Everything is in You

This past weekend, we had another sweet family yoga and kirtan class.  We listened to a story about Lord Krishna as a child. Krishna (or Gopala), the beautiful blue god-child, and his brother Balaram are caught eating dirt in the back yard.  Their mother, usually sweet and nurturing, yells “STOP EATING DIRT.  I’VE TOLD YOU 1000 TIMES NOT TO EAT DIRT!!!”  Gopala, bewildered by his dear mother’s ferocity, opens his mouth and begins to cry.  At that moment, his mother looks into his mouth, and there, the entire universe reveals itself to her.  She sees universes, animals, and 1000’s of Gopalas being created and destroyed and created again.  She is shocked into a trance, a “samadhi,” by what she sees within her child.  Gopala, seeing this, becomes a little worried that he has gone too far with his behavior.  He waves his little god-hand in front of her face, like a feather, and she forgets everything that has happened.  She smiles at him and says, “You’re dirty.  Let’s go in and clean you up!”

The story always help to open me to the divine connection between my child and myself- between all of us really.  Jai Uttal tells the above story, and sings a wonderful song about it.  The words include “Gopala, Gopala!  Everything is in you!  Everything is in me!”  At family yoga, we listened to the story, danced to the song, and let the message settle into our hearts and bodies.

Babaji Shambhavananda teaches that meditation is a process of learning to let go, a process of surrender.  What happens when you deeply let go?  You FORGET EVERYTHING, just like Gopala’s mother.  You forget your desires and schemes, your grudges and anxieties, your small self.  Regular practice helps me to be more present and open to my life because I don’t hold on so much to my daily tensions.  And, every now and then, my practice reminds me, just like the story, that “everything is in me.”  If you want to search for happiness, take a breath, and begin to look inside.