Living the Truth

Why do we do yoga and why do we work? Is there a distinct separation between our spiritual and our working urban life?

When we are in the asana practice, we have a sense of peace and deep belonging, which makes us come back to the mat again and again. Many times, it spurs us to know deeper, to attend workshops, yoga intensives, spend time with other renowned teachers overseas. The tapas/ fire to learn, understand, grow is so essential in the practice. But also some of us, at one point or another, say, let's quit the day job which is fraught with so many issues, and just come to the mat and be a yoga teacher.

It happened to me in my early 30s many times. I was quite ready to give up being a young specialist then. That everything is in the material realm, the muladara cakra, i can give it up and become a yoga teacher. Do with less and become more.

The epiphany came to me in Macchu Picchu, Peru where i was on a vacation with Justin and our late friend Fang in 2006. God willing, Justin had water in his expensive camera lens and we went to caretakers hut to take refuge from the rain and clean his camera. There was a young Peruvian fitting away and there were lay people trying to put things in his mouth etc. I quickly identified myself as a physician, laid him in right lateral position, soon, another UK medic showed up. All 5 of us brought him down the mountain in the rain to seek medical help. He likely had neurocystecercosis - parasite in the brain causing fits which was common to the region. Alas, we missed our beautiful sunset shot and went up the mountain again the next morning. The clouds parted and the message came ' Be a doctor, that is your Dharma'.

At that moment, there was still that doubt if this is really my dharma and now, early 20 years later, with the wisdom of hindsight, I'm glad for that message.

It is easier for some of us cos as physicians, we heal the sick. Heroes who save lives, bring lives into this world. Our work helps and feeds our spiritual and inner world. For myself, as a geriatrician, there are no heroic stories, but only that of unconditional love of family and loved ones who sacrifice and care, when the old and frail are sick, unlovable and incapable of providing any form of 'advantage/ use' to families or societies. But in those moments of physical suffering, i have seen grace, love in the purest form; amidst the turmoil of non-acceptance, anger, denial. In those outer expressions of various emotions/ feelings/ thoughts, lie the intangible Truth.

How then can you, think deeply, how each one's work can fuel your inner and spiritual life for it to be a purpose-driven life. An educator who is essential and sets foundation for learning for a young life, lawyers who uphold the justice in society (despite seeing many injustices), a stylist who can bring confidence to someone who has low self esteem and confidence, a mother who tends to her family 24/7 to provide a warm home for family to return to and feed their stomachs with food cooked with love - how can we remain pure and above it all to see the purpose and truth of our human existence. To have compassion and passion for people we encounter in our path. To find purpose in our Being.

Then a ploughman said, Speak to us of Work.
     And he answered, saying:
     You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth.
     For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons, and to step out of life’s procession, that marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infinite.

     When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music.
     Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison?

     Always you have been told that work is a curse and labour a misfortune.
     But I say to you that when you work you fulfil a part of earth’s furthest dream, assigned to you when the dream was born,
     And in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving life,
     And to love life through labour is to be intimate with life’s inmost secret.

     But if you in your pain call birth an affliction and the support of the flesh a curse written upon your brow, then I answer that naught but the sweat of your brow shall wash away that which is written.

     You have been told also that life is darkness, and in your weariness you echo what was said by the weary.
     And I say that life is indeed darkness save when there is urge,
     And all urge is blind save when there is knowledge,
     And all knowledge is vain save when there is work,
     And all work is empty save when there is love;
     And when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another, and to God.
    
     And what is it to work with love?
     It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.
     It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.
     It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy, even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.
     It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit,
     And to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching.

     Often have I heard you say, as if speaking in sleep, “He who works in marble, and finds the shape of his own soul in the stone, is nobler than he who ploughs the soil.
     And he who seizes the rainbow to lay it on a cloth in the likeness of man, is more than he who makes the sandals for our feet.”
     But I say, not in sleep but in the overwakefulness of noontide, that the wind speaks not more sweetly to the giant oaks than to the least of all the blades of grass;
     And he alone is great who turns the voice of the wind into a song made sweeter by his own loving.

     Work is love made visible.
     And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.
     For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man’s hunger.
     And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine.
     And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man’s ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night.  - The Prophet. Khalil Gibran

Ramana Mahārshi’s (a respected indian sage) enquiry went something like this: What do you see in this room? I see many objects. Why do you see many objects? Because there is light. How do you know there is light? Because I see through my eyes – my seeing power is the light that lights up this light. How do you know you have seeing power? There is knowledge that I can see. Mind is the light that lights up the seeing power. What is the light that lights up the mind – how do you know that you know? Buddhi, Awareness. What is the light that lights up the Awareness? No other light.

The grossest thing borrows consciousness from the subtle conscious being. The subtle conscious being borrows its consciousness from Consciousness directly – from the light. Awareness shines by itself; matter shines after Awareness.

There is no place where Awareness is absent. Awareness is everywhere, consciousness is everywhere. But, consciousness being there is not manifest in non-living things. Consciousness has to manifest as knowledge. For consciousness to manifest there has to be a subtle reflecting medium. Wherever there is no subtle body there is no life. Wherever there is no life you do not see consciousness manifesting. Consciousness is there, but it is not manifest.

Pure Awareness is there, pervading everything, but it is not manifest. When you understand that Awareness is all-pervasive, then knowledge takes place in your own buddhi. When you discover the knower, discover the discoverer – when you know who the knower is – then you understand.

That inner journey and finding one's purpose and in turn, knowing God/ Truth that everything is Isvara (God). Finding how YOU live your Truth. When your physical body declines, how can we experience Truth without the sensory seeking 🙏🏻

Namaste