I read The Sun Also Rises while on vacation. I didn't intend to. I didn't bring it with me; my son did. He had planned on reading it for an analysis paper but, by the time he got to maybe page 16, said it was so bad he couldn't read it any longer. I had never read it or, at least, I don't recall reading it. But I can barely remember specifics from last week, let alone a millennium ago. So, I picked up the book on a flight and started reading. It is pretty boring. The entire book involves approximately six main characters that are so lost in life, so lacking in purpose, that they try to find happiness in drinking, sex and sport. Out of the 251 pages in this book, I really should have kept track to see if there was even one that didn't mention beer, wine, or someone being "tight"; they drink at breakfast, lunch and dinner and constantly meet each other in between to keep drinking. They are all broke from the money they spend on alcohol and travel in their attempts to be happy. I'd like to tell you they find it; they do not. In fact, none of the characters grow in this novel except Jack who almost finds some type of clarity but then goes to get a drink. One cannot seek happiness from the outside in. The inspiration is that there is always the possibility of change. But, you need to know what it is you want to change; awareness must come first. Continuing on the same path is stupid, assuming you really do want change. If you seem content, then maybe you are smart for staying aligned with what makes you happy. If any of the characters in the book were happy with drinking and sex, I'd say good for them! But they are not and it plays on their unhappiness. Make sure your happiness stems from within and is not a figment of illusion. Harish Yohari in "Breath Mind and consciousness" writes, "According to the scriptures of Swara Yoga, Shiva Swarodaya and Gyana Swarodaya, the life span of a man is measured not in years but in number of breaths." In reference to how long we have to live to work through these changes, yogic philosophy says we are all given the same number of breaths here on earth. Do not mistake that for meaning we are all given the same amount of time. We all lose our breath in different ways. Highly stressful jobs, bad relationships, hanging onto grief or guilt, running around to seek knowledge and happiness externally...these all lead to a shorter breath. If I am anxious or stressed, my breath is more shallow and staccato. Chest breathers, those who have not learned to breathe fully with their entire lungs, take shorter breaths than students of pranayama, yogic breathing. Learning to deepen the breath slowly and smoothly leads to a longer inhale and exhale, therefore, one breath over a longer period of time. Add that up in days, weeks, months, years! It could amount to years. Swami Satyananda Saraswati in "Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha"states, "The ancient yogis and rishis studied nature in great detail. They noticed that animals with a slow breath rate such as pythons, elephants and tortoises have long life spans, whereas those with a fast breathing rate, such as birds, dogs and rabbits, live for only a few years". Almost everyone is familiar with the Hilary Cooper quote, "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away. " If you are not internally happy, externally present, how do you even recognize the breathtaking moments? So why would anyone choose to shorten their life span? Why wouldn't we all seek a longer breath? Let's assume this yogic premise is unbelievable or even incorrect. Why do some of us choose still to shorten our life span? Many people feel trapped by jobs, family, relationships, money, life. But the beauty of life lessons is choice. Even if you financially cannot afford to make a transition, I think we all have a place, in and out, that recharges our soul. Do you take time to go there? Mine is the ocean. It reminds me to breathe and I become very present trying to observe each and every foam crested wave. I follow the path of the seagulls and pelicans in their flight. I soak in every detail as though my soul demanded it. I am fully present. Each visit, I try to inhale enough ocean to get me through until the next visit. I use the image of the ocean in my mind, in meditation, to bring me back. I hear the ocean, taste the salt, absorb the wind. Where is that place for you? Why wouldn't you take a few moments from your day to close your eyes and recharge your spirit? What stops you from pulling up a picture of your place on Google and deepening your breath as you take in every minute detail? Does it seem too trivial? Are you fearful of becoming too close with your own Self? So here's the question I have for you today...do you choose to look away and stifle your own breath or is today the day you reawaken and breathe?
