There is no doubt about it: Life is challenging – it demands our all. We have to keep a close eye on what is going on.
To achieve that, flexibility is a must. Physical flexibility is certainly helpful, yet most of life’s endeavors demand our psychic flexibility. A rigid mind will not get far in life – rather it will be encumbered by the same trappings again and again. Our outlook and perspective must be dynamic to adapt to this ever-changing world. Failing that we will become static.
Just as the above golfer is gaining his angle, our yoga practice helps us reassess our current conditions and future engagements. Closing the eyes, slowing the breath and stilling the mind are the yogi’s sacred tools for keeping an eye on life. As we open our internal vision that naturally clears up how we view the world around us.
Namaskar,
To paraphrase the great 16th / 17th century poet Tulsidas, when we come into this world as newborns, everyone smiles in joy and we cry. Yet throughout our lives, we are to engage in so many noble pursuits and benevolent endeavors, that when it is our time to leave this earth, we will smile knowing in our heart that we have done as much as possible to make the world a better place, and everyone else will cry knowing they are parting with a dear and trusted friend.
Note: Tulsidas (1532-1623) was a great mystic poet, philosopher, & bhakta (devotee) who is credited with penning the Ramayana, one of the two great epics of India – the other being the Mahabharata, which contains as a subsection the Bhagavad Giita. The Ramayana comes within the genre of purana, or mythology. While highly educative and of great moral and spiritual value, it is understood to be fictional; in contrast the Mahabharata is itihasa, or educative history, as it recounts real events that transpired on this earth.
