The Difference between the Body and the Self

The age old yogic teaching as taught at the Australian School of Meditation and Yoga is that death is when the body and self become separated. the body dies and the self lives on.

Socrates had a very good yogic understanding of how the self is only temporarily inhabiting the body, Even at the time of his passing away he was able to instruct his students as to their real identity.

Socrates was a very wise Greek philosopher from the 5th Century BC who was put on trial for his uncompromising and rebellious words and behaviour. To the great disappointment of his students and well wishers he was condemned to death. Just before he was to take the poison which was to kill him one of his students asked him how he would like to be buried. Socrates jokingly replied that they could bury him however they liked but they must first get hold of him and take care that he did not walk away from them! He then went on to explain to his students that the Socrates whom they would soon see as a dead body was not the same Socrates with whom they now talked and knew and that when his body died he would be leaving and going somewhere else. This knowledge, Socrates hoped, would greatly reduce their suffering at his death and be as great a comfort to them as it was to him.


Know that which pervades the entire body is indestructible. No one is able to destroy the imperishable soul.
Bhagavad-gita 2:17

HAPPINESS COMES FROM WITHIN AND SO DO OUR PROBLEMS

Tension, anxiety and worry can be threatening to our health and so often are completely unnecessary. Often they are simply due to our wrongful perception of a situation or ungrounded fears for the future. In this connection there is a joke my grandson told me that I have been telling my yoga classes at the Australian School of Meditation and Yoga this week.

Once there were three construction workers who sat down for their lunch on the flat rooftop fifteen stories up. The first one opened his lunch box, saw his sandwiches and said, “Oh no, vegemite sandwiches again! If I ever get another vegemite sandwich I’m going to kill myself!’

The second man opened his lunch box and said, “Oh no, peanut butter sandwiches again! If I ever get another peanut butter sandwich I’m going to kill myself!”

The third man opened his lunch box and said, “Oh no, jam sandwiches, if I ever get another jam sandwich I’m going to kill myself!”

The next day they were again sitting down for lunch and when the first man opened his lunch box and saw his vegemite sandwich he threw himself off the top of the building. The second man saw his peanut butter sandwich and followed him and the third man opened his lunch box, saw his jam sandwich and also hurled himself off the building.

A few days later at the funeral the three wives were gathered around the coffins. The first wife was crying and crying, wringing her hands, she said “Oh if only I’d known, if only I’d known, I’d never have given him vegemite sandwiches.”

The second wife was also crying and crying, “Yes,” she says, “If I’d only known I’d never have given him peanut butter sandwiches again!”

The third wife however was not crying. The other two turned to her and said, “Why aren’t you upset that you gave him jam sandwiches all the time.”

“Well,” said the third wife, “It’s very unfortunate that he didn’t like jam sandwiches, he could have had any type he wanted, but you know….
he always made his own lunch!!”

The Value of Truthfulness

The Value of Truthfulness

Once there was an emperor who loved flowers and gardens indeed all the people of the empire were avid gardeners, especially one little boy called Ping. Ping loved to tend his garden and everything he planted grew to be exceptionally beautiful.
One day the emperor thought to himself that he was getting old and had no heirs and he should choose someone to succeed him. So he sent out a message far and wide that he had some flower seeds to give all the children and that the child who grew the most beautiful flower would be the next emperor when he grew up. All the children collected their seed and set about planting it, fertilising it and watering it. Ping was sure that his flower would blossom beautifully and was very excited. He planted his seed and waited for it to sprout. But it didn’t sprout. He changed pots, new soil, fertiliser, it still wouldn’t grow. No matter how hard he tried this seed would not sprout and when it came time to return to the emperor and bring the flowers Ping was very tempted to just bring another flower that he had grown. He saw all the other children passing by with towering big beautifully blooming flowers of exquisite fragrance and colour and he looked at his miserable little empty pot and decided that this was the best he could have done and took it to the emperor.

All the children assembled in the courtyard with their flowers and Ping with his empty pot and the emperor inspected them all and when he had finished he announced the winner……it was Ping! The boy with the empty pot. Everyone gasped.
“Ping will make the best emperor,” he said, “because he is humble and honest. All the seeds had been boiled and so not one should have sprouted!”

The Importance of Relaxation

Saint John the Apostle was a great saintly person whose life was dedicated to pleasing God. From time to time he used to like to play with his pet sparrow. Once a man came to visit him and was very surprised to see this reputed holy man simply playing. "How is it that you take time away from your saintly activities to merely play?" he asked. "Surely this is a frivolous activity?"

Saint John looked at the man and noted that he carried a bow and a quiver full of arrows. "My dear hunter," he answered, "I notice that you carry a bow and arrows but your bow string is not tight. Why is that?"

"We hunters know to keep our bow string slack otherwise too much tension in it overworks it and then it becomes useless for firing arrows." replied the man.

"Similarly," said Saint John, "if we do not release the tension inside of us it can accumulate and we may also become useless for our chosen undertaking."

Release your tension with meditation and yoga at the Australian School of Meditation and Yoga

ENVY

A story is told of ancient Greece where athletes were given high status and respect. One such athlete had for many years outperformed all his peers, his prowess was known far and wide and so the municipality being very proud of him erected a statue in the town centre to commemorate his talents. There was another athlete who was almost as good and who felt that he also deserved a statue to be made of him. Every time this athlete saw the statue of his rival his hatred and envy grew until one night he decided to go there and pull the statue down and smash it to pieces. The statue was made of stone and very heavy, the man pulled and pushed with all his might, finally it moved a little, the man pulled some more and the statue toppled over and landed right on top of him, crushing his whole body. This man’s envy had destroyed him.

