Bhaja Govindam Companion Study#5 - On Relationships
Jai Maa Dear Ones,
This past Saturday I led another session in our Companion Series for Acharya Shunya's teachings on Bhaja Govindam. Among the 4 themes that we are looking to "Let Go", one of the most challenging is our attachment to illusory relations. Relationships are wonderful, and an important feature of our householder life, AND they can be a source of extreme attachment that keeps us clutching onto samsaara. After watching this session, I invite you to contemplate the nature of your relationships over the next two weeks. You can find two such contemplation topics below. Please use THIS THREAD to 'churn' together on this Theme of Letting Go: Illusory Nature of Relations.
You can find this week's recording here and also in the Bhaja Govindam Companion Series playlist.
In this theme we are focusing on Acharya Shunya's complete original teachings on Verses 5, 6, 8, and 25. You can find that original playlist here.
I look forward to hearing and sharing your deeper contemplations here.
With Gratitude and Light,
Sadhvi Aparna
As Devi Priya mentioned, I would also like to express gratitude for the presentation of these contemplations by Sadhvi Aparna. These contemplations have been challenging which to me indicate their importance. It seems that as human beings we are inclined to delusions and strong attachments with regards to our relationships. On one hand, they are absolutely imperative to our survival and growth from infancy to young adulthood. But on the other hand, our perspective of them must be transformed in order for spiritual growth to occur. I recognize in myself that on a surface level I don't feel whole without a connection with certain others. But as I look deeper, I begin to see that I am whole regardless of these relationships. I agree with Devi Priya and Sadhvi Aparna that living with an open palm is of tremendous value. With this way of interacting with our tansactional world, we may avoid grasping onto anything that lands on our palm, whether gently or forcefully. It is so easy to orient ourselves with the us vs them framework of life. But this is only beneficial if your goal is mere survival. To see that Brahman is everywhere and in everyone, is for me, a start in recognizing the One Truth. What I am finding to be true is that I must pay particular attention throughtout the day to my mind, all four aspects of it: basic mind, intellect, ego, and memory. I need to observe what each is doing and see if it is clouding recognition of the shared Oneness. And for this to be successful I have to be somewhat relaxed, neither fixated nor lax in my thoughts. Again, I appreciate Sadhvi Aparna prompting us with these contemplations. 🙏