Long Walks On Leafy Streets

9/1/2014 Near Skyline drive, Shenandoah Mountains, VA
Last week I was feeling a little low. I have been doing many things this summer yet progress has been sluggish in the things I really wanted to do and it felt like I haven’t gotten anything done. In the news there seemed to be problems everywhere. Ferguson, Gaza, Ukraine, Iraq, not to mention the urgent and most desperate problem facing the planet, namely climate change. I was feeling like I wasn’t making any difference with whatever I was doing and my life has not been very useful. Fortunately I had some experiences that helped me overcome this feeling of sluggishness and inadequacy.
The first one was driving through Rock Creek Park on Wednesday. I had to drop off my father at my sister Jayashree’s place in Derwood, MD after a medical procedure. There was a little bit of time left on the Zipcar, so I decided to drive through the Rock Creek valley on Beach Drive.
There was not much traffic and the temperature was a pleasant 82 degrees, with the creek running peacefully through the forested valley. It was very calming and brought me back to what is important. Ultimately this is what is closest to my heart as I realized in a frozen forest in the dead of the Canadian winter many years ago. No matter what I do in my life, being alone in nature feeling the oneness of all creation is when I feel the most peaceful in life.
When I got up to the streets above I noticed that the temperature was 87 degrees. After dropping off the car in Columbia Heights I got on my bike. I had been planning to spend some time reading in a café before going to a viewing of the film “Above All Else” with Lori and people from the Nature Lovers’ Meetup. Instead of going to a café I decided to go back to the Rock Creek Park and study in the Pierce Mill picnic area. Kids from the Georgetown Day School in a summer camp were going running. I enjoyed reading my mathematics book while watching them run around boisterously. Feeling refreshed, I made my way to the movie theater. The movie turned out to be very touching. Unlike many environmental films, this was told from the point of view of people struggling to live their lives amid the destruction of their land in Texas by the TransCanada Company laying the Keystone pipeline. It was quite heart rending and made one really want to act and do something.
The second experience was running on a beautiful, breezy Thursday morning in the track near my house, at the Lamond recreation center. I didn’t have much time so instead of running on my usual route through the streets of Takoma Park I ran here. It was very enjoyable to run on a flat track, with the breeze blowing and passing under the sheltering, sprawling weeping willow tree in one corner of the field. When you run the key is to keep the breathing at a steady rhythm but more importantly keeping the mind steady and calm. Once the mind is calm everything becomes easy and the running is fun. It reminded me that life is a marathon and not a sprint. While I think it will help me to take this yearlong break from teaching in order to reorient myself, one doesn’t really need too many breaks in life. If I keep working with a calm and steady mind everyday I will have many more productive years ahead in my life.
The third experience was listening to a lecture at Arsha Vidya Gurukula in Saylorsburg, PA. This is a monastery and retreat center in the Poconos established by the Hindu teacher Swami Dayananda in the Advaita tradition. We were here, my parents and my sisters and I and all of our families, to celebrate their fiftieth anniversary. The monk talked of the need to let go of ego and surrender all to God. I realized that part of the anxiety and frustration I have been feeling is due to my putting too many expectations on myself and also on things going the way I hoped, with respect to the world around us. I needed to remember to just keep doing my best and simply accept all that happens in life as God’s will. As Krishna famously says in the Gita, one only has control over one’s actions and not the results. Besides, to be attached to the results is a little bit egotistic and counterproductive. All I had to do was to spend every moment of the rest of my life with as much peace and love in my heart as possible and show that same peace and loving kindness to all beings. Every moment we live in peace and show compassion we are doing something useful in this world. This realization brought much relief and happiness. I was able to really enjoy driving through the verdant valleys and hills of the Pocono Mountains and the Delaware Water Gap with my mind at ease. Nicole and my parents enjoyed the long drive through Pennsylvania and Maryland as well.

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