“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”

• Mark Twain

For the last few days I've been on the back of a motorcycle -- a fast, hot motorcycle -- and honestly, I'm a little blown away: South India in April, one hundred degrees.

My hair wild, my body vibrating from the road.

We sped to two of the 5 element temples in South India- the fire temple, water temple, and a beach on the Bay of Bengal where the water felt like lowering yourself into a warm bath. It carried me through towns that smelled like jasmine and diesel…

And then, finally, it stopped here, at the Isha Yoga Center. For the next few days I'll be deep in meditation, yoga, reflection, and soaking up the energy of this incredible place.

But today I’d love to tell you about a thousand-year-old temple that I just can't shake out of my mind. Like Mark Twain said, it's a story about ego, arrogance, what happens when a man with ultimate power forces his will upon a nation...

And it’s a rhyme you might recognize…

The Brihadeeswarar Temple was constructed over a period of seven years from 1003 to 1010 AD. It was conceived by Karuvurar, a yogi and siddha, his vision to create a stunningly powerful energy centre, a place where people could go for a thousand years and feel something genuinely real.

But it was financed by the King, Rajaraja Chola, and that's where the trouble started.

To give you an idea of his motivations, Rajaraja Chola, originally named the temple “Rajarajeshvaram,” (literally "the temple of the god of Rajaraja.”)

But his arrogance was to be his downfall.

He and Karuvurar clashed over its construction. Accounts differ: it may have been the date of inauguration, it may have been something else, but whatever the reason, Rajaraja asked the yogi to leave, but he refused. He held his ground, and built a tiny hut in the corner of the temple to be a witness.

When the time came to install the colossal “linga” (the significance of which I'll explain in a moment) the engineers struggled -- it wouldn’t fit however hard they tried. Finally, in desperation, they went to Karuvurar for divine intervention… He was all too happy to give it, but not before spitting on the linga as Rajaraja Chola’s arrogance had put a distortion into the sanctity and vibrancy of the temple's energy.

The linga fit, the arrogant King got what he wanted. But the temple was compromised.

And to this day, it is said that negative effects befell the Chola Dynasty, and any ruler who visits the temple will soon lose his power…

Linga and the Cost of Imbalanced Masculine Energy

I wanted to tell you about the Shiva Linga because it matters to this culture -- and our own. In Shiva temples, the Linga is everything. It represents masculine energy in its fullest essence. Pure masculine- direction, presence, witnessing- pure knowledge. The lingas themselves are egg-shaped or oblong stones, solid and stable. They typically sit on something called the “yoni,” - flow, expression, life force- the feminine.

The masculine and feminine in perfect ancient divine union --The linga resting in the yoni is the meeting point of consciousness and life-force - the very source of creation. When that field is clear, it radiates alignment and aliveness - but of course, not in this case.

Put politely, you could say Rajaraja was guilty of the opposite: lost to and consumed by bravado, machismo, and dominance.

So when Karuavurar saw the state of the linga, when he withdrew from it, symbolically the integrity of masculine energy was lost: the grounded, stable generative force that offers care and protection.

Standing there, looking up at this beautiful architectural feat, this incredible craftsmanship. I could see it plainly. I could feel exactly what that meant.

To me, it is an expression of the imbalanced masculine energy in our world.

The imbalanced masculine of valuing power over people, and a profound disconnection to what healthy masculine energy actually is:

Protection and dignity, honor, depth and stability.

There is something that happens, (because this is a particular pathology of unchecked masculine energy which lives not only men but in women as well) when power becomes untethered from wisdom, when the building of something great becomes about the builder rather than what is being built.

The true, original intention leaves. The devotion leaves. And the nourishing, nurturing, stable healing energy is gone.

What remains is the monument, vast and imposing, but hollow at its core. Lost to its connection with the whole, with its original purpose.

I have stood in sacred spaces all over this world that hum with something real, and I have stood in spaces like Brihadeeswarar that take your breath away…

But the difference is whether something was built in service of something greater than the ego of the person building it.

When that is lost - there’s no doubt:

The Purity is gone: it’s no longer nourishing in its true form.

Just like the deeper aspects of life - of health, meaning, nature and nurture - these deep parts of life were once tended to with care, but now they are generally neglected. We have lost touch with them.

We are living inside the imbalance this creates - so completely, most don’t even know there was ever another way.

