PYS II.39 aparigraha-sthairye janma-kathamta-sambodhah When one becomes selfless and ceases to take more than one needs, one obtains knowledge of why one was born. The Happy Prince is a story written by Oscar Wilde. It is the last story I am going to tell for this month's focus, and you can read the full text here. The summary is this: The Happy Prince was a statue that towered over the town square. He looked beautiful and rich and grand with his golden skin, a ruby in his sword and sapphires for eyes. One day, a swallow noticed that he was crying and asked him why. The prince said he sees a lot of suffering. Together, the prince and the swallow worked together to ease the suffering of those in need. The prince saw a mother unable to buy medicine for her child, asked the swallow to take the ruby from his sword to give to the mother. He saw a young artist with nothing to eat, asked the swallow to take the sapphire from his eyes to give to this young man. He saw a poor girl selling matches, and asked the swallow to take the other sapphire to give to the poor child, even if it meant he would become blind. The swallow, after giving away the prince's second sapphire eye, decided to stay to be the prince's eyes. The swallow reported back to the prince what he saw each day, and the prince asked the swallow to peel off a leaf of gold from his skin to give whoever was in need, until one day the prince's skin was completely stripped of the layer of gold he once had. The swallow, in his final moments, kissed the prince goodbye, and fell to the prince's feet. The prince, heart-broken, felt the beating of his heart made of lead, and the pain of the loss created a crack in his body. When the mayor saw the statue of the prince, he declared that because the prince is no longer beautiful, he is no longer useful. He had the statue torn down and melted. But the lead heart of the happy prince will not melt. The lead heart and the swallow became known to be the most precious things in that town. Although The Happy Prince is a children's story, I thought it is also a yogic story, one that teaches us about aparigraha and purpose. Aparigraha is a Sanskrit word that means greedlessness. That means we take only what we need and no more than that. Many of us were socially conditioned to believe that we need to accumulate wealth and acquire things to be happy, and yet many find that wealth and things do not give life its purpose. All they do is serve as a shield, a temporary reprieve, a coverup for what may be missing inside. And so, many people keep seeking satisfaction from the outside, with the irony being satisfaction sought from the outside is a pursuit with an unachievable goal. Greed comes not from an inherent propensity towards evil, but from ignorance of one's true nature. Greed too is a pursuit of happiness, though one that is likely to destroy than to build. The happy prince, when he started out, had all of the riches that deemed him royal and stately, but it was then that he shed those tears of sadness. When he resolved to do something about the suffering of others, his purpose was manifested. We are like the happy prince in that we have our ruby and sapphires and golden skin in the form of our talents and skills and inclinations, our voice and our intent and our compassion and our ability to connect. These are gifts given to us, not to be kept hidden for ourselves but to be offered and shared and passed on. It is when these gifts become a medium that our lives begin to have a purpose. Think of someone whose happiness and freedom matter to you. Dedicate your practice to this being. Notice how easy it is to pick someone we care about, how effortless it is to have the intention of selflessness. It is easy because we have that innate compassion in us to care about others. And if you imagine having to choose between the riches of the world and the happiness and freedom of this being, you will find that you will readily give up material riches for what gives your life meaning. Aparigraha, non-greediness, does not mean that we do not have any possessions. Rather, it means that we do not let our things possess us. They are useful not because they are beautiful, not the way the mayor in the story The Happy Prince put it. Rather, they are beautiful because they could serve as a medium in which we express our purpose in this world. There is a happy prince in each and every one us, willing to give and uplift the lives of others. We also have swallows amongst us, those who were our eyes when we couldn't see, who gave us flight when we were stuck, who stayed with us to help us fulfill our purpose. If we are so courageous as to look inward rather than outward, we will find that it unnecessary to grip to possessions or attachments or to our egos. Our selflessness will free us. Our purpose will ground us. Our life as it is meant to be lived is revealed to us.
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PYS IV.15 vastu-sāmye citta-bhedāt tayor vibhaktah panthāh Each individual person perceives the same object in a different way, according to their own state of mind and projections. Everything is empty from its own side and appears according to how you see it. There is a story called The Blind Men and the Elephant, where four blind men were brought to the presence of an elephant for the first time. The first man touched the leg, noticed that it is strong, steady, and solid, and concluded that an elephant is like a pillar. The second man touched the trunk, noticed that it is soft, flexible, and has a hole at the end, and concluded that an elephant is like a hose. The third man touched the tusk, noticed that it is hard, smooth, and pointed, and concluded that an elephant is like a spear. The fourth man touched the ear, and