Abandoning Limitations: Radiance Sutras Verse 81

During this session, we discuss Verse 81 of the Yukti Verses from the 'Radiance Sutras', a translation of the Vijanana Bhairava Tantra by Lorin Loche. A meditation follows our discussion.

These sessions are recorded on a weekly basis and all are welcome.

Transcript

So today we are reading from the Radiant Sutras,

Beautiful translation of the Vijnana by Rava Tantra.

The foundation of the Vijnana by Rava Tantra is it's a series of ideas that let us go into our mind and imagine seeing the world differently.

Because it's really interesting when you study Tantra,

You actually can't study it from where we start.

I was talking to my sister the other day and she was saying how she's really having a hard time connecting with the 3D world.

But she's really interesting,

She can see spirits and angels,

She's clairvoyant,

She has all kinds of cool gifts.

And so she was saying how that kind of angelic realm is so rich for her.

I see nothing,

I can't even see auras,

So I'm always intrigued when people have a different sight than I do.

And she said to me,

I have trouble seeing the 3D world or really caring about it.

And it was really interesting because I thought about it and I said,

Is that true?

Is it true that the 3D world isn't what you are a part of?

Because we talk about this a lot,

It's not just me and my sister.

We all talk about this 3D,

5D,

Whatever,

Transition.

But what was interesting,

What came to me was,

The 3D world is the forest.

It's the ocean.

It's dogs and cats.

It's sleeping.

It's loving.

It's food.

It's going on a road trip.

It's relationships.

These are not things to run away from.

Why would you ever want to lose touch with nature?

Why would you ever want to lose touch with trees and ants and sunshine?

This is the 3D world.

But oftentimes I think we think that the 3D world is politics and drama and TV.

And you know what I mean?

Netflix.

We think that's 3D world.

That's not 3D world.

That's a strange overlay.

And it's not even real.

It's not remotely real.

These are ideas that have been programmed into our brains.

And it takes up a lot of our time.

But it's not the 3D world.

I don't know what world it is.

Because I don't think it's real.

It's like a video game we're playing.

It's like the Matrix.

It's just something we're maybe plugged into.

But it's not 3D.

So it's an interesting thing that very often when we want to live a spiritual life,

That we want to escape the 3D world.

We want to escape the physical world.

But what do we really escape?

And do you really want to escape sunshine?

Do you really want to escape a long hug with someone you love?

The real 3D world is wonderful.

It is truly,

Literally full of wonder.

Wonderful.

Awesome.

Worthy of awe.

That's the 3D world.

That's our physical world.

So this is a huge part of the Tantric path,

Is the full embracing of the 3D world,

Which is Shakti.

And when we can fully embrace the 3D world,

And we can fully embrace,

As Lady says,

Higher worlds,

And higher realms,

And more subtle realities,

Imagine how rich life becomes.

That we fully embrace grass and trees and water and fresh tomatoes out of the garden.

And we remember that we are infinite beings here.

This is the bliss.

The cosmic grass may not be greener.

Exactly.

And this is really the path of Tantra.

It's not about integrating the make-believe world of the drama of whatever is going on here.

It's about integrating the real worlds.

So that's what this book is all about.

They're almost like,

Here's something to think about.

And to see if this thought expands into parts of your mind that you've never considered.

You've never even played in.

You've never even tried that.

So sometimes these kinds of ideas are,

You hear it and you think,

I don't get it.

Or that doesn't make any sense.

Or arguments from the make-believe world jump in.

Well,

That's not reasonable.

You don't understand what the world's all about.

You don't understand the life I've lived.

All of these reactions from this other dramatic overlay that humans live here.

And I live it too.

I'm not saying I live in an ivory tower or anything.

It's all of our distraction.

Idea land.

Yes.

So I'm going to read a sutra.

In case you're new.

Lots of you guys already know this.

I'm going to read a sutra.

And the idea is to listen to it from that eternal self.

And that eternal self isn't just like an infinite place.

It's also the eternal self that loves to lay down on the grass in the sunshine.

Imagine that eternal self that remembers coming to earth.

That remembers swimming in warm oceans.

And then we're going to discuss the sutra.

And then we're going to do a little fun meditation actually about our friend Lauren Roche who wrote the Radiant Sutras.

