Standing in the rain with Danny The Magic by the river at Henley yesterday, throwing the world’s troubles into the current to be swept clean away, chanting om gam Ganapatayi namaha to Ganesh, one of the top deities in Hindu cosmology, representing that aspect of the Tao that clears away all the obstacles and strengthens the resolve to continue on the path of contributing value to the world, I was filled with empathy. All at once I knew what it was to be a river. The river and I were as one, and I could feel how it was to etch my way through the landscape, following the path of least resistance, rather than attempting to forge a straight line, thus finding myself winding myself around hill and dale until, eventually, inevitably, I arrive at my destination: merging with all water in the sea. All at once I knew how daft it would be to live life any other way.
Slow down
There’s no rush, even though it appears there is. Even if we don’t achieve what we think we must this lifetime, we’ll still all end up in the sea, metaphorically speaking: the sea of all being, though of course the way things are going, we all may end up in the sea literally too.
But we mustn’t be too perturbed, perplexed or put off our stride by apocalyptic notions. Indeed we must carry on, creating, developing, proffering what we can to alleviate suffering and ameliorate existence for everyone, as if the world will go on forever.
At the same time, we mustn’t take either position too seriously, nor our place in the scheme of things. After all this experience of having a self is yet another example, perhaps the prime example, of the great illusion of manifest reality. All each of us is, is a collection of habits: habits of thought and behavior clinging together in a recognizable shape we each become accustomed to identifying as ourselves.
Laughing Tao
And the Tao laughs because it’s winning this game of hide and seek – laughs till it remembers it’s only playing with itself, that you and I are merely expressions of itself. So it throws us a clue or two to make the game more interesting, both for itself as the Tao and for each of us as its mostly unwitting expressions: clues like this very article, for example.
And then it runs off and hides again behind the voluminous cloak of the world of matter, but if we’re really quick, we can just catch a glimpse just before it vanishes from view.
Meanwhile, back to etching our way over hill and dale to the sea, or simply sitting doing nothing waiting with our swimwear and water-wings ready for the sea to come to us.
With love, Supercharged
Barefoot Satsang online every Sunday at 17.00 BST, very powerful meditating with a global multitude: book your place here.
