With Eyes Of Wonder: Radiance Sutras Verse 57

Today,

We are reading from the Radiant Sutras.

This is an interpretation of the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra,

An ancient tantric text that comes out of the Kashmir Shaivism tantric school or philosophy.

This is written by Lauren Roche,

An amazing guy,

Amazing American,

Who went into deep study and deep meditation and really found the spirit of the Sanskrit,

Of the original,

And made it very rich.

You know,

There's something about the foundation of Tantra is to experience the divine here on earth,

Or to experience the divine and the physical as one.

There are no words that can help us do that.

And there are practices that we can do,

Which is,

There's a lot of practices in this book,

That we can do to have an experience that cannot be put into words,

Which is the point.

But the ancient mystics would write in poems.

They would describe the beloved,

They would describe the divine,

They would describe our experience as physical humans of the divine through poetry.

Because poetry kicks in another aspect of who we are.

It goes beyond the intellect,

It goes beyond what we know.

It's an interesting question,

What is it about us that poetry engages,

That allows us to experience something we might never have experienced before?

And that's what the Radiant Sutras is.

So today we're reading number 57.

So let's close our eyes,

Let's breathe deeply,

And if you're driving or you're working and needing to pretend that you're working,

You know,

Keep your eyes open,

But allow your mind to become quiet inside.

Allow the other thoughts that were rolling through your mind to just dissolve,

Right there where they were.

Let's listen to this sutra.

Find something so enchanting to behold that you are transfixed,

Ravished.

Allow yourself to be captivated.

Gaze upon its form with the eyes of wonder.

Attend to details,

This shape,

Texture,

These colors.

How can something so beautiful possibly exist?

With a steady gaze,

Melt into the field of space embracing that form.

At once,

Be at one with the creator who is looking through your eyes,

Loving creation.

What feelings arise when you hear that,

Or what thoughts roll through your mind,

Excitement the creator loves to experience through me.

It's an interesting one.

I think of how I feel when I see a flower.

How precious is this life,

Awareness.

I've looked at all my dogs that way,

The perfection of their fur and form.

There's beauty in everything,

In all creations.

So grateful for everything I see,

Creator loving all of creation through me.

We miss out on the beauty of life if we don't stop and pause and enjoy the beauty of this world.

Before I started,

I said to myself,

I hope this sutra today can give me some guidance to the journey Trevor and I are trying to create.

And I feel in some way it was telling us to allow and follow the dream and see what's in front and full of amazing paths.

Mm hmm.

I'm going to comment on that.

Animals give up give me this feeling.

These amazing creatures so filled with unconditional love.

When I see beautiful individual creativity displayed,

Like dance performances,

For example.

Mm hmm.

It's funny this weekend,

Saturday night,

William and I were going to bed and we were lying in bed and he was sort of pulling me close to kind of pull me in to fool around or something.

And I actually kind of stopped him and it was really interesting because I couldn't figure out what exactly I wanted,

But I knew that I wanted to look at him.

I just wanted to look at him,

But I didn't,

It wasn't premeditated.

I didn't know that's what I was going to do when I laid down.

So I kind of stumbled through my words,

But I pushed him back a little and we were just sort of lying on the pillows looking at each other and he kind of looked confused and I said,

I don't know why I just want to look at you like I want to just gaze at you.

I said,

It's like we're so busy and even if we're in bed,

We're fooling around or whatever and I said,

I just want to actually in the quiet without any interruptions,

I just want to behold you.

It's a funny word,

Even that word behold.

And we laid there just looking at each other,

Not touching or anything,

Just looking.

And that's what I felt when I first heard this sutra.

I just remembered that experience on Saturday,

Just that.

And it was beyond explanation,

There were no words.

And if I wanted to actually say something,

You could feel how small the words were.

You could feel how tiny the words were.

So luckily we just laid there and just gazed at each other.

But what's interesting about this sutra,

It isn't actually about a person.

Venus and the moon were in a beautiful trine on Saturday.

Oh,

That's cool.

I feel it reminds me of my connection to God.

That transcendent feeling or feeling of awe,

Gazing deeply to take in all the beauty of one we love.

Right?

Oh,

What's interesting about this sutra,

When you actually dive deep into it,

They call it a Trataka.

And you might have heard of Trataka,

Tratakam.

In Tratakam,

We use this,

It's gazing,

It's eye gazing,

Not necessarily at a person,

That's not normally the yogic tantric use of Tratakam.

Very often when you do candle gazing,

You place a candle about an arm's length in front of you,

And you gaze at the flame until you can almost feel it in your third eye.

And then you close your eyes,

And you can see it kind of like the negative of a picture of a photo,

You know,

Back when we saw negatives of photos.

And then you stay and you stay focused on the flame in your third eye until it starts to fade.

And then you open your eyes and you gaze at the flame again.

And this is creating a connection in here and it's doing magical things in our Ajna chakra.

But this one,

This particular sutra is about looking at something that is fixed.

Something that you would love to look at.

Anything.

It's walking down the street and seeing a tree.

Even in the wintertime,

Like in Canada here,

Most of the trees are bare,

But every so often you come across a tree,

And the shape of it,

The trunk,

Just fills your heart.

You know,

And you just want to stop and gaze at that tree.

So the practice would be to then sit and gaze at the tree,

But it is important that it's not just anything.

It's something that pulls you,

Like someone said,

Like a flower,

That you just look at it and you're like,

How beautiful is that?

Like,

It's just beautiful.

Birch trees are so magnificent,

Bare,

I love coming across one.

Trees look like they have arms raised to the heavens.

Yes.

So now imagine you grab a lawn chair and you sit and you gaze at the tree and you allow no other thoughts.

You don't notice the grass around or the snow or the homes or the squirrels.

