I meditate with some gentle yoga every morning. Different images appear to me during mediation that I do well to pay attention to. The last few mornings, I have found myself lounging on Shesha, the cosmic snake from Hindu mythology, gently rocking on the surface of the cosmic ocean. I once had the opportunity to work with Peggy Rubin, an actor who performed in Peter Brook’s 9-hour play of the Mahabharata, one of the great epics of India.
She was so taken by the epic that she went to India to learn more about their stories, including a near infinity of gods and goddesses, so very different from the monotheistic male god from her Jewish and American cultures. The god Vishnu alone accounts for numerous stories about his many Avatars or appearances on earth to help humanity when needed. In the Mahabharata, Vishnu comes to aid the heroes in the form of their beloved friend, Krishna.
Peggy had us act out each of the avatars: a tortoise, a fish, a boar, a lion- man, a dwarf, a warrior, the epic kings Rama and Krishna, as well as Krishna’s older brother. Some say Buddha is his most recent Avatar and predict one yet to be born. I learned to live deeply into some of these stories, especially the tortoise, the fish, the lion-man, and Krishna as a child. Vishnu is often very busy saving the world, but when he is not, he is shown resting on a curled-up snake floating in the cosmic ocean, with his consort Lakshmi sitting at this side. Sometimes she or another goddess is massaging his feet. I have long loved this image, but never have I lived it.
For the thirty years of my ministry, I worked a lot. It was intense. It may have been addictive. Retiring felt like doing withdrawal cold turkey from the adrenaline rush of work. I may have been trying to save the world, or my mother, or myself. Vishnu was better at taking long rests in between saving the world than I was. Now it is time to learn.
But it is not Vishnu who is teaching me; it is the snake. There are many great stories about Shesha, the ruler of all Naga – mythological semi-divine snakes. In the Mahabharata, Shesha helps Shiva and the tortoise avatar create this world as we know it. Shesha learned yoga as the sage Patanjali. But the great snake spends lots of time curled up floating in the cosmic sea, incidentally forming a very comfy island. Now I am invited to rest upon it.
How do you relax, refresh and renew?