Bhakti Yoga - Have Faith

Join me Tuesday nights
6-7:30pm for a Free Yoga Class. Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/284954703

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Dear Friends,

​Today’s practice will be the 4nd practice of 9 in honor of George Floyd and our exploration of Bhakti Yoga for peace.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna councils Arjuna to have shraddha, all will work out. Shraddha is usually translated as ‘faith’. Eknath Easwaran in his translation of the Bhagavad Gita suggests, “Faith is not an adequate translation, and the etymology of the word is obscure; it probably has an underlying meaning of ‘what is held in the heart’. We might say that our shraddha is the sum total of our values, what we really hold to be important in our lives. Every human being Krishna says is shraddhamaya, ‘made up of faith’ – as the bible puts it ‘as we think in our hearts, so we are’.

Often when I look back over my life I see times when my life was in chaos.  I did not know how things would turn out, where to turn, or even simply what to do.  It was in those moments that I had to have shraddha, faith that it would somehow all work out.  My aunt died this week of COVID. She was elderly and had underlying health conditions including dementia. Even still, I know her passing is devastating for her family and their hearts are broken.  This reminded me of the year when my Mom and Dad died. My dad had died in early September. We were expecting him to pass. He was very sick and it was a relief to know that he was no longer suffering. My Mom on the other hand had no underlying health conditions other than dementia. She was healthy and mobile, which made care for her difficult because of her dementia. She was in full time memory care, which was very costly. As a family, we had no idea of how we would be able to afford her care for possibly another decade or more at nearly $6k/month! After my Dad’s passing our family in California was planning a large celebration of life for my father in October.  My sister and I were visiting Mom daily, so we worried how we would leave Mom to go the celebration. 

Something happened after my Dad died. Prior to his death Mom didn’t even seem interested in Dad.  A few years previous before she lost her language she would say..” I don’t know that man, I’m not married!” She continued to lose her language so that by the time my Dad died, Mom had basically no language.  But the morning of his death she turned to my older sister and said, very clearly …”I can’t find Henry”.  A few days later, she said to me, “I don’t know what happened”.  We were astounded!  We couldn’t get her to say or communicate anything else. For those short moments she was able to have a since of lucidity and language that we cannot explain.  She stopped eating, then stopped drinking. We were all so distressed. What should we do? What could we do?  We certainly couldn’t leave her to go to California.  Then she died 27 days later.  Just like that. I was so heart broken.  Even though my Mom’s mind was not there, she was there and just having her there physically was better than nothing.  She died with exactly enough time for us to have her cremated and to have her join her beloved in California for the big celebration. My husband and I drove all night to get her ashes there.  My parents lived most of their 68 years of marriage in California, so it was a coming home for them. Her dying unexpectedly, solved the financial crisis my family was having and we were able to celebrate them together, as they always had been, 68 years of marriage. 

When I look back at that time, I remember the heart ache, sadness, and worry that consumed me and my sisters. I remember the many, many calls … what should we do next.  When we just had to have faith.  To let go of control and trust in the process. Mom did not want to be without her beloved.  In someway I believe that what my Mom held in her heart – her shraddha – was to be with her beloved and for her family to not suffer on her account.  Upon the news of her death, and this story, her younger sister said…”ah, that’s just like Bertha, she was so accommodating.”.

I don’t know how my family in California will get through the grief of losing their beloved wife and mother, but they will and I have shraddha that what their heart is made of will show the way.

So even though things are chaotic, stressful, sorrowful, overwhelming right now and even though you may not know what to do or how to move forward, can you reach back into your memory of when faith carried your through?  What is held in your heart? 

Tonight, bring your shraddha to class. Bring your prayers.  During our centering meditation, we will have a moment at the beginning of class to share these gratitude and prayers if you’d like.  In class we will continue to chant the mantra: Lokah Samastah Suknino Bhavantu which translates as “May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words and actions of my own life contribute in some way to that happiness and to that freedom for all.”  At the end of our asana (posture practice) I will chant this chant 108 times.  You are welcome to join me or to simply find a restorative posture and allow the vibration of the mantra to wash over you, like a sonic bath.  You can read more about chanting and this chant here.

In faith,
Andrea Carvalho