ishwar pranidone like dinner.

once upon a time in a very small town an antique dealer sat bored and a bit down-in-the-mouth in his shop. it was winter. he hadn't seen a customer all day. eventually, finally, a lady with a very young girl entered and began looking around. after saying hello, the dealer just left them to walk around. 

as he bussied himself on the computer, from the far room he heard a loud crash and some sobbing. he knew immediately what had happened. the young girl had knocked over a porcelain pitcher, it smashed into many pieces and she was weeping. the lady, as well, was terribly upset, admonishing her daughter loudly. taking in the whole scene the shop-keeper raised his arms and hollered: "wait one minute! it's ok. it's ok." he walked up to the girl, patted her affectionately on the head, picked up the porcelain bowl the pitcher had been sitting in and held it up. he smiled and winked at the girl, who had stopped crying and was looking on wide-eyed as the man held the bowl up. he said: "watch this." he dropped the bowl on the ground, it smashed into many pieces and the little girl howled with laughter. 

"but wasn't it terribly valuable?," asked the mother. "nah," the shop-keeper answered. then looking down at the little girl he smiled: "fun is always worth more."

ishwar pranidhan is that last niyam or suggestion: to surrender all ones thoughts and actions to the lord. i don't know what exactly that means. even if the translation rather is 'a higher power,' i don't know what that means. my mother was a higher power, or certainly a force to be reckoned with, and at least i could see her, know her. but i don't know the lord, a higher power, or why i should surrender to him or her or it.

so maybe what that really means, or should mean, is that having fun is always more valuable than money, that the life is always more important than a thing. maybe this hardest niyam to understand really means getting over oneself, letting go of who we think we are. 

"once you let go, you realize there wasn't anything real to hold on to." anonymous.