Sitting With the Form

Sit before the image of your chosen deity at home or in the temple, the murti the family pujas have always centred on. Settle the body, then place your eyes softly on the face of the image. Do not analyse the carving or the flowers around it. Look as a child looks at a parent's face, asking nothing, comparing nothing, simply being there. Slowly, the image stops being separate. The face of stone or brass becomes the face of the formless, choosing this shape today to keep you company. Sit with that company until the temple closes inside you.