Refuge: Our 2025 Theme

Mar 17

"When tortured by crisis...take refuge in Lord Śiva only"
~Abhinavagupta, Tantraloka

Hello Friends,

When the instruments of destruction play loudly in the orchestra of our lives, “refuge” becomes of pressing concern.

Refuge comes in many forms. We can take refuge in some sense of ownership or accomplishment. We can take refuge under a blanket. We can take refuge in food and sex. We can take refuge in stories about ourselves and others. We can take refuge in domination.

Moving along the refuge spectrum, we find refuge in friendships and community and in collaboration and alliance, including alliances with other animals and the natural world.

Various spiritual traditions offer us refuge in narratives of salvation and transcendence, in prayer and vows, and in the institutions and routines of spiritual practice and life.

These forms of refuge can be supportive and healing, but they are all aspects of impermanence. They are not the ultimate refuge unless we have some recognition of the real nature of the manifest world.

Refuge in living presence

In Trika and Dzogchen, we take refuge in the Guru tattva—the creative power of awakening that is embodied everywhere—but is especially recognizable through the vehicle of our teachers. We take refuge in that which will lead us to recognize living presence, the living wisdom that is generating and pervading all of this.

In his extended prayer, the Śivastotrāvalī, Utpaladeva writes:

“In this festival of creation, worldly beings see objects, but devotees perceive only You. Refuge in You transforms sensory experience into worship.”

Anandamayi Ma put it this way:

“This body does not build ashrams. There is one all pervading and all transcendent ashram - where whatever you say is there. Certainly all ashrams belong to this body. You think that only those ashrams you have built are Her’s. Really the entire world is just an ashram of this body. Where is the second?”

Seeing God everywhere and in everything, refuge is revealed to be unbroken. But we most often need to adhere to specific forms of refuge, such as our teachers and communities, before we can fully realize that.

Upcoming opportunities to learn about and take refuge

Our Shivaratri retreat was all about refuge. We will continue to investigate this theme in practical and embodied ways as the year unfolds.

On April 12th and 14th, I’ll be offering Trika Cosmology and Shakti, a teaching on the primacy of the heart as refuge and Devi as the heart of reality.

And on June 14th, I’ll be offering Refuge Sparks, a deep dive into ten ways you can take refuge right now in a more nondual way.

I hope to see you in satsang and other teachings this year as we immerse ourselves in explorations of refuge.

with infinite love,

Shambhavi