PranaBeing blog: No End in Mind

I studied avidly with Gurudev Shri Amritji for 17 years and worked closely with him on his writings for seven years. For me, the Integrative Amrit Method, a system unpacked from Gurudev’s pivotal awakening experience in 1970, is a vehicle for transmitting the experience of Yoga as well as understanding key principles that guide ever-deeper exploration. These teachings are foundational to my own approach to life.

One morning we were working on a piece of writing together. The desk his office looked out through floor-to-ceiling glass doors onto massive live oak trees and enchanting gardens in the Ocala National Forest. Suddenly, Gurudev paused and looked outside for several moments.

“Look at that squirrel,” he said finally. We watched the animal leap and scurry about high up in the oak canopy. “No end in mind.” Gurudev said, with delight in his voice. He promptly returned to dictating.

He was offering me a clue.

The squirrel was simply being. It did not have an agenda; it was not stressing to get done with leaping so that it could do something else. The squirrel was the embodiment of pure life expression, doing what it was doing “with no end in mind,” just for the pure joy of it.

Another dear teacher, friend, and colleague of mine, Hansa Knox of Prana Yoga and Ayurveda Mandala , says it this way:

In the being, the doing gets done. - Hansa Knox

One powerful hypothesis proffered by Yoga is that by learning to gather and focus attention in the present moment, fully experiencing what is unfolding from moment to moment and releasing concern for the end result, we can experience bliss even when we are engaged with an activity that we don’t especially like.

This is true freedom. Detrimental stress comes from comparison and anticipation, from being divided in the moment. To the extent we can be fully where we are, doing what we are doing, without concern for past or future…we are happy and we are free.

Try it. See what you discover.

When is the last time you attempted to do something solely for the sake of doing it, with “no end in mind?”