He translated and interpreted this beautiful Sanskrit text into a kind of poetry that makes sense to us in English.

Because the problem with Sanskrit is maybe one day in my future I will become a Sanskrit scholar.

It's possible.

But my guess about Sanskrit is that when you actually understand Sanskrit it reads like poetry.

Because if you actually understand that every word has 200 meanings and then the next word has 200 meanings and the next word has 200 meanings as they string together it's going to read like poetry.

And I could be wrong.

But that's what I'd like to think about Sanskrit.

And so Lauren has taken this beautiful teaching and put it into English poetry for us so that we can also let our hearts open to the ideas.

Alright,

You guys ready?

So for anyone who is following along in the book we are reading verse 81.

So even if you have the book let's close our eyes.

Wherever you are,

Horizontal or vertical,

Pretending to work,

Walking,

Sitting quietly,

Wherever you are let's just breathe deeply.

Expand the belly as we inhale.

Contract as we exhale.

And we want to do that to come out of whatever sympathetic nervous system response we're in.

Fight,

Fight,

Fight,

Flight,

Freeze,

Whatever we are.

Let's just release all that.

Come into our own quiet and calm.

And just feel that little smile inside your heart center.

Here we go.

Drop the thought,

I am this body.

Abandon the limitation,

I am only here in this specific place and time.

Embrace instead,

I am not my body,

I am not this place,

I am not this time.

There is no place,

There is no time.

Realize,

I am everywhere,

Sustained by infinite bliss.

What comes to you when you hear that?

You know,

Is there a feeling?

Or words?

Or phrases?

Being weightless.

Freedom.

Acceptance.

Eternal spirit.

Pure divine experience.

Free,

Expansive.

Stretched open.

A sigh of relief.

Like a surefire cosmic foothold in the 3D realm for us.

Oh,

Like a surefire cosmic foothold in the 5D realm maybe,

For us in 3D.

I'm going to interpret which one was the typo for Jen.

Flow.

I'm going to read another translation.

Actually,

I'm going to read two other translations.

So this is a direct translation.

Abandoning consideration for one's body,

One should contemplate with a firm mind that I am everywhere.

When this is seen by means of concentrated insight,

One does not see another and thus becomes happy.

I'm going to read you another interpretation.

Because there's some very important pieces in here that I want to look at.

After rejecting attachment to one's body,

One should,

With a firm mind and with a vision which has no consideration for anything else,

Contemplate thus,

I am everywhere.

He will then enjoy supernal,

Which I don't know what that word means,

Happiness.

So what's really interesting about this reading is there's basically two parts of it.

The first part is what we would call negative,

Not bad,

But it's something we take away.

And the second part is positive.

That's something we add.

So the negative part is,

Let's imagine that you are not your body.

And you are not only in this point of space and time.

So to first imagine you are not your body.

And you are not only in this space and time.

And then the second part is positive.

And we add to that.

So now I am not the body.

I am not in this space and time.

And then we add back,

I am everywhere.

And we could also add,

Now what I'm going to say isn't a real word for anyone who's not English.

We also are every when.

We are at all time and all space.

I get it.

I get what the idea is.

But it's always hard to not then go,

But if I'm not this,

Then why am I here?

And what am I?

And I don't even know the answer.

It's a great question.

I just need to think about it for a minute.

This meditation or this idea helps us to experience the expansiveness of what we are.

We naturally see the world through our ego.

Now ego in Tantra is not like Freud or even Eckhart Tolle.

I respect all these people.

But ego in Tantra is simply the Latin words for I am.

That's literally what ego means in Latin,

Is I am.

So in Tantra,

The ego construct helps us to experience the world through specific eyes.

Because the whole idea of Tantra,

This teaching comes out of Kashmir Shaivism.

And so in this story of Tantra,

You have Shiva Shakti as oneness,

God,

Omnipotent,

Omniscient,

All things,

Universal consciousness,

Whatever you understand this to be.

In order to create this experience,

In order to create this life experience of Maya,

Whatever you want to call it,

This duality,

Earth,

Humans,

Dogs,

Cats,

Whatever you want to call this miracle that we're living in.

They said,

Ah,

Well,

We must split into two.

And there must be this dance of duality between Shiva and Shakti.

And in order for Shakti,

The aspect to actually experience the world through the eyes of a human,

You must have a limited view.