felt the breeze created by the ear flapping side to side, and concluded that an elephant is like a fan. When the four blind men met, their discussion escalated to an argument. One insisted that an elephant is like a pillar, another a hose, another a spear, and another a fan. Each person was attached to his own experience and unwilling to accept the truth that the others shared. As we can see, all of them are correct, but all of them have experiences and perceptions that are limited. Our own perception of the world, like a blind man's experience of an elephant, is personal and unique and beautiful, but it is also subjective and partial and incomplete. If we want to be free, then we must release ourselves from the bondage of thinking that our way is the only way, our view is the only valid view, our reality is the only acceptable reality. Try this visualization exercise. In your mind's eye, see yourself as you are right now, in the exact place where you are. Now zoom out and see the room that you are in, then the location or the building, then the city. See how many different individuals there are with different opinions and perspectives and realities. Zoom out to the country, and to the continent, and to the world. See how even more varied the opinions and perspectives and realities become. See how you are where you are, occupying a small space in this Earth, touching a very small part of reality. In the universe that is like the elephant, notice how easily we could be like one of the blind men, attached to our own experience and unwilling to see the big picture. If our interest is in Yoga, then we become grateful enough to validate our own experience while being humble enough to acknowledge the more expansive view of the world that is out there. My heart breaks a thousand times for those who suffer in silence, their voices muffled, their bodies hidden from us. My heart breaks a thousand times for those who are born not to see sunlight, those who are fed not to be nourished, those whose lives face execution, those whose deaths are planned. My heart breaks a thousand times for those who are kept as slaves, those who never knew what it is like to be loved, those whose choices were taken away from them. My heart breaks a thousand times for the pigs and cows and chickens and lambs and dogs and cats and rabbits and monkeys and elephants and dolphins and whales and turtles and fish and all other beings whose lives most people ignore and do not care about. My heart breaks a thousand times for the callousness that is required for humans to eat flesh and secretions of animals because of trivial reasons as convenience, taste, and desire. My heart breaks a thousand times for the walls human beings put up, for seeing nonhumans as things, for not regarding the rights of animals to have freedom and love. My heart breaks a thousand times when it seems I am all alone in seeing this hell on Earth. This is the hardest part of being vegan, having your fragile heart break a thousand times. Because it is February and the focus of the month is storytelling, and it is February and it is Valentine season, I am going to tell you a love story. Now I am not going to tell you the kind of love story where boy meets girl (or boy meets boy or girl meets girl), they sweep each other off their feet, and an amazing soundtrack runs in the background amidst their witty banter. A great love story is not just about a beginning. Anyone can have a great beginning. A great love story is more than that. I am also not going to tell you a story where everything is fine until some misunderstanding happens, and all of this is resolved when one person chases the other person at the airport, somehow miraculously bypassing security, to deliver a public declaration of love. No, I am not telling that story today either. A great love story declares its love in the quietest and most private way. I am going to tell you a great love story about this young couple named Jim and Della. They are very young, very poor, and very much in love. The story is set during Christmas Eve, with Della counting her money in coins. A dollar and eighty-seven cents was all that she had to buy her beloved Jim a present. Distraught, she left the house to look for something her one dollar and eighty-seven cents could buy. She came upon a shop selling hair accessories. She asked the shopkeeper if they will buy her hair as she showed her long beautiful locks. Twenty dollars was what the shopkeeper offered, and with that a transaction was done. Her hair shorter and twenty dollars richer, Della proceeded to look for a present for Jim. She found a store selling watches, and saw a metal chain that looked perfect for the pocket watch that Jim has. She purchased it and went home with mixed feelings, eager that she had found the perfect gift, anxious that he may not like her new haircut. When Jim came home and saw her, he had an expression on his face that Della couldn't quite understand. "What's wrong?" she asked, worried that he found her less attractive now without her long locks. "It's not that" Jim explained, "open my gift and you will understand". Della opened her present and saw that it was a set of combs, accessories to adorn the beautiful hair that she had just cut. "These are beautiful", she exclaimed, "don't worry, my hair will grow back soon enough. Now open my present for you." Jim unwrapped his present, saw the metal chain for his watch, and had that same expression on his face. It turned out that he had sold his pocket watch so he could buy the accessories to adorn Della's hair which she had cut. This story was published 110 years ago. The story is called The Gift of the Magi and it was written by O. Henry. This is a great love story not because of what is shown