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!
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!
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