"Darsan"

Behold…”The eye by which I see God, is the same eye by which God sees me.” Meister Eckhart

Last Sunday we regathered for our first in-person communal service in over a year. Arriving early to do the set up, I began to feel the incoming energy of each person moving from different points around town toward the table I was setting with candles and music and wine cups—the incoming energy as we each moved toward a shared moment in time in which we would be able to look into each other’s eyes again and touch hands and hearts. It was a moment worth noting–and we did pause several times during the service–just to acknowledge it—to behold and to be held in the blessed moment of darsan.

Darsan—the Blessed Wikipedia says it is the “auspicious sight of a deity or a holy person” with “sight” meaning “seeing or beholding, and/or being seen or beheld”. There is the episode in Hindu mythology that is associated with darsan where the great God Shiva and the Goddess Parvati are romping in their Himalayan home when Parvati, in play, covers Shiva’s eyes with her hands. The whole universe is suddenly plunged into darkness. When Shiva’s eyes are closed, there is no light anywhere, except the fire of Shiva’s third eye, which threatens destruction. Fortunately for us, the all-seeing gods are said never to close their eyes for the well-being of the entire universe depends on the open eyes of the Lord.

This past year has taught us that we can “show up” for each other in ways that we didn’t realize were possible before. We certainly experienced darsan via our zoom gatherings – especially in the early days of the quarantine: “seeing and being seen” each night at Evening Prayers–these were vitalizing moments. There were days that my well-being depended on those fifteen minutes—seeing and being seen by beloved anamchara, soul friends.  It became clear that there were invisible connections between us that we might call “unseen”, yet proved that we were keeping our eyes and hearts open to each other during this time of separation.  

I read this morning that human beings spend about 47% of our time thinking about the past or the future. Almost half of our time, most of us are “not here” it seems, but elsewhere in time. Being mindful, returning to the moment, experiencing the darsan of the moment resets my own clock in the context of all that is universal and eternal, of all that is timeless. 

I would like to remember to be present more, absent less. For when I am present, it brings me to what is most important—to See and be Seen by the generosity of this very moment. It regathers me to the Holy Ground of this very moment. It reminds me to keep my eyes open—for the well-being of the entire universe—for as Meister Eckhart says, “The eye by which God sees, is the same eye by which God sees me.”