detaching from the outcome

Karmani ave adhikars te
you have the power to act only

ma phalesu kadachana
you do not have the power to influence the result

ma karmaphal hetur bhoo
therefore you must act without the anticipation of the result

ma sangostu akramani
without succumbing to inaction

The end of any year always leaves me in a pensive mood, plus I always like to throw stuff out and clear things away, like all the papers in my office for one thing. I also like to do some internal cleansing. I don’t make New Year’s resolutions, I send whatever intentions I have out into the Universe — if things happen, they happen. I learned a long time ago to detach from the outcome.

That’s why these words from the Bhagavad Gita resonated with me today. all things change, the nature of reality is impermanence. the older I get the more I realize this is true and the less I try to cling and hold onto things that are by their very nature impermanent. I’ve watched people who can’t control their own minds try to control their lives and it’s a never ending ride on that samsaric wheel. they run faster and faster and get nowhere just like hamsters in their cages.

However, that being said, I’ve made plans to live in India starting the end of 2009 and into 2010. it’s an intention that I’ve thrown into the Universe. I plan to study yoga therapy for two months under the personal guidance of a swami-ji at his ashram in South India and then travel north to the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar in 2010. I received word from the ashram today to come earlier and stay with them on New Years Eve 2009 before the study starts. I could not think of a better place to be on New Years Eve than in India — that’s where I was on December 31, 2007.

So 365 days from today I will be in Ma India again, but as with all things, if it happens, it happens, I am not clinging. a year is a long time in the physical realm but only a blip on the radar screen in the astral realm. and I must always remember that anything can happen.

If I die tomorrow I would still be happy and I regret nothing. I have lived with rasa and passion and followed my dreams. I have walked to the end of an Indian beach where Hanuman lept across the ocean to save Sita and I have also been all alone in India sicker than an Indian street dog. I still regret nothing.

I give everything up to the Universe, but not without inaction. I merely detach from the outcome and live in the Sacred Now.

Easy.

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