A royal grace , a royal pace

You can always hear her before she arrives, a ripple in the air, a crackle in the undergrowth. She is the path maker. Placing each step with ancient self assurance, sure footed and fearless. This has always been her path, her process. Gaited, marked and measured by all the ways she has passed through here before. Her skin is a palimpsest marked by the way things have been and always welcoming the ways that are yet to come. She is shaped by this deep acceptance. Her eyes, dark wells of understanding for she sees this place as it truly is and moves through it in a continuous flow of loving indifference which to her is the everlasting capacity to forgive.

In the ancient Vedic knowledge traditions of India. The meaning and intent of the term “Hastibala” refers to the power of an elephant. Her grace and royal pace. Her strength and stamina and her ability to remove any and every obstacle. If we can be inspired to embody this ‘elephantine consciousness’. We too will be gifted with greater resilience, strength and stamina. A willingness to take the strain, to work with and reshape all life’s demands with acceptance, gentleness and an indomitable spirit.

Portrait of Ganajani