Don’t you just love those moments of deep recognition where you realize everything is exactly in perfect order, just the way things are supposed to Be? Ever since I was a little girl I have had a deep fascination with ‘the G word’, Spirit, that which will remain un-nameable, Supreme Consciousness, the Universe, the very Power that is the Essence of everyone and everything.

At the beginning of my sadhana (path of Truth) or yoga journey, the moments of deep awareness came close together and there were many of them. It was a time of profound remembering of an ancient omniscience already present within, everyday rich with awakening. As the experience of time marches on, the moments of ultimate recognition become fewer and farther in between. That recognition that is beyond the knowledge that I am completely immersed in the Ocean of Consciousness at all times, but the actual direct experience (anubhav) of ‘“I Am” the Wave, Current, Ocean, those moments of Light and deep Awareness are often elusively concealed behind the left arm of Nataraja (Cosmic Dancer of Bliss), hidden in shadows of the forest dance of life’s day-to-day duties. This is the dance of concealment and revelation, forgetfulness and remembrance.

At any moment in the jungle of householder life there exists a possibility of stepping into sublime Light of remembrance between the shadows. Whatever awakens your Heart to Spirit is the Guru Principle, the revelatory power of Grace (anugraha).

Last night on a sunset walk in the Black Hills Forest of South Dakota, I took a detour off the beaten path for no reason, except ‘I wonder’ what was over that hill on that little jeep trail. The trail wound up a few hundred feet through the ponderosas, and all of a sudden poured into an enormous grassland sea etched in strewn wildflowers. It is a breathtakingly beautiful meadow bordered by the forest and hills Custer knew intimately. The meadow is always there just being for it’s own delight, the ground of Shiva, whether anyone is there to witness it or not. In its steady presence, Shakti is continually expressing a pristine wild beauty, the kind of western beauty cowgirls dream of.

The sun nestled behind the silhouetted needles casting a gentle hue over the wilderness only a sunset can offer. The power of the Goddess in the silent splendor thundered my heart and tears of deep reverence washed over my cheeks. I remembered,….again. Divine Beauty, Shri, and Grace is always there, a choice and the closest thing to me, and the closest thing to you.