I’m in that place right now. And I’ll be honest: it’s not always comfortable. But I’m standing in it. And at the end of this letter, I’m going to share something I’ve been building quietly — something the community asked for a long time ago that I resisted, fought, and finally surrendered to. Because it turns out dharma doesn’t always look like what you expect. Sometimes it looks like returning to something you once outgrew — but now you can hold it differently.
More on that in a moment.
First — April belongs to The King.
Not the King who rules because he seized power. Not the one who leads because he needs to feel important. The King who governs from the inside out — whose authority comes from alignment with something larger than himself, not from the size of his throne.
Welcome to the work.
The Sun as Atman — Your Divine Self
Here’s what makes Surya unlike any other planet in the Vedic system:
He represents the Atman — the eternal, unchanging self beneath all the roles you play.
Not your job title. Not your reputation. Not what you’ve built or lost or rebuilt. The Sun points to something underneath all of that — the essential you that existed before the story you’ve been telling yourself about who you are.
This is why the King archetype, at its highest expression, is never really about power over others. It’s about alignment with your own deepest nature. A man who knows his Atman doesn’t need to dominate the room — he fills it simply by being himself.
The Bhagavad Gita puts it directly: “The soul is never born nor dies at any time. It has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. It is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, and primeval.” (2.20)
When a King rules from that place — from the knowledge of who he truly is beneath the titles — his leadership becomes something different. It becomes service. It becomes dharma. It becomes a force that doesn’t need to take from others because it’s already full.
The Tenth House: Dharma in Action
The Tenth House is where soul purpose meets the material world.
Dharma — often translated as “duty” or “right action” — isn’t a moral obligation imposed from outside. It’s the unique path that only you can walk. The contribution that arises naturally from your particular combination of gifts, wounds, training, and calling.
When you’re living your dharma, work doesn’t feel like performance. Leadership doesn’t feel like maintenance. There’s a quality of rightness — not ease necessarily, but alignment. Like a river moving in the direction it was always meant to flow.
When you’re out of dharma — leading from fear, building for approval, performing strength rather than embodying it — even success feels hollow. You can have the structure and still feel empty inside it.
The Tenth House asks you to stop performing and start being.
The King knows the difference.
What the King Actually Is
Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette, in their foundational work on masculine archetypes, describe the King as the archetype of order, blessing, and fertility — the one who creates the conditions in which others can thrive. The King isn’t the smartest person in the room. He’s the one who builds the room, holds the space, and makes sure the right people are in it.
The King:
- Leads from values, not from ego
- Blesses and affirms those around him
- Takes responsibility without needing credit
- Knows when to act and when to yield
- Serves something larger than his own comfort
This is the opposite of how leadership gets performed in most of our culture — where power means control, where status means dominance, where strength means never showing uncertainty.
Real sovereignty isn’t about control. It’s about presence. The capacity to be so rooted in who you are that the people around you feel safe — not because you’ve promised them safety, but because your groundedness gives them room to stand in their own.
I Fought This — And Here’s Why I’m Done Fighting It
For years, people in this community asked me for something I kept saying no to.
They wanted a home. A consistent container. A place that wasn’t just an event you attended, but a community you belonged to. A tribe in the truest sense — vetted, intentional, sober, and safe enough to do real work in.
And I resisted it. Honestly, I fought it.
Part of me thought it was a step backward — like returning to something I had already evolved beyond. I’d built events, trainings, men’s work, somatic practices. A membership community felt too fixed. Too much like a structure I’d outgrown.
What I didn’t see — until recently, until everything got rearranged and I had to rebuild from the foundation — was that I wasn’t resisting the idea. I was resisting the responsibility of it. Because building a tribe isn’t just programming events. It’s governance. It’s culture. It’s the long, slow, unglamorous work of holding space for people across time.
That’s King work.
And I wasn’t ready for it until I understood that.
I’m ready now.
Introducing Temple Tribe
Temple Tribe is a fully vetted, members-only community for people committed to personal growth, spiritual evolution, and conscious exploration of intimacy and connection — sober, intentional, and built to last.
Now serving Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, and San Francisco.
This isn’t another event series. It’s a tribe. A place of safety, refuge, and deep belonging — for people who have done enough work on themselves to know that real freedom requires a real container.
Membership includes:
- Monthly Members-Only Temple Nights
- Quarterly Dungeon Theme Parties (DJ, non-alcoholic elixir bar, conscious play)
- Bi-annual weekend retreats
- Access to white and pink level events, private online community, and discounted coaching and personal services
Founding Membership is open now — and limited to 50 people.
As a Founding Member you lock in $108/month for life, get priority access to all retreats and intensives, and help shape the culture of this tribe from the ground floor. That rate never increases, even as prices do. Payment doesn’t begin until after you’re accepted.
To apply, you’ll need to have attended at least 2 white-level events and 1 pink-level event. Then request an application at the link below.
If you’ve been part of this community for a while and you’ve been waiting for something like this — this is it. This is what the hints were pointing toward. This is what I couldn’t name until I was ready to lead it properly.
This Week’s Practice: Surya Namaskar — Saluting Your Soul
The ancient practice of Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutation) was never just a physical warm-up. It was a devotional act — a bow to Atman, an acknowledgment of the light within and without.
Each morning this week, before you check your phone, before the world makes its demands:
- Stand outside or near a window, facing east if possible
- Take three slow, deep breaths — inhale for 4, hold for 4, exhale for 6
- Place your hands at your heart in Anjali mudra (prayer position)
- Say — aloud or internally: “I am here. I know who I am. I serve what is true.”
- Spend 2 minutes in stillness, letting the light land on your face
- Ask one question before you move: “What does my soul want to do today — not my fear, not my ego, but my soul?”
Don’t analyze the answer. Let it arise. Carry it with you.
Reflection Questions
- Where in your life are you leading from soul purpose — and where from fear of judgment?
- What have you been resisting that might actually be your next right step?
- What would change if you trusted that your dharma doesn’t require anyone else’s approval?
- If your Atman — your truest self — were running the show this week, what would it do differently?
This Month’s Invitation
April is the month of The King. Not the one who performs power — but the one who embodies it. Over the next four weeks we’ll move through the Sun’s teaching, the Crown Chakra, the shadow of the King, and what it actually looks like to lead when you’re no longer doing it for yourself.
This work isn’t theoretical. It’s lived.
And it begins here — with who you are when no one is watching, and whether that person is someone you actually trust.
With clear eyes and a steady throne,
Shiva J