Our Inherent Divinity

I remembered something that happened to me in the first couple weeks of my trip. I was meditating in Bhimeshwar, the Shiva temple. one evening, waiting for the 7:30pm Arti ceremony to begin. There were a lot of young people - in their late teens and early 20's, I'd guess. I was sitting in my favorite spot, on the other side of the Lingam tucked in by the wall. For perspective, this picture is taken from the entrance, and the temple was dressed up for a holiday.

You can see that there are a couple of statues on the other side of the Lingam. A statue of Lakshmi directly behind, and a statue of Shiva in the corner. People often pause in front of each of these statues when they visit this little temple. On this particular evening, after pausing at these statues, one of the young people got down on their knees in front of me and put their forehead on my foot. In India, this is a way of showing respect, and honoring the divinity in another. Next thing I knew, there were about a dozen people lined up to bow down and put their forehead on my foot.

It was surreal, and a little uncomfortable. I sat with that discomfort. They all saw something in me that I can't see in myself yet. At least not all the time. I'm grateful that I wasn't distracted by my discomfort. I could be in the moment enough to appreciate their seeing the divinity in me. That's what Gurudevi teaches, that we are all divine. We've just forgotten. All of yoga's practices are designed to help us remember. That's what she learned from her Guru, Swami Muktananda.

I resisted the urge to do something fancy back, like put a hand on their head. I just put a hand on my heart and smiled. Sometimes I would say Om Namah Shivaya. What a gift of an experience!