted, transformative anger that rises within you when you witness injustice or suppression. Remember, sacred rage is not destructive rage. It's a moving energy which wakes you up to action. Sacred rage has a higher purpose. It serves as an emotional navigation that will guide you toward balance, toward freedom. This type of rage is a spiritual fuel. It's a divine nudge that will tell you something needs to change. You need to change something. So when you go deeper in your art, your artistic expression could be your greatest form of rebellion. Through art, you can break the norms, you can question the social expectation, then celebrate your raw, unfiltered aspect. It's all about the sacred expression. It's all about that self-expression that needs to happen. And you could celebrate it publicly, privately, that's up to you. But your art will be very powerful fuel in this whole change.
Find out what spiritual practice works for you. Practices like Tantra, they speak very deep to the taboo part, the hidden part, the darker part, the shadow part. Tantra practices speak very deep to the inner child within us. They don't judge the sexuality, sensuality, the playfulness within. And obviously my experience is with Tantra and that works greatly for me and the students I've been working with for 15 years. But if Tantra doesn't feel fun to you, find something else, but do find something where you can systematically, gently, mindfully dismantle that internal cage of shame and guilt.
One more thing that shows up right now is wherever you are, connect to the community. You could be part of my Tantra Tribe or some other, but have some locals with you. It could be two people, 3, 4, 5, where you just meet them once in 15 days, once a month, twice a month, totally up to you, but engage with them. Share stories, share art. Make it a creative experience, not a gossip experience, but a creative experience where you indulge in creativity, where you let go, shed the old, and then step into the powerful practices of your rawness.
And two simple steps, and then we'll wrap up this episode. Communication and setting boundaries. Open honest communication is your key to the emotional safety. Open honest communication is also the key to your sexual safety. It's beautiful where you share, this is how I feel safe. It could be sexual, non-sexual. It could be anyway. When you start to talk in that sense, it becomes normal, then you start to let go of that taboo within. You could define how you enjoy the sexual experience. You could also define how you want it to be nonsexual. You could express how you want to be seen to anyone. Remember, you will share this with where you already feel vulnerable, where you want to connect. If they are not ready, you will get the message. So stop expecting they'll shift and then learn the lesson. You can step back and understand they will not change, they'll not learn. And they're not my jungle, they're not my tribe. They're not the people I want to give my energy to.
Boundaries, needs, desires, expressions, all of these play a very, very powerful part. Writing a journal where you let go, you go very deep into that stream of consciousness and you could make it super vulnerable. You could make it very personal. I heard Apple is coming up with an AI app where your journal will be a very interactive experience. And I know many of you may not like the brand Apple or writing in an app, but for some people who feel privacy is a big thing and they don't want to write in diaries, because what if someone reads it? The good news is there are many journal apps where they let you lock the journal and just your thoughts are secure and safe there.
All right, last thing. I do want to encourage you to be part of Tantra Tribe. It'll be an honor for me to hold space for you. And I know in the past, whenever I have launched the Leela programs, so while we all had fun, there were so many of you who could not afford because the programs were anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000. And to cut that whole financial challenge, I opened 25 spots to become the founding member of the Tantra Tribe. And that was for only $297 for Lifetime, from $5,000 for three months to $297 for Lifetime. And it's not a mistake or a typo. It is $297, that's all. The 25 spots are gone and have opened 25 more and they're moving very fast. By the time you listen to this episode, not sure what the number would be, but it'll always be affordable. But it will never be as low as $297, right?
So please jump into it. Do not let the mind sabotage your growth, your blooming. Your sacred rage, reserves a transformation. It wants to create the impact. Please show up for it. Be safe, be well, and I'll talk to you soon.
May the teachings of Tantra continue to guide you and heal you. And I hope Leela Gurukul helps you to unlearn the old and embrace the unknown mystical possibility unfolding for you. To support this podcast, share it among the seekers who are ready for the next step in their spiritual path.
-
CB's Instagram Tantra Mastery Channel
Visit cbmeditates.com to send your questions and learn more about Chandresh's work.
