Snake started walking towards the rear enclave of the mansion.
“Come with me. I will take you to the guest rooms.”
Jamie broke out of his trance and turned to follow him. “Boy! I sure need a break. What a day!” he said to himself.
As he turned, his travel bag slipped from his shoulders and fell to the ground.
And out fell a bottle of Scotch whisky that was stuffed in the side pouch.
Jamie made several attempts to pick it up clumsily and shove it back in the bag, before Snake could notice.
“What’s wrong, son?”, asked Snake, still walking towards the rear entrance.
“It’s nothing sir…”, blurted Jamie. “I hope I didn’t disturb you”.
The old man laughed, as he kept walking. “Your breathing has become rapid, short and hoarse. Your hands have stiffened, your heart rate has increased….and you say I am disturbed?”
Jamie paid attention to himself and realized the old man was right.
“How do you know all this?” he yelled out to the old man.
“Because I am paying attention to you”, said Snake, still walking.
Jamie couldn’t help smiling. He left the bottle on the ground and picked up his bag.
He ran and caught up with the old man.
“I carry some alcohol with me all the time when I travel; I forgot you are a spiritual person. I should have checked with you first if it’s ok. It’s just that I need a few drinks every night for me to go to sleep.”
“Ah”, said Snake, his eyebrows raised.
“Yes, Snake. I know. It is all this stress in the city. Just too much in my mind to deal with during the day. It is not easy to shut everything off and go to sleep. I finish up a bottle every night – wine, scotch –whatever – just to calm myself and doze off.”
“How long has this been going on?”
Jamie tried to remember. “For many years now, 7…10…I think.”
“Hmmm..that’s ok. Let it be. But I must tell you now. For you to make progress in your treasure hunt, you must learn to let go. ”
“Let go…of drinking?” (Jamie stiffened)
“Let go of stress“, replied Snake.
Jamie laughed. “Oh. That? Believe me, I try hard. But stress is part and parcel of life in the city.”
“Hmm…..so you try hard in order to let go? Sounds like a paradox, doesn’t it?”
“It probably comes easy to you. Without effort.”
“There is effort involved in everything, son. But you need to be clear about one thing, before you start applying effort.”
“Which is?” Jamie became attentive
“What is the problem you are trying to solve? Without a clear understanding of the problem, you will be applying effort in many directions….and all that you will achieve is a wastage of your precious energy. The problem will still remain.”
“What you say makes sense”, agreed Jamie, after considering it. “We try different things to tackle stress and then give up. Hitting the gym, shopping, partying, drinking, dancing… ”
“Yes. And every time you give up, stress wins another round. It becomes stronger.”
“Well..But what can I do? I am not an accomplished Yogi like you. I cannot afford to just sit in meditation all day.”
Snake laughed. “Well. No. You don’t have to. It is just that if you are a Yogi, you learn to effortlessly live in meditation all day. ”
“What? How is that possible?”
“You have to free yourself from stress.”
“Is that even possible? To avoid stress ? Entirely?”
“You weren’t paying attention. But let me explain. Its all in the crumpling, son. Our consciousness is crumpled in every action we undertake during a day; with everything we experience. One who keeps his consciousness un-crumpled in all circumstances is a yogi.”
“Wow. This throws a new light on things. Wait a minute. This sounds vaguely familiar.”
Jamie tried hard to remember.
“Hey…this is what Sara learnt from my friend. Yoga is the cessation of all fluctuations of consciousness.”
“Yes. You quote well.”
“This is exciting. Its like…like…the means and the end are the same…to live a life free of crumpling.” Jamie was filled with a rush of joy at his insight.
“Yes. To make further breakthroughs in your treasure hunt, you must internalize this. The path you follow must lead to the complete cessation of stress. If it doesn’t, you won’t reach the end. You will just be going in circles.”
“Really? Wow.”
“Yes, son. Every moment that your consciousness is free from crumpling, is a moment that is free of stress. All a yogi does is apply effort, with the sole purpose of solving that problem. He guards himself from crumpling, he abandons any crumpling as it arises, he cultivates the state that is free of crumpling and he maintains it for as long as he can.”
“So…what exactly is this crumpling thingy? Sorry; I mean…can you explain it to me?”
“I have a better idea. Why don’t you explain it to me?”
“Huh?”
“Yes. Explain to me how you crumple your consciousness.”
###
“Oh! Now, I am totally lost. I don’t follow.”
“Sit down and close your eyes.”
Jamie promptly put down his bag and sat on the ground.
He closed his eyes and relaxed.
“What do you hear?”, asked Snake.
Jamie concentrated hard.
“Hmm..I hear branches of a tree swaying in the wind, the braying of a donkey, the sound of a passing car…that’s all”
“That’s all? Don’t be so modest. You are superhuman”
“What? Why?” Jamie opened his eyes, a confused expression on his face.
“You can hear trees, donkeys and cars with your ears….even with your eyes closed.”
Jamie was stunned.
“This is the crumpling of sound consciousness.”
Jamie nodded. “Why do you call it crumpling?”
“In what is heard, there must be only the heard. Hear clearly. There is only sound.”
“Now look around you. What do you see?”
Jamie became more alert this time.
