For if I am reflected in pool below my feet, I will remember to look down and see myself in the water.
The water in the stream may have changed many times, but the reflection of the moon and the stars remains the same.
— Rumi
If you are about 14, or 15 and live next to a Yoga Ashram, will life meander all around the world and the happenstances that make life what it is and take you to a point where you create your own Ashram?
Life is full of prescience.
For Achal it was quite like that.
He will take you through an understated journey of discovering what you can really thrive on. Yoga is about a posture. Is it just a physical one, or is there more to the contortions that ultimately result in calm?
I asked him —
The kind of noise that exists in society, there's a particular way of living —which is completely different from what, let's say yoga recommends.
Do you see those conflicts affecting you?
Achal —
At some point of time, everyone among us has to face death. And that's the ultimate reality. And how to face it. When it comes to you, you will lose everything. So at some point of time, if you are losing your pen or pencil and getting agitated about it, you may stop for a moment and try to understand.
I will tell you a very interesting personal experience. I also play the Sitar. I was all over town from one place to the other in Bombay. And it got broken. And it got broken.
I was cursing myself.
I was saying, why was I not fearful while carrying it and why did it break?
And then I took this to the guy who repairs it. When I reached his house, I realized that this guy was a musician. He struggled so hard and and he was obviously repairing instruments, doing other things to eke out a living, to meet the necessities of life.
He charged me about 8,000 bucks and really, that was one time I was really happy that my sitar broke down. The money may not mean so much to me. Means so much to this guy's life.
Is every loss that you have, is it a loss really? Maybe it's a big gain to someone else.
It changed my perspective. Sometimes you lose things. Because of that, somebody else is benefiting out of it. Our paths ultimately prepares you for losing everything in your life, but retaining something which is, beyond all these losses that is your, how your deepest connection with what you really are.
What am I ready to lose today?
Let that then be :)
I like to say, Achal is the Manager of a portfolio called Life.
He runs yogahouse.in — a fantastic oasis for wellness and meditation in Mumbai as well as Mahua, a beautiful resort in the Pench Tiger Sanctuary.
If you are looking for a guide on letting go and discovering yoga, write to him. And do tell him, how much I enjoyed interviewing him for Salil.
For this IIMA graduate, life is about Yoga. Achal Mehra — Manager of a portfolio called Life.