All of us here share one thing in common: that we all desire happiness. In fact, all beings desire happiness. But most of us have a misunderstanding of what happiness is. We cling on to temporary pleasure and think we are “happy” when we buy a new phone, have a new source of infatuation, get the praise and approval of others, etc. These are illusions of happiness because even as it produces a “high” so it goes that it comes down to a “low”. The feeling, the state, the condition is temporary.

What then is true happiness? To understand the root of happiness, we have to examine it side by side with the root of suffering. We suffer when we are degenerative towards ourselves. We suffer when we lack kindness and respect towards ourselves. We suffer when we see ourselves as “less than”. It’s also important to note that it’s very easy to hide our disrespect towards ourselves because it is normalized. It is so “normal” to feel shame over our bodies, our imperfections, our mistakes, our humanity. It is so “normal” to see oneself as somehow not good enough, so we need to buy things and change our appearance and have lots of money and hold a good title etc to prove otherwise. This causes suffering because there is an underlying belief that we are not good enough. Happiness then is to have this respect and loving kindness towards ourselves. That is the most basic thing. It has nothing to do with pampering ourselves or being lazy or quitting when the going gets tough. This loving kindness has to do with seeing ourselves in our imperfect humanity and respecting that just the same— nothing to prove, nothing to show off, nothing to feel inadequate about.

Practice this loving kindness towards yourself in all that you do— even in asana! Observe that internal dialogue. Do you respect yourself or do you berate yourself? Are you kind or are you cruel? Is there a sense of acceptance or is there a constant desperation to be something else? Always bring it back to the basic idea that you are worthy of respect and kindness, most especially from yourself! This is the basic formula for true and lasting happiness that no one can take away from you.

Therefore I behold death, since it teaches me how to live. - Carl Jung

Though it is hardly a secret that none of us are exempt from death, death is not often talked about. It’s been somehow relegated as a subject that is negative and morbid, and we sweep it under the rug. Culturally we deny death as a natural part of life. We see all around us continuous efforts to stay young, to live longer, to defy nature. Not only that, because we deny death, we put ourselves in complicated situations, we accumulate resentment, anger, jealousy, we make enemies. It is as though we have forever to fix our lives.

A palliative nurse by the name of Bronnie Ware observed that there are common regrets among the dying. These are:

• I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
• I wish I hadn't worked so hard.
• I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.
• I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
• I wish that I had let myself be happier.

When it came down to it, what one values in their lives is quite basic- authenticity. No one spoke about wanting to make more money or buy more things. It was the relationship one has with himself and others that counted.

Why wait until we face death in the eye to live a simple and basic life? Why not do it now, and start to tell the people whom we care about that we love them? Why not chase after our seemingly impossible dreams and be true to ourselves? Why not work less and live more? Why not?

Keep life simple. And then, our lives will not be a denial of death but a graceful preparation for it.

Have you ever felt hunger? You're so hungry that you've become "hangry" – angry because you're hungry. I have been unkind when I was hungry. I have yelled at people because of my "hanger". Not proud of it, but just keeping it real. Can we all agree then that satiating hunger is a very basic need? There is not much debate here, is there?

Now, here is the difficult question, and you know what it's like, in Jivamukti we ask a lot of difficult and sometimes unpopular questions. Why is it that even as we understand satiating hunger is a basic need, we (as a society) still continue to live in a way that perpetuates hunger?

Some facts: 925 million people go hungry every single day. Every 12 seconds, a child dies from a hunger-related disease. And yet, the world produces enough food. It's just that we are not using the calories and nutrients efficiently. A third of the world's crops goes to feed the 60 to 70 billion land animals used and killed for their meat, dairy, and eggs. 70% of grain production is fed to those animals instead of directly to humans. That means, on a scale we can more easily understand, that the feed cost of an 8-ounce steak will fill up to 45-50 bowls of cooked cereal grains. There is enough food, it's just the food doesn't go to the people who need them because the commercial demand is in meat, dairy, and eggs. Of course, there are other problems with food distribution and food politics, but we cannot deny that the very basic choice of what we eat affects the basic need of others.

The focus of the month in Jivamukti is called "Back to Basics", and we can use it as a reflection point to look at the world's most complicated problems and come up with the most basic solutions, solutions that we can all participate in, without waiting for a government or politician or world order to change, solutions so basic that each and every person can implement them now. How about that?

Offer your intention to someone who is hungry right now. If you have an image in your mind, a person you once encountered, a person whose picture you once saw, think of this person and offer your intention to him or her. Then take it beyond intention and into action. Pledge a vegan meal or two or three, and take it from there. Challenge yourself to go as far as you can to alleviate the hunger of this person and others like him or her.

Lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu.

Lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu

This mantra is very simple. It's something that even a child would be able to understand. May all beings everywhere be happy and free.

It's not a complicated legal contract with caveats and clauses and fine prints and disclaimers and loopholes.

This mantra is simple, as the intention is simple, as most anything that is divine is simple. If we want peace in the world, if we want to end war, if we want violence to stop, if we want everyone to get along, all it takes is to be rooted in this intention, and for our thoughts, words, and actions to be consistent with this intention.

But the human mind complicates things. The human mind is like that defense lawyer armored with a lot of, well, defenses. May all beings everywhere be happy and free, except the person who cut me in line, except the person who hurt my ego, except the cow because I like my dairy ice cream, except the pig because I like eating bacon, etc. We complicate things, when the guiding principle to be happy, and to bring others happiness, is quite basic.

So let's explore what it means in practice to keep things simple. When we practice an asana or a yoga pose, it may appear complicated because of how we've created stories in our minds-- I can't do it. I've only been practicing for 2 weeks. I'm not flexible enough or strong enough or confident enough. But when we keep things simple, by just committing to trying, then there is more divinity in the practice and less ego, more connection and less self-consciousness, more hard work and less taking the easy way out.

And that basically is it. Let's keep things simple!

PYS I.36 Visoka va jyotismati

There was a time I was normal. That meant when the weekend rolled around, I'd spend my precious free time at the mall buying things. I worked so I could buy things, lots of things. I accumulated large quantities of clothes and personal items. I didn't think much of it. Then after living abroad for three years and coming back home, I had to leave 90% of the things I accumulated there. The 10% I took home with me, I found out months later, are also things I didn't need anyway. And so I started trying to live with less, to explore minimalistic living, to reduce my consumption and impact in this world. I worked little by little-- and I still do-- to go back to basics. What I experienced when I started to live with less was that not only did I get more free time, but that my life also felt lighter. I no longer had much worries or anguish. I was no longer attracted to chaotic situations. I was no longer putting myself in dramatic relationships.

I found that in my experience, focusing on my ego and my attachments, my small self and the desire to impress led to a feeling of heaviness. When I shifted my focus on something bigger than me, in my case it's living in a way that causes lesser harm to others, it was as if a weight had been lifted off and I lived with more comfort and ease. It doesn't mean things are perfect or that I control everything around me. It just means I no longer feel that life is a burden to carry. There is lightness, and consequently, I developed the confidence that what I do matters-- my vegan advocacy, my environmental advocacy, my rights advocacy-- they all matter.

How much have we deviated from a life of basics? How have we complicated it unnecessarily to feed the small ego self? How have we created heaviness that put pressure we don't need in the first place? If we want ease and lightness in our lives, then the practice is to shift our attention away from the small self and on to something that is bigger than us. And be the expression of the divine be God or our connection with others, it is here that we would feel uplifted. We lift up others, and as a result, we lift up ourselves too. To live life lightly is our birthright. Go and claim it.