You can feel it in politics, in the burnout, in the relentless push to produce and consume, in the food grown for speed rather than nourishment, in the general disconnection from nature, from each other, from the wholeness of life itself.

This is masculine energy disconnected from its own deepest nature.

And most of the world has simply come to call it normal.

An Antidote: Travel as Dissolution

One of my teachers, Sadhguru, talks much about this, particularly the importance of travel in breaking psychological boundaries.

Travel and its importance for expansion, he tells us, is not just as a leisure activity, but as a tool for breaking mental limitations, expanding your consciousness, and embracing the adventure of life. It's a spiritual process and it helps us to move beyond the boundaries we have built around ourselves.

It is so true, and exactly what's happened to me in every possible way in all of my travels and particularly this extended time I have spent living in India.

He teaches us that most human suffering comes from limited identities: my culture, my beliefs, my way, and from the rigid mental boundaries we build around those identities.

But if you choose to travel consciously you’re exposed to different ways of living, thinking, and being, what you assumed was “normal” is revealed as just one version of reality.

The moment you see there are many ways to live your rigidity begins to dissolve.

When you are in a new place, you are less defined, less boxed in, less expected to be who you've always been...

"If you want to know life in its fullness, it’s important that you are constantly stepping into new terrain.”

• Sadhguru

I think that's exactly right, although I'll also put it this way: when you move through cultures and landscapes and histories that have nothing to do with the story you grew up inside, that story loosens its grip on you.

Many people traveling through the US remark on this, and of course you and I see it too. Fast food, gas stations, nothing but soda, energy drinks, beer, Gatorade, and candy available as refreshments along the way…Nothing that actually nourishes.

It’s one very narrow transactional version of an unhealthy culture imposed as the default.

But here, it's different. You can stop at a roadside store for an actual meal, fresh fruit juices, tea or coffee -- or you can even have someone crack open a fresh coconut and hand it to you for the coconut water to rehydrate you in a real genuine way.

And you cannot imagine how good that tastes - there's something in the realness, the authenticity and actual nourishment of it all.

Cracking the Shell of Limited Identity

So what am I getting at here?

For me, this willingness to learn and engage has been a genuine tool for my self-transformation. Over the last six months I’ve been put in direct contact with life as it actually is, not life as it's been processed and packaged for my comfort and convenience.

It’s helped me crack the shell of my limited identity, it has greatly expanded the window of tolerance in my nervous system and I feel very lucky for that.

It has opened me to a much richer life experience in every way.

No matter what boundaries or rigors may be imposed on you, if you can connect with life itself, if you can get out of your limited world you can open to and create a bigger more free relationship with life.

More freedom, less limitation, more expanded awareness, and less contraction.

I've always had a willingness to learn and a fascination with encyclopedia's and knowledge, but this living, breathing reality has been something else...

It might sound like a cliche, but the destination really is the journey. It's the process.

Life is a pilgrimage, and it’s up to you which path you follow.

So many things about the way we live in this world today echo the kings of old: in the best ways we have comfort, convenience, and a truly luxurious lifestyle.

At worst? When the ego rules: Rajaraja’s pursuit, blind machismo, and lost monuments.

In just a few short days, I'll travel back to the apartment I stay in near Bangalore…

(On the back of a motorcycle.) ;)

And after that, in just 8 short days I’ll board a plane back to the US.

I have mixed feelings about returning... So, for now, I’ll savor every drop. It feels more important than ever to dip into the inner source - the source of energy, alignment, and clarity.

Because the antidote to a world full of machismo, monuments, or imposing will on others is a willingness to listen to something wiser than your own will. The willingness to be cracked open. To have that human rigidity dissolved by the stories, realities and lives of others, and the realities of the world far bigger than the ones we grew up inside.

Being open to including all-- until the stories you've been telling yourself become distant and dissolve away - ancient history, and you are free to build a new world- one that is expansive and beautiful and healthy for all beings.

After all, that’s all these stories are: a rhyme that doesn’t bear repeating.

Love and Blessings, 🙏🏻💛🪷

P.S. If you feel the weight of your own limited story, or a history you want to stop repeating, I made something for you...

Reflect and Envision is the practice I turn to every single time I need to be quiet, get honest, and rebuild my life from the inside out. 🎁

​Download it now.​