garden we must cherish and cultivate. As we shall see in the next
chapter on mind, even something as subtle as mind depends on health
and energy, and they start in the garden of the body.
Prana is the great life force of the universe. There is a witness in
side us all that we call the Seer or the Soul. To remain in the body, even
this seer depends on breath. They arrive together at birth, and they
leave together, departing at death. The Upanishads say that these are
the only indispensables of life. This is true, for I am reminded of an old
man who for thirty years or more sat in the main street of Pune and
cleaned shoes. He was terribly crippled, with withered sticks for legs
folded on a little wooden trolley. In his youth he was destitute and in
despair. Survival seemed impossible. Then one day he began to clean
shoes. He had a good chest and gradually his arms strengthened. He
was not only the best shoe cleaner in the town, but he was respected
and held in friendship by all who passed. The newspapers wrote an ar
ticle about him, and in old age he even found a suitable wife as a com
panion. All he had was a fine chest, prana, sparkling wise eyes
reflecting the seer within, and his shoe cleaning equipment. The Upan
ishad was right. With just breath and soul and courage, the man
achieved a life to be admired.
So often what prevents us from living an admirable life is the chat
tering of our minds, which pester us with long outdated doubts and de
spair. Our minds are truly one of the greatest creations in God's world,
but they are so easily disoriented and set spinning. In the next chapter,
we explore the beginnings of how our minds work and how learning
to cultivate our consciousness through understanding and relearning
serves as the key for our emancipation.
V I T A L I T Y T II 1'. I'. N F Ill; Y II ll ll Y ( /' II A N .1 I