Divine Parents
We have these various embodiments with the various deities, so this question is very important to me. It feels as though, if Shiva is helping my child, then Shiva is actually like a set of Divine Parentsa Divine Mother and Father. Now this is important, because Shiva is change. When I first did the Tibetan Buddhist Refuge Practice, you’re supposed to do a Vajra Dhara in the center of the visualization. Vajra Dhara got up and left, and Vajra Yogini appeared in his place.
And I said to the Lama, “This is what has happened.” And he said to me, “That’s good. Vajra Yogini is your yiddam, so go for it.” That is, Vajra Yogini is my special connection with God. That’s one of the big things that we’re trying to say in The Everyday Sanyasin and in The Living Bardo series: you’re not failing. Look at what’s happening and realize that you’re going to put a sense of yourself, as Divine Expression that resonates with your heart, in the center of that circle.
So this is more about personalizing the practice, something we’ve talked about in both series as essential for it to be a living truth, and also for it to work. I can’t do it with an image that doesn’t connect with me, because it doesn’t connect! It’s not going to do anything for me. If I try to do it with Vajra Dhara because that’s what I’m supposed to do, and Vajra Dhara just doesn’t connect for me, then what am I doing? I’m just watching another television show.This stuff we’re talking aboutwith these Tibetan names and Sanskrit names and so forthisn’t esoteric at all in this methodology. It’s actually very real-time, very practical, very down to earth, and very pragmatic.
Yogi Sean is the student of Swami Ramananda and the author of Dancing in the Fire of Transformation, The Everyday Sanyasin, and Experiments in Awareness, a workbook for yogis.
