Partaking in the Nectar of Immortality
Mallorca Immersions 2023
To love yourself, you have to be able to see your God in the other. You have to be willing to see God in the other. Not just hypothetically, not as an object of your attention, but as your own divinity who happens to be right in front of you.
– Igor Kufayev
Nestled in the verdant sanctuary of Finca Son Sion, accompanied by the sweet songs of the nightingales, two back-to-back immersions unfolded in Mallorca with people from all over the world, creating a mandala of hearts to journey together to the depths of consciousness…
The birthing process, in any form, is a seemingly chaotic affair, where polarizing forces collide, contend, and catalyze, eager to merge and create anew. Whenever collectively shared intentions bring a group of people together to sit in the presence of Igor Vamadeva, this timeless, sacred process of birthing is enacted, bringing forth light from the dark to allow the ones gathered to surrender to a greater love that desires to express itself through the human body. During this prolonged stay in Mallorca, an unfathomable depth was touched that felt cataclysmic at times in its magnitude, giving rise in turn to bliss-filled, celestial heights.
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During the darshans with Igor Vamadeva, supreme knowledge was transmitted from heart to heart which opened the inner vistas of consciousness:
“… There is a shared consensus that there are fundamental qualities—that we are born to live our life at the level where, we could say, we are happy, we are content, and we are fulfilled. Perhaps after we have put down these three, we can then add whatever feels after that. But somehow happiness is our essence, is our nature, and thankfully, the majority of known to me spiritual traditions, and their modern reinterpretations, agree on that fact: that happiness is our inborn right and happiness is also equally our responsibility, because that’s the level where everything is, one way or another, rooted.
Happiness is both the end product, the byproduct, of the state of Consciousness, and also, the very source from where all our activity should spring forth. In other words, we should ideally act from a place of happiness, contentment, and fulfillment. [However] the reverse is true in this given moment in time, because we are often motivated in life to do something because we need to restore, or return, the sense of lost happiness, because we feel unfulfilled and because there is lack of contentment. Perhaps this is the price to live at this particular epoch [Kali Yuga]. So things are turned around in such a way that that what should be the ground state of affairs becomes the reason why we do anything. And very often, the definition of sinking below the required allowed line, when it comes to depression, is when we are no longer even capable of doing anything in order to restore these aforementioned qualities so that life is then a more or less of a balancing act.
So with this being said, there are still a lot of toing and froing with regard to what really this human affair is all about. Simply because there are some lofty teachings whose influence is being felt from generation to generation. There are modern reinterpretations of a variety of these various teachings. And therefore, it’s hardly surprising why we do not have a coherent picture on what is human being, who is human being, and why human being?
So, this is where I would like to bring this reminder that when it comes to Tantric philosophy, certainly when it comes to the Shaiva philosophy—which has Trika Shaivism as its highest expression—emotions are understood to be not only as part and parcel, not only as necessary, but there is more to that: emotions are seen as the very reason why. In other words, why homo sapiens in the first place? It is because this is where Consciousness would be able to create a possibility for experiencing a range of emotions, where it can continuously be concealed whilst at the same time it can taste its nectarean qualities.
Some of you may remember that the root of emotions has its provenance in Latin which, translated from Latin, means to “move out” or “to be let out.” So, emotions are that: that what is being let out. And this is where the tantric paradigm immediately gives way to an important realization: anything that is not allowed itself to be let out, will result in some form of… whatever is the fitting metaphor here, whatever is the fitting term. It will result in some form of unpleasantries; it will result in some form of creating the possibility for an error to set in, for disease to set in—dis-ease. In other words, the lack of ease, which can turn into the true meaning of that term, which stands antonymous to health.
There are a variety of definitions of what health is known by. In the Vedic perspective, Ayurvedic perspective health has gradations, degrees. To begin with, the first definition of health is an absence of disease. That’s the first definition. It doesn’t stop there. It goes through these stages where it reaches the stage—like literally, one is in complete and utter coherence and in sync with everything else. The highest state in terms of what the health represents. But at least the fundamental, the foundational, quality of health is defined as the lack of disease. So, if we put two and two together, emotions play a crucial role when it comes to the accumulation of anything we call a discrepancy, which can result in that lack of ease. Dis-ease.
So in other words, emotions here can be viewed from a purely esoteric perspective—and we will return to that, hopefully on more than one occasion, so as to continue delving into the realm of emotions. But also it has this therapeutic understanding that emotions, here, are the answers to the state of our nervous system.
In other words, if our emotions are not somehow allowed to flow, if they do not find their natural outlets for them to be experienced, then if this enters a state of a pattern, expect unpleasantries, expect something to go astray. Because that’s the nature of the connection between our neurophysiology and emotions…”
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“… Spirituality, in terms of what it offers today, needs to catch up with the necessity of time; it needs to be truly all-embracing and not disregarding or somehow being an additional, let alone a kind of excessive, peripheral, activity of what otherwise humans have enough to deal with right now. It has to be turned around. Tending to our Spirit has to be a number one priority. But we also need to understand that this is not the model proposed and spoken out loud from so many platforms. [For example, take] the nonduality as this very novel attempt at overcoming the centuries of religious indoctrination—even if the monistic perspectives were the driven consensus—in that one sweeping understanding that “All this is Oneness. I am Awareness because I’m aware. And therefore, that’s all there is. There is no free will—” I’m talking about the hardcore of nonduality. Many nondual teachers left this shablon-like, template-like style and manner of teaching a while ago because they realized that it doesn’t work. But there are some others who are still quite, you know, alive and kicking I would say, still going with that drill that “Nothing you can do about it. That’s all there is.” And along those lines.
