Day 5: Cosmic Vision

60 min - Practice

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Jasmine Tarkeshi

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Description

Once the mind is purified we can begin to see the mystery that is unfolding in front of our very eyes. The teachings of The Bhagavad Gita ground us in the reality that we are both human and Divine, that this is already instinctually known to us, and that we need only clear our vision in order to perceive it. In Day 5 of our course, we set off on a wild journey through balancing twists, creative transitions, and unusual poses to explore what we really have inside of us, playing into arm balances and stoking our sense of adventure in Soldier of Love. We close chanting AUM holding Hakini mudra and meditate on our own cosmic vision. You will feel a sense of the infinite, vast Self that exists beyond your fixed earthly shape.

In this video, Jasmine references The Living Gita by Sri Swami Sachidananda.

What You'll Need: Mat, Blanket, Strap (2), Block (2)

About This Video

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Spicy Pace

Nov 14, 2021

Hatha, Vinyasa

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Hips, Spine, Legs, Arms & Shoulders

Acceptance, Inner Peace, Freedom, Balance

Transcript

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Talk

Welcome back everyone. So on our journey so far, as in every relationship, you know it starts with a little bit of doubt in this friendship between Krishna and Arjuna and then it begins to strengthen more and more through even devotion talked about love and faith and trust and at this point in the journey and I love these chapters where Krishna actually reveals who he is but first Arjuna you know he says okay okay I'm in I'm in I want this I'm completely devoted I'm ready to devote myself over to you wholeheartedly but I want to see I want to see with my own eyes if who you say you are is true if you are actually you know exists in the as the essence and the heart of all beings and you are in the waters and the Sun and the moon and all the galaxies show me so Krishna says you know are you sure are you sure you want to see you really want to see who I am what's behind this facade because Krishna again is the Lord of love and he's so beautiful everybody's attracted to him bows to him he said do you really want to see what's behind this human form and Arjuna says yes I do and and Krishna says okay well you can't see with your human eyes if you really want to see me you'll have to close those eyes and open up you know in yoga philosophy let's just say it's the third eye the eye of non-duality to see my entire form and maybe you know this you know as relationships deepen we get to actually see all parts of the other person and all parts of ourselves when I read this chapter where he reveals the horrors of who he is as well as the beauty all of those aspects of ourselves for me I I feel are exposed in relationships so he says I will grant you this divine sight so that you can see who I am and Arjuna says okay I'm ready it's like yeah you're strong enough I think you can take it and our relationship is deep enough so that you can begin to see so he puts on his divine you know glasses and then suddenly you know from within this human form he dissolves to reveal you know have you know millions of eyes and bellies and mouths he goes on to share the horrors of the universe he says I am death I am you know all sorts of demons and gods and and in that moment then Arjuna is like okay go back to your old form I don't want to see this this is too horrifying I see now who you are and you are the entire universe coming in and out of bodies death life the middle and the part I love where he just um he stops and he stands there and it's this moment you can think of in a play in a very dramatic Shakespeare play you know he stops and he's trembling and his hands come together in his prayer and you know he bows and he says I'm so sorry you know I'm so sorry if I ever disrespected you if I just called you you know buddy and didn't realize that you were God in disguise I'm so sorry if I didn't acknowledge you for who you are please forgive me please forgive me and he says just return back to your form let's pretend this never happened that I didn't see all of these aspects of who you are and come back to be my beloved friend but one of my favorite I think verses or shlokas in the whole in the whole book is just this expression of when of this mighty self that's expressed right the mighty self that Krishna is but we have to realize this Krishna is within each and every single one of us it says that if a thousand sons were to rise and stand in the noon sky blazing such brilliance would be like the fierce brilliance of that mighty self that's chapter 11 verse 12 from again the very poetic version of the Gita by by Stephen Mitchell that I encourage you to pick up a copy if you can so let's go ahead and actually before we get moving on the mat you know another one of these like I get surprised when everything is revealed within me during the practice and it's such a you know this sva jaya or a mirror for who we are when we get on the mat in this most primal relationship with who we are getting to know you know that getting to know time and everything's revealed and we get to see what's behind who we are that we're not just this fixed person that we show the world but this vast vast vast self but uh you know this gesture that we do a lot in yoga and spiritual practices of reverence of Anjali mudra where we take moments and bow you can bow to a teacher you can bow to ourselves and bring this reverence on the mat but if you just sit up really tall every time we see ourselves in one of these shapes it's like I bow I bow to you sometimes the word namaste is used to honor the light that exists within one another but with this vision we're bowing to that whole creation that exists within everyone as the divine that we see everywhere what if we were to bow to everyone so in today's practice we are going to go into some big magnificent even strange forms to be able to experience all of who we are to bow to again and again so make sure you've got some props with you as you set up for your practice today a belt blocks a blanket just anything that's there to support you and I'll meet you on the mat welcome to our practice cosmic vision everyone