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"Those who don't feel this love pulling them like a river those who don't drink dawn like a cup of spring water or take sunset like supper those who don't want to change let them sleep..." This is the first part of a poem by Rumi called Those Who Don't Feel This Love. You will find the complete poem below, but I wanted to explore this line first... It kind of reminds me of the expression that you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink, though stated much more eloquently! According to phrases.org, this "horse" expression "appears to be the oldest English proverb that is still in regular use today. It was recorded as early as 1175 in Old English Homilies..." and translated to "who can give water to the horse that will not drink of its own accord?" If you have never tried yoga before and aren't ready for the life journey that this paths leads you on, you aren't ready. I can pick you up at your house, bring you to the studio with me, pay for your class, lay out your mat and have you sit on it, but I cannot make you practice yoga. And, even if you decide to try out some of the poses, I certainly cannot make you create an internal practice that opens you up to your intuition, your inner voice and your Higher Self. What opportunities have you offered to others who have turned them down? I think making the initial offer is fabulous! It shows you are caring and that you want to share what you have learned. But, if met with defiant heels in the ground, let it lay. Why expend your energy to create change for someone else when that is impossible to do, anyway? Rumi advises let those people sleep. The next line reads, "This Love is beyond the study of theology that old trickery and hypocrisy/ If you want to improve your mind that way sleep on." Wikipedia defines theology as, "the systematic and rational study of concepts of God and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies". Love the word rational in the definition! I digress. Rumi is reminding you that external learnings and beliefs detract, or maybe distract is a better word, from seeking th divinity you already have within. He says if you want to learn about love through maya (illusion), you may as well go back to sleep. If you don't mind the analogy (sorry if you do!), you have become the horse that has found its voice and says it wants to drink water but wants to find his own way of getting to the source without being led there on a direct route. He writes, " If you want to improve your mind that way sleep on." The next line states, "I've given up on my brain/ I've torn the cloth to shreds and thrown it away." Here, Rumi discerns there is a difference between learning with the active thinking mind versus something else. What could that something else be? You throw away your brain and you are left with the essential you? Not the labeled you (mom, dad, worker, caretaker, teacher, whatever); just you. Your heart, your spirit, your voice, your intuition. The raw nakedness of love as love is without the mind to over think it or add more labels. By "tearing the cloth to shreds", he has stripped down to just him. He is no longer labeled by what he wears. There no longer remains illusion regarding his attire, his richness or his poverty. He just is. Soham. The last line of the poem says, "If you're not completely naked wrap your beautiful robe of words around you and sleep." Because what are you going to do with your oh-so-important words? Who are they for? What do they prove? Love is beyond words and thought and definition. In a separate writing, Rumi says: “Human beings are mines...Only the unsayable, jeweled inner life matters…” Rumi was born in 1207. He was a Sufi poet. Sufi's were known as mystics of Islam seeking the truth of divinity through passion and love. Hear this poet asking you, 800 years later, are you ready to strip down to your heart? Are you? Or you going to sleep for another hundred years? Those Who Don't Feel This Love "Those who don't feel this love pulling them like a river those who don't drink dawn like a cup of spring water or take sunset like supper those who don't want to change let them sleep... This Love is beyond the study of theology that old trickery and hypocrisy/ If you want to improve your mind that way sleep on. I've given up on my brain I've torn the cloth to shreds and thrown it away. If you're not completely naked wrap your beautiful robe of words around you and sleep." ~Jellaludin Rumi When we were in Puerto Rico, more specifically, Old San Juan, there were a lot of stray cats roaming about. My daughter counted fifty! While I was waiting for her from plopping down on the sidewalk to pet cats, I noticed a sign stating is was against the law to feed the