Riddle of the Sphinx from Ananda Washington on Vimeo.
According to legend, the female Sphinx lived outside the city of Thebes and tested travelers with a riddle: what creature has one voice but, in the morning, has four feet; in the afternoon two feet; and in the evening, three feet? A traveler who could not solve the riddle paid forfeit with his life. The answer to riddle is man: as a baby, he crawls on all fours; as an adult walks on two legs; as an elder, he walks with the help of a cane.
In “Autobiography of a Yogi” Paramhansa Yogananda quotes this riddle in describing the challenge to human life: to solve the paradox of the existence of good and evil. We too forfeit our soul’s life when we neither seek the answer nor find it.
The answer lies in what I like to call BOTH-AND. Both-and means to accept that this world could not exist without the admixture of good and evil, pleasure and pain, success, and failure and so on. Only from the God’s eye perspective of unity or oneness can we observe calmly the spectacle we call human life.
This does not mean we do not combat evil, whether in ourselves or, if appropriate, in the world; or, that we do not embrace the virtuous life. Rather, it means we develop a level of non-attachment to the difficulties and the successes of life. This is the essence of yoga as expressed in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: the state of yoga consciousness is experienced when we do not react to the stimulus of the senses, circumstances, memory, thoughts, imagination, and emotions. Even-minded calmness is the secret of success. Yogananda would say “What comes of itself, let it come.”
This is not intended to suggest passivity or indifference: only calmness and perspective. “This, too, will pass.” It is a form of stoicism but in its higher octave of seeking the divine Presence, it is far more rewarding than mere calmness can suggest. A devotee sees the play of life with God as the Doer.
Without daily meditation to calm the reactive processes, it is exceedingly difficult to remain centered in the Self. Even with meditation, we are challenged. But with meditation, our emotional intensity is not as deep, and when it hits us, we quickly regain our equilibrium. Anger and irritability show us the work we must do on ourselves.
Mother’s technique of taking a deep breath and holding to the count of ten is still a good one to use before we react and regret our words or action. “You may be right” is a response to potential criticism that can help us delay a response we can never retract. Breath control holds the secret of life. A chant by Swami Sri Yukteswar intones: “Let pranayam (breath control) be your religion!” During your day’s activities, stop periodically to take a few deep, slow breaths and see if you perspective doesn’t immediately change!
Nayaswami Hriman