Anything that has ever happened has been the result of desire. From the birth of a child, to the birth of our cosmos, the Big Bang, the first desire, which set all other desires in motion, rippling outward for eons leading to you sitting right here reading this... all movement within our universe is precipitated by an initial desire or will.
The Sanskrit word "iccha" translates as: will, desire, longing, inclination, creative urge. As we explore the principles of our inner and outer worlds in this series, we observe iccha, the power of will, as one of three "shaktis".
The three shaktis, in the tantric cosmology (a map of reality), are the three powers of creation. Shakti means power. These three powers are iccha shakti (the power of will or desire), jnana shakti (the power of knowledge), and kriya shakti (the power of action).
The three shaktis explain the three principles of creation at play within nature (perceived in our outer world) and within consciousness (perceived in our inner world). For anything to exist... there must first be an invisible desire for it to manifest into the world. It's perhaps a wish, a thought, a feeling. This invisible desire does not need to be mentally conscious like we experience many of our explicit desires. Many seeds of the iccha shakti are silently interwoven within our DNA. We may never experience them in our conscious mind. For example, there is an innate desire within a seed to become an flower. Is the seed self-referencing in a thought "I want to become a flower!" Well, it doesn't have a brain, so we can deduce: no. However, just because something like a seed, cannot have thoughts, does not mean there is not an intelligence within it. Nature is incomprehensibly intelligent... every rock, every plant, every creature, each drop of air or water... all perfectly playing their intertwining roles to grow, evolve, and maintain life. How does the seed know how to root, sprout, and bloom? That intelligence is woven into its DNA, it is the dharma of the seed to become a flower. We will explore the other two shaktis in the following weeks, but today is all about desire.
Like the seed of a flower, intelligence is woven into our DNA as well. Because we have an organ called the brain with its prefrontal cortex, we can self-reference through thoughts: "I have intelligence!" And this intelligence, which permeates all life, has desires. Due to us humans having brains, unlike a flower, we are conscious of these desires... but conscious of it or not, the desire -- the WILL - is there in both the human and the flower. The will to live. The will to grow. (And listen, I'm just guessing, maybe the flower is self-referencing, I'm not a flower so idk what's going on in flower consciousness).
Again, the intelligence that permeates all life (that includes you) is latent with desire. This is the innate desire to evolve. To grow. To expand. Astronomy calculates that if we "zoom all the way out", we could observe a universe that is still in a process of expansion, 13 billion years later, from the first desire: the Big Bang. You are a part of the universe's macrocosmic expansion... right here living in the microcosm of earth. We observe this same principle in even a smaller microcosm: within your body, within your cells. All life, seeking expansion, seeking better, creating more, always evolving, ever forward, into greater harmony. This is yoga.
As we investigated the principles of karma and tapas in previous weeks, we contemplated the cyclical nature of all things. The karmas (causes and effects) of our human lives, take on a cyclic pattern, which in yoga is called samsara. As we learn and grow, we leave past cycles of thought, behavior, and circumstances behind to enter into new ones: new lessons to learn, that will expand us further. These lessons don't always make sense, and they're not always pleasant. But I personally trust that life provides me with whatever experience I need in order for me to evolve... to wake me up. Sometimes that experience really sucks. But if I look to nature and see that everything else is adhering to the evolutionary process, why would I be an exception? I am not separate. I am fully in the human experience as an inextricable part of nature. I couldn't separate myself even if I tried.
So, what is fueling this evolutionary process? The cosmology of yoga says: the iccha shakti. The power of desire, the power of will.
The iccha shakti lives within the bumblebee seeking to pollinate, to create honey, to serve their queen. The iccha shakti lives with the flower, seeking pollination, shining their colors to attract the bees. And we humans like to eat honey and admire pretty flowers. Not to mention the fruits, medicines, and other resources these pollinated plants provide us. This is just one example of the harmony and exchange within nature. It's all happening because of desire.
For anything to manifest (to become form, to exist, to materialize) into reality, it must be preceded by an invisible desire. For example, if I am to create a painting of a bumblebee, I must first have will. Otherwise, nothing else is going to happen. The first step of the power of creation is like turning on the engine of your car. Without that, nothing's gonna move. So first, I have an impulse or even a conscious thought of "I will paint a bumblebee"... okay, if I stop there, still nothing happens. I must next gather the knowledge (jnana shakti) in how to make the painting (what supplies do I need? do I have the skills to paint this? do I need to research and learn techniques? Do I need a reference photo?) Once I have the will and the knowledge, finally I actually have to put the brush to the paper and paint it. That last step is the kriya shakti (power of action). Do we remember another word for action...? Karma. This is karma yoga.
If we consciously engage with the creative process, our actions will refine. We might begin to see a parallel between some of the paths of yoga we've been studying and the elements of the creative process ;)
The human experience is alllll about creation. You're ALWAYS creating. Creation is not solely "artistic" endeavors. Your creation is EVERYTHING you do. Every little thought, action, emotion -- you are creating it all! Everything you do arises seemingly out of thin air and comes forth as your movements, words, experiences. This is what is pointed to by the phrase "you create your reality."
So this first shakti, the first power, iccha, is informed by Bhakti Yoga. If we recall the week on bhakti, we learned that this path of yoga is the path of love. A desire for connection and love is, in my experience, and the yogic worldview, the reason behind EVERY desire.... the reason behind EVERY action is an attempt to feel more love... even if sometimes this shows up in really misaligned and misguided ways. We're always doing things to make us "feel better" in some way. We can't escape that. We are naturally wired to seek pleasure and avoid pain. And even if we purposefully engage in something painful, it's for a reason... there's some kind of trade-off happening. You may not want to go to work, but you do want to stay alive. And without money, that can be difficult. Survival is a deeeeply ingrained desire. Another pain trade off we may experience, is when the suffering on one level (e.g., a physical pain)... is providing you with mental pleasure. Or a sense of "this is the right thing to do. This is what I have to do." Which is still a mental pleasure. Pleasing the ego.
