A Joyful Practice

First Friday Night Special #53: An Invitation to “Practicing Divine Tendencies” (the “missing” invitation w/an excerpt & links) March 9, 2025

“Ramaḍān Mubarak, Blessed Ramaḍān!” to anyone observing the holy month of Ramaḍān. Many blessings also to all, and especially to those celebrating and/or observing the Baháʼí 19-Day Fast, Great Lent, and/or Lent!

Peace, ease, and mindfulness to all, throughout this “Season for Nonviolence” and all other seasons!

This is the “missing” invitation for the “First Friday Night Special” on March 7^th. It includes a short excerpt and embedded links to related posts. You can request an audio recording of this Restorative Yoga practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.

In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es).

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Check out the “Class Schedules” calendar for upcoming classes.

“‘I can see your continuing interest, old friend, and will now describe the distinctive qualities and practices of people with Divine tendencies and degenerate (sometimes called “demonic”) tendencies. First, the Divine traits:

‘Fearlessness, purity (of heart and emotions), steadfastness (in pursuit of Atma), charity (alms giving), and control of the senses.

‘Sacrifice (yajna, the spirit of giving), study of the [sacred texts], purification (austerity, tapas, literally to “melt” and recast), straightforwardness (integrity, sincerity), and non-injury (ahimsa, doing no mental, physical, or spiritual harm).

‘Also on the list of godlike traits are: truthfulness, absence of anger, renunciation (turning away from worldly attachments), equanimity, and not slandering.

‘Forgiveness, fortitude (courage, endurance, “putting up with”), cleanliness (suacham, clean mind and body), no hatred, and no pride.

‘All those, Arjuna, are the cardinal virtues and tendencies that reveal the real nature of human beings: their Divinity.’”

— Krishna speaking to Arjuna (16.1 – 3) in The Bhagavad Gita: A Walkthrough for Westerners by Jack Hawley

Bring your awareness to attributes you consider Divine. By Divine, I mean whatever that means to you at this moment. Maybe these are attributes you associate with God or other “bright beings”. Maybe these are attributes you consider to be Universal. You may think of them as the brahmavihārāḥ (“divine abodes”) in Buddhism; the sefirot (“emanations”) on the Tree of Life; and/or all the different types of virtues in Christianity and Islam. However, consider that all the major religious and philosophical traditions describe divine attributes or virtues — some even consider them “names of God” — and that there is a lot of overlap from one tradition to the others. Christian virtues are Muslim virtues are Jewish virtues are Buddhist virtues are Yoga virtues… and so on.

The opposites of the Divine tendencies are referred to as degenerate or “demonic” tendencies in the Bhagavad Gita. As Krishna points out in the Bhagavad Gita (16:5), the list of degenerate or “demonic” tendencies is significantly shorter than the list of Divine tendencies and include “pride (ostentation, hypocrisy), pompousness (arrogance), vanity (self-conceit), anger, harshness (coarseness, sternly judgmental), and absence of discrimination (between right and wrong, Truth and not-truth, Real and not-Real)”. Unfortunately, these are things we see in ourselves and others every day. They are things that seem to arise without any effort on our part — although, some people may seem to go out of their way to embody such traits.

The Divine attributes also manifest inside us and all around us. Sometimes, however, we need to be very deliberate, very intentional, and very mindful in cultivating them. In fact, there are times when people are very deliberate and intentional (i.e., mindful) about cultivating these attributes. For example, the Baháʼí 19-Day Fast, the holy month of Ramaḍān, Great Lent, and Lent (which are all currently ongoing) — as well as Purim, Passover, and the Counting of the Omer (which are all upcoming) — are religious observations during which people specifically cultivate and embody the Divine attributes, while guarding against the degenerate ones.

Today in 1965, on “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, we also saw how critical it is to practice in this way on regular days (and even, one could argue, on a daily basis).

The following (revised) excerpt is from a 2024 post:

“Three of those Civil Rights marches started in Selma, Alabama in March 1965. They were in direct response to the murder of activist and deacon Jimmie Lee Jackson. The first of the Selma marches, on March 7^th, was led by Reverend Hosea Williams and (the future congressman) John Lewis. Horrific images from that “Sunday, Bloody, Sunday” march were televised all over the world [ — interrupting the television network premiere (on ABC) of Judgment at Nuremberg].”

CLICK HERE FOR THE ENTIRE POST.

“When people pull back from worldly pleasures their knowledge of the Divine grows, and this knowing causes the yearning for pleasure to gradually fade away. But inside, they may still hanker for pleasures. Even those minds that know the path can be dragged away from it by unruly senses.

Much of one’s spiritual discipline must therefore focus on taming wayward senses and being ever vigilant against the treacherousness of the senses. The refinement of an individual or a society is measured by the yardstick of how well greed and desires are controlled.”

— Krishna speaking to Arjuna (2.59 – 60) in The Bhagavad Gita: A Walkthrough for Westerners by Jack Hawley

The March First Friday Night Special features a (very hip-y) Yin Yoga practice. It is accessible and open to all.

(NOTE: There will be a little bit of quiet space in this practice.)

Friday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “03032023 Liminal & Lofty Redux”]

Prop wise, this is a kitchen sink practice and there are times when I suggest using a wall, chair, sofa, or coffee table. You may want extra layers (as your body may cool down during this practice). Having a wall, chair, sofa, or coffee table will be handy for this practice. Example of “Studio” props: 1 – 2 blankets, 2 – 3 blocks, a bolster, a strap, and an eye pillow. Examples of “householder” props: 1 – 2 blankets or bath towels, 2 – 3 books (similar in size), 2 standard pillows (or 1 body pillow), a belt/tie/sash, and a face towel.

You may want extra layers (as your body may cool down during this practice). Having a wall, chair, sofa, or coffee table may be handy for this practice.

RAMADĀN [Arabic] – derived from root word meaning “scorching heat” or “dryness” and refers to the 9^th month of the Islamic calendar, which is a month of fasting, prayer, reflection, and community. It is also one of the 99 “Beautiful Names of Allāh” (also known as “99 Attributes of Allāh”).

If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.

White Flag is a new app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.

If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgement-free place to talk, you can also click here to contact the TrevorLifeline (which is staffed 24/7 with trained counselors).

### Be Mindful ###