Om is Lost_Ira Trivedi

om is lost
IRA TRIVEDI

Namaste! My name is Om, and I am
a yoga dog. I live in an ashram in a
village in India. My ashram is beautiful,
calm and peaceful, but it is also very
busy. The meaning of ashram in
Sanskrit (the language that we learn
here) is ‘place of work’ and so I am
always running around.

My parents also live at the ashram.
My mom is a cook and she is in the
ashram kitchen, and my dad is the
ashram librarian.
When I am not in my yoga classes, I am
either in the library helping my dad out,
or I’m in the kitchen helping Ma out.
My Guru says that helping people is a
special kind of yoga called Karma yoga.
I love karma yoga – it’s really my
favourite.

I love being in the kitchen, I’m the first
to know what’s being served for dinner,
and I sometimes I get to taste it too.
As for the library, its my favourite place
in the world. In the library, I get to read
books, hold them and smell them. Books
always smell so good!

The head of the ashram is Master Titu.
Master may look small - he is even
smaller than me - but boy is he smart!
He has read over five thousand books,
he can do thousands of yoga asanas,
and he can meditate for hours.
Sometimes I get a little scared of Master
Titu, he is very strict, but he is also my
teacher and I respect and love him very
much.

I have many friends at the ashram and
we are like one big family.
Talking of friends... Let me tell you the
story of how I met my best friend Prana
the frog.

It was a beautiful spring day at the ashram.
The sun was shining, the air was cool, and
the ashram was full of colour. The ashram
garden was abloom and after yoga class
Om the yoga dog went to the garden to
pick some flowers for Ma.
He wondered what flowers to pick. The
red ones with the big petals, the white
ones with the lovely scent, or this orange
one here which looked kind of like a
tiger! There were so many choices, and
Om was confused.

As Om examined the flowers, he saw
a beautiful butterfly. It was purple with
white dots, and when it spread its wings,
Om saw little pink hearts.
Wow, this butterfly was so cool!
Om, remembered that he had just learnt
butterfly pose in class today, so he
became doubly excited.

“Hello butterfly, my name is Om. Whats
yours?” said Om to the butterfly.
But the pretty butterfly just ignored him.
Om tried again.
‘Hello butterfly! Lovely day today
isn’t it!”
But the butterfly refused to talk.

Suddenly, Om noticed that the butterfly
was flying away! Maybe it wanted Om
to follow him.
So Om ran after the butterfly.
“Mr. Butterfly, wait for me!” said Om.

Without realising it Om left the ashram,
something he had been told never to do
alone. Chasing the butterfly, Om went
deeper and deeper into the forest.

As he was chasing the butterfly, Om
felt a sneeze coming. He stopped for a
second, closed his eyes and Achuu!
Om always enjoyed sneezing. But when
he opened his eyes, he realised that the
butterfly was nowhere to be seen.

“Mr Butterfly! where are you!” said Om.
But nothing. There was no sight of the
butterfly with the purple wings and the
pink hearts.
Suddenly Om realised, that he wasn’t in
the ashram anymore.
He had been to the forest many times,
but never alone. He remembered that
Master Titu had forbidden the young
yogis to go out alone! Om thought that
he better hurry back to the ashram.
He had just been in the ashram a few
minutes ago, surely he couldn’t be very
far away! He decided to turn around and
walk in exactly the opposite direction.
This, he thought, should get him home.

He walked a little while, and then Om
came to a fork in the road. He couldn’t
quite remember which way to go.

As he tried to remember,, he saw a little
green caterpillar crawling by next to him.
“Hello Caterpillar. My name is Om.
Do you know where the ashram is?”
“Ashram?” said the caterpillar.
“Wuss dat?”
“It’s where I live.” Om said.
“Dunno kid. No ashcans here.”
“Ashram. Not ashcan. If you don’t
know, do you know anyone who might?”
asked Om.

He remembered what Master Titu had
once told him when he had asked him if
he knew everything about everything in
the world.
“My son. No one person knows
everything about everything. Every
animal has its own qualities. A lion can
roar, a cow can moo. But a lion can’t
roar and moo both! ”
“Mr. Owl. Dat guy know it all.”
“Do you know where I can find him?”
“In da trees of course. Dat’s where all
owls live.”
And with that the caterpillar crawled
away.

Looking up into the tall trees, Om
walked onwards, and as he looked into
the trees he remembered tree-pose, the
asana, or yoga pose that he had recently
learnt.
Stand tall and still like the tress, Master
Titu had said.
These trees were indeed very tall and
stood very still. They did the tree pose
very well.

