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What Rasa Is For Me



     Rasa is one of those Sanskrit words that has a long history and is not easily translated in to English.  In ancient Sanskrit (here we are talking about thousands of years ago) rasa meant the sap of a tree.  (Wikipedia)  The sap of a tree flows and contains the essence of the tree.  Gradually poets began to use "rasa" to apply to the essence and flow in music, dance, art and poetry.  It came to mean the emotions of creativity and eventually spirituality and by the time of the Upanishads nearly 3000 years ago, rasa would be used to describe the divine nature of the gods.  A little over 1000 year ago, the word came to be associated with Krishna.  Chanting the Hare Krishna could produce the transformational experience that would result in healing and wholeness.    Some Jews, Christians and Muslims can experience this in their prayers and meditations, musicians in their music, physicists in Quantum Physics.  It is about a higher level of conscious.  It is what I feel while listening to the final chorus of the Rolling Stone's "You Can't Always Get What You Want" while watching a sunrise.


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