Everything freezes. In the dead of winter, waking and
dreaming states of all life move into deep sleep. The pulse/spanda of life is
barely felt. In the northern hemisphere, a whitened land takes on the appearance
of a shroud. Icy hardness hides the delicate seeds of life deep in the earth’s
womb. Thomas Hardy’s poetic voice in “Darkling Thrush” sounds despondent in the
frost: “The ancient pulse of germ and birth/ Was shrunken hard and dry,/And
every spirit upon earth/Seemed fervourless as I.” Time slows down, bodies slow
down. Winter wonderland empties itself of all activity, and in its womb awaits
a golden egg.
At this time, if not attuned to nature’s gift of death, fear
of loss of light/life may take over our minds.
Some may in “quiet desperation” unconsciously see life in opposition to
death, light in opposition to darkness rather than as the two sides of the same
nondual coin. Since Thoreau enjoyed the “friendship of the seasons” he could
emphatically say, “There can be no very black melancholy to him who lives in
the midst of Nature and has his senses still.”
If we can recognize that magic, we hibernate in the womb of
the Great Mother in great meditative absorption with our minds and senses
still. Without futile resistance, we float with the Yin power that takes over
us. Our bodies may become home to germs/seeds as viruses nest in us forcing us
to seek sleep, warmth and rest. Germs leave once feeding is done; we are after
all somebody’s food in this great chain of being.
Suddenly like the ecstatic voice of the gaunt thrush the
“thaw” happens; sound of flowing water is heard, seeds break open and life
begins to reawaken. Hardy’s frail old bird is ready to die into the dance of
life proclaiming resurrection. This bird knows of a “Blessed Hope” that most of
us are unaware. Thoreau in his empathic sojourn with the Walden Pond knew this
when he wrote: “Thaw with his gentle persuasion is more powerful than Thor with
his hammer…. Walden was dead and is alive again….the coming in of spring is
like the creation of Cosmos out of Chaos and the realization of the Golden
Age.”
Among many creation myths of ancient Indian Vedic lore,
there is one about the golden egg, Hiranyagarbha which is the “universal germ.”
In a majestic nondual recognition the embryo is also seen as the womb where
form and emptiness remain entwined. This egg later transforms into the
Upanishadic Brahman, the ultimate reality. It floats in the womb of darkness;
then breaking into two, brings into existence the play of life, the dancing
dualities of Shakti and Shiva, Yin and Yang. This can also be imaged as the
Tathagatagarbha of the Lotus Sutra.
The Buddha, who had no interest in the theories
of God/Theos, or the self, knew the profound wisdom and compassion of Mother
Prajnaparamita. He spoke of reincarnation as one candle igniting another
candle. One spark of life goes out and
another kindles, completing the mandala of existence. There is a seamless web of life, a perpetual
movement of inhalation and exhalation, a continuous recycling of sorts. The awakened beings and Avatars of all
cultures speak of and embody the same existential truth. The seasons play the
drama, and we can get a glimpse of an awakened consciousness when we are
willing to let our egotism die into this dance of life.
Lunar calendars around the world celebrate this rhythm as
rites of rejuvenation, and many ancient festivities across religious borders
seem to converge around the time of the Vernal Equinox. Depending on the unique
geographical location, cultures celebrate this dying and resurrecting
process. India is awash in many spring
festivals including nine nights of the Goddess in her spring incarnation as
Vasanta Navaratri.
Given that the Great Goddess and her most majestic gift of
the Tantric paths remained alive and well in this ancient land, rhythm of life
in intertwined awakened consciousness is celebrated in the most earthly terms.
Wedding Thoreau’s “Walden” with Kalidas’ “Ritusamhara,” (Collection of
Seasons), we can acutely smell and taste spring and witness the luscious sights
and sounds of rita/rhythm in Nature. Kalidas sings of spring thus:
“The groves are beautifully bright/ For many and many a mile/With jasmine-flowers
that are as white/ As loving woman's
smile:/The resolution of a saint/ Might well be tried by this;/Far more, young
hearts that fancies paint/ With dreams of loving bliss.”
A spring festival that is awash with fragrant foods is Nowruz.
Its celebration in Iran, Afghanistan and many central Asian countries reminds
us of very ancient strata of Mithraism and its connection with the new Sun. In
the Jewish world perhaps the sacrifice of the “Korban Pesach,” an unblemished
lamb, during Passover marks the death aspect and eating of the unleavened
bread, life. It is interesting that the Jewish rituals include a thorough
housecleaning, a symbolic cleansing, emptying. One can see that the Star of David like the
Tantric Yantra embodies the entwined dualities of every kind.
Then there is Easter. When Jesus takes the place of the lamb,
he goes through 40 days of contemplation in the desert ultimately emptying his
will in the Kenotic passion of the Cross. From Ash Wednesday’s reminder that
humans are made of earth/dust (humus), Lenten (spring) rituals are meant to
imitate Christ’s meditative absorption and self-emptying. It is significant
that Jesus does so in the presence of three Maries who represent the Mother
Principle. Although disgraced by the patriarchal Church, it was Mary Magdalene
who first witnesses the risen Christ. My Vajra guru Khyapababa speaks of a
Gnostic Jesus as Issanath and the tradition where Magdalene is revered as a
supreme principle.
This holy week a Tantric Advaita master par excellence from
Tashkent, Igor Kufayev, known as Vamdeva in his Kashmir Shaiva practices is
speaking of the “Tantric Christ” at a retreat in California. He knows the
connection between Shakti rising and the descent of the Holy Spirit as awakening
transformation takes place in the very cells of our body. At last year’s
Science and Nonduality conference, he gave a mesmerizing talk about the Heart
of Shiva https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgIegiVimHs
. He speaks of Magdalene, seeing the cross in the hearts of women and the
sacred feminine as the cutting edge of modern spirituality.
In all traditions, flowing compassion of the heart and
thawing of the hardness of the selfish ego are visualized and ritualized for the
aspirants. Dying and resurrecting gods
are metaphors of many layered awakenings. They may signify simply life
returning after death, waking up after a good night’s sleep or consciousness
awakening after a deep sleep of unconsciousness. Turning inward into the
mystery of interiority that is the Great Mother, we recognize each life form as
a wave in the ocean of existence eternally coming and going as a unique
expression of cosmic consciousness. As the
waters of life flow after a frozen winter, may the “universal germ,” the golden
egg hatch in every heart.
