Empty

An hour on my mat to feed my body and mind led to emptying it today. The last practice for the year was inverted and with props. No plan to study or observe, just an instinctive need to go upside down and let go. It left me empty. Nothing inside, nothing coming inside, nothing going outside. Just empty. It stayed that way for a while after I rolled my mat and pottered around the house. 

The imaginary division of a year comes to an end today and playing alongwith this creation, I have one prayer- may my sadhana be more intense than it was in the days gone by. Looking back, there have been many shifts, some small, some large, both on and off the mat. My trikonasana definitely looks better today than it did at the start of the year. Yet, today’s pose shows how much dust needs to be lifted before the reflection is without distortion. 

All my rooms have books lying around and I ended up picking up a version of the Bhagwata Purana. In the latter portion of the book, there is a story of King Yadu asking an avadhuta who his Guru was. The enlightened one replied he had 24 gurus and proceeded to name them: earth, air, sky, water, fire, moon, sun, pigeon, python, sea, moth, honeybee, elephant and honey thief, deer, fish, the prostitute Pingala, the kurara bird, the child, young girl, arrow maker, serpent, spider and wasp. 

There is much to learn from these stories and their symbolism. In times such as ours, it is a boon to have access to these timeless lessons. 

Hari Om