“I see huts, your big house, the forest, a grocery shop with a signboard and a concrete shed.”
“Again, you are superhuman.”
“Now what?, Jamie was flustered.
“You see buildings, signboards and groceries ….when there is only earth“.
Jamie couldn’t argue further.
“This is the crumpling of eye-consciousness.”
Jamie nodded.
“In what is seen, there must be only the seen. See clearly. They are all forms of the same earth.”
Jamie reflected on this. Slowly he became aware of the crumpling of sensations, smells…..
He sat there a long while, experiencing the simplicity of it all.
And the insight hit him. His eyes lit up.
“Now explain to me what crumpling is”, prompted Snake.
“My own stubborn mental impressions are the crumpling“, Jamie said with quiet assurance.
“Very good, Son. You learn very fast. Consciousness becomes crumpled in many different ways.
Each of it appears unique; In different ways, in different individuals. But still, its only consciousness.”
“As we thin down our individual crumpling, we touch the real essence underlying all things.” he finished.
“So….so…it all comes down to this. Stress itself is just crumpling. Crumpling itself is just stress !! It is stress that hides the treasure!“, Jamie rambled, struggling to express his insight in words.
Snake smiled and resumed walking towards the mansion.
###
“Great progress for one day”, smiled Snake, as Jamie caught up with him.
Jamie sighed. “Thanks. But I have just begun. I have only understood the problem. Will you help me get rid of it?”
“Ah! Outsourcing to me?”, Snake queried.
“But I can’t solve this on my own”, protested Jamie.
“Son, reflect on what you learnt today.
How can I set you free when it is you who has bound yourself?
How can I drop the maps that you are clinging to?
How can my health save you from your sickness?
How can I un-crumple the consciousness that you have crumpled for yourself?”
Jamie realized the old man was right. He became frustrated at his own predicament. But he tried not to show it.
“You will learn the skills in time. The effort varies according to the individual; because the crumpling varies according to the individual.
So, to some, it is easy, painless and quick. To others, it is painful, long and takes lot of skill. But remember, each of us is just undoing what have done to ourselves.”
Jamie became nervous at the thought.
“Don’t get tense worrying about it”, continued Snake. “Each of us also has the necessary gifts to work our way through it.”
“How can you make out I am tense?”, asked Jamie, surprised.
“The breath, son. It reflects our state of mind and body”
Jamie noticed his breathing pattern had changed again.
“It reflects our state of crumpling”, said Snake.
“Wow.”
Jamie considered that and began to pay attention to his breathing.
It was very irregular.
He brought his awareness to it.
It became even and equal.
There was an immediate change.
His body posture shifted; became more comfortable.
A few minutes later, his shoulders relaxed.
The tension in the pit of his stomach eased up.
His mind became calm and present.
“Much better”, mumbled the old man.
“Really”, said Jamie, exhaling loudly. “That really feels much better. Thank you.”
“You are welcome. But don’t stop with small victories.”
“There is more?”
“This will give you some respite. But the crumpling will re-appear when the conditions change.”
“Oh!”
“Crumpling can be recognized at a gross level. But the processes underlying it are very subtle.
Yoga helps you recognize these subtle processes when they happen..…. Emotional imbalance, mental laziness, doubt, lack of enthusiasm, lethargy, attachment to sensory pleasures, delusion, difficulty in sustaining concentration and getting easily distracted.”
“Oh. I can relate to them all”, exclaimed Jamie.
“I am sure you can. In the city, we just call them by a different name.”
“What is that?”
“Stress”.
(Duh! Not again!) Jamie became silent.
“But remember…all of these are just crumpled states”, continued Snake. “Our original nature is calm, serene and undisturbed. As we apply our effort to realise it, we begin to see all these crumpled states arise and dissolve like passing clouds.”
###
Suddenly, a shooting star passed overhead.
“Quick. Make a wish”, said Snake, looking up in the sky.
“I wish I could be in the un-crumpled state. Forever.”, said Jamie, spontaneously.
“Ah! You wish for the mind of Lord Shiva”, grinned Snake.
Jamie was stunned.
“I also wish to perform my role in this world, in that un-crumpled state of mind”
“Ah! You also wish for the mind of Lord Hari”, said Snake, applauding.
Jamie stopped in his tracks again. This was too much to handle in one day.
“Snake…that is your name, isn’t? Shiv Hari? Your father gave you that name for a reason. He was pointing you to the path you would walk in the future.”
“Yes”, said Snake. “When I was a child, I used to tease him about it a lot. One day I asked him ‘Appa (Daddy)..If I am Shiv Hari, then how did I become a poor village boy?'”
Jamie caught his breath.
“And he answered me”
“By clinging to what is not yours, ignoring what you really are; and experiencing as real, what is not there.”
The words hit Jamie like an arrow.
With his breath knocked out of him….
…he entered the mansion of the gods.
The ultimate relief…A vivid depiction of the mental state of the dweller in a city.The city life is crumpling ones basic nature,which we all are gifted with.
A beautiful and clear path ,foremost ,to be aware of that which is giving us stress and then work out to change our perspective towards it.
Attainment of a calm and serene state of mind in all walks of life.
WOW! A GREAT WRITE.
:-)) stage setttt
Back to breath; even and equal