دار بيبليون
The Divine Presence in Yoga and Teresa of Avila (TA), Lecture by Dr Lwiis Saliba on Zoom, Wednesday 17/11/2021
The Divine Presence in Yoga and in TA
We see that Mourani, the researcher of Christian and comparative mysticism, is right in what he says here, and what we have quoted from TA’s testimonies and texts confirm what he has said. We continue with him in what he says about TA’s meditation: “It does not suggest concentrating on the truths of the faith to extract meaning, nor does it suggest using the imagination. Rather, it prefers the presence to which the humanity of Christ corresponds on the subject’s side.
TA’s meditation is far, very far, from a kind of cogitation on dogmas and theories, even if they are directly related to his faith. His meditation is simply an experience of the divine/personal presence. And this is what Yoga calls Ishta Devata as mentioned above. This contemplation of presence is not different from what Bhakti Yoga advocates and teaches, but is its core and essence.
In the section of Nyam vows of the eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga that Patanjali speaks of, the fifth vow or commitment crowns its predecessors. It is submission to the Lord Ishvara Pranidhana. Swami Chidananda explains it as follows: “To surrender the matter to the Lord means to place oneself in God, that is, to live always in the consciousness of the divine presence. And even the worst of men becomes humble and changes in the presence of divinity”.
Here the divine presence, and especially the need to live it, appears the same in the teaching of Yoga as in that of Teresa. Chidananda continues: “Handing over the question to the Lord leads to a consistent attitude of devotion and divine love, faith and humility. It is not possible to feel selfish as we try to live the divine presence.
Living the Divine Presence in and out of contemplation, that is, in daily life, is a constant in Teresa’s spirituality and experience, which almost coincides with the Yoga teaching of submission to the God Ishvara Pranidhana.
Divine Love in Yoga and Mysticism
From the friendship of the Lord, the spiritual seeker moves to divine love and then to ‘Ishq’ (Unifying Love). Divine love is a phenomenon known to the mystics of most religions, especially the women mystics, and they were known as the lovers of God. In Islam, Rabi’a Al-Adawiya was famous in this field, as were Therese of Avila and Therese of the Child Jesus in Christianity, and Mâ Ananda Mayî in Hinduism. One of the most famous was Radha, mentioned above, and her friends the Gopis, lovers of Lord Krishna.
Rabi’a Al-Adawiya (185 AH) defines ‘ishq’ as: “A name for that which has gone beyond the limits of love”.
Ibn Arabi distinguishes several degrees in the aspirant’s relationship with God, the last of which is ‘Ishq’. Love, affection, cherishing Widd, and Ishaq.
The yoga of piety, in turn, distinguishes between the patterns and degrees of relationship with God: the already mentioned friendship, the parental love Vatsalya: the Lord is like a child/God. Like the two children Krishna and Rama in Hinduism and the child Jesus in Christianity.
And the last of the degrees: love, which in Sanskrit terminology is Mathurya: the feeling of the lover towards his beloved.
The Stations of Love in Bhakti Yoga
Chaytanya (1486-1533), one of the most important exponents of Bhakti Yoga in Indian mysticism, distinguishes five degrees or ‘stations’ of Bhakti (piety):
1 – The station of Shanti peace in which the worshipper regards the Lord as his supreme God and experiences contrition towards Him, as well as deep peace and contentment due to his certainty of obtaining His grace.
2 – The station of service, dâsya, where the worshipper presents himself as a servant of the Lord, submits to Him and gives himself totally to Him.
3 – The station of friendship, sakhya: the worshipper considers himself a friend of God.
4- Fatherly Station: the worshipper feels towards the Lord as a father feels towards his son.
5- The station of Mathurya Love. This is the love of Radha and the Gopis for Lord Krishna.
Narada says in the Bhakti Sutras, the founding text of the yoga of piety, about this love and its superiority over all other paths (work and knowledge…): “Just as a man does not satisfy his hunger by knowing food or even by looking at it, so he is not satisfied with the knowledge of God or the perception of God until his love dwells within him”. (Bhakti Sutra 2/2).
Narada cites the traditional Hindu example of the love of Radha and all the other Gopis for God Krishna on ‘Ishq’ love, saying, “This is the love of the Gopis for Krishna” (Bhakti Sutra 1/14).
But Narada warns, this is not just a female love, or the love of a woman for a man: “Though they worshipped God as a lover, they never forgot His divine nature” (Bhakti Sutra 1/15).
