Ganga
May 25th, 2002, 05:52 PM
in a book "A Woman's Book of Rituals & Celebrations" by Barbara Ardinger, 4 familiar paths to practising the presence of Goddess are mentioned. I was amazed how well they correspend with the 4 paths described in Bhagavad Gita (Hindu scripture)
1) Deep Thought: a largely intellectual path - facts, history, theory, philosophy - so we don't fall into silliness or rote repetition of practises. This corresponds with jnana-yoga.
2) Good Works: a more active path, doing kindnesses to others, thus adding goodness to the aura of the planet. This is karma-yoga.
3) Experiential Play: ritual being its most obvious application, manipulating realities to get results. In Sanskrit this could be called astanga-yoga, sometimes translated as mystic yoga. This is basically magic: being able to become smaller than the smallest, bigger than the biggest, touching the moon with one's finger, walking on waters, etc.
4) Devotion: pure, unconditional love to be able to see clearly. This is called bhakti-yoga.
Ardinger recommends creating a balance, and not neglecting any one path, which is basically what Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita, too. Gita, however, emphasises bhakti (devotion) as the supreme path. It seems to me the sweetest.
1) Deep Thought: a largely intellectual path - facts, history, theory, philosophy - so we don't fall into silliness or rote repetition of practises. This corresponds with jnana-yoga.
2) Good Works: a more active path, doing kindnesses to others, thus adding goodness to the aura of the planet. This is karma-yoga.
3) Experiential Play: ritual being its most obvious application, manipulating realities to get results. In Sanskrit this could be called astanga-yoga, sometimes translated as mystic yoga. This is basically magic: being able to become smaller than the smallest, bigger than the biggest, touching the moon with one's finger, walking on waters, etc.
4) Devotion: pure, unconditional love to be able to see clearly. This is called bhakti-yoga.
Ardinger recommends creating a balance, and not neglecting any one path, which is basically what Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita, too. Gita, however, emphasises bhakti (devotion) as the supreme path. It seems to me the sweetest.