There were a few continuing trips to ashram

I have never meditated that it wasn’t productive, even when there were no thoughts.

At times I see yoga [or real religion] as a way of preparing for death; at others, I see it as a way of intensifying life. It is one thing to acknowledge something exists or occurs but quite another to embrace it. For the unenlightened, their glance is fleeting: as soon as they’ve identified the object or movement by name, they bounce on to something else. The yogi or artist or philosopher, for that matter, looks beyond the surface and into the structure and ways it fits into the whole of the scene. It’s looking with in a sense of oneness, blending the unity and changing faces of nature. This occurs very deep in the heart, or what the Psalms call soul.

Leaving the ashram can bring a period of “awari” and “subari,” as the Japanese put it – poverty and solitude – to test and strengthen the previous lessons with the master.

Inner strength is more than an idea or a philosophy: it is an exercise, an ongoing practice. When the routine falls away, how does one keep the core strong?

Sometime in March, Kat and I visited the Poconos ashram. We helped prepare for a Seder. Here, a room half-full of young adults raised Christian in a center ostensibly teaching a strand of Hindu faith, inviting a broader Jewish community to the celebration. One Spirit! A concept of communion taking a fresh depth and joy. This was also Holy Week, and the Seder was on Maundy Thursday.

When I returned to the ashram on another visit, I heard, “The realizations have been very heavy” or “We’ve been learning a great deal.” Same thing, over and over. My insight? What is learned is not as important as the experience of learning, or perhaps relearning. Human life is nothing more than consciousness.

In contrast, so much of life in the secular world reduces and dulls one’s existence. Routine, noise, responsibilities, focus on products deflect us.

The new meditation room is gorgeous and airy, like a cloud, rich big windows, spacious exercise mats, cherry wood paneling left unoiled … Swami’s baby grand piano amid plants in the alcove … a seemingly “homemade” Dharma Hall.

Kat fasted three days

What I also realized was that moving back to the ashram with Kat in tow was not a possibility.

~*~

From Spiralbound Hoosier, with commentary from now.