In the middle of all these tall trees, how
would Om ever find Mr Owl?
Looking up into the green leaves of
the trees, and getting a little dizzy, Om
bumped into a tree and fell face first into
a puddle.

The branches of the tree shook and he
heard a sound.
“Oooooo.”
Om looked up and found himself
staring into the big round eyes of an
owl. “Mr Owl? Is that you?”
“Yooohoo, whoooo is it..”
“Oh. I was looking for you,” said Om.
“Hooooow can I help yoooou?”
“My name is Om, and I’m trying to find
my ashram. Do you know where it is.”
“Hmmmm. I haven’t been toooo the
ashram fooooor many years nooooow.”

“Do you remember where it is ?” asked
Om brightly.
“I cant be sure. My eyes aren’t what they
used to be yooooou knoooow. And plus
I loooooost my glasses yesterday.”
“Your glasses, maybe I can help you find
your glasses!” said Om.
And with that Om and Mr Owl set
about looking for his glasses.
“Here they are!” said Om. He had found
Mr Owl’s glasses underneath a pile of
leaves.
“Ooooo Ooooo Thank yoooooou!”
hooted Mr Owl who was so happy to
have found his glasses.

“Well, I better go back to my ashram
now, Mr Owl!” said Om.
“Except... Except... I don’t know where
it is!” said Om glumly.
“Whoooo cooould help little
Ooooommm? ” Thought the owl out
loud.
“There is a rabbit who lives in
the fooooorest. She used to dooo
yooooooga many moooooons agoooo.”
“Yoga! Oh! I can do yoga too, I’m a
yoga dog” said Om.
He thought to himself. If the rabbit did
yoga, then surely she would know where
the ashram is!

And so with that Om said bye to Mr
Owl, and skipped away looking for
the rabbit.

Om found the rabbit by the side of the
forest road, examining a rabbit-hole.
“Hells Miz rabbit, my name is Om. I’m
looking for the ashram, could you tell
me where it is?”
“First of all young boy, I’m a HARE not
a rabbit, and I’m a little busy right now.
I’m trying to find a lost little hare. Any
chance you seen a white furry thing?”
“No Miz Raabb.. I mean Hare. I haven’t
seen little raa, I mean hare.”
“Could she maybe be down in this rabbit
hole?’ asked the hare.
“Maybe I can take a look,” said Om.

Om tried his best to help the hare find
the little hare, but he couldn’t quite fit in
the rabbit hole.
“I should be on my way now,” said the
hare and hopped away.
“Please try your best. I, I know what
it feels like to be lost,” said Om in a
whisper.
Suddenly Om realised that in trying to
find the lost baby hare, he had never
found out where his own ashram was!

Om felt tired and hungry. It was
lunch time, and he hadn’t eaten. He
remembered the kitchen, his mom and
suddenly he felt sad and scared.
It had been a while since he was away.
Would his parents be angry at him?
What about Master? What if he never
found his ashram again? Thoughts
were flooding into his mind and he felt
confused. He felt tears forming in his
eyes and slowly falling down his cheeks.
He tried to best to remember his
Master Titu’s teachings. When scared or
nervous take a deep breath in and then
breathe out.

Inhale… Exhale.
With each breath that Om took of the
forest air, he felt a little better. With each
breathe out he let a little bit of his fear, a
little bit of his sadness leave his body.
Master Titu had told him once when he
was a little puppy, “Crying never solved
anyone’s problems. Little puppies have
to be strong.” As he inhaled and exhaled,
he lay down on his back relaxing in a
bed of leaves and soon he fell asleep.
Om dreamt of Master Titu, his parents,
and the ashram. “Our dreams are the
whispers of the universe,” Master Titu
was telling him. Oh! It felt so good to be
back at home.

Om was deep in sleep when he felt
someone tickling his foot. He opened
one eye, and then the other, and then
got up with a start, rubbing his eyes.
Where was he? This wasn’t the ashram.
Slowly, he remembered. He was not at
the ashram. He was lost.
The croaking of a small creature
distracted him from his thoughts.
“Croak croak! Wake up! Who are you?”
said a little green frog.
“Namaste little frog. My name is Om.”
“Croak croak. My name is Prana.”
“Prana, do you know where my ashram
is?

“Croak croak. Ashram, whats that? I’m
sorry, but I haven’t left this pond since I
was hatched from my egg.”
“Oh” said Om looking sad.
“Croak croak, what’s in the ashram?”
“It’s my home. It’s where I was born,
and it’s where I learn yoga. I was trying
to talk to Mr. Butterfly, and then I got
lost, and now I can’t get back, said Om
glumly.
“Croak croak, how is your ashram?’
asked Prana.
“The ashram is amazing!” Om said,
happy to talk about the ashram, even if
he wasn’t there.

