..
Sacred India Tarot – Vishnu, detail
..
Concluding the Suit of Lotuses in the Sacred India Tarot Archive, by Jane Adams and Rohit Arya. The Suit of Arrows (Swords) will follow in this series.
..
Rohit’s Notes – Pradyumna, Son of Krishna and Rukmini
“Pradyumna was Kama reborn, after Siva withdrew his curse. He was born to the greatest devotee of Siva, who was Krishna, as a gift after his favourite wife Rukmini, considered to be Lakshmi, had been childless for many years. This ties in the water element very well, as Lakshmi is the wife of Vishnu, i.e. Krishna who is also Narayana ‘he who sleeps on the waters’ – and one of her names is Padma ‘the Lotus’. Their son therefore is ideally placed to be the King.
Sacred India Tarot – Kama consumed – detail
“Pradyumna is Kama – (the deity of desire and lust) – healed, the aggression and arrogance being tempered in the next generation. The sins of the father are literally redeemed by the son. He should be depicted as a Krishna clone, but dressed in lotus garlands instead of the peacock feather crown. The same blue skin and captivating smile. A river of sorts should flow near him, as he was kidnapped at birth and cast into a river from which he was rescued by the faithful Rati. The Water element always predominated his story.”
..
Jane’s Notes
The same thought runs through the Suit of Lotuses as a whole: the transmutation of sexual desire into a realisation, that the root feeling which creates the world, the galaxies, the stars, the Laws, human beings and all creatures, is sacred. Every manifestation is Siva Shakti. It is not put on an altar to worship, because we are the potential walking altars: reverence for Life.
..
..
Rohit’s Notes continued – from his Book with the Deck
“Pradyumna is the son of Krishna and the father of Aniruddha. He is also Kama reborn, with all the swagger and insolence rubbed out of him. Being incinerated by Siva seems to have that kind of effect. He is an almost perfect, positive role model – there is hardly much that is negative about him. That is admirable, but it makes for boring appraisals of character.
“The King of Lotuses has to go very much to the dark, before the shadow side takes hold. The name ‘Pradyumna’ means ‘conquers all foes’, so it gives some indication of his stature and prowess. He suffered the fate of all great men with even greater parents – an admiring obscurity. It does not seem to have disturbed him at all. Kama would have been shooting arrows in all quarters in frustration at being denied the limelight.
“Kidnapped at birth by the fearful Sambara and thrown into the ocean to die, he was rescued and brought up in the circumstances already narrated in the Queen of Lotuses. This rough beginning was residual negative karma from his action against Siva, but once that worked out, his life was smooth sailing.
Sacred India Tarot Krishna restores dharma – detail
“This characteristic of turbulent origins settling down into the placid longterm, is typical of the nature of the King of Lotuses. When Krishna was off on his frequent adventures, it was Pradyumna who by sheer reputation alone, protected the kingdom. He was also a skilful administrator, and unlike Kama, there are no salacious stories about him. When the power of desire is harnessed to worthy and nourishing ends, somebody like Pradyumna exemplifies that noble state.
“… Friendly and helpful, but slightly remote. Spiritual authority, teacher, guru, mentor, guide. Likes to work with children. The wisdom of emotional maturity – a true psychological adult is a wonderful thing to see… They read people well. Ability to take risks because of that talent, Of all Tarot personalities, the most in touch with the feminine side.
“(Shadow side) – Ends up creating dissonance instead of harmony when irritated or provoked … Without being outright dishonest, is still a misleading sort of personality … Seeks power by manipulation, never overtly. Refuses to ask for help or even admit it is required. Insight of the card: Is your life really as good and on track as you think it is? Are you becoming complacent, even smug?”
..
..
Jane’s Notes continued
I come to this card with a clean slate. No current agendas or past material arise, to stick to it; except whatever flows over from my Krishnamurti posts. The sage, eternally young, has the high mountains at his back: the roots and seeds of trees are his body: a little river flows past his feet – the soul’s irrigation channel. The pebbles along the bank are earth-jewels. He holds two small blue lotuses – Krishna! – in the Indian way, at his naval and heart chakras. Otherwise he is the Lotus personified, rather like the Ace.
..
Sacred India Tarot Siva Ace of Lotuses – detail
..
Perhaps we all can try this: sit here on the spot, as the lotus flower whose root is held in the earth, and watch the river flowing by. Every meditational method advises to watch the river … watch the content of the mind, and let it pass. Watch the breath, and discover the CALM. Perhaps hold the breath for a while, and then let it go (this is kumbaka): or inhale and exhale through each nostril alternately, closing the other with a finger against it. Every little bit helps, to slow things down and gain perspective and … the peace.
Ramana recommended to watch the normal breath without fuss, like a rider on the horse. He also taught “diving into the heart” – inhale, hold for a few seconds, dive into the ocean for the pearl ; then let go, exhale. It is non-verbal, and helps to clear out shadows in the subconscious; it drives them up into the open. Or dive inward after the emptied outbreath. The shining sands are revealed for a moment before the water swells and the next wave comes. Thought and breath share the same root.
