Silence in Rishikesh (3)

There was a kirtan for Guru Purnima last night, but I went to my room and conked out early. Had good meditation this morning. Feel more normal after a disruptive few days. Hopefully it will mean improved work ethic. Silence is actually a good thing, but requires a bit of getting used to.

One thing is that here in this ashram, people are used to other people doing a mauna-vrata, and they just ignore you. You become practically speaking invisible. Then, as I found out, when you finally do talk, they still ignore you! You realize that most of what you say is not really of any great significance -- to you or to others.

Observing my own body is not something I have done very well in this lifetime. Even now, with the yoga, it feels like I haven't explored my own body very well. But with the Yoga Tarangini work, I have been zeroing in on at least the essential original hatha yoga practices, which require a lot of internalization focused on the body itself.

That is really what hatha yoga is about. Like the universal form is not just about seeing God outside in the universe, but seeing God in your own body manifesting in various ways. And so it is just another way of become aware of the presence of God. God is present in my body, not only as the indweller of this temple/field, but he is the very body itself.

And then you observe the breath -- especially the breath -- and the heartbeat, and then all the complex functions associated with each of the chakras, and see God present in each of those.

And the presence of God means the presence of grace. And recognizing the presence of grace means the heart floods with gratitude.

And that is the basis of devotional ecstasy. The experience in itself is grace, and the gratitude, i.e., the reflection on the meaning of grace, is rasa.

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