stray cats. I got to wondering if that was a ridiculous law or not. I can understand the local government not wanting to encourage the cats but wouldn't that be more effective through neutering? I mean, the cats are already there. Stop and ponder this for a moment...are there any ridiculous laws you live by? Maybe one of the most "ridiculous laws" is guilt. If I maintain my guilt and keep it functionally organized in the compartments of my head, I will never lose track of it. And, if I don't lose track of it, I can keep punishing myself for whatever reason I brought in the guilt in the first place. Because then, the haunting of my guilt, like a shadow attached to its form, can never allow me to let go and forgive BECAUSE that would mean acceptance of the initial act or thought or word (phew! Deep breath...) And, acceptance might translate into it all being okay when it is clearly not because if it had been okay it would not have elicited guilt at all! Such an unending, unforgiving circle. I purposely made all of that run on and on because that is what guilt does in our head. It makes us go over and over the circumstance when, really, we should just let go and move on. Marge Kennedy wrote, "Hard though it may be to accept, remember that guilt is sometimes a friendly internal voice reminding you that you're messing up." This may be initially true. A little bit of a nudge to remind you that you seemed to have strayed from your intuitive heart. It is in allowing yourself to wallow in your guilt that becomes offensive to your Spirit and causes you to create your very own suffering. Sally Kempton shares this story: "My teacher, Swami Muktananda, used to tell a story... There were once two monasteries, each located close to a big city. In one monastery, the students were told that human beings were sinners and that intense vigilance and penance were the only ways the students could avoid their sinful tendencies. In the other monastery, the students were encouraged to believe in their fundamental goodness, and to trust their hearts. One day, a young man in each of these monasteries decided that he needed a respite from monastic life. Each boy sneaked out his dormitory window, hitched a ride to the nearby city, found a party, and ended up spending the night with a prostitute. The next morning, the boy from the "sinner" monastery was overcome with punishing remorse. He thought, "I've fallen irrevocably from the path. There's no point in my going back." He didn't return to his monastery and soon became part of a street gang. "The second boy also woke up with a hangover. But his response to the situation was very different. "That was not as satisfying as I imagined it would be," he thought. "I don't think I'll do that again anytime soon." Then he went back to his monastery, climbed in the window, and was admonished for sneaking out at night. My teacher would say that when we believe that we are sinners, a very small slip can send us spiraling into a pattern of self-destructive action. But when we know, as the yoga sages tell us, that we are fundamentally divine, that we are all Buddhas, it's much easier to forgive ourselves for the bad or unskillful things we do. It's also easier to change our behavior. " Our soul's come to Earth to learn. Why else would they leave perfection? You can't learn in the midst of perfection because there are no mistakes to learn from. I would argue that maybe there are no mistakes on Earth, either, merely learning lessons but grasp the point...if you do not intend to learn fro your 'mistakes' and move on, what is the upside to your self-induced punishment? Letting go of guilt is the lesson. Unbinding your spirit from earthly chains. Learning that forgiveness of the Self has to be one of the most important and awesome lessons ever. Please be aware that guilt is ego-bound. The ego appreciates you hanging out in guilt-mode! Because, in guilt-mode, you are bound in fear. Fear allows the ego to grip you. You cannot be present because you are worrying about something else, be it past or futuristic, and worry is irrational fear. Once bound, the feet find it difficult to move forward. Let go, let go, let go... Don't just want it; do it. Be so thirsty for freedom you can taste its sweetness on your tongue. And, how refreshing to know you have the power to free yourself. Parvati is a very important Hindu goddess. To comprehend her story, it helps to understand the Shiva/Shakti energy that is frequently brought up in yogic philosophies. Shiva is the masculine energy, while Shakti is the feminine. All male deities have a female consort or counterpart, in a way providing balance. Parvati is Shiva's consort. But before we delve into Parvati's story, we must back up a few eons (!) and first address Sati. Sati was Shiva's first wife. She