All posts (page 5)

What is anurāga?

anurāga [affection, attraction, attachement, feeling, pleasure] 

Feeling flows. This is the simplest thing we can say about it. 

Feeling is not like like still water in an urn. Feeling moves or it is not feeling. 

And where does it flow? It flows from something capable of producing feeling to something capable of receiving feeling: from a heart to a heart, from a soul to a soul.   

The essence of feeling is to be of a soul and for a soul. If there is feeling it is because there are (at least) two souls, one to give and one to receive.

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Love and creation

The universe came into being as energy. Physicists and philosophers, theologians and mystics agree. The creator’s energy and the creation are one. Creation takes the form of energy. But what does it mean to create? 

Creation does not mean the simple replacement of nothing by something. Such a creation would be empty and cold, without life, movement or feeling. The universe would be desert before creation, deserted after creation.

This is because the creation of life does not mean the creation of things that live. It means the creation of the energy that causes life to live. A universe full of things without life is no different than a universe with no things at all. 

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What is bhāva?

bhāva [mood, sentiment, spiritual emotion, way of being]

Attention to bhāva is the miracle of Bhakti Yoga. It is both mystery and perfect clarity. 

From the ego point of view it is nothing: trivial, superficial, meaningless: a passing mood, a fickle feeling. But from the soul point of view it means a way of being, a way of living, an attitude, an understanding of, well, everything. 

For the soul-being bhāva is the calm of the heart, the sigh of the soul, the feelingless feeling that brings us, without effort, without strife, without pain, closer to ourselves, which is to say, closer to the divine. 

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Rādhā is the source of beauty

I walk on the beach in the setting sun. The air is soft. The sand under my feet is warm. The rush of the surf quiets, as the calm of the evening falls. I feel happiness, a soft and blissful feeling covers me, touches my material senses and my spiritual body.

What causes this feeling of happiness? What does it mean? Where will it take me? What does it ask of me? 

My first and most natural reflex is to think that I have come to the beach seeking this experience, that I know when and where and how to enjoy it. The sunrise is a fact, the beach is a fact, the heat and the light, and all the beauty I experience are part of this world. It is a world that I can experience at my pleasure, at my convenience, on my terms, according to my needs. 

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What is rasa?

rasa [juice, nectar, transcendental taste] 

Bhakti Yoga begins and ends with feelings. There is no other pure source of meaning and guidance. The path of Bhakti, through teaching of guru or others is always to find and follow the narrow path of pure feeling. 

Therefore the guiding question is not ‘what should I feel?’ It is rather ‘what is this that I feel and where does it lead me?’ Thought will never lead to feeling, feeling will lead to thought and then transcend it. 

In the ‘Southern Section’ of Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu, Rūpa Gosvāmi defines rasa as ‘the indescribable wonderful relish that is beyond the power of human thinking and arises in the pure heart brightened by goodness’ (2.5.132).

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Having love and being love

Soul-consciousness means the awareness that we have a soul, that we are soul-beings, and that the soul is divine. 

Since the soul is not material we cannot achieve soul-consciousness through our material senses. We will never find the soul by simply gazing out of our window. It is true that the hints and clues of our material world—beauty and charm, sweetness and attraction—touch our hearts and lift our souls. But the moment of soul-consciousness will come spontaneously, surprisingly, mercifully. 

Soul consciousness comes as a revelation. It is not the creation of new knowledge. It is the discovery of everything we already knew but did not realise. It comes not as a discovery of all the wonders that were unknown to us. It comes as the discovery that everything is familiar, has always already been so close by that we could touch it.  

Soul consciousness arrives not through the familiar experiences of our material experience, but through the mystery and charm of our spiritual life. The soul is playful, light and sweet. It is neither shy nor timid. While the mind is cautious about the dangers of the material world, the soul is open and naive, curious and searching, eager and affirming.

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What is a līla?

līla [divine activity, sports, play, pastime] 

We cannot know God by his words, only by witnessing his activities. Līla is the name of the activities of God done in order to be understood—and realised—by jīvas 

In Vedic philosophy, God’s līla is the way that the truth about the universe can be communicated, not through high and mighty talk, but by frolicking, loving play. The Truth of the universe is a not a word, it is a feeling: love. It cannot, should not, must not be left to cold and hollow words, it must be seen in action, put into play. That is why stories are told of the pastimes of God. 

Līlas can be found in religious and spiritual traditions throughout the Indian Sub-continent. The Vedas are filled with tales of divine līlas, from the Ramayana to the Puranas. 

Wherever there are līlas, there is a lightness, playfulness, effortless movement, and natural emotion. Līlas are always graceful, joyous, and whimsical. They embody the way that God, the Absolute, effortlessly governs the universe, and the pleasure and happiness he takes in doing so. 

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What is śaktī?

śaktī [power, energy, potency] 

There is nothing without energy. 

There is no heat in the fire, no movement of the water, no light, no sound. Nothing.

Without energy, there is no life in nature, no flowers that grow or trees that reach to the sky, no insects that creep, no animals that roam, no human hearts that pump warm blood through the veins.   

Without energy there are no sensations, nothing to smell or taste or touch or see.   

Without energy there is no feeling, no tremors of emotion, no sensations of the heart, no sensations that surprise with their appearance, and astonish through their vanishing. 

And so without energy there is no soul, there is no life, there is no love.

Love is the name of energy in its highest form. It is energy that is equal to God. The desires we experience, the attractions that seize our senses are the expressions of this love, this divine love, this divinity. 

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