Sunday, January 01, 2006
enOugh tO get by
The new year has just arrived and I am thinking about what I learnt in the past year. There is a quality we talk about in yoga called santosha or "contentment". It is one of the niyamas, qualities you need to cultivate on the path to yoga, to wholeness and fulfilment. I understood the teaching in theory and in abstract. It never crossed my mind just how important the quality is as a basis from which the very premise of your existence and endeavours stems. I also never guessed the amount of courage that you need to realise contentment AND the amount of courage that is generated from realising contentment. 2005 spent a lot of time teaching me all that. I have of course to thank the patience of my teachers and the love of my friends and family for supporting me through this hard but necessary lesson.
You always have just enough to get by, and truly, that is all you really need. For what do you really do with having more that you need -- at this very moment -- to get by? Having excess does not provide you with a peace of mind. Certainly, accumulation of material things does little for your sense of security, in fact, it robs you of it when you usually lose things more easily than you gain them. Only inner contentment provides you with a peace of mind. Trying to make a living in the past two years, with the training of my yoga and meditation practice, I observed that my emotions were on the rise and fall with the rise and fall of my savings account. When I noticed this, I felt that I had allowed myself to be controlled by factors external to myself. Had I placed the value of my happiness no higher than the numbers in my bank account? Had I based my peace of mind on something as elusive, abstract and arguably unattainable as a perceived secure financial status? Had I already forgotten how I had so much more money and material possessions when I had a salaried job and how I was also a lot more unhappy then? I then made a resolution to never let myself be affected by what little I had or what surplus I had, to never be on emotional highs and lows in parallel to the highs and lows of my bank account. I never looked back. I observed hence that I never had so little that I feel deprived and I feel I have always enough for what I need. And that is our reality when we are truthful about it.
I will not lie. It takes some courage and faith to give this a serious try. This is why I found that yoga, meditation provide invaluable life skills. With yoga, you gain a healthy body, heart and mind, with meditation, you gain peace, clarity, an unshakable mind and with this, so much courage. Santosha! -- When you come to experience this revelation first hand, you feel surrounded by the abundance of the earth. And more, that old feeling of anxiety, that crippling, sickening feeling of grasping weakens and you feel your heart release. You feel simply blessed to be alive and well, you feel a lightness, an ease in the heart and it begins to dawn on you that this is the feeling of real happiness. Then you feel silly that the happiness you had always searched has been so simply got and found no further than with this resolution within yourself. Next you feel the realisation of abundance is the same as the realisation of generosity, you become kinder to yourself and patient with others. And you would want to share this simple ancient wisdom with all people, that they can be happy, by realising contentment in their hearts. You find that being generous to people is not just an act of virtue, it is the only way to act.
May you be blessed to learn the teachings of yoga. May you dive deep into your mind and find these sunken treasures within: courage, strength, faith, love, contentment, patience, perseverance, peace. Unlike other possessions, once you have found these, you will never lose them. You will find that with them you can do anything and I will bet that you will start looking hard for something really worth your while doing. It is most likely that you will see there is nothing more important, more pressing a need today than to fill the hearts of those who are in misery with the same peace and happiness you have found.
May you always have enough to get by and never want for anything.
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You always have just enough to get by, and truly, that is all you really need. For what do you really do with having more that you need -- at this very moment -- to get by? Having excess does not provide you with a peace of mind. Certainly, accumulation of material things does little for your sense of security, in fact, it robs you of it when you usually lose things more easily than you gain them. Only inner contentment provides you with a peace of mind. Trying to make a living in the past two years, with the training of my yoga and meditation practice, I observed that my emotions were on the rise and fall with the rise and fall of my savings account. When I noticed this, I felt that I had allowed myself to be controlled by factors external to myself. Had I placed the value of my happiness no higher than the numbers in my bank account? Had I based my peace of mind on something as elusive, abstract and arguably unattainable as a perceived secure financial status? Had I already forgotten how I had so much more money and material possessions when I had a salaried job and how I was also a lot more unhappy then? I then made a resolution to never let myself be affected by what little I had or what surplus I had, to never be on emotional highs and lows in parallel to the highs and lows of my bank account. I never looked back. I observed hence that I never had so little that I feel deprived and I feel I have always enough for what I need. And that is our reality when we are truthful about it.
I will not lie. It takes some courage and faith to give this a serious try. This is why I found that yoga, meditation provide invaluable life skills. With yoga, you gain a healthy body, heart and mind, with meditation, you gain peace, clarity, an unshakable mind and with this, so much courage. Santosha! -- When you come to experience this revelation first hand, you feel surrounded by the abundance of the earth. And more, that old feeling of anxiety, that crippling, sickening feeling of grasping weakens and you feel your heart release. You feel simply blessed to be alive and well, you feel a lightness, an ease in the heart and it begins to dawn on you that this is the feeling of real happiness. Then you feel silly that the happiness you had always searched has been so simply got and found no further than with this resolution within yourself. Next you feel the realisation of abundance is the same as the realisation of generosity, you become kinder to yourself and patient with others. And you would want to share this simple ancient wisdom with all people, that they can be happy, by realising contentment in their hearts. You find that being generous to people is not just an act of virtue, it is the only way to act.
May you be blessed to learn the teachings of yoga. May you dive deep into your mind and find these sunken treasures within: courage, strength, faith, love, contentment, patience, perseverance, peace. Unlike other possessions, once you have found these, you will never lose them. You will find that with them you can do anything and I will bet that you will start looking hard for something really worth your while doing. It is most likely that you will see there is nothing more important, more pressing a need today than to fill the hearts of those who are in misery with the same peace and happiness you have found.
May you always have enough to get by and never want for anything.