Practice

we are going to get into some unusual shapes today to kind of expand our vision on who we are so like I said make sure you have things around you that you have a block maybe a strap to assist in in some of these shapes we're going to play with so let's actually start in child's pose you know that prostrate that our juna ends up you know bowing to Krishna so we bow to everything that's within us at the start of our practice whatever it is we end up seeing with that vision and you can close your two physical eyes and take a few breaths you can massage your third eye right between your two eyes and to the earth stimulating this vision of non-duality and then plant your hands into the earth rise up onto your hands and knees drop your belly to breathe in and look up right in towards that eye and tuck your toes under lift your knees lengthen your legs into downward dog you can even close your eyes here for a moment physical eyes so that you can begin to see who you are within and it's always what's behind every form is this divine like Blake's poem about the world in a grain of sand the next inhale take you forward into a plank pose a big beautiful breath in and then soften your knees your chest and chin to the earth baby cobras you point your toes lift and open the chest and again your vision turns upward and then back into a child's pose so you can walk your shins forward stretch your arms out long let your head bow to the earth from here you're gonna rise up just imagine a thousand suns in the noon sky blazing open up let the arms expand wide and then wrap your arms and go back inside of your own form again like that a big breath in and then exhale you've got one more time a big beautiful vast self and exhale dropping back in and then rise on up one more time you can take your hands into your heart and prayer and then step your right foot out to the side from here so your right heel can be right in alignment with your left knee and then you're gonna tip over towards the right twist the chest open and then open up your arms you can touch the earth with the right hand left arm expanding extending upwards then from here straighten out through the right leg if you're ready for it and lean on over towards the left side so side bodies we get to see all of our different sides as you come on up through center you're gonna kind of rainbow your arms over to the other side plant the left hand on the outside of the left shin and stretch the right arm up and over your head for a supported side plank and then from here you'll circle the right hand center of your mat pick up your left arm and then you're gonna snake your shoulder towards the earth so I always kind of like fall over and feel awkward and seeing myself all jumbled up and let the head release this right hand can stay here or it can snake behind you play around in the shape and then plant the right hand down and then this is going to be a real funky kind of variation of this pose you're going to soften your left forearm to the ground and the right hand in line with the left knee and then climb your right knee to the back of the right elbow and then stretch it all the way back again as you exhale take the knee high up and then stretch it on back one more time like that the right knee high to the back of the right elbow and then reach it back tuck the right toes under straighten the right arm straighten the left arm for plank pose a breath in here knees chest and chin as you breathe out cobra point the toes take your gaze in and up and back and then right back into child's pose as you breathe out a few more of these big inhales to lift up and exhale to dive back in inhale and exhale allow every part of you to kind of explode out and then right back in like the matrix one more time like that to rise up you can take your hands towards center and step the left foot out so again you just want the heel to be in alignment with the right knee sway over to the side press the pelvis forward even the tailbone can hook in a little bit to open up through the hips and then burst your arms open can lengthen the left leg right arm up and over for gate pose as we open up these gates floodgates cartwheel all the way over to the other side right hand to the outer edge of your right shin with your left arm reaching out then circle your left hand to the center of your mat right arm up as you snake the right shoulder towards the earth and your ear to the ground your left foot can be is a little break here sometimes I like playing with lifting up the foot you can take your left arm behind you and then plant your left hand down this time it's the right elbow that releases in alignment with the left hand and then you'll climb your left knee to the top of the left elbow with the exhales that you're kind of crunching in towards your center and then swing the leg back out exhale knee to your elbow inhale stretch out one more time like that knee up high and then find your plank pose both arms long big breath in knees can come down first or in one piece to the earth point your toes rise up for cobra it can be a little higher but take the gaze up stimulating this vision and then exhale into downward facing dog as you breathe out as you inhale extend the right leg up and high to the sky and then exhale