Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims,
This Friday, February 14th, our Program Coordinator Melinda Thomas is leading a mini-retreat on Bhakti Yoga and the Inexpressible Delights of Love. Read on for her reflection on bhakti yoga and the path of devotion.
There were times in my early yoga days when I heard people talk of their singular focus on the Divine Beloved. I could not relate. When I read of the Christian mystics who had their own singular gaze on the Beloved, I could not relate. Instead I felt rather inadequate.
So why then, do I want to offer a retreat on Bhakti yoga – the path of devotion? Why carry on my tradition of theming a Valentines’ Day yoga class on Bhakti and spiritual love? The cheeky answer is because I like to refocus this holiday on Love rather than romance. The more complete answer is because I took a workshop once with William Mahony who wrote one of my favorite books titled Exquisite Love: Reflections on the Spiritual Life Based on Narada’s Bhakti Sutra, and his teaching changed my relationship with devotion.
During that workshop (and in the book) he posited that we cannot feel unloved unless there is some core part of us that knows, or once knew, the very nature of Love itself. Or, how do we know we are missing a thing if we’ve never experienced it, consciously or unconsciously, in the first place? Now, we could debate this philosophical question for ages but the point I am trying to make is that his work opened in me a relationship with Bhakti and devoted love that I had not previously considered. He writes, “The Love that stands within all existence is the ultimate source of our own human sentiments of love in all its forms.”
“Human sentiments of love in all its forms” – I can relate to that. I love my family and friends. I love the Earth and all her creatures. I love my cat sleeping across the room and the way she is curled up in a soft ball of fur. I love my son who continually expands my experience of loving. The Love I relate to sits next to wonder. The Love I relate to is love in relationship; which from a Trinitarian perspective is quite appropriate.
In Revelations of Divine Love Julian of Norwich writes, “In this little thing I saw three characteristics: the first is that God made it, the second is that God loves it, the third, that God keeps it.” I have also heard the Trinity referred to as “Love, Lover, and Loving.” Love is a noun and a verb.
In Friday’s mini-retreat we will engage contemplative practice, gentle yoga, and creative writing to explore how we express our devotion to Divine Love within the context of our relationships. We will seek out the ways our actions do or do not demonstrate Love. Together we will invite ourselves to root into the very Love “within all existence.” In doing so we will move back into our relationships with, as St. Benedict writes, “our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delights of love.”
Please join Melinda this Friday, February 14th and explore your own capacity for love and loving.
With great and growing love,
Christine
Christine Valters Paintner, OblSB, PhD, REACE
