Quote of the Week 398 – Everything is
Interconnected; The World According to Tantra – Pandit Rajmani Tigunait
[Note: Once in a while, I will send out a
longer quote than usual. I felt this was one of those quotes worth repeating at
length. Concerning “Tantra” as used here, you will discover it involves much
more than “the yoga of sex” as commonly conceived by our western inclinations
to reduce everything down to simple soundbites, not matter how incorrect. In my
studies of Jewish Mysticism and Indian Tantra, I have often seen an incredible
similarity. One basic tenet of Jewish Mysticism is to regard everything as sacred,
to both “Bring Heaven Down to Earth” and elevate Earth to Heaven, because
everything in existence shares a spark of divinity from the one Divine Origin.
Basic Indian tantric teachings, as well as Buddhist teachings, as elucidated in
the following quote, share this same mystical view.]
Everything is interconnected—this is
tantra’s most fundamental principle. The forces that govern the operations of
the universe are the same forces governing every aspect of our individual
existence. To use poetic language, tantra holds that everyone and everything in
the universe is a child of divinity. The divine is an infinite ocean of beauty
and joy, and all manifestations contained in the universe are waves of this
ocean. Each of us is a drop in this ocean, and as such, each of us is an
inseparable part of these waves. Quantitatively, we may be smaller than the
ocean, but qualitatively, we are exactly the same.
Everything in the manifest universe is
connected to everything else. We experience the fullness of our own being only
when we have a direct experience of this connection. Tantra is a process of
recognizing our interconnection with multiple layers of reality within us and
multiple layers of reality outside us. It offers myriad practices for helping
us find this inner and outer interconnection and for deriving strength and
wisdom from it.
One way of infusing your everyday
experience with the tantric worldview is to train yourself to notice this
interconnection in ordinary things. Let’s say you have oatmeal for breakfast
every morning. Pay attention to who is producing and packaging your oatmeal.
What is the philosophy behind their business practices? Where do they get their
oats? Who grows them? Does the company who sells your steel cut oats have any
concern for the farmers who grow them?
Pause for a moment while you are eating and
remember your connection with those who are instrumental in providing oatmeal
for you every morning. Whether or not you can see the details of your
connection with these farmers, the simple recognition that you and the people
who grow your oats are interrelated infuses you with gratitude. You realize,
“I’m not alone. I haven’t spent a single minute in my entire life growing oats,
and yet there are oats on my table.” You are grateful for those farmers and are
united in spirit with those who bring sustenance to you every day.
If you wish, you can take this philosophy
to a little higher level. Let’s say you are consuming a product—coffee, for
example—that is produced in a developing country. Is it Fair Trade certified?
Whether paying fair wages and providing safe working conditions is ethically
right or wrong is not the main point here. Ethics, morality, and legality are
defined by the human mind, but you are interested in something much more universal.
Your interest in Fair Trade products arises from your profound recognition of
the reality that all of us are interconnected. As an individual you wish to be
part of those who are an integral part of you and do something to support them,
not only in your thought, but also in your speech and your action.
These are a few examples of how looking for
and honoring your connection to those whose lives support and enrich your own
will infuse your daily life with the tantric vision. As your awareness of the
web of life in you and around you deepens, you will see that you are nourished
and supported from every direction. You will be filled with gratitude for the
many people who are contributing to your growth in so many different ways. You
will realize that even those who lived in the past—Plato, Pasteur, Patanjali,
among thousands of others—are continuing to guide and serve you with their
knowledge and wisdom. As this awareness unfolds, the curtain of duality is
lifted and you will begin to experience divine love and grace manifesting
everywhere.
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