plant your right foot into the earth feel the left heel down reach the left arm forward and we'll find that same cartwheeling motion right up into warrior two so allow yourself to take up space in this vast form from inside out and then turn the right hand up tip backwards but again for the side body I love this variation to reach for that right wrist and then kind of grab your wrist to stretch backwards as the right shin comes forward you'll circle your way towards center right into extended side angle it can be nice and soft with the forearm on top of your thigh and your left arm again stretching out circle the left hand behind you roll open through the chest you can touch the earth at first with the right hand to lean backwards and then we're gonna move into Ardha Chandrasana so you can shift your weight forward with your right hand to the front of your mat pick up the left leg and extend the left arm up and even for a couple times I like to play with kind of going inside of the belly and then there's this play with expanding outward this vast vision of the self even in a half moon it's half dark and half light take one more breath in there and then you're gonna drop the left foot behind the right and for today the hands can come in prayer in this humble bow feet together arms up who could toss in a right from here great thunderbolt and then shift the weight into the left foot hug the right knee into your chest and find tree pose with your right foot to your inner thigh you can start with your hands again today this mudra of reverence behind a tree would exist the whole universe existing within that seed your arms can open up wide and then from here you can even pick up the right elbow the right knee towards the right elbow you can pulse it a little bit and then your right foot is going to come all the way to the outer edge of the left a lot of crossings here our perception gets of who we are gets a good workout and then you're going to twist on over towards the right again the reaching of the wrist is drawing open to open up through the sideways right from there circle your hands down swing the right leg back behind you plank pose and even we'll take the shape on over to the side for side plank so you can stack your feet your right arm can come up even your right knee can come up as you come back through center lower yourselves down cobra as you breathe in downward facing dog as you breathe out inhale and lengthen the left leg high step on forward seal the back heel down extend the right arm cartwheel your way up like a thousand suns as you sink down a little bit deeper as you tip backwards for your peaceful reach for your left wrist but drop the left shin forward open up and then circle your way to shape shift into your extended side angle take the left knee back a little pelvis forward can touch the earth to take it a little deeper and then begin to transition towards your arda chandrasana you can pick up the right leg really stay rooted in the earth and then open up and a couple times again you can move in towards your center open back up climbing in and then that whole universe within you this time as you bend through the right knee place it to the outside of the left take your bow and then rise up katasana shift the weight into the right foot hug the left knee in towards your chest and then a moment in tree pose so this time I even will ask you to close your eyes we'll see everything inside even after who knows how many years this is always terrifying the arms can begin to reach up you can lift your knee high up towards your armpit and then send it all the way to the outer edge of the right side of your mat so that the feet are lined up this is you're gonna feel it quite deeply in the inside of your right hip reach for your left wrist and then twist the chest open as you drop into the right foot circle your way down through center find your plank pose stabilize here before coming on over to the outer edge of the right foot and picking up the left arm again can find some variations before you make your way on down halfway or all the way and we'll meet in downward facing dog so from here start with reaching the right leg high and step forward but you're gonna soften the left knee to the ground and then you may have to look up here you're gonna swivel your left shin parallel with your mat and come to sit for a moment on your left heel so I call this seated Tara you can find your hands back to your chest twist open a little bit and then your arms can open so we're gonna take this kind of bursting from the ground up feeling we've been playing with so if you have a strap around you you can begin you can use it you can bring it a little closer and even a block may be helpful depending on where it goes so we're gonna take it over with the left hand to the outside of the left shin to start and then grab your knee again so I like this variation of side plank is the shin keeps me nice and stable to be able to extend outward and then you can use your strap or your big your fingers around your toes may have to pop up onto your fingertips lift up by pressing down maybe you let go of the leg and then bend the right knee again Ardha Chandrasana to the top of the mat so you're shape-shifting in and out of forms as you reach back up