A Song of Devotion
Red Tara Thangka. Photo Credit: American Museum of Natural History, Manhattan, New York City
We can be devoted to anything that stirs the divine current in us. A mountain, a river, a tree. Even another human being, with all their flaws, but perhaps especially one who loves us unconditionally and inspires love in return. Or we can be devoted to a particular deity who blazes light and truth and appears as an expression of the unity of primordial ground or source consciousness at our core.
Devotion lifts us out of the separateness of ego, by way of gratitude and heart felt connection, and swiftly tunes us into parallel frequencies like compassion and grace. It inspires service but gifts us true power in return because it focuses on "the other" as the beloved, then spins us round to view ourselves as none other than that which is beloved. It excites every cell in our body and allows us to flow in and out of the heart.
My own heart is Tara, because she personifies so many aspects of divine feminine expression. Yours may be Jesus or Krishna or Gaia herself. They are reflections of our innate divinity, lovingly personified in physical or archetypal bodies.
Often a part of nature carries a certain vibration which inspires devotion. Ramana Maharshi was devoted to the holy mountain he lived beside. He also adored and was adored by his pet cow, Lakshmi. And yet Ramana is a beacon of fully realised non-dual consciousness.
Whoever or whatever we are devoted to, there are certain activities that enable us to focus our gaze on the object of our devotion. Quite apart from the meditative union of deity yoga, there are songs, chants, dances, and rituals that draw us into the loving embrace of our beloved. We can offer food to the goddess, place a bowl of water on an altar or at the foot of a statue. We can wrap a ribbon around a tree or a Shiva lingam. All of this fosters devotion, strengthens the heart, inspires love and draws us out of the impermanent self into the infinite space of our true being.
Devotion is the heart of awareness, a recognition of Oneness in form and phenomena. It is also just incredibly sweet to feel.
2. Song of Devotion
Red Tara magnetises lovers like ripe, red apples in autumn. I've been praying to her with contemplative fervour, saying her mantra as if it were fire. All desire is transformed in her hands to compassion, the fruit of empty space in form. Pluck the apples, she says, seductively, stirring my blood with her ripe, red flesh.
Desire without attachment, connection without possession, passion without clinging, all emanate from her as she descends from the sky with the wisdom dakinis. She shoots back up, dances over the world, draws me into the limitless light and asks me to drink.
When everything is empty space, what is there to possess? We're universal fire, flame within flame, light inseparable from heat. Red Tara has my tongue wrapped in song, her form my form, her mind my mind as she merges her essential nature with the emptiness of space inside me.
She soothes the raw wounds, promising passion. She enchants and gifts compassion. I can't bear it any longer without her mantra in my heart -
Om tare tam soha, Om tare tam soha.
My blood drips and the poisons drain, leaving me feeling reckless, but utterly awake. Red Tara is my mind, limitless and free, no longer longing, but restfully composed. The whole of creation is magnetic. I dissolve into being, in love with Tara's red aspect. Her name, from the beginning, Red Tara.