The Stage Awaiting Krishna Das
"When man gets it, he loves all, hates none; he becomes satisfied forever. This love cannot be reduced to any earthly benefit because so long as earthly desires last, that kind of love does not come. "
-Narada
If there is something I need in my life on a regular basis, it's really good kirtan, i.e. Bhakti Yoga practice. Of course, it's better when you get to do it with one of the best, Krishna Das. When I heard Krishna Das was making a trip to Tampa, I jumped online and got my tickets. The event was held at a pretty amazing Hindu Temple and the night was packed with those who knew, and didn't know what kind of transmission of love was in store for them. The last time I saw Krishna Das was in 2005 at a Yoga Conference and never forgot the power of his teachings, voice and love. I went that night with a very clear intention to being open to receive his and his Guru's guidance.
He came to the stage with a tabla player and violinist, sat quietly, made a few jokes and then suddenly spoke of grace. Tears started to fill my eyes. His teachings on grace at the very beginning were what I really needed to settle into myself as my heart traversed the sounds of the evening in committed focus. Near the end of the night, almost without thinking, I jumped to my feet and started dancing around to Hare Krishna.
KD's stories and teachings that night were about getting lost in love. A transcendent love. A divine love. A love that never leads to suffering because it is not attached to form. It is a love the is plugged into the formless isness of all. It is a love you swim in. A love you dance in. A love you sing in. A love that is endless. It is the same love The Bhagavad-Gita espouses in it's poetic elegance.
Whether I or anyone in that room were experiencing or had experienced that love almost didn't matter. What mattered is that everyone was there in a joint effort to celebrate the possiblity of one day doing so. It was a celebration by using the power of chant to clear away the attachments, darkness, confusion and delusion from our own hearts. To stop viewing others as seperate entities but as an explosion of incarnations from one source.
Formally, in Bhakti Yoga, there are elucidated higher and lower realms to this path. On the lower forms, there is a strong dualistic quality creating a division between devotee and that to which he/her is devoted. In the higher forms, there is a love beyond all form with no discernible separation of identity between the yogi and the Divine source. Whether that divine source is a formless God with no attributes as Advaita Vedanta teaches on the Hindu path or pure emptiness as the Buddhists teach, I personally don't care. I know it's a edgy thing for a Yogi-soon-to-be-Buddhist to say, but, I think the formless finality as described in both traditions, are the same place. It don't think it's a thing that can or should be debated. Debate about form, but the formless can only be experienced. Those who taste that love will either melt into oblivion or return to our earthly realm to tell us about it.
After a pretty heavy last few months, the night comes at perfect time as I have felt an ever increasing buoyancy of spirit. Thank You KD and Thank You Maharaji. I plan to see and hear you soon.
In Bhakti
Sati