this time you may reach for your back heel pressing your foot back to roll open through the chest and then again one more of these humble bows your hands can kiss the earth as you step back into downward facing dog and then it's the left leg up and high with a breath in step forward seal the right knee and the shin comes parallel so you're having a seat on your right heel take your shoulder pretty close in towards the inside of the left knee twist open burst your arms wide as it's unconditional love of the heart and then as you plant the right hand deeply to the back of the mat you can begin to pick up your left knee I'm gonna need to use a strap for this side because of my legs and to get a little bit more extension so there we go oh that's so much better you can lift and open wide through the chest pressing down and then loosen up your belt if you were using one and you'll swim on out into your Ardha Chandrasana shape after shape we transform take a hold of your back foot if it's there lean backwards and then right foot behind the left bowing feet together arms up Utkatasana and then as you rise on up it's one more of these kind of funny shapes with the knee up towards the armpit let's take that same dancer pose as you lean over to the right from here you're gonna circle around and pick up the left leg into a standing split so you're really going for extension as you bow down you can play with your balance and then you're gonna come up into warrior one so seal the left heel down root into the right foot rise on up by thinking deep into that right shin and then straighten out through the right leg parallel the toes and you're gonna kind of come there's all of like these warrior images and those verses so you're gonna bend through the left knee and slide the right hand towards your left ankle you can twist open through the chest and then from here take the left arm over your head so again it's gonna take a lot maybe you can even close your physical eyes to hear the instructions about what's right and left what side you're on so your left arms forward right hand is to your left ankle you're gonna crawl your left arm see if it can go all the way over your head towards your right toes maybe you'll flex through the toes and then bend through the right knee there's an opportunity to take a full bind around the right leg as you breathe in and twist the chest open and then here we go for one of the most complicated poses doesn't even have a name but it's kind of morphed into modern yoga but in this one too it's gonna take a little bit of understanding which hand is where because you get completely thrown off so right hand on the inside of the right foot your left hand can come to a block out and in front of you because you want a lot of stability as you shift the weight into the right foot and left hand and then from here you're gonna bend the left knee like we've been doing but it's the right hand that's gonna see if you can reach for the top oh and then you're going upside down twisting inside out all sorts of wild shapes soldier of love I think it's called sometimes and then drop your left foot behind the right take your bow feet together arms up can shake out your hips a little bit as you come up to stand so let's check that out on the other side so you'll lift the right knee up you may even have to rewind and check it out again on the same side right knee towards your right elbow slide it to the outside of the left side of your mat twist open circle the hands down and swing the right leg up to the sky balancing bowing warrior one rising up big circle of the arms parallel the toes you'll bend a little bit through the right knee kind of slice on over towards the right leg with the left hand so bend your knee as much as you need to and then circle your right arm up and over your head sometimes it's nice to reach for something so that you can really press those fingers into the earth and find the revolution and then if you want to keep going inside out you'll see if you can take your right hand over your head towards the left leg I like to flex through my left toes to really pull back and peek out underneath the right side of the armpit press your shoulder in towards your knee and then rebend through the left knee and maybe circle around this just feels nice in the shoulders to get a nice stretch as you press the pelvis forward so here we go on this side your left hand on the earth or a block it's nice to have again what however it is that you can ground this right hand into the ground into the earth you'll be nice and stable in the left foot and the right hand so as you lift the right leg and shift your weight into the left foot you want to bend the knee and make sure that your left arm is on the inside of your left leg to reach for the top of the right foot and then you do have to manually twist I won't say crank but it kind of feels like that kind of like the exercise spinning around yourself your own axis and then again release your foot right foot behind the left nice bow of reverence and then as you come back release into uttanasana for a moment over both legs and shake everything out so from here you just want to walk your hands back a little bit further towards the inside of the right foot and then stretch the left leg