Duluth Pride festival ‘22
“It is tough to get angry in a space where everyone is trying to love themselves,” said one of the MCs at last year’s Duluth PRIDE festival, the first one we had ever attended after coming out ourselves. This sentence has been stuck in my mind ever since, as it really did feel like we were in a space where everyone was focused on existence in their fullest joy, and holding space for others to do the same. This year we were excited to return to PRIDE, but this time with a booth for Northwoods Shakta, our first public event since launching just a couple of months ago. When we decided to create Northwoods Shakta being a booth at PRIDE was at the top of my to-do list. I had seen area churches and spiritual organizations represented but no Hindu representation of any kind, so it felt important on a number of levels, especially the possibility that we might be able to offer some connection or friendship to like-minded people looking for community. To us, an incredibly important aspect of that community is about offering a sense of safety and acceptance that protects the rights of our human and more-than-human family.
And so, I was a little confused when people kept asking why we were there. We weren’t selling anything or trying to sign people up to a retreat. We had a simple booth with Sully (music director) playing sitar and sharing his love and knowledge of Indian music, so important to our tradition, as well as a big bowl of candy and stickers to give away and a sign-up sheet for news updates. We had so many lovely conversations, but that question kept ringing in my mind - why are we here? Were the churches being asked that? Was anyone?
Why we were there has a lot to do with why we were founded. Bhakti is a tradition of loving devotion, and as humans we long to share what we love with others. In our connection to the Earth, we see that relationship flowing like blood through veins between us. As LGBTQ+ folk ourselves, we were showing our PRIDE as much as we wanted to show up for others. Though Hindu traditions, like many others in the world, do have their sects of folks with different opinions on things like sexual identity, so I thought it might be worth a moment to clarify ours.
How can one attain love without authenticity? In our view, they can’t. As nondualists (advaita) who see the Divine Mother as both transcendent spirit and immanent material reality; She is present in all things at all times, both their physical bodies and their non-physical selves. We do not earn or attain Love, we are already Love, and Love is the fabric of all things. Our work as bhaktas is the release of all that prevents us from realizing this truth, and that involves things like working through the fears and desires of the ego, or sadhana. When we work toward the discovery of our authentic selves, we work toward that Truth - Releasing shame about who we are, allowing the full experience of love, experiencing selflessness through self love, realizing we are not our fears or failures or our hopes and dreams, but an ever-existing and expanding creative expression of the Divine Mother, Maa. Through Her power, which is not separate from Her, of Maya (Mahamaya) She individualizes creation, meaning that which is One perceives itself as many, and we believe that this is evidence that our diversity is an aspect of Her divine artistry for a reason. Through difference we learn, and so to us, this means that the authentic flourishing of our fellow human beings is a part of dharma. Dharma takes many forms, but here is about the forward momentum of creation that must not be hindered for the miniscule delusion of control. We cannot force our fellow humans to be what we think they should be. This causes very clear suffering, rates of suicide increase, hate dissolves families. Authenticity does not do that. A refusal of it does. But through difference we learn and can grow, and in a theology that understands the world to be the microcosm of the cosmic macrocosm, our authenticity holds the key to the healing and collective flourishing of humanity. We are all manifestations of the Divine Mother, and in our differences we deepen our learning not just of each other, but of Her, because we are Her. Let’s take our trans family for example. They have had to work so hard to discover and accept themselves, against incredible odds and ongoing battles, and yet they choose self love and authenticity. My brain explodes if I try to list everything that this can teach us about what it means to be human, to love, to discover ourselves, to be connected, and that Maa is not male or female, but a spectrum of becoming that is mirrored in humanity’s many ways of understanding gender, ever evolving. For me, trans journeys teach me that the drive we have toward true becoming is relentless, and to try to stop it only creates suffering. It must be allowed to unfold, like a divine flower. If we protected our trans family from hatred and violence, just imagine what could unfold in the freedom of their flourishing, or any of ours.
The journey toward our authenticity is a human right, a core aspect of our spiritual path and practice, and a necessary element of bhakti. To discover this love within yourself is to discover the path of the Divine Mother.
While we met many wonderful people at PRIDE, my favorite part had to be the people watching. Everywhere I looked people were displaying the timid body language and shy smiles of those who, right now, today, are allowing themselves to be seen in their truth, maybe for the first time. And alongside them, I saw those who had been working on that practice for a while, adding strength and inspiration to the moment. Maa was there with us, watching Her children rejoice in their particularity and in their unity.
So in response to the initial question, I say as I said to one lovely woman who stopped to chat - why wouldn’t we be there? Maa is in all things, and at PRIDE, Her reflection shines especially brilliantly. Thank you to all who helped it make such a wonderful day.