Life as yoga

Or to be more precise, life lived as we are designed to personifies embodies radiates the very nub of yoga -  the way to attaining liberation from the material world and of union of the self with the Supreme Being or ultimate principle.

When we live life as originally & forever intended, we attain that liberation & union by being & remaining conscious, centered & committed at all times.  At all times.  Always.  

I find myself thinking about two friends who seem to have discovered this core secret of true happiness by the time they were married, and it feels like their union has intensified their awareness of what calls for their attention & focus, as well as what doesn't.  No matter what is thrown at them, they personify embody radiate happiness.  No matter what.  They are the most conscious, centered & committed people I know.  I know that life lived as originally designed liberates & enlightens - it's visible in them.  

They don't sometimes stay focused on being happy.  They always are.  Which is not to say that they don't have difficulties, heartaches, traumas.  Of course, they do.  But it feels like they don't dwell on those moments, that they allow life's challenging times to inform & enlighten them, then move on.  More than anything else, they dwell on the possible.

According to the most popular current theory, our universe was created over 13.5 billion years ago.  The oldest star in our galaxy is estimated to be a tad younger, a mere 13 billion years old.  In comparison, Earth is a baby - currently tagged at a scant 4.54 billion years.  Scientists calculate that life first appeared on our planet between 2.7-3.5 billion years ago. Simple cells evolved into complex cells & finally into multicellular life.   550 million years ago, animals - arthropods - developed the first bilateral (mirror-image) body plan, evolved sexual reproduction & began to move for the first time.  Fish debuted over 360 million years ago.  It's estimated the first mammals made the scene some 220 million years ago (give or take a million). Our own species didn't appear until 200,000 years ago, with modern Homo sapiens making their appearance just 50,000 years ago. It's believed that humans were in South America as long as 30,000 years ago, with evidence of being in what's now the USA some 14,000 years back.  

13,500,000,000
13,000,000,000
 4,540,000,000
 2,700,000,000
    500,000,000
    360,000,000
    220,000,000
          200,000
            50,000
                  63 (me, on 02/07/15)

Pretty liberating.  I am here no more than the blink of a cosmic eye.  Why fret over what tomorrow may bring when I know - know in the very fiber of my being - that the Divine leads all to a good end.  And that ALL that is asked of me is to speak justly & to love mercy & to walk - consciously, centered & with full commitment - hand in hand with my Creator.