The Parable of the Poison Arrow

Have you ever had that moment where you think where is this going to take me? Where does yoga lead? How do I know I will ever achieve enlightenment...now...later...the next life? This could go on forever, but we seem to be impatient wanting all the answers right now.  I have seen people ask their teacher's questions, and then approach me after class remarking that it was no answer at all. Well it was an answer but just not the one they wanted. There are some things that can't be answered right now at this moment. No one person has all the answers. If you believe in the path you are on then the answers will come in due time. I can imagine the commentary now going what the heck is this ambiguous non answers bs.  Patience grasshoppers because maybe not all questions will be answered before you die. Don't you think it is a tad too easy to have the end of the story up front? Our is story is written as we live it. There is no jump to chapter 22, no sneak peak or spoilers. I know sad day right.  I don't want to know all the answers or have this ending spoiled.  Remember we are suppose to be in the present...this moment...right now. I have found this parable to be an amazing tool for the mind when one wonders the above questions.  Enter The Parable of the Poison Arrow:

"It's just as if a man were wounded with an arrow thickly smeared with poison. His friends & companions, kinsmen & relatives would provide him with a surgeon, and the man would say, 'I won't have this arrow removed until I know whether the man who wounded me was a noble warrior, a priest, a merchant, or a worker.' He would say, 'I won't have this arrow removed until I know the given name & clan name of the man who wounded me... until I know whether he was tall, medium, or short... until I know whether he was dark, ruddy-brown, or golden-colored... until I know his home village, town, or city... until I know whether the bow with which I was wounded was a long bow or a crossbow... until I know whether the bowstring with which I was wounded was fiber, bamboo threads, sinew, hemp, or bark... until I know whether the shaft with which I was wounded was wild or cultivated... until I know whether the feathers of the shaft with which I was wounded were those of a vulture, a stork, a hawk, a peacock, or another bird... until I know whether the shaft with which I was wounded was bound with the sinew of an ox, a water buffalo, a langur, or a monkey.' He would say, 'I won't have this arrow removed until I know whether the shaft with which I was wounded was that of a common arrow, a curved arrow, a barbed, a calf-toothed, or an oleander arrow.' The man would die and those things would still remain unknown to him."- Majjhima Nikaya, 63

In as short as possible just believe in the path your on, where you are heading, and the advise of the teachers you believe in. You may not get all the answers to your questions you are seeking but keep going.  Be present and in the moment and onward you go.