I’m currently in a 6 week program of Devotion focused on Devi. Devi is a Sanskrit word for ‘Goddess’, but I prefer Sadhguru’s explanation of Devi as ‘an exuberant expression of the divine feminine’. Devi is also said to be something to be experienced, not something to be understood.
So I throw myself 100% into this devotional program, despite having little experience with devotion and little understanding of Devi. The program involves wearing specific clothes, bathing with specific herbal powder mixtures, wearing a smear of red kumkum herbal powder in between the eyebrows, and a ritual involving specific physical postures and chanting the Linga Bhairavi Stuthi mantra 3 times.
I try not to expect any particular result and to just do the practices with maximum intensity. But the ego is persistent, and so I can’t help but notice that the practice itself isn’t dramatic, but it’s brought a renewed depth and intensity to my other yoga and meditation practices. I know to trust the practice, trust the process, trust that I entered this program for some reason, so I can tell the ego to quiet down and let things happen as they will.
So I keep doing the practices daily, wearing all white clothes, stripe on my forehead. Not bothered at all by stares and odd glances from people who don’t know me. And from people who do know me.
Then one day the idea arises — it’s about love, a new view of love, unconditional love that flows out from within. Broader and deeper than the Agape of the Greeks and early Christians. Originating at the Source within all of us, this love flows outward, everywhere, without expectation, without conditions. “I Love You” becomes a limiting view, just a transaction between two people exchanging behaviors and expectations. The Love of Devi is within each of us, if only we can relax, drop our ego and expectations, and allow it to flow.
“I Am Love”
Close your eyes, open your heart, breathe quietly and consciously, and allow it to flow.