This is an image of a giant statue of Shiva in Northern India being washed over by recent massive flooding triggered by torrential rains.   Thousands of people lost their lives, thousands more were severely injured, and countless others survived while their homes and businesses were destroyed.  

This image takes on a profound depth of meaning, because it clearly illustrates Shiva as destroyer of the ego, and ultimately the entire universe, as part of his cosmic dance. Creation, Sustenance, Destruction. The old must dissolve so that the new may be created. In this picture Shiva remains in deep, blissful meditation - samadhi, as the world of form surrounding him is being destroyed and washed away.

We end each yoga class with shavasana, corpse pose. We let go of stress, worries, ego, and symbolically release our individual separateness and merge into oneness. When we practice shavasana, we practice the art of dying. We dissolve and become like a corpse, releasing the material realm to fully reside in the blissful tranquility of the pure, formless, unmanifest realm of absolute, unlimited potentiality.  

In shavasana, releasing attachment to our physical form is soft and pleasant and by choice. But in the material world, we may face sudden distress and painful loss as something in life shakes us up and we are forced to let go of attachments, beliefs, thoughts, emotions, social structures, relationships and comforts.

So how do we cope as we experience something in our external world dissolve right before our eyes, sometimes catastrophically, sometimes subtly, sometimes unfairly, sometimes beautifully? There must be an infinite number of ways to perceive the hint of creation, the glimpse of beauty, the spark of light, the silver lining, the lesson, the blessing.  Today I was particularly aware of posters and posts and images with the message, "We ALL are Trayvon Martin." Sometimes the brightest illuminations of universal truths arise from tragedy and chaos... sometimes very intimately and sometimes collectively, massively.

Yogi Bhajan brought the practice of Kundalini Yoga to the United States in the 1960's and gifted us with these Five Sutras of the Aquarian Age, the time we're living in right now. 

• Recognize that the other person is you. 

• There is a way through every block.   

• When the time is on you, start, and the pressure will be off.  

• Understand through compassion or you will misunderstand the times. 

• Vibrate the Cosmos. The Cosmos shall clear the path.

By truly understanding that "the other person is you," we are required to dissolve all separation, differences, and clinginess to antiquated beliefs. We release our ego. The beauty in being human is that we are malleable. We can adjust, recalibrate, reconfigure and change direction at any moment. We inherently understand that we all are here together and while we're here we have to make it better and we have to make it work - for all of us, for each and every one.