So, we will therefore keep returning to the theme and connection between the emotions and trauma. Between the need to continuously express, learning to express—there has to be outlets. Emotions have to be given their way, legitimately, and there has to be a license on our part. License on our part. We know we could take that at the cultural level. We know that certain cultures almost carry a stamp of approval of what is considered to be an expected emotional behavior, and how this backfires at the level of collective consciousness.
What was it in the lyrics of the Roger Waters? “Quiet desperation is the English way”—quiet desperation, right? That stiff lip attitude. “Hold it back, hold it.” This is at the level of the culture. When we look into this more and more, we can see that this what emotions here represent is, at once, the very raison d’être of how Awareness wants to express itself in terms of partaking in that what is the very essence of Awareness, which is exemplified by that for which there is a term “amritam”—or the nectar, or the mana. Or there is another term, “ambrosia”—the nectar of the gods, the Greek term for it. These nectarean, these ambrosian qualities, are available most poignantly and directly through three distinctive experiences: that of grief, fear, and delight.
It is through grief, delight, and fear—or through grief, fear, and delight—that we literally partake in the nectar. “We” here is used as that plural for “I AM,” simply as the limitation of the language. This is how the experience that Awareness affords, so as to give Itself this possibility of the instantaneous sense of the essence of what it is, at the level of somatic experience. Because all these are somatically experienced. Grief, fear, and delight are experienced somatically.
So, we will keep returning to the theme of the connection between the way that emotive states need to find their resolution—and this has to become our second nature. And unless the license is given, we potentially remain impeded in the way we have learned to express ourselves, often at the expense of knowingly, unknowingly, consciously or not—in most cases, unconsciously—bottling certain emotions. And this leads to undesirable repercussions. But from the esoteric point of view, that in itself stands on the way of the realization of our freedom. So, in other words, the circle is closed here. At the therapeutic clinical level, it is something which can be here spoken of as letting it go; like in medieval medicine they would let go of blood in 80% of treatments. Do you know how often bloodletting was utilized in allopathic medicine?
So literally the letting emotions flow, here, could be spoken of at the therapeutic level. This is where we’ll speak about it in relation to trauma. And also the, perhaps, redressing alternative possibilities for understanding first what comprises trauma, and what can be offered as a successful solution for the resolution of trauma. This is the most important I feel, so that we add our own voice into that what is considered to be the hot topic out there…”
– Igor Kufayev, during morning darshan at Mallorca, Spain, May 2023
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During the time in Mallorca, a significant milestone was celebrated for Flowing Wakefulness and the global community at large. The long-awaited limited edition of Igor’s first book, Camatkāra: The Hidden Path, a culmination of his life’s work finally given to written form, arrived while everyone was gathered. This book was first conceived nearly a decade ago, and slowly took shape over the years, all centered around the theme most dear to his heart, that which pertains to the way of Beauty as a legitimate spiritual path in its own right.
The mystery of any genuine spiritual unfolding is the “divinization of matter,” where beauty permeates the entire process. There is beauty in deep collective healing generated by hearts that connect and align with the same vision. In his book, Igor Vamadeva states:
“There is beauty in every aspect of the way we are made, if only we pay close enough attention. There is beauty in myriad unnoticed acts—such as the simple act of breathing, walking, and sitting. There is beauty in beholding the world with open eyes and closed eyes. All of this is steeped in beauty and conceived in beauty. It is all made for the sake of experiencing beauty.”
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And it would not be a complete immersion without the indispensable aspect of seva, or selfless service, which becomes a natural translation of giving oneself during meditation to the greater Power, now taken to the field of action and every day activity. It not an exaggeration to call this a deep practice of Karma Yoga, a legitimate path in its own right on the path to Self-realization. When we perform action without imposing any authorship over it, it becomes a gradually transformative practice, preparing the grounds for fostering the witness state in the more advanced stages of the process, as well as culturing the heart on the subtle level—that which allows for the fullest expansion and expression of one’s Self in the world. As has been pointed out by Igor, “the one who is given to selfless service in a proper way, in time finds freedom from the binding influence of action…”
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The devatas in our bodies have been delighted to be able to have Amrita Ma Devi, wife of Igor and founder of Ayurveda Anytime, along with our in-house kitchen devis, provide everyone with ayurvedic cooking each day—nourishing on all levels of the body. Igor always emphasizes the significance of properly feeding and taking care of the body as part of the integral path of transformation, as any genuine awakening process would overload the nervous system if it is not accompanied by tending to one’s body and listening to its innate intelligence.
The time in Mallorca was steeped in illuminating beauty, filled with unforgettable impressions that have been forever etched in the heart. There will be more programs this year happening with Vamadeva in Europe and Mexico, that afford the possibility to immerse into luminous teachings, into the powerful field, into the pulsations of awakened awareness. Everyone is welcome to be a part of it!
With Love & Bliss,
Team Flowing Wakefulness
The next immersions will be a 4-day immersion and a 10-day immersion in Germany, Europe, on June 21-25th and July 13-23rd, respectively. The Germany immersions will be held at the venue returned to every year, at the Modern Monastery Gut Saunstorf – A Place of Stillness, where the field is strong and vibrant with the collective intention and attention added there each time space is held there.
Igor will also be coming to the Americas later in the year, with a 10-day immersion in Mexico, Central America, on November 27-December 6th. Come experience the beauty and depth of this path, where the access is granted and everything can be reconciled in the heart.
We are also very excited to announce that Igor’s aforementioned book, “Camatkāra: The Hidden Path,” can now be ordered here. Don’t miss out in this limited first edition of the book with 300 copies made available.
Photos taken at the 4-day and 8-day Immersions with Igor Vamadeva at Finca Son Sion, Mallorca, Spain, April-May 2023. Courtesy of Flowing Wakefulness.