If there is an end, then there is no God. Creation by God never
ends, so creation of your movements never ceases. The moment you
say, "I have got it," you have lost everything you had. As soon as
something comes, you have to go one step further. Then there is evo
lution. The moment you say, "I am satisfied with that," that means
stagnation has come. That is the end of your learning; you have closed
the windows of your intellect. So let me do what I cannot do, not what
I can do. You have always to do a little bit more than you think you
can, in quality and in quantity. This is what leads ultimately to beauty
and greatness.
As you take great pains to learn, continue with devotion in what
you have learned. Learning is very difficult, but it is twice as difficult
to keep the ground gained. Soldiers say that it is easier to win a battle
than to occupy the territory conquered. While I continually try to im
prove my practice, I do my best and am contented with what I am able
to attain. Even as the body ages and is able to do less, there are sub
tleties that reveal themselves, which would be invisible to younger or
more athletic bodies. Yo u have to create love and affection for your
body, for what it can do for you. Love must be incarnated in the
smallest pore of the skin, the smallest cell of the body, to make them
intelligent so they can collaborate with all the other ones, in the big re
public of the body.
This love must radiate from you to others. Practitioners of the
asanas alone often forget that yoga is for cultivating the head and
heart. Patanjali talked about friendliness, compassion, gladness, and
joy. Friendliness and grace are two qualities that are essential for the
yoga student. In yoga class, students often look so serious and so sep
arate from one another. Where is the friendliness? Where is the com
passion? Where is the gladness? Where is the joy? Without these, we
have not achieved the true yoga of Patanjali.
You must purge yourself before finding faults in others. Wlwn you
MT a mistake in somebody else, try to find if you arc making the s;lllll"
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