Serving as Shelter

Yesterday Hendry and I went swimming in the ocean. It was one of those days where the water is so still that its surface is glassy and its depths are perfectly clear. Hendry had goggles on and was swimming around me looking around when he spotted a huge school of fish swimming beneath me. 

Typically we only see really tiny fish, about the size of my pinky finger, but this time some of them were much bigger, around the size of my palm. 

Surprisingly, the fish continued to follow beneath me as I moved around. After watching them for a bit, Hendry tells me that he thinks they’re using me as shelter from predators, as bigger fish are fearful of ‘giant’ humans. 

The idea that I was serving as shelter for these fish brought me great joy. The rest of our swim I floated outstretched on the surface making minimal splashes to ensure I was in a good position for them to stay sheltered in my shadow. 

One of my favorite mantras is Shri Krishna Sharanam Mama.

Sharanam means to take refuge in, to seek shelter in, to give ourselves over to

In this case to seek shelter in, to take refuge in Krishna. 

Krishna is said to be all-attractive, the embodiment of love and compassion.  He is often depicted as a child, whose disarming qualities inspire us to love without inhibition. 

And like that

we all yearn for refuge, we all seek shelter 

we all want someone to trust, to rest our head and our heart beside 

we all have an innate desire to have a mutually beneficial, fulfilling relationship with others 

Yet quite often we restrict or withhold our giving, our kindness, our goodness, our love, for fear of not receiving in return. 

The teachings remind us that when we do something good for someone, when we let someone take refuge in us, rest their head on our shoulder, we don’t need to worry about receiving back equally or at all. Giving will always be enough.

In the Yoga Sutras there is ‘punya’, which is often translated as virtue, but one of my teachers recently described as a good deed which is hidden or secret, not done for praise or show. She said that when a act/deed is ‘punya’ it makes you feel so good that you’re blessed in the feeling. Humbled. Honored.

It is an overflow of goodness, like it’s too much for the cup so it overflows.  When you give to one person they will then give to another, who will give to another, it’s fluid, it keeps on going…

Punya, virtue, is being of service, becoming an instrument of love and goodness.

This got me thinking about the difference between being of ‘service’ vs ‘helping’ someone, especially given all that is happening in the world today. 

To help someone implies being in a superior position where you have something to give them but they have nothing to offer you. 

To serve evokes a certain reverence for the other person. You feel they they are offering you something by allowing you to serve rather than you giving them something. 

Yoga reminds us that we can only serve, give, love without inhibition or expectation and we can rest assured knowing that it will always be more than enough.

Artwork by Hanne Lore Koehler