Yesterday, I went for a walk with my son. He likes to look at animals so I took him to the farm nearby. The chicken and ducks there share a small fenced off area with a pond for the ducks. As we were standing there admiring the animals, a small hen suddenly flew against the fence. I didn’t even see her coming. She might have thought that we have food for her, I don’t know. She bounced back from the fence and fell into the pond. Strangely, she only tried to get out of the water once. After that she literally gave up. She was just floating on the water and did absolutely nothing to survive. There was this passive acceptance on her little face. She was just waiting for her feathers to get soaked and sink. The area was fenced off so I couldn’t reach in to help her. Suddenly, I noticed an old man with a long walking stick. I don’t speak Spanish (this happened on the Island of La Gomera, Spain) so I just pointed towards the hen. He reached in with his stick and ushered her towards the wooden plank laid across the pond for the ducks to walk on. The hen finally got on the plank and just stood there. I thought ok, now she is safe. I continued my walk with my son. When I came back 30 minutes later, the hen was floating on the water just as she did before, only this time she was dead. I was devastated. Should I have stayed longer to make sure she actually gets out of the tank? Could I have prevented her death?
This incident brought up two things in me. First, the question: How much help is enough help? How far can or should one go in helping others? Yogi Bhajan once said: "Touch a person, hold a person and then carry a person. You can't drag anybody. You can't lean on anybody. Carry them, simply and truthfully. And what are the words that dignify the carrying? Can you repeat after me? 'I am with you.' That's all. One line, 'I am with you.'" (Yogi Bhajan, Success and the Spirit). But, where is the line between dragging and carrying? I still don’t have a complete answer to that.
The second thing that touched me was the look I observed on the face of that hen while she was floating on the water. I have seen that look on the faces of humans many times. Sometimes, the pressure or the demands of a certain situation are just too big for us to handle. In those situations some people freak out and become aggressive, hysterical, hyper-active, turn to food, drugs, alcohol, extreme exercising, etc. Others, like that hen, freeze, give up, accept their defeat and wait for death to come. Yogi Bhajan calls this cold depression. It is cold, because we don’t see or feel it. Sometimes not even the people around us see it. We gradually lose the connection to our soul. According to Yogi Bhajan the beginning of the Age of Aquarius will see more and more people affected by cold depression and other stress related deceases.
What to do to handle it with grace and dignity? This blog being related to Kundalini Yoga the obvious answer would be: do some Kundalini Yoga regularly. But what if someone does not want to do Kundalini Yoga? Should they give up and drown like that chicken? Of course NOT!!! If you don’t want to do Kundalini Yoga or any other type of yoga, do some deep breathing exercises, listen to uplifting music, read inspirational books, go for walks in nature, eat healthy food, do whatever exercise makes you happy (don’t overdo it though), dress for your soul... In other words, find things and people who inspire you. People who help you keep up with staying connected to your soul! But DON’T GIVE UP! Chose to RISE UP instead of falling prey or numbing out.
For me personally, Yogi Bhajan’s sutras for the Aquarian Age have been very helpful:
1. Recognize that the other person is you.
2. When the time is on you, start, and the pressure will be off.
3. Vibrate the Cosmos; the Cosmos shall clear the path.
4. There is a way through every block.
5. Understand through compassion or you will misunderstand the times.
To read more about the five sutras click here.
To read more about cold depression click here.
With love and gratitude,
Ajeetdev Kaur
This incident brought up two things in me. First, the question: How much help is enough help? How far can or should one go in helping others? Yogi Bhajan once said: "Touch a person, hold a person and then carry a person. You can't drag anybody. You can't lean on anybody. Carry them, simply and truthfully. And what are the words that dignify the carrying? Can you repeat after me? 'I am with you.' That's all. One line, 'I am with you.'" (Yogi Bhajan, Success and the Spirit). But, where is the line between dragging and carrying? I still don’t have a complete answer to that.
The second thing that touched me was the look I observed on the face of that hen while she was floating on the water. I have seen that look on the faces of humans many times. Sometimes, the pressure or the demands of a certain situation are just too big for us to handle. In those situations some people freak out and become aggressive, hysterical, hyper-active, turn to food, drugs, alcohol, extreme exercising, etc. Others, like that hen, freeze, give up, accept their defeat and wait for death to come. Yogi Bhajan calls this cold depression. It is cold, because we don’t see or feel it. Sometimes not even the people around us see it. We gradually lose the connection to our soul. According to Yogi Bhajan the beginning of the Age of Aquarius will see more and more people affected by cold depression and other stress related deceases.
What to do to handle it with grace and dignity? This blog being related to Kundalini Yoga the obvious answer would be: do some Kundalini Yoga regularly. But what if someone does not want to do Kundalini Yoga? Should they give up and drown like that chicken? Of course NOT!!! If you don’t want to do Kundalini Yoga or any other type of yoga, do some deep breathing exercises, listen to uplifting music, read inspirational books, go for walks in nature, eat healthy food, do whatever exercise makes you happy (don’t overdo it though), dress for your soul... In other words, find things and people who inspire you. People who help you keep up with staying connected to your soul! But DON’T GIVE UP! Chose to RISE UP instead of falling prey or numbing out.
For me personally, Yogi Bhajan’s sutras for the Aquarian Age have been very helpful:
1. Recognize that the other person is you.
2. When the time is on you, start, and the pressure will be off.
3. Vibrate the Cosmos; the Cosmos shall clear the path.
4. There is a way through every block.
5. Understand through compassion or you will misunderstand the times.
To read more about the five sutras click here.
To read more about cold depression click here.
With love and gratitude,
Ajeetdev Kaur
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