Am I missing something?
I’m kicking off this post with a scripture from a wonderful text, bear with me if you can or just scroll down a little!
When one experiences the expansion of joy, of the savour arising from the pleasure of eating and drinking, one should meditate on the perfect condition of this joy, then there will be supreme delight.
jagdhipanakrtollasarasanandavijrmbhanat
bhavayed bharitavastham mahanandas tato bhavet
Vijnana Bhairava: Dharana 49
When you read about ‘the savour arising from the pleasure of eating and drinking’, what happens for you, do you have time for that? Does this teaching feel a little unimaginable? Even far off?
If that is how you feel, I don’t think you’re alone.
Are we so caught up carefully curating every aspect of our lives that we’re missing the greatest gift that lays within all of our endeavours or pursuits. As the poet, William Wordsworth said, ‘the world is too much with us’.
What I hear when I come across teachings like this is that there is another aspect to meditation, that I missed for years. And that is that the delight from watching the sun rise, or the sacredness of touching your skin with warm oil, or the nectar of sipping tea while your heart hums, the fragrance of spices in your kitchen, and of course, the pleasure of eating and drinking, these simple pleasures the scripture implies are an aspect of meditation.
How does this feel to you?
One of the joys this scripture offers us is a spiritual approach to measure and balance our worldly life. In fact, this approach is actually life affirming because it points to a moment we all experience in daily life, eating and drinking and it says even in these simple moments you can experience a perfect condition of joy and supreme delight and to meditate on that.
It is there, I have done this over and over, in classes with my community, with my family, when cooking with friends, sometimes in the small precious moments.
No cave needed, no deep meditation practices, (of course you need those,) but the next time you eat or drink maybe notice the expansion of joy and even notice that you are in fact, savouring the pleasure of eating and drinking and that your mind feels deeply satisfied.
And one final thing, beloved meditators and yogis, as Maria Rilke writes, ‘be patient with all that is unsolved in your heart and try and love the questions (I’d also add longings) themselves.’
And that, my friends is a lovely thing.
I’d love to hear back what you experienced.
In deep love and gratitude
OM OM OM
Rabia
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