Bathe In The Essence Of Eternity: Radiance Sutras Verse 152

Today we are reading from the Radiant Sutras.

This is a beautiful book written by Lauren Roche and it is a poetic interpretation of the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra which is a wonderful ancient tantric text which is all about remembering that we are also divine.

It's interesting,

This weekend when I was studying the Bhagavad Gita they were talking about how in many religious,

Philosophical,

Spiritual traditions the goal is transcendence and a lot of that happens in the mind.

It's like we shed the body,

We shed the senses,

We shed the world around us and we live in this eternal space in the mind where we are able to transcend all things and experience God Consciousness.

So one of the big arguments in spiritual communities and even within,

For example,

This is a big difference between Tantra and yoga and I don't mean postures and asana,

I don't mean North American yoga,

I mean classical yoga.

In classical yoga,

Like Patanjali Sutras,

Like the ancient yoga,

The goal of life is God Consciousness and you transcend the world and so therefore once you transcend the world and all of your desires and needs and connections and work in the world,

You no longer actually have to act in the world because you are now Oneness.

What action is required?

You have transcended duality,

You are in pure Oneness.

The idea that you would even do something assumes that you're not in Oneness anymore,

You are no longer in God Consciousness and we'll actually talk a lot about this later in our Gita journey.

But what makes Tantra so different is Tantra says you can have God Consciousness,

Christ Consciousness,

Buddha Consciousness,

Whatever you want to call that,

Oneness,

And still be part of the world.

This doesn't mean you're no longer in a state of Oneness,

That you can actually play in duality and Oneness all at the same time,

That that's actually why we're incarnate.

When you really think about it,

It's like well if we're just here to transcend our physical lives,

Why are we in physical bodies?

And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that,

That's an entire journey unto itself.

But from a Tantric perspective,

The point is to use that Oneness,

Awareness,

That love,

That wonder,

That freedom,

Joy,

Bliss state of Oneness,

And with that at our back,

Dive into duality,

Experience all the emotions,

Have work,

Be a part of the village,

Do the things,

Pet little dogs,

Have children,

Don't have children,

Travel up and climb mountains,

Do amazing things.

And it's almost like through the work,

And when I say work I just mean action in the world,

Through action in the world we get to experience divinity in action,

In life,

Like it's not just a concept in the mind,

It can actually be experienced through the body.

And that's what this book is all about,

It's how to deeply dive into the world with full awareness,

That we don't have to choose one or the other,

We don't have to sit in meditation in pure Oneness consciousness,

Or cry because we're grieving.

Like these two aren't separate,

They're the same.

And so that's why in this book there's three parts,

The first are banter verses which sort of create the foundation for the journey,

Then there are the yukti verses which are 112 contemplations,

Meditations,

Practices that we can do to slowly weave those tendrils together,

Because it's not an all or nothing thing,

This doesn't happen overnight,

Tantra is a lifelong journey of like expanding into the subtle realms of life,

It's just it's so wonderful.

And then beyond the insight verses,

Beyond the yukti verses,

Are the insight verses where we kind of bring it all together,

And that's where we are now,

We're exploring the insight verses.

So if you're new to the radiant sutras and you want to go back I have a playlist in,

Under my profile,

And I know that Lady has posted it a few times in our group,

Tantra Love and Connection with Katrina Boss,

And you can go back and listen to some of those yukti verses and find the ones that really speak to you.

So today we are doing 152.

So I'm going to read the sutra,

Then we're going to have a discussion about it,

Look at other translations of it,

And then we'll have a little meditation at the end,

And this will be recorded and uploaded to the playlist.

So let's close our eyes and breathe deeply.

Just releasing the world,

Coming into your heart center,

Coming into the stillness inside of you.

The real purification with water is to bathe in the essence of eternity and stand in your true body.

Stunning autonomy,

Luminous bliss,

Invisible consciousness,

Pulsating always in every direction.

What comes up for you when you hear that?

Is there a feeling that comes or words that roll through your mind?

I'm having a deep sense of completion.

Expanded awareness to bathe in the subtle realm.

Possibilities for endless magnetic energy of oneness.

See,

This is why I wait for you guys.

An explosion of richness that is deep,

Pure oneness.

Mm-hmm.

I'm going to read another translation.

This is a direct translation of the Sanskrit.

The essence of self consists universally in autonomy,

Bliss,

And consciousness.

One's absorption in that essence is said to be the real bath.

Here's another translation of it.

One's own self is verily the all-pervasive bliss of freedom and the essence of consciousness.

Absorption into that nature or form of one's own self is said to be the real bath of purification.

One's own self is the all-pervasive bliss of freedom and the essence of consciousness.

Absorption into that nature or form of one's own self is said to be the real bath of purification.

Freedom from limitations.

Luminous and radiant joy and bliss.

