Ancient yogic secret of the egg

Who knew such profound wisdom could be discovered while making dinner? I knew that the answers to all life's questions are answered in the silence of deep meditation. What I didn't realize was that that state of being was available to me even in the midst of doing.  It's in the silence that the answers are heard the loudest. 

As I was cracking eggs to prepare dinner last night I was reminded of a beautiful quote that I read once in Shambhavi's book, Yogini.   It said sometimes like, it isn't until the seed cracks open that the flower begins to blossom.  This profound wisdom isn't something new to me.  I've heard it a million times.  For some reason, last night it seemed like I was finally ready to accept it as truth.   Whether it's an egg, a seed, or a walnut, it isn't until the outer protective shell is broken and discarded that we get to the essence of what it is. 

When you look into the face of a young child you see that pure essence of their being.  They are full of light and love.  As we grow up we begin to build a protective shell around us.  The reasons are many but the result is the same.  Our true essence of light and love becomes harder to see.   We identify more with the protective shell and we forget our true nature of light and love.  This seems to be the greatest source of our suffering.

We could spend our time contemplating why this happens.  We can analyze the different shells.  We could go into the pros and cons of having one verse not having one.  None of these things will expose the light and love that is the essence of our true nature.  The only way to get to that juicy center is to crack open the shell.

The initial smack against the side of the bowl is the most dramatic part for the shell of the egg.  Once the initial crack is made all that's left is to peel away the part that isn't the egg.  The same goes for the seed.  Once it's cracked, it softens so that water and light can get in and soon a beautiful flower begins to blossom.

Some of us get stuck in the trauma of the initial crack that we don't see that the rest is the easy part.  All we need to do is begin to peel away the parts of our being that is the protective shell until nothing remains except our true essence of light and love. 

For some, the cracking comes easier than others.  For some it's a gradual process of awakening.  As we get older and (dare I say) wiser, we realize that some things that used to be so important to us no longer matter.  We begin to gradually let go of those things that no longer serve us.  We slowly return back to the child like state of pure being; filled with light and love.   And isn't that a beautiful thing? 

Who knew a simple egg contained so much spiritual wisdom inside that little shell.   All I had to do is crack it open so that the wisdom could be revealed.....