by Barrie

Today I’m excited to share with you an excerpt from the book Exquisite Love: Reflections on the Spiritual Life based on Nārada’s Bhakti Sūtra, which consists of Bill Mahony’s extended commentaries on a 10th century Sanskrit text on spiritual love. Bill is Professor of Religious Studies Emeritus at Davidson College in the United States, where he taught for 40 years, holding academic degrees from Williams College, Yale University, and the University of Chicago.

Although the excerpt doesn’t mention yoga per se, in this passage Bill is referring to the traditional yogic spiritual love that forms the basis of Bhakti Yoga.

This excerpt is pages 38-39 from Chapter 2: The Highest Love, the Love for the Highest:

“At the center of the universe stands a deep mystery, and this is the mystery of existence itself. The fact that there is something rather than infinite nothingness reflects and gives form to a profound truth. The universe exists and we are alive in it.

How simple it would be if there were to be nothing at all. Yet, wondrously, there remains the inexplicable fact: there is being; and being continues to be from moment to moment, year to year, eon to eon. At the arrival of each new moment from within the deep mystery of being, the universe itself in a sense proclaims “Yes!” to the miracle of existence.

A profound affirmation resounds in this proclamation. In their own unique ways, the daffodil reaching through the late winter snow, the baby bird breaking through its shell, trees reaching for the sky, the river running to the sea, the stars blinking in the vast night, all in a sense proclaim “I am!,” and in so doing, take part in the mystery that is existence itself.

Who is it who hears this universal proclamation, “I am!”? We ourselves hear it, and we ourselves are moved by it, when our hearts are open to it. The effect such an open heart has on us is unmistakable. The experience is so powerful, or perhaps so subtle, or so inexplicable, that we often feel it cannot be expressed in words; and in its very ineffability resides one of the elements of its deep mystery. Try to describe the feelings you experience as you truly look into the eyes of a newborn child, sit quietly with your life partner or closest and deepest friend, or gently stroke the cheek of a person you cherish who is dying.

One word comes back to us again and again, and that is love. What do we feel when we open our hears to the wonder of existence? We feel love.

Whom is it we love? Do we love the child, the friend, the dying person? Yes, of course we do, for it is the light in this person’s face, this one’s unique personality, that we find so beautiful, so compelling, so poignant. Yet, as we allow ourselves to move ever deeper into the love we feel, we move ever deeper into a sublime and wondrous mystery that lies behind that face—a Mystery that gives rise to, supports, fulfills, and sparkles within this particular person’s existence, as it does within each being in the entire universe.”

If you’re interested in learning more about spiritual love and yoga, please join Bill Mahony and Barrie Risman for their 21-day online program The Radiant Heart: Lessons from the Bhakti Tradition on Spiritual Living in Challenging Times,  which begins on October 31, 2022. For more information and to register, go to barrierisman.com/radiantheart2022

 

• Follow Yoga for Healthy Aging on Facebook and follow Nina on Instagram • Order Yoga for Times of Change here  and purchase the companion videos here • Order Yoga for Healthy Aging: A Guide to Lifelong Well-Being here.