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The
Cosmic Game
Leonard
Perlmutter
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[Knowing yourself is the first step
to a successful relationship.]
Do you truly desire to experience loving, meaningful and richly rewarding
relationships? Is it important for you to be happy and content? Do
you want to reduce or eliminate the various forms of dis-ease in your
life? If so, you can achieve everything you earnestly desire by honestly
examining the ways you deal with relationships.
Just for a moment, stop and think about the wide variety of relationships
you have every day. Think of your spouse or lover, your child, parents,
siblings, friends, extended family, people you work for or with, and
those with whom you do business, such as the banker, supermarket cashier,
auto mechanic or plumber. Now consider the more remote relationships
with your local, state and national government officials, all the
celebrity types you know through television, radio, films and recordings.
You have relationships with the house or apartment you live in, your
work, tools, car, computer, clothes, pets and the environment. Then
add the thousands of other, more intimate relationships you have –
with your body, the food you eat, your breath, your senses, as well
as your mind and its many thoughts, desires, memories, imaginations
and emotions. Let’s face it – you have a lot of relationships!
Every single relationship requires you to take some kind of action.
Essentially, that’s what having a relationship means. When you
have a relationship, it means that a thought, desire or emotion is
commanding your attention and requiring you to respond. Relationships
imply action just as action implies a relationship, and your choice
of which thoughts to think, which words to speak and which actions
to take will determine whether your relationships bring you happiness
or sorrow.
We experience pain and dis-ease in our relationships because most
of us merely adopt the goals, fashions and ideals of our society,
without really knowing ourselves first, within and without. This leaves
us ignorant of our Divinity and its wisdom and, therefore, dependent
on the suggestions of others. As each new generation takes on the
handicaps of the previous generations, humanity continues to look
outside itself for new objects and relationships that – it is
hoped or expected – will bring the desired happiness and contentment.
Unfortunately, what we often wind up with is stress, anxiety, frustration,
anger or even depression.
In Sanskrit the word lila is used to describe the vast, joyful and
spontaneous play of creation. The word “play” implies
fun, and lila is the Divine Reality’s game that we are well
equipped to enjoy. Whether we understand the word “play”
to mean a theatrical production or the everyday events of an infinite
cosmic game with defined rules and regulations makes little difference…
we are the players.
As skilled actors we’re required to play a variety of roles
as perfectly as we can, but no truly accomplished performer identifies
so completely with the role that he forgets who he is. Likewise, the
skilled athlete is never so consumed by the winning or losing that
he forgets how to play the game. As Shakespeare said, “The play’s
the thing!”
Several years ago two men walking in the forest approached a swift-flowing
stream. For each, the stream’s rapid current and uncertain footing
proved insurmountable obstacles to the continuation of their journey.
One man was blind, and the other was lame.
After much consternation, the blind man had an idea. “Look here,
my friend. You are lame and cannot walk well, but have excellent sight.
I am blind, but have strong and steady legs. If you sit on my shoulders,
you can guide my sure-footed steps with your keen vision. Together
we can cross the stream.” And so the lame man climbed onto the
shoulders of the blind man and they crossed the river. By sharing
unique resources, their desired goal was accomplished.
If your intention is pure and you dedicate yourself to a practice
such as yoga science, what you may lack personally could become available
to you through the grace of Divine Providence. Despite seemingly insurmountable
physical, mental or emotional handicaps, as you learn how to follow
the intuitive wisdom of your own conscience confidently and fearlessly
– knowing your Self to be none other than the One eternal, universal
and compassionate intelligence – difficult relationships will
either heal or wither away. New relationships will appear to lead
you beyond your personal limitations and you will find that life can
become a source of peace and joy.
Remember, however, that disciplines such are yoga are essentially
a science – verifiable or refutable only through your own personal
experience. It is not a wise idea to accept any suggestion presented
by others without verifying its truthfulness through your personal
practice. Dependence on external resources, suggestions and habits
will only prolong the bondage. No one other than your own true Self
can bring you liberating wisdom.
Leonard Perlmutter is a teacher
of practical yoga science and author of a bimonthly newsletter,
Transformation. His book, The Heart & Science of Yoga: Living
Free from Worry will be released in 2005. (518) 674-8714. www.amipublishers.org.
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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER
2004
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