Monday, April 9, 2012

Bhakti, Divine Devotion


Our igniting of and careful tending to Manipura (third chakra) we journey upwards to Anahata (fourth chakra); connecting our individual Self with the rest of the world. This is where we find devotional love, sacrifice, self-less service. When we live from the heart our actions become more fluid, less controlled, without hesitation, and from the reservoir of faith cultivated, in Manipura, by our own will power.

The pose Natarajasana, the cosmic dance of Shiva embodies so much strength and grace together and brings these two points of the physical and pranic bodies together beautifully.

"Riding on the golden flames of our power center, we now arrive at the very heart of the chakra system...Like the green growing plants which push toward the heavens from their roots in the earth, we, too, reach outward in two directions-anchoring the manifesting current deep in our bodies and expanding the liberating current as we reach beyond ourselves. In the heart chakra, these currents come to perfect balance in the center of our being. From that sacred center-the heart fo the system-we enter the mystery of love."
Eastern Body, Western Mind by Anodea Judith

"Be wildly devoted to someone, or something.
Cherish every perception.
At the same time, forget about control.
Allow the Beloved to be itself and to change.
Passion and compassion, holding and letting go,
This ache in your heart is holy,
Accept it as the rise of intimacy with life's secret ways.

Devotion is the Divine streaming through you
From that place in you before time.
Love's energy flows through your body,
Toward a body, and into eternity again.
Surrender to this current of devotion
and become one with the body of love."

The Radiance Sutras by Lorin Roche