No Act of Love is Ever Wasted
During my weekend in Denver, I told a story inspired by the opening passages of the Kularnava Tantra. As the text opens, Shiva, the Lord of all, the Great-Consciousness-That-Is-All-That-Is, the singularity of Reality, is seated on the mountain top absorbed in meditation. His wife, Parvati, the manifested world, the dynamic counterpoint, the diversity that expresses the totality of Shiva's singularity, arrives on the scene with a question for her husband.
"Uh, Shiva, dear, I do hate to bother you in your cosmic bliss and all, but I have something weighing heavily on my heart..." (Actually, she is more formal than that and says something along the lines of Om Namah Shivaya Gurave. You know, Oh great guru... you are the highest of the High, you are Being, Consciousness, and Bliss, You are Ever-present, All-knowing, and All-powerful…Okay, you get the point.)
She continues, "I know things are going well for you up here on Mt. Kailasa and from your perspective all is well with the world. But I have been down in the valley among the people and I have to tell you that I have yet to find one truly happy person."
Pressing on, Parvati describes the suffering she has witnessed-- the manifestations of ignorance, the violence, the division, the addiction, the grasping, the greed, and the despair. Eventually, she poses her question. "Shiva, I must know, what can we do to help?"
To make a long story short, Shiva outlines a yogic path of participation where one’s “enjoyment becomes yoga, one’s mistakes are made into art, and where all life is liberation.” This radical shift of practice away from personal liberation-only, away from renunciation-only, is a process of awakening that occurs in and through one's skillful and direct engagement with life's circumstances. Skill, in this case, does not mean the skill of being super-competent or doing fancy poses or being popular on Instagram, all of which are wonderful things. Here, we are talking about the skill of being able to act in the world in accordance with one's Highest recognitions, one's deepest understandings, and one's most expansive inclinations. We are talking about the skill of bringing our efforts to Grace and being carried by the larger currents with which one aligns themselves.
Anyway, before I take too many more liberties with the story, I'll make my point. I am figuring that most of you reading this post are doing so with a heart heavy from the weight of our modern times. War, genocide, climate change, injustice, corruption, inflation, political upheaval along with numerous personal challenges are taxing the resiliency of everyone I know.
If I take the position that I am everyone in the story, then I am the suffering masses, I am the wise guru on the mountain top, and I am the impulse to help, to serve, to heal, and to suffer-with, and this text from over a thousand years ago remains instructive and hopeful. I know I need time on the mountain top, however I can get it-- asana, pranayama, community gatherings, psychotherapy, meaningful conversations, long hikes, sunsets, mantra practice, prayer, scriptural study, dogs, cats, and rainbows in order to keep showing up in my unique spheres of influence with whatever solidarity I can embody. From deep listening, a well-timed meme, a phone call or text message to a friend, donations, volunteer work and more, the ways to serve through intentional presence are endless. And, as a mentor of mine recently reminded me, "No act of love is ever wasted."
So, yeah, every time I climb to the heights of my own understanding to seek wisdom in the face of challenge, Love is always the answer.
Okay, carry on. More soon.
Never Miss a Post
Subscribe to receive updates on Christina’s blog
