Rama Bolo

It's Sunday. It's a Rama day. So what the heck does that mean you ask? I thought that today would be a good one for a little Vedic lesson. Basics in understanding what is being referred to when we speak of Rama, Siva, Ganesha..."who/what ARE these?"

I have been loving my new "epiphany" (it's not that ground-breaking because it's not that I didn't KNOW this before-but I am working now to actually LIVE this): that we are human BEings. Not human doings, not human havings. What we do and have will never determine how we BE; but conversely how we BE will determine what we have and do. And within the context of human BEings we hear a lot of "just be" talk. Well yes, it's wonderful to "just be" but there are some other really brilliant ways of "being" that we are guided to through Vedanta Philosophy with the three natures/aspects of "God". (I am going to use the term God in this post and you can take that or leave that or replace with whatever works for you. This is simply an exploration, not a postulation.)

So back to Sunday. I teach a Yoga class on Sunday mornings called Sunday Sadhana. Sadhana means spiritual practice. It's really lovely because I am able to delve into the more esoteric aspects of Yoga since it takes place at a studio as opposed to the more sanitized versions of the class I teach at the health club. We do some kirtan and talk about the aspects of the Sun and Rama. And so comes the background: there are 3 aspects or natures of God. I am going to explain each in its masculine/femine form (yin/yang, ha/tha), the nature and what it teaches us about being human:

1. Brahma/Saraswati: the creator. Here God creates all. In masculine it's the spider, in feminine, it's the web. The manifestor and the manifestation. In this we learn, that as divine beings, we are creators of our world. Our thoughts, words and actions create the life we live. We are divine authors. Here, we are humans being: CREATIVE.

2. Vishnu/Lakshmi: the preserver. Here God is in the act of living on earth. Vishnu/Lakshmi is abundance and how we live here in peace, in power, in surrender. It is the belief that Vishnu comes into the world in the form of an avatar (Rama/Sita, Krishna/Rhada, Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed ect.). in order to remind humans that they are divine and of how to BE on earth. There is also Rama's faithful servant Hanuman. He is present to teach us that humans are servants, here to serve one another. In this we serve God. Here we are humans being: GRATEFUL, ABUNDANT, COMPASSIONATE, KIND, OF SERVICE.

3. Siva/Parvati (she is also known as Durga and Sivakami): the destroyer/transformer. Here we find the power of transformation. As all things are created, there is a natural cycle and what comes in this life, also goes. It is our duty to transform our lower natures (lust, anger, greed, hatred, jealousy ect) into divine natures (empathy, gratitude, love, compassion ect). Here we are humans being: TRANSFORMATIVE

In simple summary, humans are meant to BE: creating, serving, and transforming.

And so on Sunday, we sing "Rama Bolo!" where we are proclaiming "How grateful we are, how abundant is life, how kind is God, how can I serve my fellow man?"

Om tat sat.