Hridayam
He whose thoughts, embodying being,
sally forth, points to the heart.
To describe, may merely image mental part,
so realise your mind’s source is ‘I’. Then seeing
that, from which thought springs – Thou Art!
“If my heart is single, stem and shoot,
whence my Yoga, in the root?”
“The heart of all, the whole receives. Start
near the pump: hridayam as hrit,
in-draws, exhales the Universe, by Ayam lit.
“Your Self is One, you understood!
Let your heart’s ease – to right of centre is best –
sushumna’s stream to sahasrara flood,
and bow your flower in heart to rest.”
..
(A play of sanskrit words: hridayam means Heart. Ayam is “this I”, and Hrit is “who?” – the base of Self enquiry. Sushumna is the nadi or nerve current which passes through the spinal column from the root chakra to the Sahasrara (crown) chakra – ‘thousand petalled lotus”. To make a picture of these things, is good.)
..
Sacred India Tarot – Pradayumna King of Lotuses
..
The Grail
Awareness flows from heart to body whole,
as impressions of the world arise.
Beholding these apart from sky, the soul
enmeshed in samsara’s snare, becomes unwise.
In Cup of Cups, by petals of pure light,
a circling moth’s consumed and swiftly dies.
In Light, by power of mind and sight
are limned and lost, the differing eyes.
Samadhi state, one pointed, firm, beholds in all,
sahaja – in nirvikalpa is their absence.
The wide world on body sense does fall
like rainbow prism; and in heart is Presence.
The universe entire and myriad formed, is mind
whose origin is heart, here now to find.
..
Samsara is the repetition of births and deaths – the process of worldly life. Samadhi is peace and joy all-knowing, in meditation. Sahaja samadhi is unconditional, and participates in the world without altering the bliss. Nirvikalpa samadhi is like a trance – the worldly life is absent during it, and the samadhi is limited. These two poems are from Sonnets on the Ramana Gita, composed by Alan Jacobs and Jane Adams for their better understanding of these teachings. The Ramana Gita was a series of sanskrit verses – the young Ramana’s early discussions, collected and written down by Ganapati Muni, the sage with “poetry in his throat”.
..
A princess being crowned 1956 – after botticelli
..
It is not much use following sages and gurus unless I am prepared and inspired enough to apply their teaching to the First Person I inescapably am. “If you see the Buddha on the road – kill him!” Why? Because he might be a glamorous projection or ideal, distracting attention from the First Matter – the Buddha nature I am given, to work on honestly. This said, there is tremendous inspiration and grace in the company of a Realised one, not to mention Love – the core of human evolution and gravity. The Elder Ones all agree on the paradox – to hold an I-thought (aham-vritti) and follow upstream where it dissolves … goes together with letting go our local ‘me’, when we serve and are fully present for others or for the One. The first is raja-yoga; the second blends karma-yoga and bhakti-yoga. It goes on being very difficult!
At this point, I see how the Indian Self teaching draws together with the First Matter in alchemy, and with J.Krishnamurti’s gift for hearing a problem without comment, until it becomes conscious, dissolving and resolving itself. Attentiveness is what it requires; and patience. “Keep practicing.”
..
Lakshmi and Vishnu, from whom came Rukmini and Krishna, the mother and father of Pradyumna.
..
..
..
**
For other Sacred India Tarot posts, look under Recent Posts, Sacred India Tarot in the Categories, or Archive of All Posts in the title bar. Rohit Arya Rohit Arya is an Author, Yogi and Polymath. He has written the first book on Vaastu to be published in the West, {translated into five languages} the first book on tarot to be published in India, co-authored a book on fire sacrifice, and is the creator of The Sacred India Tarot {82 card deck and book}. He has also written A Gathering of Gods. He is a corporate trainer, a mythologist and vibrant speaker as well as an arts critic and cultural commentator. Rohit is also a Lineage Master in the Eight Spiritual Breaths system of Yoga. Earlier posts about the deck, including the first 15 Major Arcana archives are in http://aryayogi.wordpress.com The deck is copyrighted (c) 2011 to the publishers, Yogi Impressions Books pvt, and available on Amazon and internationally.
..
Jane
My adventure invites fellow travellers. I am a poet, an artist and a seer. I welcome conversation among the PHILO SOFIA, the lovers of wisdom. This blog is a vehicle to promote also my published work – The Sacred India Tarot (with Rohit Arya, Yogi Impressions Books) and The Dreamer in the Dream – a collection of short stories (0 Books). Watch this space. aquariel link All art and creative writing in this blog is copyright © Janeadamsart 2012. May not be used for commercial purposes. May be used and shared for non-commercial means with credit to Jane Adams and a link to the web address https://janeadamsart.wordpress.com/
janeadamsart 