back right into a lizard lunge so you can allow the left knee to release towards the ground and then we're gonna find that same shape of paralleling the left shin with the back of your mat we're gonna take Vishwami Trasana but nice and supported it's another one of these big wide poses that we're exploring today named after a great sage so a strap is going to be helpful for you I definitely use one and it starts in the same way that we've been doing with the right hand on the inside of the right foot you can begin by extending open your arms and maybe you'll stay here if you'd like to take it a little further right hand is gonna weave all the way to the outside of the right foot and then you can make a little loop in your belt some more side body stuff so you can loop the strap around your foot and I always like to first lift my foot up press the pelvis forward a little bit and then lengthen my right leg to the back of my right arm see if the elbow can reach upward so you can twist open through the chest and then to release it release your right foot this is gonna be an experiment and you can definitely if your hips are feeling it release come on to the ball of the toes left toes and lift the chest and then if you'd like to play with extending the right leg forward one more time you can take a bend through the elbows maybe take a little flight or fall on your face and then step back into downward dog shake out through your hips and then we'll take it over to the other side so on this side step your left foot towards the outside of the left hand release the right knee the shin moves on over to the side so it's parallel to the back of the mat and then you'll take your left hand again the steps and step-by-step process you can start with the arms open next step would be to take your left hand and thread it to the outside of your left foot and then the last step would be to see if you can pick up the left foot before lengthening it on the back of your left arm peeking out underneath your right armpit and when you're ready to release it you can either step back into downward dog now or lift the right knee take your left shoulder underneath your left knee and then maybe begin to extend your left leg one more time as you launch off for ekapada kundanyasana so from here child's pose again this bowing to your own glory towards all of these shapes coming out from within you and then with your hands out you can just kind of slither on out onto your belly point your toes it may feel nice to take a cobra arching the spine shoulders back and then release down you can make a little pillow with your hands and shake out through the hips and close your eyes and I always see multitude of lights so much released and awakened within the body and then with your forehead center just take a couple simple back bends after all of that you can lift and open through the chest lift the shoulders up really press down into the pelvis and the stomach again the gaze turns up maybe you lift the legs and the arms and then release shake out the hips a little and then bend your knees for dhanurasana reach back for your ankles you can start with the head to the ground shoulders back and again it says rising up from within flex through the feet look up and then lower down shake out through the hips one more time this time you can extend the left arm roll over onto your back can bend your knees and close your eyes again feel who you are beyond your finite form into this infinite vast self that we're both the teachings and the Gita really grounding us in those realities of human and divine you can move your hips a little bit from side to side an eagle twist with the right leg over to release the spine gently your right arm can open up wide as your knees fall over to the left it's just this gentle weight of the legs twisting and spiraling the spine our bodies themselves are so incredible when we look through this lens as Krishna even says you've always had this vision we just kind of have to clear clear your site to actually see so twist on over to the other side make the transition nice and smooth the left leg over releasing the knees to the right and your left arm opening to the left allow your ear to release towards the left so again it's this beautiful architecture of the spine unfurling you'll come back through center and lengthen the legs towards Shavasana again for today taking up space you can allow your arms to open up your legs make space for your vast infinite form imagining the whole universe within you close your physical eyes and dissolve with that self thousand suns rise blazing and then begin to slowly make contact with your breath and get more conscious as you come back into your physical form move your fingers in your toes but without losing touch with your vast self or both again this coming into this body no two like it in the whole world the universe expressing itself as uniquely you lift your head climb in towards your center and you can rock over to your side or roll on up to sit taking a couple moments before we'll prepare for our meditation you can take your hands to your heart this closing bowing take a couple moments and we'll prepare to sit together for a little while longer make sure you have everything that you like for your meditation

