A Gift of Rasa
Sunday, June 17th, 2007“Rasa” is a Sanskrit word that means something like the sweet taste of aesthetic appreciation. There is no English equivalent. Rasa is a fundamental aspect of Tantrik View and cosmology. This is easy to understand when we experience the entire world as a pagent of creative expression.
Tantrik ritual is always colorful and often extravagant. During puja, the priest sits before the fire surrounded by a riot of bright flowers, sandalwood paste, red kum kum, orange turmeric, many food offerings, ritual knives, bells, incense smoke, and elaborately costumed deities.
Tantrik ritual enhances our participation in this “dressing up” of consciousness. In fact, all of Tantrik ritual is an enactment of the cycles of creation and decreation.
Life enjoys the artistry of life, but this does not mean that we are happy all of the time in the usual sense. What most people call happiness is actually suffering. We must always be doing something to safeguard our happiness and prevent its opposite. This sort of happiness is built on fear of loss.
Highly accomplished persons experience all of life, including so-called negative situations and emotions, with appreciation and wonder. When we relax our limited likes and dislikes, we discover the “one taste” of all existence: we discover the sweetness of rasa.
This is all to say: Welcome to the beautiful new Living Tantra! I hope you enjoy tasting its many delights, including those moments of Self-recognition that may also be a little bit painful.
The new Living Tantra design was entirely paid for by readers. This is inspiring for everyone. Check out the acknowledgment that has become a permanent part of the site. It lives in the footer at the bottom of this page. Thanks to everyone who contributed, and to all the readers of Living Tantra who just keep coming back!
Our site designer, Daisey Traynham of Firefly Multimedia also deserves kudos for her fantastic work. I encourage you to share your appreciation of the new site with her.
An entirely new aspect of the site is Jaya Kula. Jaya Kula (Jai-yuh Koo-la) is the community center that will be opening on September 20 in Portland, Oregon. Jaya Kula will offer a range of classes and events for people wanting to learn how to integrate Tantrik View and practices into daily life. Check out the schedule of upcoming classes and events.
Finally, it has been a lot of work producing the new site, and the work is not done. New resources will be appearing over time. And I am sure there will be some glitches. Please be patient as we work out the kinks. And do let me know about broken links or other problems.
Please use the contact form to let us know how you feel about the new site, or just say “Hi!”
Thanks and gratitude to all of you.
In Matriseva,
Shambhavi
Firefly Multimedia