What comes up for you when you hear these literal translations?

Absorption in the self.

That our nature is pure freedom,

Consciousness,

Bliss.

It's like where I blend with all.

We were meant to experience bliss.

We are the bliss.

Mm-hmm.

And we could replace bliss with we are meant to experience consciousness.

That we are consciousness.

Or we are meant to experience freedom.

That we are freedom.

And this is really interesting.

Seeing our truest self.

Letting go of egoic thoughts.

Exactly.

We are the pure totality of bliss,

Etc.

Mind blown.

So the core of this teaching,

Of this sutra,

Is that our nature is freedom,

Bliss,

And consciousness.

This is divine.

Like if you were to imagine divinity,

Pure freedom,

Pure bliss,

Pure consciousness.

This is us as well.

But what gets in the way?

What gets in the way of our freedom?

And I don't mean totalitarian regimes and stuff like that.

Those are physical restrictions and things like that.

What gets in the way?

Yes,

Our own thoughts.

What thoughts?

Thoughts about what?

You know,

If you were to think what gets in the way of your,

You,

You,

Your personal freedom and bliss.

What gets in the way of that?

Grasping and clinging.

Programming.

Self-doubt.

Ego.

And these are all thoughts.

And where did they come from?

Other people?

Circumstances.

Programming.

Institutions.

Family.

Society.

It all came from outside of us.

Didn't come from inside.

It all came from outside of us.

So if you were to imagine taking all the things that are outside of us,

Just letting them go for a moment,

What do you feel?

Freedom?

Independence?

If we were to let go of everyone else's opinions,

Expectations,

Thoughts,

Programs,

Shoulds,

Definitions,

We would have the opportunity to explore self.

Right?

We would get to actually look inside and discover who we were.

We would feel relief.

And then we would look inside of us and realize,

Wow,

I am interesting.

And I have thoughts.

And I have desires.

And I have hopes.

And I have things that I'm intrigued by.

And I have wisdom.

And I know things.

Yes,

Wondrous,

Awesomeness,

Expansiveness.

I am enough and everything.

Isn't that crazy?

To just simply release all outside.

Suddenly,

We are our divine selves in human bodies.

And what's crazy is every single one of us here right now is absolutely unique.

There is no singular definition for what perfect is or what wisdom is or what anything.

It's just you.

The only thing that limits us is our thoughts about everything around us.

When you really look inside of our minds and we think how often any self-doubt,

We even call it self-doubt.

But is it self-doubt?

Or did it come from outside?

Was it programmed into us to always doubt?

You're not,

You know,

You're too big for your britches.

Whatever it is that we were told.

I was watching a video this morning.

Did you know,

I didn't know this,

Did you know that Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen,

I think that's her name.

If you don't know those guys,

They're amazing actors.

They've been married for 25 years.

Anyway,

It was the most wonderful little video that People magazine or somebody did of them.

And at one point,

Ted Danson's talking about if he's ever mad at Mary.

And they're your neighbors?

I can't even,

I can't even.

And Ted Danson said,

Well the truth is,

He said,

The only time I'm ever mad at Mary is when I'm wrong.

He said,

If she's wrong,

I look at her and think,

Oh she's so sweet.

She's in the wrong.

But I love her even more.

He said,

But when I'm in the wrong and I'm in a defensive mode,

Then I'm mad at her.

But I'm only ever mad at her when I'm wrong.

And I think this is the most brilliant insight.

So when we think about all the self-doubt and the opinions of everybody around us that we have internalized,

Why are they so mad?

Why is who you are uncomfortable for them?

Why do they not get you?

Why do they say things?

It's their own limitations.

It has nothing to do with you.

That's not how it works.

Now you imagine diving in to your true self.

Diving in.

It's like they have a beautiful metaphor where they talk about in Tantra,

They talk about our limited self and our true self.

And of course,

I'll talk about me.

My true self is oneness.

So this is the same for all of us.

Our true self is oneness with all things.

And my limited self is Katrina Boss.

This is me as an individual ego in time and space in the year 2025.

And I am only this big.

I only know so much.

I only have these hopes and dreams.

I have these challenges.

I have these gifts.

I have these experiences.

I live within these circumstances.

This is literally the definition of my individual self in duality.

This is my role that I'm playing in maya.

But it's a limited version of myself.

So every one of us here has that lovely limited version of the true self.

However we have squished the divine into all these wonderful different packages.

And so this sutra is all about allowing our limited self to bathe in our true self.

Last week we had a lot of talk about our small self.

And we talked about diving in and worshipping our small self.

And then this week when I was reading this I thought,

Oh I so prefer the term limited self.

It's more accurate.

It isn't small.

It's epic.

But it's limited.

It's a limited version of all of us.

Every single one of us.

And what it does is it when we say that this is my limited version of self it inherently reminds us that we are also divine.

