Promises and Vows
Wednesday, September 27th, 2006Vows are an aspect of many spiritual paths. Paramahamsa Satyananda Saraswati wrote that vow-taking powerfully orients one toward the accomplishment of the vow. Vow-taking creates momentum.
In some traditions, people take hundreds of vows. The keeping of vows is in fact their main practice.
Many contemporary people have little understanding or experience of vows. I was married for a brief time, and I remember thinking that if it didn’t work out, no problem, I could divorce. This is how most of us take a vow: we’ve already got our escape plan. Sometimes the escape plan is simply the knowledge that the vow hasn’t really changed anything, or made much of an impact.
Once, I was instructed in a dream not to take any more vows. My flesh and blood teacher instructed me otherwise, and that got me contemplating the whole vow phenomenon.
I had a feeling back then that the only authentic vows were those that had somehow already been made—vows and fate seemed to go hand-in-hand. I didn’t really understand my own intuition.
Recently, I have experienced what might be called “vow events.” These are spontaneous vows.
In these moments, I recognized a few things about vows.
Vows are open communications. When we are in a state of open communication, our small sense of self has dissolved. A complete vow is like a sudden opening of the gates of the self.
A complete vow is heard. The world answers and validates it.
A complete vow is fulfilled without fail. You may backtrack a little, you may fall into temporary disgrace, but a complete vow pulls you toward wisdom inexorably. No complete vow can be broken.
A complete vow is surrender to your real situation. We tend to think of taking a vow as a moment in which we pull ourselves together, get tough, and buck up. However, a complete vow is as sweet and natural as water.
A complete vow is alchemy. You are changed in body, speech, and mind. You are cellularly reorganized.
Ordinary promises have their place. But we all know that if a friend says “I’ll be over for dinner at 8:00,” something might get in the way—a delay or an unavoidable change in plans. We make allowances for this possibility. Maybe the friend will just forget, or decide not to be friends with us anymore. Anything can happen, even when a promise has been made.
In spiritual practice, many people conflate ordinary promises and vows. Most of us, when we say we are taking a vow, are only making an ordinary promise with some extra oomph thrown in.
It is important to recognize that a vow and a promise are different situations. A vow is not a grim affair. When we are committing to undertake some action, sometimes we sigh with tiredness at the thought of having to live up to our promise. But we experience a feeling of relaxation and joy when uttering even the scariest vow.
Because you are
God becoming
God,
all commitments are naturally fulfilled
The intricate weave
of everything-at-once
pulls a golden thread
and you are off!
The only authentic vows
are those
that take us,
not the vows we take
When a vow comes for you,
keep your eyes open,
and your body relaxed.
Be like a newborn baby
tossed into space
Curious and soft
no matter what
More than artificial vows,
we need this bravery
and to remember
our natural talent
for being swept away
OM Shanti,
Shambhavi
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