Chapter 3 - Bubbles On The Water
Day 24
There are three types of feelings : "I know," "I do not know" and third, "I cannot know." In Sanskrit these
are called "jnat," the known, "ajnat," the unknown, and "ajneya," the unknowable.
To approach the unknowable, start wondering about the known and about the unknown. Yoga is the unknowable. While a child who has caught a butterfly is wonderstruck, we are apathetic even if a beautiful wonder is shown to us.
You travel to visit the Taj Mahal, glance at it while snacking on peanuts and say, "Oh, is this
the Taj Mahal?" Then you start giving your opinion about it or complaining about problems or worries.
Did you really see the Taj Mahal? Only a site-seeing ritual has been fulfilled. Others even see the Taj Mahal while sitting in a bus and say, "What is there to see? It is only a marble building."
Again, look at children. Take them to a beach or the river, and they will return with their favorite pebbles. You will scold them for bringing back junk.
But remember that to them the stones are like silver, gold and pearls they are happy, excited and filled with enthusiasm over these rocks.
The world offers so much variety that leads us to wonder. Sometimes, you feel that God has failed because in spite of so much variety, you still get bored.
In fact, if you look, you can find novelty in each and every object in this world. A whole life is not enough time to appreciate these delights.
When you feel that something is new, then wonder happens. Yoga means to experience this newness and become one with it. Life is ever changing and ever new.
Live your life with wonder. It is very easy, but the capacity to wonder fades as we grow older or when we think that we know everything.
So we have to revive this capacity. Look at each moment and every day as new. We have no enthusiasm, and we say, "It's the same satsang, same song, same festival, and same exhibition.
Even if we repeat something, the capacity to wonder should be limitless. What is the nature of the unknown in this vastness? You must awaken it within yourself.
Look at yourself with wonder. Observe your mind and see how mischievous it is. Is it not enough just to have a mind for you to wonder at?
It is not steady, even for a second - the thought that is present one moment is gone the next moment. Some people board a bus from Jayanagar to go to Malleshwaram, get down somewhere in between and decide to return on another bus.
These are games the mind plays. Observe the mind with wonder, and you will be happy. The nature of the mind is such that it grabs onto new things, but quickly tires of them.
The mind does not like anything old. Each day it needs new objects, clothes, accessories and places, but the heart is fond of the old.
We are proud to introduce someone as "my old friend or my "longtime friend." We take more pride in old friends than in new ones.
We hardly ever introduce new friends to someone. When we discuss relationships, we describe them as how long they have been.
A couple of lovers claim, "Our love is ancient," or "Our relationship is from a previous birth." The mind is attracted to the new, but the heart cherishes the old.
Wonder exists where love has been awakened, wonder is part of love. When a baby is born, the parents and elders are so delighted, they describe the baby in detail and take pride in it.
The baby's each and every action arouses wonder in them because it is mixed with love. There is wonder in love. When the mind starts to wonder, it becomes quiet and peaceful, and one gets established in the happiness of the self.
Saints perform miracles to awaken wonder in people. If there were a new miracle every day, people would get used to them, and it would not cause wonder.
The saints purposefully resort to miracles to inspire wonder, love and devotion, but it does not always work that way.
People look for miracles, but there is no point if people only take interest in miracles and do not start feeling wonder.
When your hunger for knowledge is kindled, you will automatically enter into wonder. When you start a pump, water gushes out of the well, if there is water in the well.
Some people pour water from outside if there is no water inside, but the process should start from within. Knowledge ignites the capacity to wonder, and love fills your life with wonder.
Yoga is possible only when head and heart become one and join with the self. Then body, breath, mind, memory and ego all merge and move to one rhythm.
Love is ancient, but it does not cause boredom. Nobody savs, "This love is so old. I am tired of it." Ancient love is filled with wonder.
We recognise the new as inventions and take an interest in them, but not in the old, the new creates wonder in us.
It is the wonder that sparks interest. Throughout our lives, we are looking only for something interesting, and that comes with having wonder in each moment.
We start to experience it, the joy of the self. Leave everything else. Simply through wonder, the mind will settle into yoga.
