kriyā : action

We have been exploring three of the five powers attributed to supreme Consciousness which are powers that each one of us have although in a more limited form. We started with icchā which is the "precognitive creative urge towards self expression"(1). Then came jnanā which is the knowledge born out of the observation of the deep structures of reality.

This week we focus on kriyā or action. It is a very important step in the process of creating as supreme consciousness does. By only practicing icchā and jñanā, we would be just amusing ourselves mentally without actually doing anything tangible.

Two of the words that denote action in the Sanskrit language are kriyā and karma so why is this power called kriyā and not karma? Looking deeper into the meaning of these two words one of the teachers that I follow said that karma are "volitional actions motivated by an expected result" (2) and hence bind the individual to the karmic cycle. On the other hand, "kriyā is spontaneously arising action that expresses our
natural being"(3) and  therefore not part of the karmic cycle. There is freedom in kriyā

We will be exploring how to create our yoga practice out of kriyā this week.

See you in class

Blessings

Jorge Nihal

(1) Tantra Illuminated by Christopher Wallis. p. 107
(2) (3) Tantra Illuminated by Christopher Wallis. p. 109