In honor of Father’s Day, the June issue of the Ah-Man Newsletter focuses on “The Divine Masculine.” In this month’s blog, I want to share just a glimpse of what The Divine Masculine may look like.
The Divine Masculine is a path of actions that produces results. So we do certain things to achieve a certain type of result. This is The Masculine. The Feminine, you’ll recall, is to do nothing and just receive what is already there.
This week, I will focus on Hinduism, one of many approaches to The Divine Masculine.
Sometime around 1972, when I was 16 years old, I picked up a book called The Bhagavad-Gita As It Is. My parents had recently passed away and I was searching for answers. The religion I was raised up in wasn’t fulfilling me at that time. To make a long story much shorter, two years later I become a Hindu monk and lived a very austere lifestyle for the next couple of years.
While in this ashram (which was in a very secluded spot in the hills of West Virginia), I practiced what is known as Bhakti Yoga. Bhakti means “love and devotion” and Yoga means to “link up.” So when we practice Bhakti yoga, we are using love and devotion to link up to God. Bhakti yoga is just one of the many paths of The Divine Masculine in Hinduism.
Our days in the ashram were very long ones. We would rise anywhere between 2am or 3am (depending on the individual), shower (in the brahmacari ashram where I lived there was no hot water), and begin our japa meditation, which was chanting the Maha Mantra: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. According to A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Harā refers to "the energy of God," while Krishna and Rama refer to God Himself, meaning "He who is All-Attractive" and "He who is the Source of All Pleasure."
We would chant 16 rounds on a set of beads that included 108 beads. This meant that we chanted the names of God more than 27,000 times per day. I tried to do my rounds before morning ceremonial services, which began at 4:30am and ended at 6:30. Then we broke our fast at 7am. All the food we ate was first offered to God. Before every meal we would pray and, as soon as we were finished eating, we began our day of service.
Living in a self-sufficient (as much as possible) community, there were many jobs. But we were instructed to do each of our jobs as if we were performing them for God himself. So if we washed pots and pans, we washed them so clean that God could eat off of them. If we worked in the garden, we planted, cultivated and nourished all the plants as if each one was being offered to God.
So in Bhakti yoga, everything we did, be it chanting, working or eating, we did it all in the service of the Lord. Everything was done for God out of Love.
This was a Masculine approach to God, one with lots of ceremonies and actions. The return was tremendous. What I received through all of this was a knowledge and understanding of God that I had never experienced before. I actually developed a loving relationship with God that I could have never even considered before; not from the religion I grew up in. Today, that loving relationship continues to grow every day. I can see how others could completely devote their whole life to God and only God.
Yes, it was hard work. But, no, you don’t have to do all of the above to achieve The Divine Masculine. Remember that I was a monk, living an austere life. You can do any one (or any combination) of the things I did as a monk.
So as you’re out and about today performing your daily tasks, can you do them as if you were doing them for God? Can you work with others as if God was right there with you, witnessing it? Can you work as if the results of your efforts were for Him? Can you raise your family as if they were God’s family?
As you do things throughout the day, are you doing them in a way that can raise your consciousness? Can you connect your actions to God in a way that will make you and those around you more aligned in love?
Then there is the ceremonial part, which involves going to temple, church or whatever your house of worship is and participating there on a regular basis. Or it could be by chanting our praying daily.
Can you see how this path could bring one to The Divine Masculine? As George Harrison’s song says, “Chant the names of God and be free.”
To learn more about The Divine Masculine, visit http://www.mythiclove.net/sunyata/divine_masculine.html.
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