edges of the same
sword.
fi ve elements. Freedom and bondage are two edges of the same sword. If you swing it one way, it is freedom; if you swing it another way, bondage.
The whole life process is like this. Love and hate are encapsulated in each other;
life and death are included in each other. If they were separate, you could have easily dealt with them, but they are always within each other. If you try to avoid death, you will end up avoiding life. Within yourself, if you just create this feeling of ‘I don’t want to die,’ all that will happen is you will not step out of your bed. The only thing you will avoid is life, not death. This is the way life is – everything one inside the other. What is there is here, what is here is there. Above all, if you look at it, everything is just within you. It seems to be so complex; at the same time, it is absolutely simple.
In ancient India there were courtesans who were supposed to be masters in the art of seduction. They wore elaborate jewellery, where the whole body would be covered in ornaments. There was no way to take these off. If you had to take them off one by one, it would take a long time. The man, fi red up by lust, would want to undress this woman, but he would not be able to take these off. She would go on encouraging him with a little more liquor or wine—a little more, a little more, and a little more. As his vision got a little more blurred, his task got even more diffi cult, and then soon, he just fell fast asleep, snoring.
But there was just one pin; all it took was to just pull this one
pin, and everything fell down. That only she would know.
Life is just like that. It is one complex web, but there is just one simple pin. If you pull that, everything will just fall. And that pin is you. If you know how to pull yourself out, suddenly everything settles. Everything is crystal clear. The play of fi ve elements is highly complex; yet at the same time, the key is you.
If you pull the plug it just collapses, and you are free.
THE NEXT STEP
The simplest thing that you can do to change the health and fundamental structure of your body is to treat the fi ve elements with devotion and respect. Just try this. Every time you are consciously in touch with any of the elements, just refer to it as whatever you think of as the highest in your life, be it Shiva, Rama, Krishna, Jesus, Allah (or Marx!). You are a psychological being right now, and your mind is full of hierarchies. This process will settle the hierarchy. After some time, the word can fall off. But you will instantly see the change as the number of truly conscious moments in your life increase.
Pancha Bhuta
‘These fi ve temples were built so that they function as one system.’
In southern India, people who had the knowledge built fi ve major temples for the fi ve elements.
52 S a d h g u r u
These temples were created not for worship but for a specifi c type of sadhana. To become free from the water element you would go to a particular temple and do one kind of sadhana. To become free from the element of air, you would go to another one; for water, another one. Like this, there are fi ve wonderful temples for all the fi ve elements which were infused with the kind of energy that assists that type of sadhana. Traditionally, yogis travelled from one temple to another continuing their sadhana. This is a land which has seen that kind of focus and understanding for a very long time.
The temples are referred to as the Pancha Bhuta Sthalams.
Geographically they are all within the Deccan Plateau. The temple in Kanchipuram is for earth; Thiruvanakaival for water;
Thiruvannamalai for fi re; Srikalahasti for air; and Chidambaram for space.
These fi ve temples were built so that they function as one system. This is a phenomenal technology that allows those who know how to do the appropriate sadhana to visit the temple and make use of it. Those who do not know will benefi t just by living in that region. Today, the connection between the fi ve temples is absent. The sadhana and mastery over technology are diffi cult to fi nd nowadays, but the temples still exist and many are magnifi cent pieces of architecture.
‘Yoga pays so much attention to food because you are constructing the body with the food that you eat.’
It happened. One day in court the emperor Akbar asked, ‘What do you think gives most pleasure to a man?’
There are all kinds of sycophants around emperors, so somebody said, ‘Oh, my lord, serving you is the greatest pleasure in my life!’
Somebody else said, ‘Just looking at your face is the highest pleasure I can have!’
Like this, the hyperbole poured forth. Birbal was just sitting there, bored.
Akbar asked, ‘Birbal, you’re not saying anything. What gives you maximum pleasure?’
Birbal said, ‘Shitting.’
Till then, Akbar was feeling great with what people were
54 S a d h g u r u
saying. Now he got really mad. He said, ‘For uttering such an obscenity in the court, you had better prove it. If you can’t prove it you are in danger.’
Birbal said, ‘Give me a fortnight. I’ll prove it to you.’
Akbar said, ‘Fine.’
The next weekend, Birbal organized a hunting trip for Akbar into the forest, and he made sure all the women in the palace also travelled on this hunting trip. He set up the camp in such a way that Akbar’s tent was in the centre, and all around, he placed the families, children and women. He told the catering department to produce the best food. They produced everything and Akbar ate well – he was on a vacation, you know!
The next morning when he got up and came out, there was no toilet tent. He went back into his tent and walked up and down, but the pressure was building up. He tried to go into the forest, but Birbal had made sure all the womenfolk were all over the place. He was not able to do it anywhere.
Pressure built up by the minute. It was about twelve noon, and he couldn’t bear it any more. He was just about to burst, when Birbal, who was watching this whole scene, muttered,
‘Toilet tent, where to put it, where to put it?’ He was simply creating confusion and delaying it for another fi ve to ten minutes.
The emperor was full of shit, and just when there was no more time left, they put up the toilet tent. Akbar went inside and moaned with relief. Then Birbal who was waiting for him outside the tent, asked, ‘Do you agree with me now?’
Akbar said, ‘It is the greatest pleasure.’
Relief from something that you cannot hold within you is
always the greatest pleasure, isn’t it? Whatever that thing may be!
So, the body can become an issue. A big issue.
Your body is just a heap of food. Yoga pays so much attention to food because you are constructing your body with the food you eat. What kind of food you put into the system defi nitely has an impact on the kind of body you have. Are you preparing this body because you want to run as swiftly as a cheetah? Or are you preparing this body because you want to carry a hundred kilograms? Or are you preparing this body so that it becomes conducive for higher possibilities? You need to eat the right kind of food depending on your inclination and what you want out of your life.
THE NEXT STEP
It’s important not to keep eating through the day. If you are below thirty years of age, three meals every day will fi t well into your life.
If you are over thirty years of age, it is best to reduce eating to two meals per day. Our body and brain work at their best only when the stomach is empty. So be conscious of eating in such a way that within two and a half hours your food moves out of the stomach, and within twelve to eighteen hours completely out of the system.
With this simple awareness, you will experience much more energy, agility and alertness. These are the ingredients of a successful life, irrespective of what you choose to do with it.