“It’s so beautiful and my parents and
Master Titu and all my friends live
there!” said Om.
“Friends. Croak. I don’t have any friends.
I live here all alone,’ said Prana, softly.
“Oh don’t worry Prana! All my friends
in the ashram would love to be friends
with you! But that is if I ever get back...”
Om remembered that he was lost.
“Croak. Well... We should get you back
to the ashram soon then!” said Prana.

“I... tried. But... I can’t seem to find my
way back. I’m lost. I don’t think I can get
back. I think I’ll just stay here with you
till somebody finds me,” said Om glumly.
“Atleast I have my dreams.. I can dream
of my ashram,” said Om in a whisper.
“Croak croak. What’s the point of
dreams if you can’t make them come
true! My Mama told me when I was
inside my egg. The journey towards our
dreams begins with with a single small
hop. Why don’t we start hopping!”
said Prana.
“I don’t know Prana,” said Om. “I don’t
think my dream will ever come true.”
“Croak croak. Maybe we should
meditate on the dream for a little while,”

said Prana.
“Meditation! How do you know
meditation? They teach that at the
ashram.” said Om.
“Croak croak. Well, we frogs meditate
all the time! We sit still and focus and
focus... it’s wonderful,” said Prana.
So together Om the yoga dog and Prana
the frog sat by the side of the lake and
meditated.

When Om opened his eyes, he was ready
to go look for the ashram. He washed
his face, drank some water and ate some
berries. He loved fresh fruit!
Though Prana had never left the lake
before, he offered to come with Om,
and Om gladly accepted the company.

“Croak croak. My Mama always told
me... you have to release your dreams
for them to become alive. You cant keep
them wrapped up inside yourself. You
have to let it go.”
“Oh, I never looked at it that way?’ said
Om.
“Croak croak, so should we release it?
Said Prana
“Yes let’s release!” said Om.
For a second he closed his eyes and
released his dream into the universe.

By now the sun was setting, and there
were shadows everywhere. Om was
feeling scared, but he had Prana with
him and that made things much better.

As they were walking, Om told Prana
stories of the ashram. And then
suddenly, he heard the flapping of wings
and the cawing of a crow.
Caw! Caw! Caw!
Could it be... could it be... Master Karma
the Krow!
“Master Karma, Master Karma! I’m
here. It’s me Om, the yoga dog!” said
Om crying to catch Karma’s attention.
Prana too was croaking away.

Karma the Krow landed on Om’s head.
“Master Karma! Do you... Do you know
the way home!”
“Of course I do!” said Master Karma.
“So... will you take me home?”
“I won’t, but Master Titu will... and
talking of the Master, there he is!”

Om saw Master Titu and ran towards
him. He hugged him very hard. So hard
that Master Titu almost fell over.
“Master Titu! I’m so sorry. Are you angry
with me? Will you take me home?”
“There, there Om. Take a few breaths
and calm down. Everything is alright.
I’m here to take you home.”
“Oh Master!” said Om, giving him a
tight hug again. This time Master Titu’s
glasses fell off!
“Are we very far away?” though Om, his
tummy rumbling as he thoughts of the
ashram kitchen.
“No Om. We are just five minutes away,”
said Master Titu calmly.

“Five minutes! I thought we were so far
away!”
“When one is scared everything seems
far far away, even when it’s right next
door,” said Master Titu with a small
smile.
Master Titu saw Prana the frog.
“And who is this young frog?”
“This is my friend Prana. He was
helping me find my way home,” said Om
proudly.
“Croak croak. Namaste,” said Prana.
“Ah a frog. We had a good frog in our
ashram many moons away. He kept the

flies away. But now our pond is... frog
less.”
“Master, our pond doesn’t have to be
frog less anymore! Can Prana, come live
with us at the ashram?
That is... if he wants of course?” said
Om looking eagerly at Prana.

“We always welcome new friends at
the ashram,” said Master Titu with a
knowing smile.
Prana was so happy that he just croaked
with joy. Of course he would go live
at the ashram. He wouldn’t be alone
anymore. He would have so many
friends!
With that, Master Titu, Om, Prana and
Karma the Krow headed back to the
ashram.
Om had been lost, but he had found a
new friend.

He remembered then what Master Titu
had told him once.
“There is a silver lining, even in the
darkest days.”
Om the yoga dog had found his silver
lining. A new best friend. What could be
better than that!