Michael-
This was a very intense prompt. I have some trouble reconciling the idea of an embodied spirituality with these very strongly theistic ideas of krishna. I’m amazed that the two are so closely linked. Yoga, in my limited experience, seems to be all about personal development and clarity achieved through the sensations of the body. Whereas the poetry you posted implies a universal truth or standard. When Krishna says
Others, on the path of knowledge,
Know me as the many, the One;
Behind the faces of a million gods
They can see my face.
How do modern practitioners of Yoga reconcile this problem? I would guess that the more “mind over body” Yoga easily is able to solve this problem, but tantric philosophy in particular must have some philosophical problems as a result of their embodied philosophies.
I really enjoy the stanza that goes:
I am the fragrance in the earth,
The manliness in men, the brilliance
in the fire, the life in the living,
and the abstinence in the ascetics.
This stanza appeals to me personally because it deeply reminds me of my favorite poet, Whitman. Actually, come to think of it, Whitman had a sense of the embodied philosophy as well. Many of his poems specifically reference the strength of people’s bodies, even the old and the young, and he celebrates virility and free love. I am coming more and more to identify myself with an embodied philosophical perspective.
Zak Houston 