Closing the gap between ourselves and God, RamDev shows us the tantra of loving one thing so much that we can not help but love it all.
Deep Devotion // The Play of Pure Consciousness
In the beginning of practice, we are working on the basics like cultivating right effort and understanding suffering. As our practice deepens we start to feel a loving relationship with the Buddha, Christ, or a deity. Then, eventually, we begin to realize that our devotion is not only to something outside of ourselves. We become one with the deity and disengage from our own ego.
“Our true nature, the nature of everybody, and the true nature of everything is what we were invoking in the first place. Everything is the play of pure consciousness.” – RamDev
For more on our relationship to the deity sit back with Krishna Das in: God Everywhere, All the Time
Emotions as a Healing Message (8:01)
Instead of having a negative association with our emotions, try viewing them as tantric healing messages. Anger means you are alive and can feel things intensely. Emotions are extremely short experiences; the hormones that fluctuate during arousal, happiness, sadness, and anger all come and go. Emotions stay with us longer when we are grasping onto them or trying to change them. In the tradition of tantra, everything is divine and all sensations are celebrated.
“Know
The true nature of your Beloved.
In His loving eyes your every thought,
Word and movement is always,
Always Beautiful.” – Hafiz
Tune into Ep. 41 of the BHNN Guest Podcast for a Toolkit for Being with Thoughts and Emotions
A Guided Meditation // Loving the Whole World (18:17)
RamDev guides us into a meditation where we become one with the deity, become filled with the true nature of radiant consciousness, and love everything wholly. When we rest in this centered space, no emotion, thought, or sensation can interfere with our pure awareness. Our body, speech, and mind have always been and will always be inseparable from the deity, no matter what arises.
“In Sanskrit, there’s not two words for heart and mind. The heart is the depth of the mind, the openness of the mind.” – RamDev
Unconditional Love and Boundaries (41:10)
When we enter the heart space we create compassion for ourselves and others. Our true nature is to have an open heart, but this does not mean we don’t have boundaries. There is pain and suffering in the world and we can extend our compassion and love unconditionally, but we must also include ourselves in this. Practicing tantra is actually an act of self-protection because we learn to treat ourselves and all of our experiences with that same unconditional love we long to give the world.
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