When the unlimited source contracts into the form of an individual, into each of us, we as individuals experience ourselves as incomplete or imperfect, and therefore we yearn for whatever we think we need for completion. Rāga and is said to be the non-specific sense of desire for something not quite known that gets rationalised as specific desires such as specific things, a position of power, or an amount of money. Of course as the veil is one that creates an innate non-specific feeling of needing something to be complete, the satisfaction of specific desires does not take care of the discomfort. The literal meaning of the word Rāga is ‘colour’ and Raga acts as a dye which ‘colours’ the way we see the world.
We can look at this, not as a problem, but as an opportunity to follow the desires back to the source and realise that what we really crave is a sense of wholeness and authenticity and that we will be truly satisfied only by experiencing ourselves as that source, pure being.
The practices of body, breath, mindfulness lift the veils of the kanchukas and I see our practices as a really important commitment we can make to ourselves and the world at this time of rampant materialism, where we are chasing the next latest ‘thing’ thinking it will fill the void … and when it doesn’t, there is always the next thing. To risk being perhaps a bit dramatic I might say that practices such as ours are the solution to our global greed and to our personal satisfaction as well as our valuable contribution. Let’s remind one another, there is nothing lacking
The small ruby everyone wants has fallen out on
the road.
Some think it is east of us, others west of us.
Some say, “among the primitive earth rocks,” others,
“in the deep waters.”
Kabir’s instinct told him it was inside, and what it
was worth,
and he wrapped it up carefully in his heart cloth.
the road.
Some think it is east of us, others west of us.
Some say, “among the primitive earth rocks,” others,
“in the deep waters.”
Kabir’s instinct told him it was inside, and what it
was worth,
and he wrapped it up carefully in his heart cloth.
…. Kabir
Recent Comments