was madly in love with him even as a child and sought to gain his attention and love. When they finally did marry, Sati's father, Daksha, was very upset by this. Sati's father considered Shiva to be a long haired unorthodox vagabond who did as he pleased without rules and organization. So after Sati left with Shiva, Daksha threw a big party inviting all Gods and Goddesses and family and friends but purposely did not include Shiva and Sati. (This probably is starting to sound like some modern day families, right?!) Sati decided to go anyway to try to make amends but when she arrived, Daksha made fun of her and Shiva and defiled her beloved's name. Sati declared she no longer wanted anything to do with the body Daksha had given her and sat down in defiant meditation. She raised such an internal fire that her body combusted and burst into flames. When Shiva heard what had happened, he was inconsolable. He and Sati had been inseparable for eons; their love was so strong. Shiva went into a very dark place within and, tearing all his hair out, turned his dreadlocks into a fierce warrior named Virabhadra. (This may sound familiar to you yogis...Virabhadrasana is warrior pose.) Virabhadra went to Daksha and killed him and all at the party. When Shiva followed soon after, he was upset by the destruction he saw. The Gods asked him to restore Daksha's life so Shiva took the head of a goat and put in onto Daksha's beheaded body thereby bringing him back to life. Daksha was eternally grateful. But Shiva remained in such a dark way that the Gods began following him around trying to bring him out of his despair. They tried chants and mantras and finally appealed to Lord Vishnu for help. Vishnu managed to take Sati's body and cut it into 52 pieces, which he then dropped in various places around the world. Today, these are 52 places of pilgrimage for seekers to visit; Earth is recognized as Goddess Sati. Shiva went into a deep meditation where he finally remembered he and Sati would always be together beyond the physical plain. She came to him and let him know she would return to him as a reincarnation. Her name would be Parvati. From the moment Parvati was born, even though a baby, she remembered she was there for Shiva. When she was of age to marry, her father kept bringing suitors but Parvati rejected them all. She explained that it was her destiny to marry Shiva. Due to advice of a sage, Parvati's father took her to where Shiva was in deep meditation where they waited for Shiva to open his eyes. Shiva did not recognize Parvati but agreed she could stay and wait on him. For days, Parvati did so with devotion but, finally, the other Gods felt she needed help in attracting his attention. They sent Kamadeva, the God of Love, to strike Shiva with an arrow. He agreed though knowing the disruption from meditation would greatly anger Shiva. When Shiva felt the bow, he opened his eyes and, for the first time, saw how beautiful Parvati was. But he felt guilty, as though he was being disloyal to Sati so he sent Parvati away. And in his rage for being tricked by Kamadeva, opened his third eye and Kamadeva burst into flames. Parvati went to the hills and began to meditate upon her devotion for Shiva. And years passed. The sage went to Shiva and told him about Parvati's devotion. Shiva disguised himself and appeared where she was meditating. When she opened her eyes, Shiva asked about her dedication to Lord Shiva, even making fun of himself. Parvati defiantly defended her love and Shiva suddenly knew she was Sati reincarnated. Parvati is known as the Goddess of love and devotion, which is easy to understand after knowing her story. Every other Goddess is a manifestation of Parvati. For example, Parvati's destructive side is known as Durga. When she is prayed to for abundance, it is Kali one is praying to. She has 108 names she goes by. She is the ultimate feminine energy and, without her, Shiva would remain as Shava, meaning corpse (svasana). Her mode of transportation is the powerful and strong lioness. She carries with her a fully bloomed blue lotus. When depicted with Shiva, Parvati has two arms but when shown alone, she may have four or more. Two of her hands are in abhaya mudra representing fearlessness. In my opinion, the moral to be taken from this tale is that of how powerful our minds can be. Sati yogically destroyed herself in a powerful mediation, which was her intended goal; Shiva caused earthly destruction when in his deep dark meditition (think about how our bad moods effect those around us). And, Parvati, used her deep meditation as a means of devotion to get what she wanted. The power of your unaccessed mind is beyond imagination. Isn't it time you tried exploring the amazing power you hold within? |
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