yogaḥ cittavṛtti nirodhaḥ | Keeping Quiet | Pablo Neruda

During the recent 51st Annual Day celebrations at RIMYI, the talents of many students of the Institute were on display.

Two of these students, George Dovas, of Hong Kong, and Miguel Montes, of Gran Canaria, Spain, collaborated in the recital of a poem by Pablo Neruda, the renowned Chilean poet. ‘Yoga’ is not among Neruda’s words, but his exhortation to stillness and quietness speaks with eloquence to our time on the mat.

Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still
for once on the face of the earth,
let’s not speak in any language;
let’s stop for a second,
and not move our arms so much.

It would be an exotic moment
without rush, without engines;
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness.

Fishermen in the cold sea
would not harm whales
and the man gathering salt
would not look at his hurt hands.

Those who prepare green wars,
wars with gas, wars with fire,
victories with no survivors,
would put on clean clothes
and walk about with their brothers
in the shade, doing nothing.

What I want should not be confused
with total inactivity.

Life is what it is about…

If we were not so single-minded
about keeping our lives moving,
and for once could do nothing,
perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with
death.

Now I’ll count up to twelve
and you keep quiet and I will go.

This poem appeared in Extravagaria : A Bilingual Edition by Pablo Neruda, translated by Alasteir Reid, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001.

Carole Carpentier, of Toronto ON, is currently studying at the Institute. She adds: Thank you to George and Miguel for sharing Neruda’s beautiful words with us.