At the same time it's almost like if you could look at us in different dimensions.

In one dimension we are all things and all of us here are one beautiful heart pulsing out into the universe.

And just slightly turn the kaleidoscope and now we are all individual crystals having interesting experiences here.

The pocket version self.

Right?

Exactly.

So imagine what that what does that feel like for you?

To immerse your limited self in your true self.

Not some external divinity.

To immerse your limited self in your true self.

Well what's interesting about this is you hear them say often that this is the true bath in this interpretation.

It says,

I'm going to reread this,

The essence of self consists universally in autonomy bliss and consciousness.

One's absorption in that essence is said to be the real bath.

So what they're referencing here is very often in spiritual purification rituals a bath a physical bath is number one priority.

You have to purify the body with a bath.

What this is saying is when you truly want to dive into your divinity this is the true bath.

This is the true purification process.

So now imagine what we were talking about earlier about all the opinions of other.

All the thoughts we have about other people.

Those opinions,

Those expectations,

What that person said,

What this person thinks,

All that.

Suddenly you can feel the purification process of letting all that go.

It's a purification process.

It's not an exercise in detachment or non-attachment or anything.

This is our opportunity to feel our soul.

To dive into who we truly are.

As human beings we are social creatures.

We are meant to be interacting in the village.

You know this is a true part of our existence here.

But each one of us has a divine path and we must be able to have the control over our mind so that we can experience it.

And that really is the key.

This is the journey of tantra,

Even classical yoga,

Meditation,

Is to tame those wild horses in our brain that keep us believing that that person over there,

That their opinion of us has something to do with our journey.

How curious that we have been raised to believe that.

And yet when we purify,

And not to get into even the words purify,

You know it's been used too much by the wrong people to really look at it and say,

I actually want to live my life.

I actually want to explore what is my divine path.

What is that?

This is an important question.

So this process of purification is lovely and it's real.

It's interesting because sometimes I even think like I love to have a bath.

Like a bath is just my,

Oh it just brings me so much peace.

So imagine having a bath or a shower or whatever it is you love to do and really letting it have spiritual significance.

Imagine saying to yourself,

You know what,

I'm going to take off my clothes and with every piece of clothing I am releasing the world around me.

I'm releasing the judgments of others.

I'm releasing the thoughts and expectations.

I'm releasing the stresses and the worries of society,

The circumstances of this earthly experience.

I'm releasing all of that.

And then I am going to submerge myself in the bath of my true self.

Wouldn't that be a lovely ritual?

Saqib says to observe the history of conditioning.

Really?

The other thing I want to mention before we do our meditation is let's imagine for a moment if we think of this,

So these aspects they talk about,

Independence or autonomy,

Bliss and consciousness.

So I'm going to just say a sentence and I'm just asking you to imagine,

See how this lands in you.

Does it ring as truth?

Does it bring up a struggle?

That pure autonomy,

Pure independence is found in the self or pure bliss is found in the self.

That pure consciousness is found in the self.

What does that feel like for you?

Is there pushback?

Does it feel right?

Peace,

Truth.

Let's do a little meditation.

So wherever you are,

Close your eyes.

Just breathe deeply.

And in your mind's eye,

Imagine a beautiful bathtub and in that bath is filled with magical water.

The water of the universe,

Of pure bliss and consciousness,

Of the divine.

And it feels like you.

It feels like your heart.

And as you stand beside the bath,

You slowly undress,

Releasing the roles that we play,

The thoughts of your day.

Any emotions that are rolling through,

They all are released onto the floor.

You are left with this beautiful naked body.

Who you are.

And as you step into the bath,

You feel yourself merging with the water.

You lie down perfectly comfortable.

And you can feel this wonderful limited life,

This experience,

This who you are.

You can even think your name.

And then feel yourself also the water.

Feel yourself fully immersed in your true self,

Your oneness,

Expansiveness.

Breathe deeply,

Informing all of your cells,

Remembering who you really are.

The real purification with water is to bathe in the essence of eternity and stand in your true body,

Stunning autonomy,

Luminous bliss,

Invisible consciousness,

Pulsating always,

In every direction.

How do you feel?

Are there words that flow through your mind?

What would you like to take in to the rest of your day?

Peaceful,

Light,

I am enough.

Gratitude,

Whole,

Peace,

Autonomy,

Bliss,

And consciousness.

A,

B,

C.

Imagine walking around feeling like this,

Radiant,

Free,

Awesome,

Blissful and grateful,

Carefree,

Floating and embracing bliss.

There's really something about carrying this subtle feeling into our life,

And still living,

Still being a part of the world,

Still having conversations and relationships and being in the village,

But always allowing this to be a part of us,

To always allow it to inform our words,

To let it inform our actions.

Thank you guys so much for this.

Thank you so much for being here.

I hope you have a great day.

We'll see you soon.