aelolive

  A Small Persona The persona itself is the true art. Within me lives a small persona—a woman whose different qualities have learned to share one life. Mischief lives in her mind, romance in her heart, curiosity in her eyes, and quiet detachment in her soul. Together, they give her a way of meeting the world that is entirely her own. My mind is mischievous. It wanders, asks unexpected questions, and sometimes smiles at the seriousness with which I hold an ordinary thought. Its mischief keeps a little childhood alive within me. Even after years of experience, I can still be surprised; I can still laugh at myself. My heart is romantic. It falls in love with small things: a flower opening, the sky's changing colors, the tenderness in someone’s voice. Sometimes a breeze touches my face, and I linger as though someone dear has just arrived. My heart gives these moments room. Through it, the everyday world becomes intimate. My eyes are students. They are still learning how to see. A tree...

  A Sweet Tale of Love From Myself, to Myself By Harjinder Kaur “I had always loved the woman I was. But the day I understood how she wore her defeats, I fell in love with her all over again.” The Woman I Have Always Loved There has always been a woman in my life whom I have loved deeply. She was neither a stranger nor someone I encountered along the journey of life. She was always there. Sometimes she walked beside me, sometimes she seemed to walk ahead of me, and sometimes she remained so deeply hidden within me that even I could not understand her. Her nature often lay beyond my comprehension. I could observe her actions, recognize her emotions, and witness her responses to the world. Yet understanding the silent movement of her thoughts was another matter altogether. And still, something about her always fascinated me. A dupatta of love rested upon her head. It was not merely a piece of clothing. To me, it represented the tenderness with which she approached existence. Even whe...

  When I Lay Down in a Death Box One day, I sat quietly with the world before me—a world full of color and feeling, but also full of suffering. I had heard the quiet sobs of frightened people. I had seen them carry their worries as though the weight could never be put down. Some had lived with restlessness for so long that they believed it was incurable. I knew nothing about the lines on a person’s palm. But I was beginning to recognize the lines drawn through a life by habits, flaws, and actions. As I sat there, my thoughts seemed to walk beside me through this colorful garden of human troubles. Then one thought turned to me and asked, “Jinder, what do you want to do with your life?” I glanced around and answered, “I don’t want to live like this.” None of the roles life seemed to offer felt like mine. My thought asked again, “Well, madam, you must do something . You don’t want to study or take up a job. What exactly do you want to do?” “I want to say goodbye to every suffering in ...

  A Sweet Tale of Love From Myself, to Myself “I had always loved the woman I was. But the day I understood how she wore her defeats, I fell in love with her all over again.” The Woman I Have Always Loved There has always been a woman in my life whom I have loved deeply. She was neither a stranger nor someone I encountered along the journey of life. She was always there. Sometimes she walked beside me, sometimes she seemed to walk ahead of me, and sometimes she remained so deeply hidden within me that even I could not understand her. Her nature often lay beyond my comprehension. I could observe her actions, recognize her emotions, and witness her responses to the world. Yet understanding the silent movement of her thoughts was another matter altogether. And still, something about her always fascinated me. A dupatta of love rested upon her head. It was not merely a piece of clothing. To me, it represented the tenderness with which she approached existence. Even when the world appear...

Freedom from Worry Is True “Rajyoga” Introduction Human beings desire to conquer the world. By acquiring position, prestige, wealth, and power, they begin to regard themselves as rulers. But if a small apprehension can steal their sleep, an unknown fear of the future can destroy their peace, and an unfavorable circumstance can govern their mind—are they truly sovereign? In my view, true Rajyoga does not mean gaining control over an external kingdom. Rajyoga is the state in which a person is no longer a slave to the mind, but becomes its conscious witness and discerning master. Freedom from worry is true Rajyoga. The moment worry vacates the throne within us, consciousness begins its coronation. What Is Worry? Worry is the mind’s unsuccessful attempt to secure the future according to its own expectations. The mind creates countless negative images of something that has not yet happened—and then becomes frightened by the very images it has created. The event may belong to the future, but...

 While watching the sunrise, have you ever felt that the light is awakening within you, too? A moment on my morning walk made me see my connection to time, my body, and the universe in a new way. “I step out every morning to watch the sunrise—to reconnect with that moment of awakening within.” Stepping out every morning to watch the sunrise is my meditation practice. In that quiet moment, the sun rising outside feels as though it is rising within me, too. This piece is a journey through that experience—where distant galaxies and the intimate closeness within the body are felt simultaneously, and a single, tiny tear touches the vastness of the entire universe. When the Sun Rose Within Me I wake up early and step out for a walk, as witnessing sunrise is my meditation practice. When I watch the sunrise in quiet stillness, I truly become a part of this beautiful spectacle. Throughout the experience, I realize that the sun is not rising outside, but within me. I feel— That moment is spe...

  The Rhythm of Life: When Living Becomes an Art Every Human Being Is a Note in the Music of the Universe Birds do not earn degrees from schools before learning to fly, nor do they take real estate courses before building their nests. Yet they fly, create their homes, raise their young, and live naturally in harmony with the rhythm of nature. Human beings, however—regarded as nature’s finest creation—are deeply familiar with pain and suffering, yet often remain strangers to joy and inner happiness. How is this possible? How did human beings become disconnected from their own existence? How could someone who is a magnificent work of nature lose the art of living? Why do we remain unaware of the extraordinary art already present within us? Has our inner connection with nature been broken? Has some inner fuse blown? Or has that connection simply become covered with the rust of time, fear, stress, and ignorance? The surprising thing is not that we have been unable to repair this inner ...

  Not the Age of Information—but of Direct Experience When Nature Becomes the Teacher of Today’s Generation When the heat of thirty-two years of life dissolved, joy blossomed within me, and love longed to walk toward people and embrace them; I saw life expand in an entirely new way. I asked myself: What is life? Is life only love? Perhaps not, because it also contains pain. Is life only pain? That cannot be true either, because the search for love within it never ends. Whether it is the life of a human being, a bird, an animal, a nation, or a religion—every life ultimately searches for love. But where do we search for it? Searching for Love in the Pit of Pain We often search for love in the pit of pain. What, then, do we find there? More pain in place of pain. Another wound in place of a wound. A harvest of sorrow from the seeds of sorrow. Gradually, life turns into a deathlike silence. Its vitality, enthusiasm, and inner music disappear. Our lives continue to ache upon the fire of...