If God just came down to earth and stayed God,

Well,

It would be all powerful,

All knowing,

Everywhere,

All the time,

All time,

All the time.

They're not having a human experience.

They're having a God experience.

So there's this great book called Tantra Illuminated,

And it's by Christopher Wallace.

I'm going to explain this a little bit for the sake of the recording,

Because the people listening to the recording can't see what I'm going to show you.

But there's a beautiful chart in here,

Which I don't know,

But I'll describe it.

And this is a very interesting chart.

And at the very top,

You see Shiva-Shakti.

And these are all the steps of creation,

Of creating Maya.

And so at the top,

You have Shiva-Shakti.

And as you go down,

It's like,

OK,

Well,

We need to create Maya.

We need to create this.

People need to have brains.

They need to have bodies.

They need to experience time and space.

And one of the levels is the creation of,

They call it Ahankara.

And this is the creation of our ego.

Because if we're going to come to Earth,

I need to see the world according to Katrina.

And that's already very rich.

If I'm going to experience Earth through the eyes of this particular incarnation,

I literally could probably spend thousands of years here and continually have new experiences.

And so everybody here listening to this right now has a different perspective.

You are seeing the world through different eyes.

This is very rich.

And so every one of us is designed,

As soon as we're born,

To see the world through our eyes.

The challenge with this,

This is the point,

But the challenge or the tension of being human is that we may feel very separate from others.

We may compare ourselves to others.

Well,

That person definitely got an easier go than I did.

Or that person has more money.

Or that person's better looking.

Or that person is worse off and I'm better than they are.

Or whatever.

But what's even worse is,

Deep down it's almost like I'm not supposed to feel separate from you.

Like somewhere deep inside we know that we're all supposed to be part of the same family.

Or something.

Family is not necessarily a positive word for a lot of people.

But we're all meant to kind of be a loving community.

How come we're all separate in these little houses?

And how come we don't know each other?

And how come no one understands me?

And how come no one gets me?

So we have this real feeling of separation,

Which is also part of the human experience.

A lot of the journey of Tantra is to transcend that,

But not forget it.

But we transcend it in order to remember our Divine Self.

To remember the Shiva-Shakti aspect of who we are.

To remember that we really are this other person.

The same sparkly stardust that flows through me,

Flows through everybody here.

It's all the same.

So the journey of Tantra,

If you imagine these two ends of a spectrum.

On the one end,

You are completely separate,

Alone,

Lost in that ego.

But just that your sense of I am.

I am different.

I am Katrina.

I am Chantal.

I am BD.

I am.

We're all just different,

But we can get lost in it.

In the extreme.

And feel extremely alone.

And we feel very separated and it's very painful.

On the other end of the spectrum,

We are God-consciousness.

We have no sense of self at all.

And we're not even having a human experience.

It's kind of like if you ever hang out with people.

I may sound kind of bad here,

But this really is how I see it.

If you ever meet people who have studied certain teachings.

And they become so disconnected from emotions.

Like they kind of feel like they're above emotions.

They're above connection.

They're above relationships.

All that kind of thing.

They kind of walk around with this goofy smile on their face.

And they're just like,

Oh yeah,

I used to be bothered by stuff like that.

And the problem is they're no fun to hang out with.

They actually have no sense of I.

They have no sense of ego.

There's nothing to even rub up against.

There's nothing to have fun with.

The greatest thing I love about the people who are really in my life.

Is that they all have a strong sense of self.

And each one of those people are such characters.

That's why I like hanging out with them.

It's because of their character that I like them.

But the blessing is when we really also understand in our deepest heart.

And it's almost like,

Imagine you can experience God consciousness.

But you experience it at a cellular level.

Like imagine you experience it in every cell of your body.

And as you're walking around fully embracing your ego and who you are.

You're kind of like a walking collection of stardust.

But you are human.

And you embrace your humanity.

You embrace what you know and you don't know.

You embrace the lessons along the way.

You embrace the love and the loss and the confusion.

And the tension between where you are now and where you want to be.

That's the part of being human.

And the other thing I just want to answer in Christine's question.

Because you said something really interesting.

You said,

But if I'm not this then why am I here and what am I?

It's such an important statement.

Because I really believe that some questions have no answer.

