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YOU TRULY DESIRE to experience loving, meaningful and richly
rewarding relationships? Is it important for you to be happy and content?
Do you want to reduce or eliminate the various forms of dis-ease in
your life? If so, you can achieve everything you earnestly desire by
honestly examining the ways you deal with relationships.
Just for a moment, stop and think about the wide variety of relationships
you have every day. Think of your spouse or lover, your child, parents,
siblings, friends, extended family, people you work for or with, and
those you do business with (like the banker, supermarket cashier, auto
mechanic or plumber). Now, consider your more remote relationships with
your local, state and national government officials, and all the celebrity
types you know through television, radio, films and recordings. You
have relationships with the house or apartment you live in, your work,
tools, car, computer, clothes, pets and the environment.
Then add the thousands of other, more intimate relationships you have
– with your body, the food you eat, your breath, your senses,
as well as your mind and its many thoughts, desires, memories, imaginations
and emotions. Let’s face it; you have a lot of relationships!
Every single relationship requires you to take some kind of action.
Essentially, that’s what having a relationship means. When you
have a relationship, it means that a thought, desire or emotion is commanding
your attention and requiring you to respond. Relationships imply action
just as action implies a relationship, and your choice of which thoughts
to think, which words to speak and which actions to take will determine
whether your relationships bring you happiness or sorrow.
We experience pain and dis-ease in our relationships because most of
us merely adopt the goals, fashions and ideals of our society, without
really knowing ourselves first, within and without. This leaves us ignorant
of our Divinity and Its wisdom, and dependent on the suggestions of
others. As each new generation takes on the handicaps of the previous
generations, humanity continues to look outside itself for new objects
and relationships that – it is hoped, or expected – will
bring the desired happiness and contentment. Unfortunately, what we
often wind up with is stress, anxiety, frustration, anger or even depression.
In Sanskrit the word lila is used to describe the vast, joyful and spontaneous
play of creation. The word “play” implies fun, and lila
is the Divine Reality’s game that we are well equipped to enjoy.
Whether we understand the word play to mean a theatrical production
or the everyday events of an infinite cosmic game with defined rules
and regulations makes little difference – we are the players.
As skilled actors we’re required to play a variety of roles as
perfectly as we can, but no truly accomplished performer identifies
so completely with the role that she forgets who she is. Likewise, the
skilled athlete is never so consumed by the winning or losing that he
forgets how to play the game. As Shakespeare says, “The play’s
the thing!”
 Several
years ago two men walking in the forest approached a swift-flowing stream.
For each, the stream’s rapid current and uncertain footing proved
insurmountable obstacles to the continuation of their journey. One man
was blind, and the other was lame.
After much consternation, the blind man had an idea. “Look here,
my friend. You are lame and cannot walk well, but have excellent sight.
I am blind, but have strong and steady legs. If you sit on my shoulders,
you can guide my sure-footed steps with your keen vision. Together we
can cross the stream.” And so the lame man climbed onto the shoulders
of the blind man and they crossed the river. By sharing unique resources,
their desired goal was accomplished.
If your intention is pure and you dedicate yourself to the practice
of yoga science, what you may lack personally will become available
to you through the grace of Divine Providence. Despite seemingly insurmountable
physical, mental or emotional handicaps, as you learn how to follow
the intuitive wisdom of your own conscience confidently and fearlessly
– knowing your Self to be none other than the One eternal, universal
and compassionate intelligence – difficult relationships will
either heal or wither away. New relationships will appear to lead you
beyond your personal limitations and you will find that life can become
a source of peace and joy.
Remember,
however, yoga is essentially a science – verifiable or refutable
only through your own personal experience. Do not accept any suggestion
presented by me or anyone else without verifying its truthfulness through
your personal practice. Dependence on external resources, suggestions
and habits will only prolong the bondage. No one other than your own
true Self can bring you liberating wisdom. Once you have begun assimilating
the knowledge of yoga science, start actively experimenting with these
concepts.
© Leonard
Perlmutter,
2004
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