My book about yoga is very close to completion now (“Who Is Yoga?” November 26, 2008). At the moment, it is only a few words short of sixty-thousand. All it needs is some final touches, as well as a valiant preface and a merry postscript. Although these will take no more than a thousand words or so, which could be written in a day or two, the book’s completion will take me about six months to accomplish. In fact, I think of the book as my own birthday present to myself. My tenth, as a matter of fact (“Enlightenment by Seventy,” July 9, 2014). And I look forward to it with unadulterated joy. The present to cherish till my last breath.

Addendum I (October 8, 2015)

Even now, so many months in advance of my tenth birthday, the first draft of the book makes me cry. Over and over again, I am surprised by the rush of tears as I go through my own writings about yoga. As well as shamanism, Buddhism, Sufism, and so many other traditions of mysticism that surround it. To my joy, and perhaps also to my relief, I am not even trying to understand my tears. Far from it. As a matter of fact, the connection between the everlasting truth and the deepest of emotions is best appreciated without comprehension. In Nietzsche’s words from the book’s motto, “a great, firm dome of ignorance must encompass you.”[1] Alleluia!

Addendum II (March 12, 2017)

Having been brought to completion exactly four months after this piece was written, my book about yoga is the greatest present I have ever given myself (“Postscriptum XIX,” February 7, 2016). More than double its size at the time, it is a joy to revisit ever again. Which is what I do almost every day. I open the book in Portable Document Format, go to any old page, and start reading. Often enough, I end up nodding and nodding with feeling. No matter when it was written, every single piece I read gives me solace. An occasional tear only adds to the feeling of completion. Liberation behind me since early last year, I feel fortunate to have recorded my journey step by tiny step.

Footnote

1. Nietzsche, F., The Will to Power, New York: Vintage Books, 1968, p. 328.