On my way home yesterday, I saw an obese person crossing the road. With so much struggle the person reached the other end of the road. During walking, the person was swaying from one side to the other. Anyone would feel sorry for the way she walks and amount of effort she has to put into each step, straining her knees, heels and her heart muscles. Even if he or she has the best intention, the extra fat in a person’s body makes his or her life extremely difficult. And if you don’t work on it ( excluding hereditary issues or thyroid problems ) through exercises and diet, that extra fat will be your constant companion, until death parts YOU from your body and takes you to place where there are no counters or clocks.
In a similar way, while your embark upon your spiritual journey, make sure you have less fat – in terms of accumulated information ( not wisdom), hurt, feeling of rejection, judgement about people, worry about future or preconceived notions, to carry around. All of us know that, whenever you need to travel ( in this physical world), it’s always best to carry less luggage. Airports charge you for every extra kilo / pound that you carry. Hiking or even normal walking becomes strenuous, unexciting and sometimes even depressing, when you have too much to carry around. Think about, how much you would benefit if you could shed unwanted baggage, in your spiritual journey, which happens takes place at more than light speed.
Haven’t you observed how obese people would like to take rest often and would prefer a sedentary life style ? If you feel, your spiritual life is stagnant, one reason could be that, you are carrying too much fat around. Start working out ( meditation and prayer – funnily though, meditation actually uses up calories from your brain ) and control your diet – watching out for what you get inside your body, by cutting down on empty carbs like TV and magazines and instead focus on nutritious food for your soul like satsang, service to others and reading good books.
Body cannot live without mind and mind cannot live without THE body. So it is extremely important that you take care of both of them and ensure a successful and happy life, on this planet – where you can live each day to the fullest.
Tatvamasi