And yeah! Creation is sexy! Why do you think the first creation was called the big bang? Why do you think our most ravenous primal desires are for food, safety, and sex? Nourish and create life. The iccha shakti is hot. Bhakti, Iccha, Tapas -- it's all is PASSION. Sometimes we feel that passion in our survival, or in our creative energy, or power, love, our voice, mind, the divine... lot's of ways to let shakti shine.
The invitation in exploring the iccha shakti, is to first recognize these principles at play within the macro and microcosms of your world... the creative process... the evolutionary process. We first recognize "Huh, this is all inevitably happening. This is just how it all is. Dang the universe really just be spiraling outwards into infinity and I'm a part of that. And my own consciousness is doing this same expansion and I don't understand the complexity and all the mechanisms, but it's happening! I'm evolving and burning through karmas and entering the new cycles of my human experience. Far out."
Then, bring it into your heart. This is a deeply personal and vulnerable experience. This is right here right now. This is YOU. Ask yourself truly and honestly... what do I desire? What is inscribed upon my heart? What do I hold closest to me?
Then begin to trace your desire back... back... back... by continuing to ask, "well why do I want that ?"
The yogis and great beings say: Every desire is a desire for God. Every desire is a desire for the Divine. Every desire is a desire for connection. Every desire is a desire for love.
They're all one and the same.
That's Bhakti Yoga, devoting your desires to the divine. Because that's the direction you're going in anyways. It's a remembering that's where you're going. That's the mountain peak: actualization, enlightenment, samadhi, satori, moksha, Christ consciousness.
But we need to walk a desire-filled path to get to that mountain top! You can't teleport. No shortcuts. You can't escape desiring, just like you can't escape acting. Sorry that's not how the game works. (And if you do teleport, that was part of your path ;) "Desire is the root of all suffering" because suffering is what pushes us forward. If it weren't for suffering there would be no desire to grow. There would be no desire to get to the mountain top and evolution would stop. If you were in the most luxurious prison-cell ever, why would you want to leave? Suffering can be the tiniest little undetectable nagging thing sometimes. It's the friction, the tapas, that purifies us golden. It transforms us free.
My metaphor falls apart here because you can be enlightened (free of suffering) and still have to walk along the path and hike up the mountain. (you can experience pain and aversion, but not suffer from the mind's reactions because you're not attached. This is what's happening when the enlightened ones are sticking around on earth, running off their human karma, fulfilling their dharma here. The bodhisattva.) BUT ANYWAYS the goal is not the mountain peak! The goal is not to escape the human experience. Be deeper in it -- be more here. The goal is to fall in love. The goal is to be in love every step of the journey. The goal is the journey! (You've actually already made it -- congrats!) Yoga is the pathless path. Enlightenment is the goaless goal. Yoga reveals a reality rich with paradox. And as we expand our minds, we gain the beautiful capacity to hold the exquisiteness of paradox -- allowing both sides of the coin to exist.
Getting back to the point here, DESIRE IS NOT BAD. Desire is our compass home. We don't and can't stop desiring. Just like we can't stop evolving. It is attachment to our desires that get us in a tricky place sometimes. Because we are forgetting that every desire arises from within as a POSSIBILITY to take us another step up the mountain. Some desires were only meant to take us so far. The lesson is done. It's old now, it doesn't work anymore. Time to try a new one. Study your map. Adjust your compass.
This is svadhyaya -- self study. As laid out in the yoga sutras, a regular practice of svadhyaya, consists of studying the teachings of the traditions you ascribe to (my personal main one being yoga) -- this is your map. I study the map to remind myself of the territory I'm walking. Because I can get so sucked into my human experience, so closely identified with whatever dramas are happening, that my vision becomes myopic. I've forgotten the full scope of what's going on here. So I recalibrate -- I remember. And then as I study, I'm reflecting: Am I living the teachings? And I refine.
I refine my desires. I clean up my intentions. I get real clear and honest about: what do I actually want? Is my primary desire currently working for me? Is it actually leading me in the direction I truly want to be moving in?
This is a check-in with integrity. Am I honoring the desire inscribed upon my heart? Am I living the dharma? And maybe I get some insights, and I can refine and adjust. Recalibrate my compass.
With clear and pure vision, comes an even more powerful iccha. The more powerful the iccha, the more wisdom you'll attain, to act. To bring forth your creation into the world. To share the things written upon your heart.
Trace your desires back to their source. All desires are a desire for the divine. That doesn't mean give up wanting financial stability or a romantic partner or better health or your dream job or [fill in the blank], it means simply recognize that a deeper experience of the divine is what's fueling every secondary desire of the material realm. We are here to desire human things! We literally need food to survive. Try giving up wanting air lol. A most basic attribute of the divine is the force (the cyclical nature of things) that gives, nourishes and sustains life (and takes it away). The reason I want to drink a glass of water is because it nourishes me and keeps me alive so I can more deeply explore the divine through Kat's mind -- through this location in consciousness -- through the lens of these eyes. And how beautiful it is, to experience so many different colors of divinity... so many different faces of the divine, here on earth.
OM SHAKTI
go forth in love ॐ
♡ Kat
p.s. Everything I write is a transmission of my own experience. And I owe everything I've learned to my teachers and the teachings. I am just a finger pointing at the moon. Go to the moon yourself. Experience for yourself what is true.
p.p.s. Please don't hesitate to email me or comment below with any of your own insights or questions! I'd love to hear from you :)
Also, the art prints from each week are for sale!
If you'd like one, you can grab one in person or order below ↓
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