Sobriety by the Ganges
Sunday, January 15th, 2006Greetings from Varanasi!
At this juncture, and much to my own surprise and amusement, I find I have become a player in the kind of spiritual adventure that usually befalls people in their twenties, and that, if I chose to write about it, could possibly make me a lot of money! (All of this should properly be read with a healthy dose of irony.)
However, being solidly middle-aged and gratefully a bit more experienced in sadhana, what is on my mind these days is SOBRIETY and the vital importance of testing of one’s CONDUCT against one’s CONCEPTS. Concepts about spiritual life and spiritual “attainments” are easy to come by. Conduct is the authentic fruit of dedicated practice held in the crucible of unerring View. Inability or unwillingness to investigate CONTRADICTION between one’s real conduct and favorite concepts is how most of us get stuck at some place or another and fail to keep growing. With this contradiction left intact, unsubjected to the fire of discrimination and the courage to understand our real situation, we are like fish swimming on a broad river who get swept into a tiny tidepool and die there for lack of nourishment.
At the same time, we must have the humilty, modesty, and courage to make mistakes, even big mistakes. In the Tantras and Vedas, even Mahadevas such as Shiva and Vishnu are found to be in gross error at times and have to live with the consequences.
While we don’t want to get stuck, the idea that we are working toward perfection, or that perfection is even a valid category, is another ego construct. If we want to “live the View,” that is, realize and radiate the infinite potential of the natural state, we must make individual effort in sadhana. But this effort is not in the service of perfection. Rather, effort is undertaken in open anticipation of the unpredictable wonders that will surely unfold.
OM and Pranams to you all.
Shambhavi
Firefly Multimedia