Namaskar - Oct 09

THE INSPIRING STILLNESS AND BEAUTY OF NATURE
10
recognise this. We have to practice not
getting caught up in the drama of the
moment.
It’s no consolation that some of the
greatest visionaries have been notorious in
their discontent: suicidal, depressed and
institutionalized. These philosophers and
artists and saints were often rebellious and
sought untraditional ways of expressing the
reality they experienced. How often do we
hear of someone attaining the heights of
awakening that played by the rules?
In polite society we are often taught to feel
shame over our emotions. “Cheer up,” we
are told - don’t dwell on the unpleasant. We
are ashamed of anything untoward or
inconvenient: jealousy, sadness, anger, need.
Vulnerability. We despise our vulnerability.
Yet it is those who are brave enough to face
the unpleasant emotions that are rewarded
with their transcendence.
Some try to escape the darkness through
numbness or distraction or blatant denial.
But moment by moment, coming back to
the breath and the now, it is possible to
transcend the outer world, and rest in the
quiet inner. This does not mean avoiding
the outer world, it means acknowledging
the unpleasant aspects, and allowing them
to show us what is true - and relaxing in
that.
What makes us revere the great artist or
visionary is they point unflinchingly to that
state that we are all familiar with – man’s
discontent. And yet it is precisely in naming
it, speaking of it and fondling it that the
visionary (or the yogi or the poet or artist or
writer) performs his or her service. For that
brief moment when we are absorbed in
something, whether it is meditation or a
painting or a great passage of literature, or
that inexplicable bliss of a moment of
oneness with nature, a moment of ecstasy
with our lover or a luscious peach at the
peak of summer, and for that moment we
are indescribably, deliciously and undeniably
content.
Sometimes I think this spiritual seeking is
for the birds. What are we looking for? For
that moment – that timeless moment of
being one with whatever is happening right
now. And do we really need all this
searching to get there? We are already here!
If only we would drop our seeking and
striving to stop and smell the flowers, listen
to the birds, look our fellow beings in the
eye and smile like we mean it!
But the problem is that we don’t always
remember. We are not always able to rest in
that timeless moment of peace and
contentment. So we have to practice coming
back. Whether through yama, nimaya, asana,
pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana or
Samadhi, we practice returning to our
brilliant spacious peaceful loving Original
Nature. We practice returning to acceptance.
And here is the beauty of practice – when I
am merged with my breath in yoga or in the
timeless moment of meditation, there is no
cruelty or injustice or discontent. There is
only pure, simple awareness, without the
baggage or burden or struggle. Then I am
content.
Kim teaches yoga and
meditation in Bhutan.
papayayoga.com