If you’re ready to apply yoga philosophy to your own life—or teach it with clarity and feeling—my classes and workshops create space to sharpen your thinking, steady your inner life, and connect your practice to what matters now.
Six loving exchanges
|
Greetings Reader - The holiday season has arrived and, with it, traditions of giving, accepting, sharing, and connecting. These moments of togetherness hold immense potential—not just to nurture relationships, but to elevate them to new spiritual heights. In a book called Upadeśāmṛta (The Nectar of Instruction), Rūpa Goswami, a 16th century saint who wrote extensively about the philosophy and practice of bhakti-yoga, describes six loving exchanges that form the foundation of spiritual relationships:
Each of these loving exchanges align beautifully with the spirit of this season by offering us ways to deepen our relationships with friends and family members while simultaneously deepening our sense of connection to divinity. Here’s how: Exchanging Gifts When we give gifts with thoughtfulness and love, those gifts become more than material objects—they carry the essence of our intention. Whether it’s a tangible object, words of encouragement, a charitable donation, or even our time and attention, the love behind the gift shines through. Accepting gifts is also an act of connection. When we accept a gift with humility and gratitude, we acknowledge the gift-giver and the intention behind their gift. Gifts takes on a numinous hue when they make the recipient feel truly seen, when the act of giving is, in and of itself, a source of satisfaction to the giver, and when the loving exchange reminds both the recipient and the giver of their shared spiritual nature. Heartfelt Conversations The holidays offer us opportunities to reveal our thoughts and feelings to a trusted friend and earnestly ask them how they’re doing. When we listen with empathy and share with sincerity, these exchanges become a form of nourishment for the soul. They remind us that true intimacy isn’t about solving problems or offering advice—it’s about being fully present for one another. The conversation between Krishna and Arjuna in the Bhagavad-gītā provides a wonderful example of how a confidential inquiry in a moment of crisis and a reciprocal revelation of confidential knowledge can be a source of mutual inspiration in an exchange of transcendental love. Sharing Meals Holiday tables are often filled with qualities of joy and togetherness that can be amplified when we add the element of gratitude. And gratitude can be expressed on many levels, such as gratitude for the immediate source—the people who prepped and cooked—and the ultimate source, the one who supplies the elements of nature and the organic systems that make food possible. When we take a moment to acknowledge the ultimate source of our sustenance, remember that food is a form of energy, and gratefully offer the transformed energy—the cooked meal—to the source of the energy, then every bite becomes an experience of love and interconnectedness. Acting in Harmony with Our Spiritual Nature Each of these exchanges—giving, receiving, confiding, inquiring, accepting, and offering —resolves in seva, or loving service. This is not just a ritual or duty but a joy hard-wired into our very being. Service motivated by love is the essential feature of our eternal spiritual nature, our sanātana-dharma. When we serve with love, whether by feeding someone, offering a heartfelt gift, or simply being present for another, we tap into the deepest aspect of ourselves. We discover that our true essence lies not in seeking for ourselves but in giving of ourselves. This holiday season, I invite you to reflect on:
Wishing you all good fortune, - Hari-k P.S.: Speaking of connecting, our next Community Conversation is coming up on Wednesday, December 18th at 12:00 pm EST. Community Conversation is a FREE monthly online gathering where we connect spiritual ideas to real life. If you haven't registered for our free monthly Community Conversations yet, CLICK HERE to get updates, the Zoom link for the live discussion, and the recording link so you can listen to the replay if you can't join us live. |
Hari-kirtana das
If you’re ready to apply yoga philosophy to your own life—or teach it with clarity and feeling—my classes and workshops create space to sharpen your thinking, steady your inner life, and connect your practice to what matters now.
Greetings Reader, My younger self never aspired to master the art of cooking. Nor did I ever think it would turn into an enjoyable outlet for creative expression. And yet, here I am, in the kitchen, riffing off a recipe to cook up another culinary masterpiece All right, so, perhaps I'm indulging in a bit of overstatement. Cooking has become a form of meditation for me. Once I'm in the kitchen, my mind locks into the process and stays there until the repast is ready. My meditative orientation...
Greetings Reader, I get a lot of questions from yoga teachers about how to explain karma-yoga — the yoga of liberation through action. And I frequently get asked for advice on how to speak about bhakti-yoga, the yoga of devotion, in yoga classes. Speaking about karma-yoga is challenging because it seems impossible to act in the world without generating some kind of reaction. Speaking about bhakti-yoga can be tricky because yoga is not a religion but bhakti is theistic by definition. But what...
Greetings Reader, Last summer, I posted an Instagram reel about how the principle spiritual equality provides a rational basis for social justice. How so? Materially, none of us are equal. We all have a little more of this or a little less of that and when we add it all up, no one is materially equal to anyone else. Spiritually, however, the yoga wisdom tradition tells us that we are all equal; that we’re all made of the same spiritual stuff and that we are all equally infinitesimal parts of...