Richer Than You Think

I spent last week in Toronto assisting Jill Miller’s Yoga Tune Up® workshops at the Toronto Yoga Conference (although since we only saw the hotel and the conference center, we could have just been anywhere with a lot of Canadians). On the shuttle bus from the airport to the hotel, we passed a billboard ad for a bank that had the tagline “You’re Richer Than You Think.” The bank was of course after your Canadian dollars, but as is my long time habit, I put the slogan into my mental yoga filter and thought of the mantra Purnam Adah:

Purnam Adah

Purnam Idam

Purnat Purnam Udacyate

Purnasya Purnamadayah

Purnameva Vasisyate

That Fullness

This Fullness

Fullness unto Fullness

Fullness emerging from Fullness

Fullness indeed remains

The mantra reminds us that right here, right now, in every moment, fullness, completeness, wholeness is available to us. There is no greater richness than the ability to be in the present moment with whatever is taking place, whether we perceive it as good or bad, positive or negative, joyous or painful. Those labels that we consciously or unconsciously use to qualify our experiences disappear at the moment that we are able to come into the present moment and be there fully. Greater richness is not waiting for us next year, regardless of the state of our personal finances. There is not a more complete experience to be had later down the line when we are married, or in our dream job, or having a baby – while these can all be positive, rewarding, exciting experiences, they will inevitably disappoint if we do not bring our own fullness to begin with.

This is all very easy for me to regurgitate from the canon of yoga teachings, but what about the reality of trying to make it happen? If our minds are habitually navigating the past or the future and truly challenged by the idea of spending time in the present, then what are we supposed to do?

The answer, according to yoga, is practice. Now this practice may have to begin, for someone whose mind is deeply distracted or agitated, with taking a walk or some other physical activity. Our attention is so constantly drawn away from the here and now – and as a society, we are so actively encouraged away from the present – that for some people, the practice of sitting still that is an integral part of meditation is initially inaccessible. This doesn’t mean that they are beyond capable of getting there, but at first, the nervous system needs quieting. This was what the asana part of yoga was originally designed for – to release tension from the body and mind in order that we might be less distracted. 

When you feel you are ready, the practice becomes sitting quietly and breathing, without concerning yourself with doing anything. (Again, so easy to describe, yet far more challenging to do!) Feel how in that quiet, there is nothing wrong – as Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati described yoga, nothing is missing. There may be circumstances in our life that are upregulating our sympathetic nervous system (or in other words, bothering us) but with practice, we can learn to separate out the conditions of our world from the condition of our mind. The greatest satisfaction we will ever experience is right here, right now. If we can feel that: even for a millisecond – even just for the moment of reading that sentence – we are well on our way to being richer than we think.

[Mantra translation by Professor John L Griffin from his essay “A Consideration of Divinity & Consciousness 
With Qualities (Saguna) & Beyond Qualities (Nirguna), 
Focusing on Shiva as a Primary Mediating Symbol 
In the Process of Self-Realization”]