Santulana

I love noodle soups when it gets cold. They take me to carbohydrate heaven. Every time I used to make this soup I ended up putting too many noodles because I love them so much. The result was not soup but more of a heavy stew. Over the years I have learned to avoid this mistake. There is a very delightful feeling when we have a warm bowl of soup that is perfectly balanced in all its ingredients in the winter.

Santulana is a Sanskrit word that means balance and equilibrium. These are very good qualities to have not just in making soup but in every aspect of life. When nature gets out of balance as it has been in the last decades it cannot support life as it used to. When there is no equilibrium between the time we spent working and at play we get sick. When we think in extremes, regardless of what side one is, we create chaos and problems for all.

The interesting thing is that we equate balance and equilibrium with all things being good (whatever we consider to be good). Santulana, balance, means everything, even the things that we don't like, in appropriate measure. Now when it comes to soup it is easy to know what that appropriate measure is. But when it comes to other things, it is trial and error. We learn as we go. A yoga master was asked once: "You seem to do everything right all the time. How do you do that?" and he simply answered "I do something and it works then I keep doing it. If it does not work, I don't do it again."

Balance is one of the things I have learned this election. One side of the equation was not as involved as the other, we were out of balance. It took things getting really bad for us to realized that we cannot let our guard down ever if we are to keep a balance and equilibrium in which we all can thrive.