Unity. Light. Love.
Embracing the Boundless
Practice
Just as there is something deeply intimate in your life, in all its variety, so among esoteric practices there are deeply intimate practices. Today I want to share one of them with you.
This practice allows you to enter an extraordinarily close relationship with Higher Powers: the Creator, the Universe, various Deities or manifestations of the Divine, Mother Earth, the Source of Being, and so on. These are very intimate relationships. It may be that only very sincere and pure people will understand this practice, while for those at a lower level, their own impurities may for now keep this information closed to them, beyond their understanding.
The Russian word obnyat, “to hug”, is equivalent to obyat, “to embrace” or “to encompass”; the word for an embrace comes from the same idea. Thus, “to hug the boundless” also means “to encompass the boundless”. And to encompass something is equivalent to understanding it. In other words, when you embrace someone, you understand them. For example, one friend might say to another who is troubled, “Come here, let me give you a hug.” What does this mean? It means that she understands her. Words come to an end; people simply embrace and remain silent because they understand each other completely. It is as though their minds and hearts touch. Words no longer have any meaning: an embrace has come, and everything has become clear at once.
Embraces have always had great significance. Sadly, today they have been reduced to something sentimental and weak. Yet in old Rus they were always very important. Great warriors embraced one another; there were no handshakes. People shared a part of themselves, drawing closer to unity before battle. They defeated enemies who greatly outnumbered them because, in combat, they felt one another as they felt themselves.
To embrace someone does not mean showing weakness, faint-heartedness or femininity. It is an openness of which, at times, only strong people are capable.
Yes, we sometimes see many people playing at love. We may see a young couple ostentatiously kissing and embracing in the street. For them, it is a game, not love. They need to show everyone that all is well, that they are loved, that they have love. They are trying to prove it to everyone—and, in fact, to themselves. They embrace and kiss easily, and part just as easily. They value neither embraces nor kisses; they do it like robots. But when real love arises, embraces do not come so easily. Words of love are very difficult to say, because the person feels so keenly the immense responsibility that has suddenly come to rest upon them.
An embrace is the culmination of all words and all understanding. It is an extraordinary action placed within us from somewhere above, arising as naturally as a smile or laughter, or the wish to breathe in the fragrance of a beautiful flower when we see it.
As I said, an embrace has meaning only when it is sincere, when it is a sincere impulse of the soul. It is not like the opening of some event where everyone is obliged to embrace, wearing masks of kind, happy smiles. It is an intimate act: a longing to understand, to let someone into yourself, into your soul, to touch hearts and not be afraid of being open.
If embraces mean so much between people, it is not hard to understand how beneficial it would be to share such an embrace with something Higher. Just think: to embrace God, the Sun, Life itself. You unite with it—and instantly. All the purity, strength, love and wisdom of the Divine come to you, while everything negative and impure leaves you. Is this not a supreme practice!
Focus on your sensations. They may be very subtle at first. Later, something truly immense may happen to your consciousness and to what you feel. I will not describe it: each person will have their own experiences, with their own nuances.
© Author: Sergey Veretennikov (Om Shanti)
Practice given on 21 March 2013.
