neither Favored nor Deserted

K.S. Narendran shared these words with friends and loved ones to thank them for their support as his wife Chandrika Sharma remains missing as a passenger on board Malaysian Airline Flight 370:

I remain focused on what we have at hand by way of information, and stay with the knowledge that Chandrika is strong and courageous, that her goodness must count for something somewhere. I carry firmly the faith that the forces of life are eternal, immutable and ever present to keep the drama ever moving. In the ultimate analysis, I am neither favored nor deserted, no one is. *

This past week I practiced at the Jivamukti Yoga School with one of my dear teachers Ruth at her Sunday 10am class.  For whatever reason my body was acting very disgruntled at being dragged out of bed on a Sunday morning, putting up a great deal of resistance on my yoga mat.

Ruth sensed something was off.  At one point we were all standing in Warrior II.  She walked over towards me, lowered herself to my eye level, made eye contact, tugged at my finger, smiled and said “Hello!”  Immediately I felt some of the resistance in my body soften.

Occasionally Ruth would come back over to the area around my mat, attending to other students around me.  But somehow I could feel she was also still keeping an eye on me.  This in itself, a feeling of being watched over, provided a strange sense of relief and also attentiveness.

Other times Ruth would walk over far to the other side of the room, to care for students far on the other side.  Even then, even when I was no longer at the periphery of her vision, even when I was completely out of her sight, I never felt deserted.  Throughout I felt neither favored nor deserted.  There was just the presence of the teacher, all around, at all times.

Side Note:

Often we turn to religion or even spirituality with the hope that circumstance may finally favor us.  In the practice of Yoga & Meditation, with our attention we try not to favor, the inhale vs. the exhale, the left vs. the right, the ups vs. the downs, strength vs. weakness.  Through this unwavering attentiveness, we come to know of that energy that supports and sustains these variations.  In coming to know of That which underlies the ups, to be the same as That which underlies the downs, we never feel favored nor deserted.

We come to know of –

Guru Brahma Guru Vishnu 

Guru Devo Maheswara

Guru Sakshat ParamBrahma Tashmayi Shri Guruvay Namaha (from Guru Stotram)

Our creation is that Guru (teacher), the duration of our lives is that Guru, our trials, illnesses, calamities and the death of the body is that Guru. There is a Guru that is near by and a Guru that is beyond the beyond. I offer all my efforts to the Guru, the remover of darkness, the enlightenment principle that is within us & all around us at all times.

The Bhagawad Geeta

Chapter VI Verse 30

He who sees Me everywhere, and sees everything in Me, he never gets separated from Me, nor do I get separated from Him (Translation by Swami Chinmayananda)

*As reported by CNN