You just gaze at the tree.

This is the practice.

So essentially,

If you imagine there being three players in this meditation,

There is me,

But really it's my mind,

My eyes,

My mind,

It's like my eyes are taking in the scene and my brain is interpreting the scene.

There is my awareness of this object.

There's my brain that's thinking all kinds of things.

It's thinking about the birds and it's thinking,

How long have I been sitting here?

And oh,

Look at the grass over there and there's a stone and it's thinking,

You know,

And oh,

I forgot to get groceries or whatever.

Then there is your awareness on the tree and then there's the tree.

So the focus of this sutra is to only focus on the awareness.

Forget about the mind.

Forget about all the thought forms,

The Nirvikalpa,

They call them.

No thought forms,

Nothing.

And you just focus on the awareness of the tree.

So now of course,

This is a practice.

It's not something that is necessarily easy.

It doesn't just happen.

That's why it's important that it's something that already has you transfixed.

So then what happens is,

You keep gazing at the tree and again,

It's quite a discipline to let the mind dissolve,

But of course,

What are you looking at?

We're looking at creation.

We're looking at God incarnate in the form of a tree.

So then your awareness starts to become one with the tree.

Your awareness starts to become the shape of the tree.

The mind disappears and you literally become one with creation and you think or you feel how different that feels.

And then imagine picking up your lawn chair and walking down the street.

How do you feel inside,

Having experienced that?

You can't describe it in words.

It's literally ineffable,

Indescribable,

But you know,

Osho used to say that until you've had an experience that you can't describe,

You haven't actually had an experience yet.

You haven't actually lived yet.

No one else will ever see what I know.

So of course,

What is the goal of this?

Why would we do it?

Because the more we have this experience,

The more we walk through life and our daily life becomes imbued with spirit.

The creator looking through my eyes,

Exactly,

Like it's so lovely and it's so big and it's so simple.

Does anyone have any thoughts that you'd like to share before we do our meditation or questions?

I'm trying to push through feelings for an ex.

Okay,

So let's imagine that for a moment.

And I know this is not easy and I hope this isn't a risky thing to do.

But let's imagine you place someone in front of you who you have difficulty with.

Someone in your life,

An ex,

A family member,

A neighbor.

Try to keep it someone in your world,

Not a celebrity or something.

But to really envision someone in front of you who you have a hard time with.

And imagine gazing at them.

And it's okay to,

First of all,

It's okay to have emotions.

It's okay to feel angry or feel sad or be frustrated.

Emotions are part of being alive.

They're just energy.

Sometimes they're stuck energy,

Trapped energy.

And imagine looking at them in the same way we look at the tree.

And allow no other focus,

Just them.

You know,

Maybe it's hard to do it in their current form.

Maybe picture them as they were as a child.

Picture them as a teenager.

It's a really interesting thing to look at someone and realize that they too are a creation.

Just like the tree.

Just like a mountain.

Just like a dog.

It's a good meditation to do later if that's a struggle.

Alright?

Are you guys ready?

Let's find a comfortable meditative position.

If you are doing horizontal meditations this morning,

This evening,

Awesome possum.

If you would like to sit upright,

Sit cross-legged,

Sit on your heels,

Sit on a chair,

It's all good.

Let's close our eyes and let's breathe deeply.

As you inhale,

Expand your belly in all directions.

The front,

The sides,

The back.

Let your exhale be long and slow.

And again,

As you inhale,

Expanding the belly in all directions,

Slowly letting it release as you exhale.

On your next inhale,

Expanding the belly in all directions,

And then expanding the ribs at the front,

The sides,

And the back,

Slowing the exhale way down.

On your next inhale,

Expand the belly and the ribs in all directions,

And then expand the upper chest to fill out the top of the balloon.

Let's just take a few breaths this way.

Now I'd like you to imagine in your mind's eye that you're walking down a country road.

No houses,

No cars anywhere,

Just you walking down the road.

The sun is shining,

The birds are singing,

You're breathing deeply.

Imagine for anyone here that is in a wheelchair,

You are rolling down the street.

And as you move along the street,

Suddenly you see something.

Maybe it's a tree,

Or a flower,

Or a wooden fence,

Or a pot,

Anything that rises in your mind's eye right now,

And it's just at the side of the road,

But it is so beautiful that you just want to look at it.

So you sit down,

You allow your eyes to literally behold it,

Like your eyes are taking in every nuance,

The color,

The shape,

And you're looking at it,

But you're more gazing at it.

It's like you're allowing this vision to come inside of your consciousness.

You allow your focus to be only on this one thing.

As other thoughts rise in your mind,

They just dissolve,

They just disappear,

As your mind stays fixed on this beauty.

Imagine the energy between you and this beauty having form,

Your awareness.

Imagine your awareness now feels like this thing you gaze upon,

And slowly your mind disappears,

And it's like you're in some kind of movie,

Where you can feel yourself being drawn into this wonderful thing that you behold.

Continue to breathe deeply,

Allowing your awareness to become bigger and bigger.

Sthula rupasya pavasya sthabdham drstham nipatya ca acarena niradharam mana krtva shivam vrajet Find something so enchanting to behold that you are transfixed,

Ravished.

Allow yourself to be captivated.

Gaze upon its form with eyes of wonder.

Attend to details,

The shape,

Texture,

These colors.

How can something so beautiful possibly exist?

With a steady gaze,

Melt into the field of space,

Embracing that form.

At once,

Be at one with the Creator,

Who is looking through your eyes,

Loving creation.

In your mind's eye,

Close your eyes to this beauty.

Feel it permeate your whole being,

This essence of creation,

Pure spirit.

Let's take a deep breath in together,

And exhale.

Let's open our eyes and come back together.

Thank you so much for being here.

I hope you have a wonderful day.