We have made the Divine into mental acrobatics.

We have made the Divine into mental acrobatics.

And sometimes these acrobatics also manifest in our embodied practices as mastery, rigidity and complexity. The more mechnical we get in our expression, the more the mind atomises and fragments us with information, debates, doubts and competition.

A mechanical approach to the Divine matches the mind dominated philosophies that have created these times of chaos within and without. Goddess Saraswathi is the invitation to join the dots of duality in our mental consciousness through embodied flow.

In western psychology "flow" is equated to a state of unity with one's activity (M. Csikszentmihalyi). This depends on a number of factors including one's skill level and how much one likes the activity. Of course activities which allow for the experience of flow are far more conducive to our happiness than those that do not.

 In ancient Indian dance, flow is something far more elemental and independent of external factors as it is an attribute of embodied consciousness. Saraswathi is the simplicity of flow. The word "Saras" means water body and the embodied practice of Saraswathi is dance which is flowing movement. Attention to flow is to expand out of the splintering duality of the mental consciousness, including the fragmentation of like and dislike . We connect with the attribute of flow of our embodied consciousness through the practice of "Saras" in the body

Flow is the second chakra attribute. The name of the chakra, Swadhisthana, signals the importance of flow (Swa- Self and adhisthtana- basis). Flow is sensation and not narrative or story. All narratives are in the past because it is a story that pre-exists movement in the moment. Flow is the sensation before the story. It is what connects us to Nature itself as sensation. In Saraswathi, the flow of water as streams, rivers and oceans, holds the different sensations of flow.

In one of my individual programs, we are invoking Saraswathi. In the session where we practised “Saras”, I witnessed how effortlessly the Divine emerged from the woman. I reflected to her:

"There was innocence, childlike openness, simplicity, sweetness, freshness. There was no ego, it was pure and cleansed of intellect...There was an incredible nakedness of spirit, without any armour or defenses. There was modesty, quietness, and a deep assurance. Incredible simplicity.

I felt I was in a temple witnessing the Divine manifestation."

After the session I wondered why we make things so complicated when the Divine is so simple and accessible.