to the outside world, not because of how rich their material possessions are, not because of how they got what they wanted. It is a great love story because at the end of it, they had nothing to show except the spirit of love. Everyone wants a great love story. Some of us may deny it or even be unconscious of it or believe we cannot have it or deserve to have it. Just the same, everyone wants a great love story. But a great love story does not begin when one person meets another person. A great love story begins with love of oneself. To accept oneself unconditionally, to see one's inherent worthiness, to understand that one is complete by himself or herself is when a great love story begins. To be confident beyond our metaphorical one dollar and eighty-seven cents and unattached to our metaphorical hair or pocket watch is how a great love story is set up to happen. In a great love story, there is no savior and saved, no damsels in distress, no knights in shining armor. A great love story is one where both are heroes or heroines in his or her own right. A great love story is not about one completing the other; it is a conscious sharing of two complete lives. A complete love does not look to an other, thinking this other will complete what is lacking in oneself. It does not clutch on to a show of what looks good outside. It does not think it can change the self or the other. A great love story is great not in its perfection but in its giving of the most vulnerable part of who we are. If we want great love, we do not keep who we are hidden. If we want great love, we do not withhold the giving of what is great in us. Great love is not only romantic. Great love in its full glory of giving and not expecting anything in return can come in the form of loving a parent and loving a sibling and loving a child, loving the family and the community and the world, loving the known and loving the unknown, loving those who are like us and loving those who are not like us, loving humans and animals and nature, loving consciousness, loving God, loving the Divine. Everyone wants a great love story, and that story already exists within us. We may at times feel we only have one dollar and eighty-seven cents worth in the currency of how we see ourselves, and that is when we have to rewrite the story of our lives. If we want great love, we find that love within, as it is, without condition, without attachments, without a future time-stamp. If we want a great love story, we have to be willing to become our own one great love. There is a story called The Starfish in the Jivamukti Yoga book that left quite an impression on me. The story is posted here: In this life, we may find that while we are trying to do something good, we hear voices that our actions may not be good enough, or that they do not have a real impact, or that the situation is hopeless anyway, so why even bother? Sometimes it is other people who tell us this. Other times, it is our own doubts and insecurities that lend this pessimistic voice. One of the most important books in the study of Yoga, Bhagavad Gita, is set in the battlefield. We can think of this as an internal struggle that we have, our good intentions fighting our apathy and sense of helplessness. Our entire lives we may be confronting two sides of our selves- one seeking connection and the other veering away from it. But the reality is that just by living in this world, we are already making a difference. Our only choice is in what kind of difference we make, what impact we create, which direction of the world we contribute towards. The words of Helen Keller come to mind. "I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do." We can let the words sink in for a while. Absorb them. Internalize them. Listen to how they speak to you. Every individual person has something to contribute. Our skills and talents and desires and inclinations are not accidents; they are gifts we are meant to use and pass on. If our interest is in Yoga, the dissolution of separation, the seeking of Oneness, then we begin to let go of the weight of the world, the heaviness of seeing more problems than we can seemingly solve, and instead be uplifted by what we can do, be encouraged by our own ability to make that change. Going through this life is not a story of fairy tales. The path of yoga is not about rainbows and unicorns. It is not always easy. But it is an empowering path that drives us to pick up that one starfish, and another one, and another one, and another one. It is a commitment to doing all that we can with all of the gifts we are bestowed upon as an individual person, because we are one person, and there is a lot of power in that. One tree can start a forest, as one candle can light up the dark, as one person can make a difference. The February Jivamukti focus of the month is storytelling. The whole month could unravel by just telling stories, but for now I wanted to lay down the groundwork, and to put a disclaimer, so to speak. In all spiritual traditions, it is through the telling and retelling of stories that teachings are given. Whether it's Jesus, Buddha, Krishna or Allah whom you are inspired by, chances are you remember their teachings through stories that were passed on to you. It is a beautiful thing to hear stories of tradition and inspiration, but we have to be careful and do the best that we can to read into the intention and context of the stories, and not rely on the literal imageries that were perhaps intended as metaphors. As yogis, we have to keep an open mind and do our part in searching for Truth. I heard that when the Dalai Lama visited San Francisco one time, he was asked about his opinion on homosexuality. He replied that it was not something his religion approves of. The gay