May the Purr Be with You.

Lessons from Master Teacher Sakhara

Over the last few days, Sakhara has been showing me a few things and allowing me to feel them and think about them on my own.  Here’s what I’ve been learning about.

RUN LIKE A CAT.

In one lesson, she suggested I run like a cat.  Since I didn’t have a cat body, my thoughts became a barrier.

“Just do it!” Sakhara chided me.

So I imagined getting down on all fours and trying to run.  Soon I was running like a cat, with a tail streaming out behind me.  It was a surprising experience.  Cats run with such ease, and once I got my mind out of the way, so did I.

What does this mean about all the times in my life when I’ve held myself back because I refused to just jump in and do something new?

THE DIVINE ESSENCE.

Sakhara took me to the top of a hill and we looked out across a valley towards another hillside.  It was dusk and as the dark was coming in, I could see lights below me.  At first I thought these were electric lights or lanterns or even candles.  Sakhara shook her head.

“This is what cats see, ” she said.  “We see the light essence of all beings.”

I keep looking, and then realized that some of the lights were humans, some were animals, and some were trees and bushes.  All the lights appeared to be golden, some brighter and some fainter.

“This is not the aura?” I asked.

“No.  It’s the essence.  It’s the divine spark within all things,” my teacher continued.  She told me to contemplate this, and I have been doing that.

What would it be like to see someone’s Divine Essence with our physical or psychic eyes whenever we meet another person?  What would this tell us about them?

Which is maybe why I got the following lesson today.

LOVE WITHOUT JUDGMENT.

Sakhara showed me a mother cat nursing her new born kittens.  First, she asked me to observe.  As the momma licked her young and cleaned them thoroughly with her tongue, Sakhara said, “Love Without Judgment.”

“How is that different from Love Without Conditions?” I asked.

“Always so full of questions,” my teacher exclaimed with a shake of her head and a swish of her tail, as if asking questions were a crime.

“A mother cat will kill a baby that is deformed, unhealthy, or in danger.  She make no judgment.  She does this act lovingly to prevent harm to them, to prevent them from suffering.  This is Love Without Judgment.”

I still didn’t understand.

“Humans don’t believe in doing this,” I responded.  “Humans born with physical deformities and other limitations that are not a completely healthy body and mind are allowed to live.  We love and nurture and take care of them.  And some of them turn out to be geniuses and artists, and make amazing contributions to human society.”

“Yes,” agreed Sakhara.  “But I’m not teaching you about humans.  I’m teaching you about Cats.   This is not instinct.  It is deliberate, conscious choice in the cat.  This is how the mother protects her young.  She has no doubts whatsoever that the kitten’s spirit will not be harmed by her choice.  Humans spend too much time thinking and too little time loving and knowing the truth of things.”

It’s not wise, I have found, to argue with a teacher when the point of view they are sharing doesn’t match my own.

Clearly cats believe that what they are doing is correct.  Sakhara was asking me to move out of judgment – to not assume that what is appropriate for one species is appropriate for another – to accept that the ways of life are infinite and perfect.  A very challenging lesson.