Because they're the wrong question.

And I'm not saying you're wrong.

I'm saying,

Because we all ask these questions.

All of them.

It's like part of our societal training.

Every so often,

Especially when I was on the farm.

I used to be married and we lived on a dairy farm,

For anyone who doesn't know.

And I really suffered from depression.

And I remember going to my intuitive friend,

Nelda,

And I'd say,

I just don't even know why I'm here.

Like I don't even know who I am.

And she would sit there and ponder and she'd look at me and say,

I don't think you're having enough fun.

And that has rung through my head for 20 years.

That if I am ever questioning this,

Then am I actually having any fun?

And this comes to this point of really embracing our ego.

Embracing who we are.

Because if we embrace who we are,

If we embrace what you really love to do,

Like how often do you love to do something and somehow you decide,

Oh,

You know what,

That's not good for me.

Or I don't want to eat chocolate anymore.

I don't want to have coffee.

Or I don't want to,

I don't know.

Whatever the thing is.

And so suddenly you get rid of all the fun things in your life.

Or maybe you're in a relationship and they don't like doing the fun things that you like to do so you stop doing those things and whatever.

And all of a sudden your life has no fun things.

Like every day.

Can you imagine every day assuming you will always do something fun today?

Here's a question for everybody here.

What could you do today that's fun?

And this is really,

I really mean it.

Because this isn't light.

This is tantra.

This is embracing life.

And maybe we have a lot of work to do or maybe whatever.

But fun is actually embracing shakti.

Fun is embracing the physical world.

And fun can be reading a book.

It can be going for a walk in the sunshine.

It can be going for a walk in the rain.

It can be going for a bike ride by the ocean,

Which I plan to do.

Yes!

Thanks Mahisha.

And again,

Maybe you didn't plan to do anything fun today.

But what could you do today that's fun?

That would actually excite your inner child?

It's such an important question.

It could be calling a friend.

It could be making a delicious meal.

It could be dancing.

Yeah!

It could be as simple as putting on one of your favourite songs.

One song and dancing to it.

Can you imagine?

Imagine that as a 365 day challenge.

That every single day,

You're going to put on one song that you love.

And for three and a half minutes,

You're going to dance to a favourite song.

Once a day,

Every day for a year.

Or every day for a month.

Or every day this week.

Can you imagine?

And so anyway,

I genuinely believe that a lot of these existential questions that we ask about why we're here or who I am and all that,

I genuinely believe that it's because we have become this land of worker bees.

You know,

That we just work,

Work,

Work,

Work,

Work.

And if we're not working,

We're so lost in the drama of the pretend world.

We just don't get it.

And then all of a sudden,

You go and you sit by the lake or you walk through the woods.

Even if you live in a city and you find a little park and it's just a lovely quiet spot and you sit there and you breathe deeply.

It's a curious thing in our lives when we look at it and we ask ourselves,

Why is being alive not enough?

Like,

How am I organising my life?

That the simple fact that I woke up this morning and took a breath,

That that's not exciting.

What have we done to ourselves?

You know,

We really have to ask ourselves these questions.

We've made life depressing.

And again,

The cool thing about this is we just start differently right now.

It literally could be you set an alarm every day at,

I don't know,

12.

45 and you put on a favourite song and you dance to it for three and a half minutes.

Sandra Bullock says,

Dance in the morning before you leave the house because it changes the way you walk out into the world.

It's a really,

Really good point that if I am struggling with who I am and why I'm here and all that,

What do I care about?

God consciousness.

And I'm not picking on you,

Christine.

It's a really important question that I ponder a lot.

I'm glad you said it.

Grandchildren are very helpful to go play in the park,

Swinging on the swings,

Going down the slide,

Playing tag.

Let's all go have fun.

Can you imagine for a moment,

Imagine that every day,

Because people do,

We do all these like,

I'm going to do 10 sit-ups a day for a year or I'm going to meditate 10 minutes a day every day for a year.

Imagine if you said,

I'm going to have fun for 10 minutes every day for a year.

Like,

Who could do it?

Imagine that was your challenge for the year.

10 minutes of fun every day.

And how hilarious,

How difficult it could be.

Thanks,

Katrina and Nelda.

I'll tell Nelda,

She's living on.

So we're going to do a meditation.

