Sati: What exactly does it mean? Sati: Ok, tell me something more… about life, something that rhymes. Shiva: Ups and downs, round-n-rounds Come and go in life. To know your Self In the middle of it all Is the real thrill of the ride. Sati: Up-n-down! Round-n-round! But what is ‘the middle of it all’? Shiva: At one point, when we move towards the centre of knowing, Sati, we realize that the end and the beginning are indistinguishable. Sati: So does this deep wisdom come to you in your Yoga abhyasa, your asanas? Sati: Beautiful! Shiva: The real beauty is that you are the sum of all that you have felt and energized in your cosmos. Take a ride again, or light up the Godfire in quiet harmony. Sati: Godfire? Shiva: Godfire! This burning desire to know the Oneness behind all the beauty of the Universe, the play, the purpose, the joy of being, all is Godfire. Sati: I am God’s firewood. The wood of this soul started to prepare itself to burn for you from the very beginning. I always loved the Shivlinga, and now I love you. Shiva: You, Sati, are maya. It is said of me that I do not incarnate. And yet your love can make even Shiva manifest, you enchanting sorceress! Sati: Me, a sorceress! And what are you? You, who has hypnotized the universe? Shiva: I am a yogi, immersed in tattva, the quintessence. And in love with tattva, which manifests as Sati! Sati: Why do they call you a brahmachari then? Shiva: Celibacy is only a seat for Brahmacharya, which means being ‘One’ with God. Sati: But then why does my love for you feel even deeper than our spiritual connect? The lessons with Shiva were endless. His talk was profound; so was His silence. Sati: You seem to be talking to me even when you are silent. Shiva: Few understand silence. Stillness gives wings. Shiva embodied wisdom, even in his jokes. “Tell me you love me,” Sati demanded again one day.

Shiva: Oh, I do love you. But when you specifically ask me to say it, I am tongue-tied; such are your charms and magic. Shiva laughed. Before I met you, I had no wants. Now it’s all different. You have ruined the poor yogi. Sati: Ruined the yogi? I thought you, immersed in Yoga, didn’t have time for me. Sometimes you are so aloof… Shiva: That’s only when I am deep in thought…Chintan. But then I see us together – and I want nothing else. Sati: Want? Aren’t yogis supposed to be without desire? Sati: And yet you can go to the extreme opposite – renunciation? Shiva: It has to be, Sati. The farthest ends of the spectrum come and rest in the one point from where they all began. Sati: And that point is Aum! Shiva: Yes! That point is Aum. And that is the whole point.” Sati and Shiva embraced. Yet another spiritual lesson had concluded.

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