In the pursuit of knowledge, everyday something is added.
In the practice of the Way, everyday something is dropped.
Less and less do you need to force things,
Until finally you arrive at non-action.
When nothing is done, nothing is left undone.
-- Lao Tzu
Oh it feels heavenly not to do anything, not to have to do anything, that there's nothing undone, or waiting to be done. I woke up this morning to the cocorico cries of roosters, and it took me a minute to realize where I was - sleeping in a fluffy white bed in Mountain Dale, this beautiful piece of land nestled in the fold of a mountain and a dale in the Appalachian range. I haven't stopped smiling since then - realizing I have the whole day stretched out ahead of me, all to myself, and not a thing to do!
I made myself a cup of coffee in the teeny kitchen and took it out to the pond right in front of the cottage, and sipped it sitting on a bench set by the water. Having breakfast with the ducks and guinea hens - what a charming place this is. I walked around for a bit, ear-marked some trails to check out later, peeked into the vegetable patch growing lettuces, potatoes and peas, took a picture of a peacock high up in a tree, and wound my way back to the yellow house, my own little golden cottage for the day, surrounded by golden irises.
I love that I can be myself here, I don't have to take care of anyone, explain my actions to anyone, show my brilliance to anyone. I love that I'm not in pursuit of any of these things - knowledge, pleasing people, being social, proving my existence. I can simply exist. I can simply be myself. I can simply be.
Everything has dropped off of me - I feel so light and joyful inside. For a day, I can experience non-action, nothing to do, nothing left undone. If I can go back to the real world, leaving behind an ounce of burden I dropped here it would be a giant step in practicing the Way.
Thank you for reading! Have you ever dreamed of doing nothing? Have you ever had a day when you had to do nothing at all? What did it feel like? Please share.
the beautiful, spring time hue of the secluded cottage matches the door of my house.
ReplyDeleteFunny observation :)
ReplyDeleteYou are the gentlest writer we know, Sravanthi. We get to visit these places through you. We don't get to travel much but experience wonder and beauty through people who seek quiet places and total seclusion. Did you know Mahavatar Babaji took the form of Lao Tzu to do His extraordinary task of liberating souls in that part of the world? We dream of meeting Babaji someday. Not too ambitious, are we?
ReplyDeleteA bit of Abir and Anisha :)
Anisha, you say you don't get to travel much!? The places you've been and the pictures you took are amazing!
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of the story of Babaji and Lao Tzu - that's wild! But the wisdom in both of them is truly out of this world.
Correction here, Sravanthi. Abir saw this note just now and corrected my oversight. Lao Tsu was Sage Boganathar, Mahavatar Babaji's Guru.
ReplyDeleteAbir has these beautiful lines for you by Lao Tzu.
Chapter 47, Tao Te Ching
"Without going outside his door, one understands (all that takes place) under the sky
without looking out from his window, one sees the Tao of Heaven. The farther that one goes out (from himself), the less he knows. Therefore the sages got their knowledge without travelling; gave their (right) names to things without seeing them; and accomplished their ends without any purpose of doing so."
George Harrison, one of the Beatles composed a song inspired by these lines as:
The Inner Light
Without going out of my door
I can know all things on earth
Without looking out of my window
I could know the ways of heaven
The farther one travels
The less one knows
The less one really knows
Thus the sage arrives without travelling
He sees without looking
Does all without doing