Same 💩, Different Day

One of the premises of Sri Vidya Tantra ("Goddess Lens Weaving") philosophy is engaging with recursion. We use the metaphor of a wheel that spins endlessly. Quite similarly to how the universe spins on and on. Or how the Big Bang happened, the Big Crunch will happen, and the Big Bang will happen again. Or how the cycles of your body continue on. Or how you get up and face the mundanity of every day. Get it?

 

But, each iteration is not a clone of the iteration before or the iteration to follow. Layered atop these cycles is the richness of rasa. The rasas are the qualities of experience--the "juice, essence, and tastes" of life. There isn't one rasa--that would be boring. There are 8 rasas that capture the variation of being alive. They are:

Love (Srngaram, शृङ्गारं)

Humor (Hasyam, हास्यं)

Disgust (Bībhatsam, बीभत्सं)

Fury (Raudram, रौद्रं)

Compassion, (Kāruṇyam, कारुण्यं)

Heroism (Vīram, वीरं)

Terror (Bhayānakam, भयानकं)

and...

Wonder (Adbhutam, अद्भुतं)!

 

Who's life is recursive, like Groundhog Day? Raise your hand. Oh, good--everyone's! But, recursive isn't necessarily boring. The exciting part is the possibility of rasa, the quality that colors each moment. You can't predict rasa; it organically unfurls.

 

Will it suck? Will it rock? Will it move you? Will it scare you? Who knows!

 

Yoga is the same way. Yes, you'll probably do the same, good ol' yoga poses each time you practice, replete with down dog and side angle. Nothing too novel. But what keeps you coming back?

 

Like a great work of art that elicits a new response each time, your movement leaves room for expression and nuance. Heaven and hell. Yoga is an exercise in the qualitative resonance that washes over the mundanity. We visit all the rasas across the flow of shape to shape.

 

Consider the speed of the wheel of your life. What is it right now? What was it today, this week, and this year? Recall all the speeds and rasas that you've experienced. The love and the horror, and every variant therein. Simply experiencing the wonder and spontaneity of being alive is evidence enough to your success.

 

May the shapes you make affirm your ability to be in all the rasas; all the moments. Honor both the steadiness and unpredictability of you, your life, and both in relationship.