Har Har Mahadev!
Hey,
I'm Coach Dish.
Welcome to day six.
Today we meet a form of Shiva that might seem frightening at first but holds the key to ultimate liberation.
Today we meet Shiva as Mahakala,
The great time,
The great destroyer.
There is a teaching written in the silent language of the cosmos.
Everything that has a beginning has an end.
Your joys,
Your sorrows,
Your achievements,
Your failures,
Your very body,
All are temporary guests in the house of time.
Even though this form of Shiva that is covered in ash and dances in the cremation grounds,
Mahakala is not a monster.
Mahakala is the truth of impermanence personified.
He is the fire that burns the script of forever that our mind writes.
Your suffering does not come from change itself.
It comes from your resistance to change,
From clinging to what is already passing,
From fearing what has not yet arrived.
From my time working as a coach with high performers,
I've learned that there is one final barrier for every high performer.
One thing that causes more anxiety than anything else.
Control.
The belief that if you just grip this steering wheel hard enough,
You can force life to go where you want it to.
You try to micromanage the outcome.
You keep replaying the past.
You script the future.
It is exhausting and it is all an illusion.
So today we do the ultimate power move.
We don't fix the problem.
We dissolve the person trying to fix it.
The legend says that even the gods fear Mahakala because he does not discriminate.
He touches everything.
The mighty mountain and the delicate flower both turn into dust in his hands.
But here is the secret the yogis discovered.
When you stop running from this truth,
You become free.
When you stop trying to build sand castles that the ocean will inevitably wash away,
You can finally enjoy the sand,
The water and the setting sun.
Mahakala invites you to a radical surrender.
To open your hands and let the river of time flow through them without clinging at any single wave.
Today we practice the sacred art of letting go.
So let's begin.
Sit with dignity like a warrior facing the truth.
Chin tucked in slightly.
Gently close your eyes.
First,
Feel where you're holding on.
Bring your attention to your hands.
Are they curled into fists gripping something invisible?
Gently open them.
Palms up.
A gesture of release.
Now bring attention to your belly.
Your gut.
Is it tight?
Braced against some future outcome?
Let it soften.
Let your breath move there freely.
Physically,
We are practicing the posture of surrender.
Imagine you're carrying two heavy suitcases.
Right now,
Just drop them.
Feel your shoulders getting lighter.
You don't have to carry the world for the next 10 to 15 minutes.
It will continue spinning without you.
Now,
I want you to visualize a piece of paper in front of you.
On this piece of paper is written a story you've been telling yourself that causes you suffering.
Perhaps the outcome of a certain meeting.
The opinion of that certain person.
Your five or 10-year plan.
Perhaps it's the story of a past regret.
I should have.
Maybe it's the story of a future fear.
What if I fail?
What if I don't live up to my expectations?
See those words clearly.
Feel the weight of this story in your body.
It's all written there.
The whole script of how you think your life could have gone.
Look at it.
Look at how heavy it is.
Now,
Imagine a flame appearing beneath the piece of paper.
This is not a fire of anger,
Frustration or regret.
It is the clear purifying fire of truth.
The fire of time.
Watch as the sheet of paper begins to burn.
Watch as the edges of the paper begin to curl up and blacken.
Watch as the words you've clung on to,
Should,
Must,
Never,
Begin to blur and disappear.
The story is burning.
Feel the heat of this release on your face.
As the paper turns to fragile black ash,
Feel the corresponding tension in your body,
Perhaps in your jaw,
Your shoulders,
Your belly,
Begin to release and dissolve with it.
The story is not real.
It's just thought ash.
Now,
Imagine a gentle wind sweeps through and carries the ashes away,
Scattering them into infinite space.
You don't know what's going to happen tomorrow,
And that is okay.
You're not driving the bus anymore.
You're just a passenger.
Feel the relief of that.
You don't have to know.
You just have to be.
In this moment,
There is nothing you have to do,
Nor where you have to go.
There is nothing you need to fix.
Just being.
And I know what you're thinking.
And I know there is some resistance coming up right now.
You're not destroying your life.
You're burning the false script about your life away.
Do this with each story that appears in your mind right now.
Offer it to the fire of Magala.
Burn the script of the past.
Burn the script of the future.
Burn the story of the person you think you're supposed to be.
And just be as you are,
Whole and complete,
Right now.
I can almost hear your ego screaming.
Yeah,
But if I let go,
Everything will fall apart.
You might be thinking,
What if I lose my edge?
Will you?
Or will things just unfold exactly as they were going to,
Anyway?
Trust the intelligence of life.
It grew from a single cell.
It beats your heart.
It spins the planet.
I think it can handle your Saturday afternoon.
Let go and clench your hands and clench your mind.
Every time you get lost in a story,
Let it burn.
Now,
Look at the one who wrote the script.
The controller.
The warrior.
The so-called me.
Was that also just words on a page?
Let that identity also burn in the fire of awareness.
What remains when the script of you burns away is not emptiness.
It is presence.
It is awareness itself.
Here's the truth.
You are what remains when Mahakala's fire burns away everything that can change.
You're not the story.
You are the silent witness who watched it all happen.
The awareness that was here before the thought and is still here now after it's gone.
So rest now,
Not as the person in the story,
But as the timeless presence that holds it.
Rest as that.
You have now become the great destroyer.
You are Mahakala.
To complete,
Seal this liberation.
Take a deep in-breath of unimaginable lightness.
And as you exhale,
Know that you are no longer carrying those stories anymore.
Now,
Gently place one hand on your heart and set your intention.
I am not the story.
I am the awareness that knows it.
I surrender to the flow of time.
And in that surrender,
I am free.
Take one final deep breath.
In and out.
Do you feel that?
That lightness?
That is freedom.
The only thing heavy in your life was your refusal to let go.
As you go into your day and your life in general,
Practice this.
Do your work.
Yes.
Show up.
Yes.
But surrender the result.
Do the work and then burn the script.
When you're ready,
Open your eyes slowly.
Welcome back.
Tomorrow is the finale.
Day seven.
We are going to take this surrender to the absolute limit.
It's Mahashivratri,
The great night.
We will go beyond all forms,
Beyond all practices,
To rest as the source from which everything arises.
You are ready.
Om Namah Shivaya.
