The Heart of the Matter
Theme of the month: kṛpā meaning compassion, kindness, and forgiveness
“I've been trying to get down to the heart of the matter.”
While driving home from class, where I shared my first dharma talk on this month’s theme, kṛpā, which can be translated as compassion, kindness, and forgiveness, and Don Henely’s song, “The Heart of Matter” came on.
It’s a challenging time. Maybe that could be said at any point in history. But we are here, and there’s no doubt many of us have concerns and fears about the political landscape in the world. At the same time, we have our own personal struggles to manage. People can only take so much.
“These times are so uncertain, there's a yearning undefined And people filled with rage, we all need a little tenderness How can love survive in such a graceless age"
Forgiveness can be a challenging practice to talk about. It’s also a difficult theme to share in a short talk at the beginning of a yoga class. (Trust me, we’ve used this theme from a different perspective a few years ago also in February, maybe because it’s a short month?)
That’s the work, though, right? To face our challenges, digest our emotions, and destroy our ego.
"The trust and self-assurance that lead to happiness They're the very things we kill, I guess Pride and competition cannot fill these empty arms And the work I put between us, You know it doesn't keep me warm”
It’s not easy work. I’ve been a bit angry with everything going on all week. I don’t, I can’t understand the hate towards trans people, the support by many people I love, including yoga teachers and “healers,” for policies that endanger the trans community, and the language our elected officials are using when talking about us. It reminds me of when I was a kid being called a “fag” except these are congresspeople, preachers, and presidents, not 10-year-olds.
“There are people in your life who've come and gone They let you down, you know they hurt your pride You better put it all behind you, baby, 'cause life goes on You keep carrying that anger, it'll eat you up inside”
But forgiveness and compassion are not for them. I can have compassion and disagree with someone because they’re for me. Forgiveness and compassion are practices of the heart, and a heart needs to shed the shit that’s in the way to have any chance of awakening, of understanding.
“I've been trying to get down to the heart of the matter But everything changes And my friends seem to scatter But I think it's about forgiveness Forgiveness” In the next post on kṛpā, this month, we'll explore forgiveness.
📌 A quick plug: Please consider joining my new Substack publication, Tantrik Yoga Sadhana. This is where I will include the dharma, poetry, practices, recordings, and more related to my Monday morning Tantrik Yoga Sadhana which happens at 7:30am on Zoom. Email crescentcityyoga@gmail.com to signup. It’s also recorded!