Meditation

and have your journal nearby and even a copy of your Gita next to you if you'd like to reference it or look at it while I read and of course your seat and I love that practice and I love this chapter so much and and especially the moment where it's like please just come back to who you are your normal state after all those poses just sitting simply and and humbly feels feels so wonderful especially knowing all of that is possible and within me at the same time it's kind of like a little secret so let's go ahead you can take your hands today the mudra that will explore while we meditate and contemplate is called Hakini mudra so it's taking all of your fingertips it's like I like to look at it as like my brain and then place it together the Hakini is the deity of the third eye the goddess of the third eye and this really kind of it looks like a brain but it's meant to stimulate intuition and I think at the end of the day that's what a lot of what that chapter says is to look beyond look beyond what you can just see plainly on the outside to what's behind everything we talked a lot about faith and how there's that omniscient omnipresent presence that's always there and this is just to be able to visualize it and see so I also see this mudra a lot of the time as like a crystal ball of sorts because our minds are so powerful Krishna says once it's purified that we can begin to see this mystery that's unfolding in front of our very eyes but it's just not with with this vision so you can take your fingertips together and just allow your shoulders to drop down your elbows your chin in towards your throat you can begin to listen to the sound of your breath that same vision is expressed in contemplating and chanting the sound of om so again such a simple seed syllable but it's meant to be within that seed sound the entire vastness of sound where everything is born out of exists so although it sounds sometimes it's written the way that it sounds and oh and a mm and an M it's really ah oh and mmm which is the full spectrum of sound the full spectrum of the universe within one syllable so I love all those concepts it just blows my mind so by chanting it it's meant to have purifying on our speech on our minds and it really takes us back to where we come from this state this unmanifest and enormous space of the universe manifested through each and every single one of us as we are like I like to think of it as the entire ocean being expressed in one little wave you know we see so many waves and to kind of understand that the entire ocean and maybe all the oceans you know it pulls out in towards its source and then comes out and it's birthed through that one wave so that's the feeling I get when I read that chapter is like going back into this space and then into our human finite form but specifically what each of us was meant to do playing our role again coming back to this idea of dharma so we're gonna chant the sound of om a few times to take us into this space it's the sound of the third eye of our intuition so that everything that comes back out is that pure expression so you can close your eyes or you can meditate on your crystal ball all colors all vibrations everything within the sound or you can take your gaze in and up towards your third eye it's indigo but I'll start chanting and then just follow along with me in an oceanic um can just begin but to listen um um join in whenever you'd like um um Aum, three more times, Aum, quieter, Aum. Like a whisper. And then internally, feel it linger as we're doing our most simple duties in touch with this vastness that what we do doesn't define us, that we are the universe. Take one more breath in and then release your hands open onto your knees. There is a fourth syllable in the sound of Aum and that's silence.

And from where we hear the echo back, it's the ahahtah and the anahahtah. Stay there for a couple more moments and the very last verses in that chapter, I'm going to read to you by, it's called The Living Gita, yet another transliteration that I love and this is by Sri Swami Satchitananda and it's a full commentary. So we've had the very poetic one, the more heady one and this one, Satchitananda in ways that he's so good at really brings the teachings down to earth and I wanted to share with you is that Krishna simply said, there's no need for you to be afraid or confused by my image any longer. And this is verse 49 in chapter 11, let your heart be glad and your fears disappear. I'll reveal myself to you again as I was before.

And then he leaves the chapter ends with him saying, Krishna saying, I don't show everyone who I am. And that goes for you and me too. You don't have to show everyone everything that's inside of us. He says that in verse 54 that only by constant and steady devotion can I be seen in my true cosmic form and known. So I love ending on that note this part of the Gita that we don't want to walk around the world just being completely open, you know, especially our cosmic centers.

We do want them close up to be able to focus in the world, live our lives in the world while in tune with our universal selves. So if you'd like to reach for your journal now, it's so important to recognize the times we are in touch with our greater selves. For me, it can be, you know, just these moments where time stops where I'm completely engrossed in what I'm doing and I disappear. So this can be translated to as Samadhi, this complete union with our spiritual selves where the external dissolves and we merge with the universe. So I'd like you to just contemplate, you know, first of all, maybe what was it like chanting the sound of Aum?

You know, it can be scary if we dissolve into the vastness. Sometimes I feel like I can't find myself and come back or something. What would it be like? Or in our practice when we completely don't know who we are anymore. And then, yeah, so if you'd like to write something about chanting the sound of Aum, what was it like?

It's meant to be even in the Yoga Sutras on the sound of Aum, the sound of the divine itself of the universe that we can connect back to this source, but also reflecting upon its meaning. So not just chanting it automatically. We can do the simplest of things automatically and go through the motions or really with contemplating its meaning and we do it with intention to connect to our universal selves with everything that exists in the universe is singing the same sound. That's big. We can start with that.

And then again, when or if, you know, have there been those times where you felt connected to the universe? And this way it makes it real that we have had this experience, like Arjuna sees it. And then we kind of forget it and come back to our normal selves doing our lives. And of course, if anything else pops up into your consciousness, all of this intuitive work today could just be a download. And you can continue your journaling or your meditation if you have the time.

Always take it, especially today. And if not, I'll see you next time for our final practice on the Gita in this series. Have a wonderful rest of your day and I look forward to seeing you again.