community, upset upon hearing this, arranged for a meeting with the Dalai Lama wherein they spent a day in open conversation. At the end of it, he was known to have publicly detracted his previous statement. He said he was mistaken and suggested that the traditions of his religion could be misguided. For a spiritual leader to come right out and say that his religion could be wrong about something takes strong moral courage. It is to detach from the stories and traditions and beliefs that we were fed blindly, and instead connect to the stories that are still alive, the stories of those who live alongside us, the stories of equality and justice and freedom without discrimination. Think for a moment of the stories that may sometimes bring you doubt. It may be a story of tradition, of what we were told was the norm, what we were told was right, or you may think of a story of a personal nature. We sometimes have that story running in the background, that we are somehow not good enough or worthy enough. Could it be that we are also mistaken? Is it time to rewrite these stories? When we practice yoga asana, we may get into poses that are difficult that really test our patience and increase our frustration. Remember that any story- be it the journey of our yoga practice or the story of this life that we live- has its share of highs and lows. Every story has a dilemma, a challenge, a problem to be overcome. It is part of the story; but it is not all of the story. It can be resolved. It will be resolved- if we are patient enough to sit through it. Prepare to do a pose you find challenging. Before you put your physical body into the pose, prepare mentally. As you inhale, think "I". As you exhale, think "can". I can. Say this to yourself a few times, sealing your intention with this affirmation. I can. Add any word or phrase or sentence after the words "I can" as you see fit. I can be patient. I can be positive. I can admit my mistakes. I can let go of pride. I can be free. I can be happy. I can be liberated. To look at our old stories and have the courage to admit that it is no longer relevant and that it is time to change is one of the most liberating things we can do for ourselves. If there is something in our lives that we are not completely happy about, we can start from wherever we are and change course. We may not be able to change history, but we can look forward and create and rewrite a new story. We can be inspired by the story of the Dalai Lama and realize that there is a better way, a more peaceful path. Our story could be a living expression of Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu. I am very grateful at the turnout of the Jivamukti Chakra Balancing Workshop that I taught last January 31st. Thirty-four souls signed up, though a few were unable to attend at the last minute. I am quite moved by how open each student was, how receptive, how willing to deal with confronting the self, that it reminded me once again how healing the practice of yoga is, and how privileged I am to be in a position to facilitate and witness such emotional and spiritual growth. It is with a great sense of honor that I have the opportunity to teach the Jivamukti Chakra Balancing Workshop again. Bliss Yoga is hosting this workshop on February 21st (Saturday) from 1130am to 130pm. If you missed the first one, or if you attended the first one and would like to have a new experience of the workshop, I hope to see you then. If you attended the first one and benefitted from it, I hope you can also help me spread the love by passing on the information. It is my belief and my own experience that it is when we feel whole and complete that we can act in loving ways towards ourselves and others. All credits go to my teachers, Sharon Gannon and David Life, and the practice of yoga itself, whatever name or form or style or "brand" we may resonate with. With Love and in Love. I was teaching a class the other day, and giving an assist as I normally do, when a student came out of the pose and apologized that she cannot do it. I reassured her that it was perfectly fine to take it at her own pace or even take a break. I thought about the incident a lot, because I do hear this from time to time, this apology when someone has difficulty coming into a pose or holding a pose, when someone has to modify or take a break in child's pose. This is what I have to say about that: There is no need to apologize. We were born into this world as infants not really doing much and not knowing much. It took time for us to take our first step, to speak our first word, to form our first sentence. We did not have to apologize for taking our time, and so it is that we still do not have to apologize for taking time to grow. Whether it is our asana practice or figuring out our purpose in life or having a meaningful relationship etc, it does take time. Be patient. Instead of feeling the weight of time passing by, use time as a vehicle to do the best that you can. And if today, you find that you fall, or struggle, or want to give up, do not apologize. Get up and try again. Another try. Another day. Another time. Take time to get to know your body in the pose. Take time to make peace with where you are. Take time to be thankful that you have this body and no one else's. Take time to learn new things you could do with it. Take time. Take time. Take time. The time we have here on Earth is a time of learning and a time of loving. It is not the time to feel inadequate or pressured. It is an opportunity given to us to travel down the road, one step at a time, with space to take a break, with love in our heart and a smile on our face. It is a time to invite and accept joy, all the time and every time. |
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