| When one casts into the fire of supreme reality the | | | | perception, mental formation, consciousness). So as |
| five elements, the senses and their objects, the | | | | we're moving through our asana practice, we "offer" |
| dualistic mind and even vacuity, then there is true | | | | into this "fire" of the Shushumna Nadi the "five |
| offering to the Gods. | | | | elements" of which our physical bodies are composed; |
| ~ Vijnanabhairava Tantra, verse 149 | | | | we offer our "senses and their objects," i.e. everything |
| Daniel Odier, in the introduction to his presentation of | | | | we're seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling or feeling; we |
| this Tantra, tells us: | | | | offer our "dualistic mind," i.e. all of the mental |
| The Vijnanabhairava Tantra, a text written by the | | | | commentary that's happening; and, finally, we offer |
| Shaivite School of Kashmir around the first century | | | | "even vacuity," even our experience of spaciousness, |
| A.D., represents "the quintessence of all the tantras." It | | | | of witness consciousness ... All of it is tossed ~ like |
| stands first and foremost on the plane of absolute | | | | ghee and rice into a sacrificial fire ~ into the radiant |
| reality, where it touches the deepest roots of the spirit. | | | | core of our Being, whose yogic metaphor is the |
| This "tantra of supreme consciousness" is probably the | | | | Shushumna Nadi. |
| most extraordinary sum total of yogic methods ever | | | | And what does it mean to "offer" the elements of our |
| brought together. It offers an extremely original | | | | experience into this "fire"? In terms of an asana |
| approach that utilizes the complete spectrum of | | | | practice, this is a gesture accessed, for one, by simply |
| thought, emotion, and sensation as a mystical path. Far | | | | saying (internally or out loud) "aaaah" ... a physical |
| from impelling the devotee to renounce the world, on | | | | emotional/mental gesture which releases the soft |
| the contrary, it urges him or her to touch the world so | | | | palate, releases us from the binds of emotional and |
| profoundly that he or she discovers the absolute at | | | | mental pre-conceptions ... places us back at square |
| the very heart of reality. | | | | one (or square zero, which is a circle), at not-knowing. It |
| So what might be the relevance of this verse ~ one | | | | engenders a gentle smile, a feeling of deep relief and |
| strand from a fabric of "extraordinary" yogic wisdom ~ | | | | boundless gratitude (simply for the journey, which is |
| to an asana practice? Is there a way for us to "touch | | | | always now). It is an attitude which offers its "opinions" |
| the world" of our bodies (as they move into and out of | | | | continuously into the bliss of the central channel, where |
| various asanas) "so profoundly that [we] discover the | | | | they are annihilated ... So we let our energy flow |
| absolute at the very heart of reality"? Let's explore ... | | | | "outward" into our limbs and organs, into whatever |
| What, in the context of an asana practice, might be | | | | shape we are exploring, into whatever asana we are |
| the "fire of supreme reality" into which we cast the | | | | manifesting ... yet return, again and again, to the Source |
| five elements, etc.? One way to see this is as a | | | | of that expression, which is the nondual energy of the |
| reference to the energy of the Shushumna Nadi, the | | | | Shushumna Nadi, the source of our inherent perfection, |
| radiant core of the yogic body, which is visualized and | | | | boundless wisdom, ever-deepening compassion. |
| then experienced as flowing along the vertical axis of | | | | And how, then, is this way of practicing asana a "true |
| our body, just in front of the spine, from the | | | | offering to the Gods"? It is this because practicing in |
| center-point of the pelvic floor (Muladhara Chakra, or ~ | | | | this way represents the dissolution of the polarity |
| in terms of the acupuncture system ~ Hui Yin) to the | | | | between sacred & profane, between mortal |
| crown of the head (Sahasrara Chakra, or Bai Hui). The | | | | & divine, between "me" (as a lowly asana |
| action of "casting into the fire of supreme reality" can | | | | practitioner) and "God" (as the one "out there" who I'm |
| be understood, then, to be the continuous return of our | | | | trying to please). It's the kind of offering "God" likes |
| (habitually dualistic) awareness into this channel of | | | | best, because what we're offering are all those |
| (nondual) energy/awareness. In terms of the yogic | | | | (illusory) aspects of our egoic self still "caught" in the |
| body, this corresponds to the merging of the energy of | | | | illusion of separateness, still caught in the wrong view |
| the Ida and Pingala ~ the channels through which | | | | which sees our self as something less than Divine. It |
| awareness flows when we're operating within dualistic, | | | | allows us to actualize ~ in the field of our human body |
| samsaric patterns ~ into the Shushumna Nadi. The | | | | ~ the "marriage" of Shiva (the unmanifest) and Shakti |
| Shushumna Nadi, then, is the field within which our | | | | (the awakened energy of manifestation). And out of |
| awareness functions, and out of which our asanas | | | | this divination, this dissolution, grows a deep humility: we |
| can express, when we've transcended (or "sacrificed") | | | | re-cognize ourselves as being, simultaneously (!), |
| those dualistic patterns. | | | | infinitely small and infinitely large ... we know ourselves |
| So what is it that we "cast into" this "fire of supreme | | | | as a spark of the Divine, as Love itself, taking one |
| reality"? The verse advises us to offer "the five | | | | form and then another ... one asana and then the next |
| elements, the senses and their objects, the dualistic | | | | ... from Samasthiti to Shavasana. |
| mind and even vacuity." So basically ... everything (!) | | | | And this is the "discovery of the absolute at the very |
| within our phenomenal experience, or ~ in Buddhist | | | | heart of reality," this is True Offering to the Gods. |
| terms ~ all of the five skandhas (form, feeling, | | | | |