Living into Dharma

Me
IF you knew me,
If you
Really,
Really
Knew
Me,
You
Would know
That
Girl Scout
Camp
Archbald
Probably
Saved
My life.
Summer
After summer,
I was given
Full permission
To be
My
Idiosyncratic
Self.
I flourished.
I shined.
If you knew me,
If you
Really,
Really
Knew me,
You would know
That I had
Monogamous
And
Committed
Crushes
On counselors.
Of course, I did!
Miss Uns,
My counselor
When
I was ten,
Was blond
And
More-than-Magnificent
In
My
Eyes.
She
Went to
Penn State,
Which
Was
Just
Another
Word
For
Mount
Olympus.
She was
All-beauty,
All-competency,
All-possibility.
After our cookout
One hot
Summer
Day,
She gathered us
Around the
Fading campfire,
Half-raw hotdog
Grumbling in my
Belly.
How we listened,
How I listened
To her
Every syllable.
And she said:
(This is a direct quote, 62 years later still alive in my body)
Ladies
(they always called us ladies)
Ladies,
Leave
The campsite
Better than you
Found it.
Every cell
In my
Ten-year-old
Body
Knew,
Absolutely
Knew
The
TRUTH
She
Spoke.
I just had
No idea
What it meant,
What it might
Look like.
But I
Felt
Its
Depth
In
Me.
I cleaned off the rocks,
I
Dusted away the leaves.
I used my little girl sneaker
To smooth out
The earth.
I organized our woodpile
In uneven attempts at order.
What a lifetime
Of
Earnestness
For that
Little girl,
For
This
Aging
Woman.
The day ended,
The summer faded
Into another
School year
Into
Another
And another.
Leave the campsite
Better
Than
You
Found
It.
And I have
Spent
My life
Doing,
Making,
Attempting
To impact
The campsite
Of the moment.
I joined the
Peace Corps.
I worked
In an
Inner City
High school
Forever.
I even
Joined
An ashram,
To my Jewish
Parents
Sheer
And
Unabashed
Horror.
(What about my teaching pension, my appalled father asked? A good question for today!)
I committed.
I was,
I am
Committed
To be
Part
Of the solution.
Only now
A thousand years
After that
Little girl
Tummy rumbling
From a hotdog
That fell
Into the fire,
Uncooked,
But
Nevertheless
Yummy,
Only now
I realize
It is enough
Already
With
All
The doing.
ENOUGH WITH ALL THE DOING.
It is time for being.
Our dharma
Lives in us.
We are it.
Our purpose
Unfolds,
Increment
By increment,
Moment
By moment.
I struggled
To find
My dharma!
To do it—
RIGHT!
To be—
Of service.
Today
Perhaps
I
Can just
Live.
Right
Here,
Right
Now,
With whom
I really am.
Perhaps that
Is
Enough.
~~~
My dear friend Kavi Stephen Cope and I came to the Kripalu ashram in the same month, same year. We think. But we can’t really remember. We were always in the same study groups and were just simply always bonded. A thousand years later, he stands as a ray of love and connection in my life.
With respect for his brain-iac brilliance and his wonderful yogic heart, here is a ten-minute video of his. Check out his clarity regarding dharma, living into our authentic purpose. Spoiler alert—he does not mention Miss Uns once!
Dear Friends,
And what do you notice about your purpose, your dharma? When do you feel in sync with the flow of the universe? When do you paddle against the current? What are you learning about your work on the planet, the work of your heart, that which is inherent in you? What is the pandemic teaching you?
Keep me posted—please.
All blessings,
Aruni
~~~
ANNOUNCEMENTS—
- Savoring Life’s Lessons—Grief, Loss, and Renewal
The program is launching this week, please consider joining.
https://kripalu.org/content/august-5-4-week-live-series-aruni-nan-futuronsky
- Contact—
My new address is thecoacharuni@gmail.com. Please make changes to your contact folders.
- Wisdom Circles—
Create community; connect to yourself, to one another and to the teachings. You are not alone. For the month of August, our circles will be held only once-a-week, on Thursdays. Here is the link:
Thursday, August 6, @ 2:00 EST http://coacharuni.com/thursdaycircles/