Bhakti Sutra 6: “Having known which, one becomes
ecstatic; one becomes stilled, one comes to delight in the Self”
So first we come to know
what bhakti is (for a refresher check out last week's blog entry), then once we "know" it, what occurs is ecstasy,
quiet, and delight. The word matta, translated here as
"ecstatic", has many layers of meaning. Other descriptions of
this experience are: an exhilarating, bubbling forth of happiness;
heavenly delight; spiritual intoxication. Bill Mahony defines it as
"Exuberant gladness that seems to flow outward from one’s core, freeing
the soul to roam thru wondrous and beautiful realms."
When I read this translation
I could immediately call to mind many such experiences I've had, but one stood
out above all the rest. (I’ll ask your
forgiveness in advance for getting personal.)
I have 3 children, and had challenging births with my first 2. My labor with my 3rd son (who just
turned 2) was quick and intense, and it was my only natural birth. It was an amazing experience on many levels,
but what was most amazing was that as each powerful and uncomfortable
contraction began to wane, in it’s place a feeling of utter joy, ease and
contentment would rise up and take its place and stay with me until the next contraction would begin. It was not just a feeling of relief that another one was over, but an actual
enjoyable and ecstatic state would come over me. So in the midst of the benchmark for
suffering in the world I was having one of the most sweet and intoxicating
experiences I’d ever had. It felt like,
just as the word matta describes, a “bubbling up of heavenly delight”. The feeling was so strong that it lasted
several days, and even though I had a newborn I felt completely energized and
full of love and joy. I needed very
little sleep and didn’t feel the least bit tired (that came later, like when
your still-nursing 2 year old has a head cold and can’t sleep so he wants
comforting from 1:00 – 4:00am….).
This was a dramatic and
transformative experience for me, but when I reflect on this feeling I realize
that it happens quite often really, in smaller but just as life-altering ways. After a good, long, hard run. Unexpectedly running into a dear friend. Turning a corner to see a huge, beautiful
full moon rising above the landscape.
I’m sure you’ve had experiences like this too – sweet moments of
connection to grace when you feel spontaneous tears of happiness spring to your eyes, or
goose bumps raise up on your skin, or your heart swell up with love or joy. Now here’s the thing: you have to expect that
it is going to happen, you have to be open to it. Bhakti
is always there, every present at the core and as the essence of our being. But as many times as we are reminded of it, we forget it’s there. Especially
during challenging times, it becomes dormant until we allow it to rise to the
surface.
So how do we allow it to
bubble up? When we are aware of times we
have had the experience of bhakti we become more and more open for it to happen
again, and the more it happens the more we invite it and the more it happens. The start of this sutra says, “having known
which”, meaning that once you’ve had an experience of bhakti you become aware that it is there. And, like beating a pathway
through the woods (or in this case a neuro-pathway in your brain), the more it
is travelled, the clearer the path becomes. We have to have the actual experience of it to really "know" it, then the ecstasy and delight surges up.
When we practice yoga, we “practice” bhakti. On the most superficial level by simply taking
loving care of our bodies, then
deeper as we let go of judgments of ourselves, connect through our breath and
our awareness to our ineffable, effervescent essence, and through the vehicle of the poses
themselves, allow that essence to reveal itself from the inside out. When we allow ourselves to feel the ecstasy
that is our true nature, we are truly able to “delight in the Self”.
Off the Mat:
What experiences in the
past, big or small, have you had where love (or happiness, joy, or ecstasy) has
just bubbled up and overflowed? Become more aware of these experiences on a
daily basis. I spoke in this commentary on the more ecstatic nature of this feeling, but note that this sutra also mentions that this feeling can come in stillness as well. Sometimes the "knowing" of bhakti leads us into a quiet and profound state of simply being. When you have such an
experience, either heavenly delight or deeply reflective and quiet, allow yourself to pause and savor it – let it come to the forefront
of your awareness. Each time we do this
we invite more of these experiences into our daily lives.
On the Mat:
Hopefully your yoga practice
inspires matta in you each time you
practice. To help encourage it, use the conduit
of Ujayyi breath each time you come
to your mat. Ujayyi means “triumphantly uprising”, referring to the dormant
energy that lies at the base of the spine.
But we can also think of the energy of bhakti – as you breathe, let the love and joy that is your true
nature rise up with every inhale, and with each exhale let it overflow, giving
the pose a radiance and beauty beyond just the physical form.
In my classes we worked on
keeping the natural curve in the neck in all poses, with the goal of allowing
the bhakti to rise up through a clear,
unimpeded channel. In more advanced
classes we worked towards sirsasana (headstand)
and sarvangasana (shoulderstand), two
inverted poses with many benefits. When you release out of holding any
well-aligned inverted pose for an extended period of time, there is always an
uprising of energy – a bubbling up of joy.
Come out of these poses slowly and savor the ecstasy that floods through
your being.
For the Anusara junkies:
Open to Grace:
Let the joy that is your
true nature bubble up to the surface of your skin and fill you with an inner
fullness.
Breathe in and fill up with
the ecstatic feeling of bhakti.
Muscular Energy:
Embrace the effervescent
ecstatic love at the center of your being with every muscle.
Hug from skin to muscle to
bone to the ineffable ecstasy at the core of your being.
Hold the muscles and the pose
in stillness to connect to the quiet underlying joy that suffuses all of
creation.
Make your skin like wrapping
paper, encasing firmly the joyful gift that lies within.
Make your muscles like the
cork holding in the champagne ready to bubble out.
Skull Loop:
Create a curve in the neck
to allow the joy to bubble up unimpeded.
Draw the sides of the throat
and the tops of the ears back and soften down the front of your face, keeping
the channel open for ecstasy to rise. (Energy
rises more easily up an unblocked channel - the channel is open when the curve
is in it's optimally aligned position.)
Organic Energy:
From the inner well of
knowing let your ecstatic essence spill over.
Let the effervescent joy
pour out from your soul like champagne at a party.
Let your joy rise up and overflow.
Free your soul to roam thru
wondrous and beautiful realms.
Spread your energy out
beyond the confines of your physical body, into an extraordinary experience of
joy and love.
