Yesterday was my 72nd. birthday celebration and I had a good time as much as COVID19 and a deteriorating physical condition would permit one to have. One of my grand niece baked me a chocolate cake and a cousin living some four hundred kilometres in the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur ordered me a special lunch online delivered to my home. I had over one hundred well wishers on my Face Book which was heart warming simply to realize that you have friends out there who are aware that you still exist on this plane. 72 years of being alive is quite a bonus for me compared to many of my close friends who have left for the afterlife in the last few years and I know that it will be one of the trend for me if I keep hanging around to watch others go one by one especially with the pandemic. Well I am grateful to still be around and hang out with my two children and the cat pretty much on lock down in our apartment on the top floor where we are the only ones occupying, like we have the whole floor to ourselves. The views are not too bad for a city from all around the building either where we have the hills on one side and the sea on the other. It is not a bad situation to be in a lock down status compared to most and I hope things will lighten up a bit as it seems a wee bit too much for God to test us humans His favorite among creations.
There are off course the silver linings that can be seen happening around among people in their relationship to one another, like there seem to be more caring and better connections on a more intimate level or so it seems.Although more connections are happening online via video conferences and webcam, people are making an all out effort to stay in touch more so than had there been no pandemic. The streets too are less hectic with traffic and inadvertently the air seems a whole lot cleaner. People in general thus far seem more tolerant and conscientious in dealing with each ther in public areas, thanks to social distancing. There is more charitable activities happening as food and other essentials are being distributed and handed out to those in need. Mosques and temples, churches and viharas are seeing lesser activities than it normally would and thus less ferment of religious sentiments which is advantageous to a multi-religious nation such as Malaysia. In short, people are being woken up to face themselves, to look at themselves closely like staring into the mirror rather than just catching the reflection at a glance. It is t me a good start for a collective inward reflection of who or what we truly are.
If one were to say that this pandemic is nature's way of striking to maintain a balance in our human existence on this planet, I would tend to agree. Man has over exerted himself in all aspect of his claim of dominion over nature and the rest of sentient beings on this planet; we have become self serving and much worse arrogant about our status as homo sapiens. Man wants to run the show and grab and shape the environment according to his own self serving desires for so long as he sees fit to do so at the expense of the rest of the inhabitant on this planet. This blatant desire for more and better to serve his appetite has been eroding the planet of its resources and energy and is tearing its very fabric in the form of disasters both natural and man made. Hence, on seeing that constant destruction through wars and economic expansion is not abating in its intensity, nature has decided to throw in a stronger detergent to curb the human population from its rampaging disregard for the balance in nature.
Here I would lke to recommend the practice of Kriya Yoga a branch of the yogic practice of the ancients. My choice of lecture given on this subject that I find most straight forward and helpful is one given by Ryan Kurczak entitled "What is Kriya Yoga" (Beyond the hype.) which is available on You Tube. Again my introduction to the word Yoga was through my father while I was at the age of 14 years old and in passing he just dropped the line, "You should learn Yoga." in his broken Malay off course as he was from Sri Lanka originally. I was caught hook line and sinker by his suggestion and so I hate to be bragging like most those who practice Yoga especially its meditative aspect for years to claim my understanding of it. Yoga came to me quite naturally and I never gave it a thought to how or what I was practicing. If i can look back say what was my father's greatest gift to me it would be his passing remark about understanding Yoga when I was 14 years old. From then on I was standing on my head or sitting and staring at the distant horizon of the South China Sea every chance I had.
As I turned 72 yesterday I came to realize that after all these years i really had not progress one bit in my 'spiritual' practices to be proud of. I hardly have much control over my physical body and much less over my mind even if I keep claiming that I am neither of these. That hese are my vessels, my vehicle, my mode of expressions while living on this plane of existence. I have little or no control of my thoughts as they manifest persistently when I sit to meditate or perform my prayers so much so that I simply gave up praying as a waste of time. Yet I keep affirming to myself that I am the master of my thoguhts and consciousness just as the ancient Gurus had suggested that i do. That I am the master of my body speech and mind ... a master of my space and environment and so so forth, but I find it all just blowing smoke over water, it does not even touch the surface much less dive deep into the depth. However I have opened my mouth and taken the bait and now I am hooked onto this journey of self discovery through Yoga primarily -meditation. If it be any solace to it all I enjoy sitting meditation at any time of the day and anywhere I am at and I am less messed up and angry, chaotic and scvared than I was before as a matter of fact I am at peace with how I am growing old and perhaps may say that I look forward and welcome death at any time. If there be a bucket list to be made I would list as number one that I feel more closely to the Divine Nature in me or better yet merge into the presence of God before I let go of my last breath; to die a Jivan mukti would be my spiritual goal.
"ivanmukti, according to Hindu philosophy, is the state of being spiritually liberated while still alive. The Sanskrit term is derived from the root words, jiva, meaning "life," and mukti, meaning "freedom." Jivanmukti is a state in which one possesses limitless knowledge, free from suffering, and enjoys eternal bliss."
#jivanmukti #kriyayoga #homosapiens #ryankurczak #
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