And it's funny,

As much as that might seem like a complete tangent that perhaps seems to have nothing to do with our original reading.

Fun is very expansive.

It's very expansive.

And it expands us into different aspects of our mind.

It asks us to get out of our rigid ruts and patterns.

And playing,

Playing in the plenum,

Exactly.

So our meditation,

What we're going to do is I'm going to do a little meditation from the back of the Radiant Sutras.

And so for every sutra that we read of Lauren Roche,

He often has,

Well he does,

He has a little contemplation meditation in the back.

And so we are going to do a meditation based on the word manas.

Now,

I showed you guys that chart out of that book,

You know,

That Shiva Shakti,

And then how it created maya,

Right?

And the one step was the creation of ego.

One of the creations also was the mind.

And there's many aspects of the mind,

But one of the aspects is manas.

And sometimes manas is considered the part of our brain that interprets the world through our senses.

So if you imagine you are listening to me right now,

So the sound is going into your ear,

Going through your physical eardrum,

That vibration is then being sent to the brain to be interpreted to understand what I'm saying.

It's manas that is interpreting that sound.

When you feel cold and you feel something on your skin,

That nerve is sending information to the brain,

And the brain,

Manas,

Is saying,

I'm cold,

I'm hot,

That's pleasurable,

That's painful.

Same with taste,

Sight,

And smell.

So manas is a very important part of our brain,

Because it helps us interpret the world around us through our senses.

But sometimes we get stuck,

Right?

We get stuck that then there's also the intellect.

The intellect is something separate from manas.

The intellect has abstract thought and does different things,

Right?

So,

Not that we're going to get into a whole thing about the tantric perspective of the brain,

But,

You know,

There's a lot of different sort of aspects of being human.

So this meditation asks us to contemplate all the different aspects of our mind.

Because as much as our mind interprets our surroundings through our senses,

It also is what contemplates God consciousness.

And infinity,

And wonder,

And joy,

And fun,

It all comes through our mind.

Our mind is actually so expansive.

So we're going to do a meditation pondering different aspects of the mind.

So let's find a comfortable position.

Maybe it's sitting upright.

Maybe it's relaxing on the couch.

Maybe it's lying down in bed or lying on the floor.

But wherever you are,

Close your eyes.

Breathe deeply.

Expanding the belly as you inhale.

Contracting as you exhale.

And I'm going to read a few lines that Lauren Roche has given us to ponder.

Your mind is not what you think.

It is vast and a source of awe.

If you get interested in manas,

The yogic concept of mind,

Let's take delight in how rich the word truly is.

So breathing deeply,

I'm going to say a word.

And just allow your mind to expand and contemplate this word.

Mind.

Intellect.

Intelligence.

Understanding.

Perception.

Conscience.

Will.

Imagination.

Invention.

Opinion.

Intention.

Affection.

Desire.

Mood.

Temper.

Heart.

Spirit.

Breath.

Living soul.

Drop the thought,

I am this body.

Abandon the limitation,

I am only here in this specific place and time.

Embrace instead,

I am not my body.

I am not this place.

I am not this time.

There is no place,

There is no time.

Realize,

I am everywhere.

Sustained by infinite bliss.

Let's take a deep breath in together.

Exhale.

And feel yourself everywhere.

In all time.

Imagine yourself breathing as the earth breathes.

Because you are all things.

Let's take another breath together.

Exhale.

Open our eyes.

Thank you so much for being here.

And I hope you have a wonderful day.

Reviews

How interesting that this verse turned into the importance of fun in our lives. Lately I have been pondering on the emotion of sadness. Sadness in relation to boredom, to living life with a strong focus on responsibility and survival. Sadness I have experienced through my dad, my mom too, as a young boy years ago. And my body, my mind, my soul has been telling me to … have fun!!! To play, to walk barefoot in the tall wet grasses that became soft from the rain, to put music on and clean the house while dancing, to play with my dog and imitate the excitement she gets when I play with her, to laugh with my teenage son and be goofy as often as possible. Allowing fun to be a part of my life. Believe it or not, that was the message my body delivered to my Body Talk healer this last session, what I needed more of. Fun and joy. Thank you Zelda. Thank you Katarina.

This talk & meditation was so rich! Thank you, as always, Katrina! 🌹🙏🏻🌹