Reverence for the Divine Mother
“As we stand on the threshold of making or breaking it as far as human consciousness, and perhaps conscious life on the Planet is concerned, what it means to be a teacher is also to see beyond… This is no longer about realization of my existential quest for fulfilment, but a recognized necessity for a shared vision. And unless my heart beats in union with yours, unless my brainwaves fire in synchronized velocity with your own, all this teaching is of little value at this moment in time.
It is to conceive and recognize the shapes of things to come, before they manifest into existence, and to make sure they form to contain harmony and grace at the heart of it all… To see, is to behold all creation as this moment in all its incomprehensible simplicity, so as to bathe newborn reality in waters of invincibility before it gains strength in flowing wakefulness and bliss..."
This teaching is deeply rooted in the Tantric perspective and awareness that a subtle vibratory energy is the substratum of everything we know. Unlike quantum physicists, yogic sages do not experience this energy as an abstract vibration, but as the expression of the Divine Feminine, called Shakti, the Goddess. The word Shakti means energy or power. Another name for her is Kundalini. She is the Self and dwells in the form of supreme bliss in the heart of yogis. Shakti is the underlying matrix of reality.
Emerging from the waveless ocean of Consciousness, She manifests through one of five powers – the power to be conscious (Chit-Shakti), the power to experience ecstasy (Ananda-Shakti), the power to desire (Iccha-Shakti), the power to know (Jnana-Shakti) and the power to act (Kriya-Shakti). All these powers are involved in every single act of creation; in the creation of the universe as well as the creation of a fantasy or a delicious salad. This path inevitably takes us to the direct recognition within our hearts, that all of creation is the dance of Shakti, to the cognition that it is the great Goddess who acts through our thoughts and the range of our emotions. We realize that She is present in a grain of sand, a piece of bread and all physiological processes of our bodies.
From this perspective, everything the Mother has created is beautiful. Beauty here encompasses the totality of life's expression. Beauty is the Heart of life. Its energy inspires and uplifts us. It gives us a glimpse of the eternal Truth. There is the expression: "Satyam Shivam Sundaram." It means that God is truth and truth is God, that God is beauty and beauty is God. God, truth and beauty are the same. Beauty itself takes us to the highest. If we worship the Mother through recognizing and creating beauty, She reveals Herself in our hearts.
“Beauty is the quiver within the HEART of Consciousness. The throb of your own awareness. The wave that comes out of your heart as perception itself -- the throb of Shiva to behold Its own magnificence.”
A student with an awakened life force who performs sadhana with sincerity and perseverance, constantly purifies his perception to be able to perceive life as it is, as the magnificent creation of the Goddess, the power of Consciousness. Over time, his relationship to the world and other people turns into the intimate relationship to the Mother Herself. This means to partake in the Glory of Her divine expression in its manifold forms, from the most terrifying to the most gentle manifestations. Inherent in all creation is Her subtle rasa, the subtle, delightful flavour of Bliss that can be extracted from every experience through purified perception and unwavering attention.
“So just contemplate when you have a moment, that everything from every blade of grass, every grasshopper, every bird in the sky, every tree, every pair of new shoes, every person out there, every mountain, every cloud, every star is an embodiment of ananda, it is an embodiment of bliss. It is literally bliss manifested in the physical form, and it is there waiting to be discovered, it is there waiting to be actualized, cognized again, because when that is cognized fully, every experience is bliss, absolutely every — positive, negative — it makes no difference whatsoever. Because at the very core there is this recognition that takes place, and that recognition takes place directly —and nowhere but deep within the Heart."
When the power of awareness pierces the appearance of form and perceives the essence of every experience, the realization dawns that all of life is sacred. The rose-petals on the puja altar as well as rotten leaves. We realize that this world is created through the way we perceive it. When the mind is purified, it sees things as they are. In the culmination of this process, the Seer merges with the Seen and the mere act of seeing remains. A soul has returned home to Unity Consciousness.
"The world is as you see it."
Thus, sense perception on this path is not to be transcended or ignored – the senses are the most refined portals to partake in the delightful dance of the Goddess, to unveil the mystery of life. The senses are considered to be "immortals." We offer them the nectar of our experiences, so that the Gods can partake in the ecstasy of being embodied in human form.
The student is guided to consciously integrate higher states of Consciousness into his life and nervous system. The Path of the Heart is not an escape route into transcendence to leave sensual experience or the world behind – which in so many spiritual traditions is negated as illusion. This is not the path of avoidance. Instead our hearts are opened to behold the rawness and depth of every facet of life, the dance of Shakti – we are called upon to heal the deep gap between Spirit and matter, the masculine and the feminine, the transcendence and the embodiment. We are invited to claim our birthright to fully partake in the glorious play of life and become One with the creative potential of Consciousness Itself – to live life from the ground of our Being, in happiness and bliss.
