Good and Bad, This Body
In this world, nothing as bad as the body;
in all of creation, nothing as good as the body.
Punish it, thinking it bad,
you lose your chance for the bliss of liberation.
Revel in it, thinking it good,
you go under.
Neither punish nor revel in the body;
stay in the middle.
If you use the body for enjoyment alone,
you multiply attachments
and drive desires deeper.
For your own good, use the body
for the welfare of your soul.
Whether the body be
motionless in meditation
or moving in the thick of life,
let the mind stay in the middle,
forever still, pure and free –
this is a yogi, says Eknath.
Eknath in Many Voices, One Song