Seeking
Illumination
In the depths,
I catch mySelf
In the mystery
Of reflection.
I invite you to ponder, dear yogins, why I have titled this “pratyabijna” and not “vimarsa.”
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Siva, Parvati, Ganesha, and Nandin, reverse painting on glass, mid 20th century
For a garden to thrive, it takes planning, knowledge/study, and engagement. To still find joy in it, one must also surrender to the vagaries out of our control. Sure enough, every year, with variations in weather and seed/root/plant stock, some things will be especially prolific, and others —perhaps our favorites—will fail despite best efforts.
The inside book flap on Jaideva Singh’s translation and commentary on the Pratyabijna Hrdayam, say “Jiva is Shiva.” Singh notes that “pratyabijna” means recognition. The tantric philosophy underlying this work holds that by have acted from absolute freedom (svatantriya) to become embodied (jiva), Shiva has forgotten his true nature. The point of the teachings in these 20 sutras is to help us, as embodied beings who have forgotten, to remember our shiva nature. What does this mean from a practical perspective? I think the point is to teach us to try to act and live reverently, to try not only to choose to seek the good for ourselves and others, but to see it.
This evening I attended a gathering at Meridian Hill Park with several hundred Jewish people and a some allies and a few dozen police (not sure whether the police were there intentionally to be threatening or to be of supposed protection).
The gathering was to mourn the 1200 killed on October 7, the 250 taken hostage, and the tens of thousands killed and millions displaced since then. Whether the speakers were Jewish or Palestinian or Christian or Hindu, they were unified in their belief (relying on the texts and teachings that informed their faith), that no lives are more precious than others. The rabbis were emphatic that continuing to bomb and displace Palestinians and now, Lebanese, makes no one safer.
We must stop the relentless funding of war, the destruction of life and communities and the ecosystem if we and our companion species (flora and fauna) are ever to thrive.
Om shanti, shanti, shanti.
Shalom.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
