Devotion
What do you long for? Really long for? If you could distill the the desires of your heart and mind into a pure essence or feeling, what would it be? How would it actually feel? And where does true fulfillment lie? Is it even possible, or is desire endless and constantly reinventing itself?
The Vedic perspective is that the material world of the senses, perceived through the sensory dimension of the mind called manas, is illusionary in nature. It is a mirror, a reflection of the ultimate reality which is beyond the senses and yet as a reflection it can show us a glimpse of that most Divine presence that created it.
Because our senses draw us outward to experience what appears to be real and enticing, promising the fulfillment we long for, we can be compared to the musk deer who chases the smell of musk through the forest, when it actually exists in its own naval.
In my own experience the most powerful and fulfilling love, beautifully written about by poets such as Rumi and Hafiz, is devotion, the love for the Divine. Where does the Divine reside? Where can it be discovered, felt, lived? Devotion is both the longing and the longed for. Devotion is a longing and a gratitude. Through surrender into the deepest and most sincere thirst of the one’s heart, one encounters the answer to that longing, which is Divine loving and eternal presence.
Through connecting with the Divine, suddenly the entire creation is understood to be a celebration of its beauty and majesty. Separation is over. But the journey must be one of going within. It is a solo journey and a deep quiet one, in which all the inner shadows and lost aspects of one’s self must be acknowledged, retrieved and loved. All grief must be fully felt, all rage and sorrow felt and released as expressions of the suffering inherent in seeking fulfillment through the mirror, which can never fulfill.
Ultimately all of our lessons in this life are to lead us back home to our very own hearts and awakened minds, where the Divine loving presence actually waits patiently for us. There is no judgement and there is no time. Only the moment of union which is eternal.
Follow your longing in the portal of your heart. Enter the mystery of silence. Bask in the loving presence that has always been your unwavering companion. One who loves you and knows you by heart. This is so beautifully expressed by the great poet , Derek Walcott
Love After Love
The Time will come when with elation you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror and each will smiles the others welcome and say, “sit here, eat.” You will love again the stranger who was yourself. Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart to itself, to the stranger who has loved you, for another who knows you by heart. Take down the love letters from the bookshelf, the photographs, the desperate notes. Peel your own image from the mirror. Sit and feast on your life.
May we all be in union with the Ultimate Lover and be the Love we long for. May we dance the eternal dance of seeking and finding the Divine within.
Much love,
neva