The Powerball of Life

Happy Sunday to all, and a very happy birthday to my mother!

This
weekend has been really nice. Lots of relaxation and enjoyment. We went
on a very nice date night last night and saw Harry Potter. It was very
enjoyable.

I'm a bit sore from yoga yesterday. I decided to make
the hike down to Chandler to visit one of my very favorite yoga
teachers, Jeff Martens (www.innervisionyoga.com). Going to one of his
classes is always like part asana and part therapy. Amazing and utterly wonderful.

Jeff talked about a story of Buddha.
I'll try to give the gist of the story, with apologies for any parts
missing. Basically the story was of a beggar woman. She walked through
life with her hat held out begging -- always begging. She had never
turned anything down because she felt she was always in need. She was
never fulfilled and nothing was ever enough to fill the hole that she
felt. The life-long beggar woman heard that Buddha was coming to town
with thousands of his followers. She knew there would be a glorious
feast with many wonderful things to eat for Buddha and his followers. Being that she was a beggar and always feeling so needy, she was the very first in line to receive the handout of food.

Buddha told her, "You can have as much as you want, but first you must say no."
He offered to her some of the most choice morsels and finest food from the tables.
The woman began to become very nervous. She shook and began to sweat. She had never turned down anything ever. And now the Buddha was telling her she must say no to the food!
As the woman was able to say no to the offering she was able to become one of the Buddha's followers. She realized the lesson of the Buddha was that she already was completely fulfilled and satisfied beyond her most wild dreams.
With that the woman was no longer a beggar and was able to eat -- finally free.

I am pretty sure I missed some parts of the story, but you get the idea.
It's one of those basic yoga lessons that I know, but we must always be
reminded time and time again. Funny how something so basic is incredibly complex. The veil of Maya is so strong and so
powerful. We forget that the Universal divine lives within each of us.
It's always there and always perfect. But we forget.

That which we all seek already lives within us. It's within every one of us. Yet
the power of forgetfulness and the ego are so strong that most times
the divinity is overcome with begging, the feeling of void, sadness and a hunger. We also forget who we really are and think we are this body.

But
if we could just wake up and realize that everything we have ever
wanted is here right NOW in this very second -- with this very breath
-- we shall never want. We shall never need. Because the Universe has
already provided us with everything. And if the Universal truth -- God
-- dwells within each of us, how can God want or long for anything? God
is already perfect -- just as that piece of God and divinity is within
each of us.

Perfect -- just as it is. Just as we are.

What a shame to walk though life always wanting and needing. Yet that is what we do.

So, with one breath today, I'm just going to try to focus on the perfection of this moment.
This perfection of being. We are blessed, and we have already been
given everything we need. You are not a beggar. I am not a beggar.

Maybe it's time to stop living life with our hat out waiting for something else. Everything we need is here in this moment.

Jai Bhagwan,
C