Narada considers that ignoring this divine nature is a sin against chastity: “Otherwise they would have committed the sin of unchastity” (Bhakti Sutra 1/16).
Divine love is not a substitute for a human love that we lost or did not find in the first place, but rather it is the highest degree of love and its sublime, for it is devoid of all desire to exchange and share emotions: “It is the highest form of love, for it does not contain the desire, reciprocity that is in all human love” (Bhakti Sutras 1/17).
Divine love in TA
TA is no stranger to the atmosphere of divine love spoken of by the Yoga sages, but is at its centre. Her love, and that of her nuns for Jesus, is a copy of the love of Radha and the Gopis for Krishna.
Let us hear her teach her nuns and advise them, “I do not ask you to think of the Lord or to analyse His attributes. I only ask you to look at him and meditate on him (…) It is said that a woman does this in front of her husband when the marriage is successful.
She gives them an example of this relationship: Mary Magdalene and Jesus.
Therese did not neglect the masculine in this feminine aspect of the Lord’s love, but she always sought to invest it in her own contemplation and in her teaching to her nuns. Let us listen to her addressing him, with exalted gentleness and femininity, in her book ‘The Way of Perfection’: “And you, O Lord of my soul, did not hate women when you were in the world, but always helped them with great kindness, and found in them a love equal to and a faith greater than that of men”.
The Carmelite reformer had to struggle against a dominant patriarchal trend in the Church, which only gave women a secondary and subordinate role and position in the spiritual field.
She showed against this trend and other sceptics the superiority of women over men in the way of meditation, saying in her biography and attesting: “The Lord has given the supernatural blessings of meditation to women more than to men”.
For further confirmation, she attributed this saying to her mentor, the aforementioned saint/mystic Peter Alcántara: “This is how I heard Saint Alcántara say, and I experienced it myself: They go further along this road than men.
Meditation on divine love slows down the mind
TA Meditation is, in essence and identity, Bhakti/Love Meditation. And her golden rule in this regard was announced in one of her books, where she said: “Contemplation is based on much love, not much thought”.
In Yoga, meditation is precisely about calming the mind, and even slowing down mental processes as we have seen with Patanjali. Absorption is a state of calm and stillness. But how to control a leaping, wild and restless mind? “With love, remembering God becomes natural” says Bhakti Yoga. With love, remembering or repeating the name of God ‘Japa’ becomes a natural matter that requires no effort. In this, the Yoga of Piety says, explaining its reasoning, “How can one without love remember another person? Remembering God means experiencing love in the heart.
TA teaches the same principle and mechanism for stopping the tumult of thought by saying, “Whenever passion is aroused and the dialogue of love is rushed, the intellectual effort and all the forces of the soul come to a halt.
Excessive love holds back thoughts and divine love, once awakened, will bring peace and comfort to the mind and heart. Hence the Carmelite reformer’s command to her nuns: “Do not renounce anything that awakens love”.
And the relationship of divine love continues to grow between Teresa and her heavenly spouse. Her contemplation becomes a dialogue: she speaks to him and he responds. And when her words fall silent, the inner voice calls her. On the contrary, when her health deteriorates and she suffers and becomes unable to speak, it is he who takes the initiative. She says in Report 36/2: “I was suffering from severe headaches but I felt that this would not prevent me from practising meditation. Then the Lord said to me, ‘With this you will see the reward of pain. When your health did not help you to speak to me, it was I who spoke to you and I blessed you.
The heavenly Bridegroom comes to support and strengthen her in the hour of pain and distress. He said to her once: “Eat, my daughter, and bear what you can bear. I am sorry and regretful that you are enduring so much suffering, but it suits you now.”
The word “I regret” gets our attention, as it did TA’s, who goes on to comment, “His saying ‘I regret this’ got my attention, because in my opinion he cannot regret anything yet.”
Is he sorry that he can’t do anything? Yet he is the one who has healed hundreds and thousands of people! The final answer comes from his own words: “It suits you now.
Suffering is like joy, a tool for remembering God and being aware of his permanent presence.
The human being very rarely remembers neutral things that do not impress, hurt, or please him. Bhakti Yoga teaches that man cannot remember a subject he does not know or a neutral matter. However, he can automatically remember what has caused him pain or pleasure. By seeing God in the tools that cause suffering or joy, it becomes easier to remember God. Torment helps to detach from the world. Joy helps to recognise the gratitude and love of God that causes it.
So we have presented the role of pain and torment in the yoga of piety and in Teresa of Avila, so where is joy and what is its position in each of them?
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