‘One thing I HAVE learned —
and you will do well to remember it in the years ahead, is this —
THIS life is the shadow life. If we do our tasks in THIS life we
shall go to the REAL life hereafter. I know that for I have seen it.
But now let us continue with that which I am charged to tell
you. Where was I?’

wise words from a blind hermit, living in the high hilltops of the Himalaya’s, day in and day out. never leaving.  knowing only darkness….and every secret man wishes to have.  his eyes were gouged out by chinese invaders with a sharp stone, then he was attached to a vehicle and dragged….dragged until his nose had been sheared off, his face left a bloody mess, and his ‘manhood’ was no more.

this shadow life, what do you think?  i hear the questions now…a shadow life?   how can it be!?   i am here, living.  and here i see my shadow.  THAT is the real shadow, you think to yourself.  what is this blind man talking about?  and what in the world does it have to go with YOGA!?  life is yoga.  everything is yoga.

how can one explain to a blind man the color purple?  or to a deaf person the beauty of a symphony? how can someone who from birth has been restricted to a wheelchair know what it is like to run?  this is much like the world today, the blind leading the blind.  those without a clue, explaining to those who’ve much less.  remember, we are only ‘blind’ because we choose to shield ourselves from all but the appealing.

as i see it there are 2 ‘groups’ of people in the world.  there are those who 1 – are a product of the world.  they allow the world to shape them, their needs, wants, desires, yearning, burnings, feelings, emotions.  then (2) there are those who simply live in this world.  those who are themselves, always.  those who rest in the Divine, those who understand that which can only be experienced.  2 groups.  that’s it.  do you allow the world to control you?  do you allow a situation to control you, or do you take hold of the situation, do what is best, do what must be done, and then learn from the situation, whatever it may be?

a boy: who are you?

to a man:  a man.  an collier.

boy:  no.  you are not.  that is your profession.  close your eyes.  who are you?

man:  i am a collier with closed eyes!

the boys quips: NO.  you are all that is, was and ever will be.  with your eyes full shut, OPEN your mind.  in your mind there are NO limits.  there is nothing which cannot be done.  imagine it.  believe in it.  believe you are that which causes your own destiny, for this is the truth.

one way i like to think of life is as a movie.  this is just one analogy to help others see the truth, so bear with me.  in this movie you are everyone you see.  you are everything.  you are the trees.  you are the bees.  you are the bees knees!

so, how do we see life as a movie?  first, we concentrate on breathing.  we concentrate all we can on breathing.  stop the thoughts of what you have to get at the store, what you want for dinner, sex, drugs, rock and roll, all of that.  we must stop it.  we become that which we think.  so, breathe and do only that, if you can.  if you cannot, you must learn yourself a mantra to help you along your process.  a mantra is a prayer.  that’s all.  repeating the mantra mentally is strongest, humming is second and verbally is 3rd strongest.   i would recommend the Gayatri mantra.  learn it.  it is beautiful.  it will help you immensely.  hum it.  repeat it when you wake.  repeat it when you are walking, sleeping, breathing, seeing.  and perhaps you will become a seer, a Rishi.  the veil of life will be lifted.  ignorance will no longer accompany you.  do away with impure thoughts.  these are a barrier.  the physical world is the shadow world , remember?  all that we see is only 25% of the story.   another most important thing; you must accept everyone for exactly who they are.  for we are all exactly where we need to be in life.  do you know how i know?  if you weren’t where you needed to be, you would be somewhere else.  someone else.  you chose this life.  i  guarantee it.   don’t like that?  tough titty.  think on it.  meditate on it.  why would you have chosen this life?  perhaps, just perhaps, you were one of the unfortunate few who committed suicide in a previous life; in which case you would have had less of a choice in your current life, but still choice.  if you accept everyone for who they are, if you love everyone as if they were YOU, simply a different you, living a different version of your life, with a different set of parents and circumstances and understand that they are simply here to learn as well….well, i get chills thinking of the possibility of such a world.  a world where everyone understands.  a place where all people want to do is to help one another.  to serve one another.  be a servant.  lower yourself.  serve.  do karma yoga (selfless service).  do bhakti yoga (devotional service).

ok, back to the movie, right?  try it for a day, for a week. see if you can calm the spinning, the turning of the mind.  those thoughts that never seem to stop.  it can be done.  watch your thoughts, this is another wonderful thing.  what do we do with something we have no control over?  ignore it.  you are not this mind, nor this body.  believe me, i have seen it myself.

trust no one.  believe only that which you experience.  

now, get out there and start living IN the movie, instead of being a product of it.

briefly, does anyone remember the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, Last Action Hero?  i won’t  do the whole synopsis, check out IMDB for that, long and short of it was the Arnold that was playing a movie character in the movie (yes, in the movie a young man is at the movie theatre watching Arnold in some flick) well, eventually Arnold makes his way out of ‘the movie’ and into ‘real life’.  how crazy i thought, he doesn’t even know he’s in a movie! this is life for us all.  a true yogi sees through the movie, see through life and reacts in kind.  one who is always stuck in the movie, one who is a product of the world instead of simply living in it, cannot see.  mainly because they don’t want to mess up their ‘fairy tale’ life.  when in reality, it is the very thing holding them back.

he would have never known unless he had the Golden Ticket, unless he was able to see through the veil of the movie screen, the veil of the world of shadows, the world of vibrations.

so, what’s your golden ticket?