In the Bible it says,
‘Envy and anger shorten one’s life!”

The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates said,
“Envy is the ulcer of the soul.’

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote
“To be rich in admiration and free from envy
To rejoice greatly in the good of others
To love with such generosity of heart that your love
Is still a dear possession in absence or unkindness –
These are the gifts which money cannot buy.”

How to Know the Truth

A king was constantly asking the sage questions. He asked what the term spiritual meant, he asked what the meaning of self realisation was, he asked how does it feel to be a self realised soul, he ask what does transcendence mean. He enquired again and again and each time the sage patiently answered him according to the yoga scriptures.

Finally one day after another barrage of questions the sage pointed to a mango, "How would you convey the taste of this mango to someone who had never eaten anything sweet?" he asked.

No matter how hard the king tried, he could not adequately describe the flavour of the fruit, and, in frustration, he demanded of the sage "Tell me then, how would you describe it?"
The sage picked up the mango and handed it to the king saying, "This is very sweet, try it! "

When we have tasted spiritual truth then we will understand it.

Alexander the Great and the Sage Dandini

Here is an interesting encounter which Alexander the Great had with a yogi by the name of Dandini. Shortly after Alexander arrived in India, tales of the great forest-dwelling yogi reached him and desiring an audience with the sage he sent his messenger to fetch him.

"Praise be to you O, learned teacher of Brahmins. The son of the mighty God Zeus, Alexander, sovereign of the World, commands you to go to him.” The yogi however remained in deep meditation and did not reply. Whereupon the messenger said, “ The mighty warrior Alexander does not take kindly to refusals, if you comply, you will be richly rewarded if not, your head will be cut off."

The Yogi was neither amused nor intimidated by this rather threatening invitation. He looked up from his couch of grass and leaves and said: "You may tell your master the mighty son of Zeus that firstly all sons of Zeus are my brothers and we are all equal in the eyes of our father. Secondly that I am content with what I have so I do not need any gifts and thirdly he may be able to cut off my head, but will never be able to disturb the peace of my soul, something which clearly Alexander does not have in spite of all his conquests.”

When Alexander received the message, he was seized by the greatest desire to meet such a fearless and wise yogi, and came to him willingly to learn the wisdom of yoga.

Thus Alexander was taking the first step in his spiritual life. This all-important step is mentioned in the yogic scripture - the Bhagavad-gita, which was spoken over 5 000 years ago:

“Just try to learn the truth by approaching a self-realised soul,

enquire from him submissively and render service unto him.

The self realised soul can impart knowledge unto you

because he has seen the truth.” Bg 4.34

Encounters with Yoga

Yoga and meditation have now become an integral part of our society. They have steadily been growing in popularity since the 1960’s when they were brought to the public attention by such public figures as the Beatles and others. But the teachings of yoga had been encountered by western civilisation many centuries before.

The earliest record of people of the west encountering and appreciating yoga is in the writings of the ancient Greek historian, Plutarch. He writes of the meeting of Alexander the Great with 10 Indian yogis who were renowned for their wisdom and who had been instrumental in persuading a certain Sabbas to revolt against him. Alexander captured them and had them brought before him, he then put difficult questions to them declaring that he would put to death the first one to make an incorrect answer.

The first one he asked, “Who are more numerous, the living or the dead?” to which the yogi answered that the living were more numerous because the dead no longer count.
The second, upon being asked whether the earth or the sea produced larger animals said the earth did, since the sea was but a part of the earth.
The third, being asked what animal was the most cunning, said: “That which up to this time man has not discovered.”
The fourth, when asked why he had induced Sabbas to revolt, replied, “Because I wished him to either live nobly or die nobly.”
The fifth being asked which, in his opinion, was older, day or night, replied, “Day, by one day,” and he added, upon the king expressing amazement, that silly questions must have silly answers.
Passing on, then, to the sixth, Alexander asked how a man could be most loved; "If," said the philosopher, "he is most powerful, and yet does not inspire fear."
Of the three remaining, he who was asked how one might become a god instead of man, replied: "By doing something which a man cannot do"; the one who was asked which was the stronger, life or death, answered: "Life, since it supports so many ills." And the last, asked how long it were well for a man to live, answered: “Until it seems better to die.”

So, then, turning to the judge, Alexander bade him give his opinion. The judge declared that each one had answered worse than the other. "Well, then," said Alexander, "you shall die first for giving such a verdict."
"That cannot be, O King," said the judge, "Unless you falsely said that you would put to death first him who answered worst."
Alexander reputedly was so appreciative of the yogis’ answers that he set them all free and asked the one who had been the judge to accompany him in his travels.

Real Strength and Resilience Comes from Flexibility

There is an old Chinese tale of a proud oak tree and a humble bamboo plant. The oak tree was very, very big and strong and being proud of his strength and grandeur would deride the bamboo plant calling it a weak spindly thing.

One day there was a terrible storm with unbelievably strong winds that whipped and thrashed the whole land. The grand oak put up a valiant fight but eventually the mighty storm ripped it out and smashed it to the ground. The bamboo however was left standing; as the storm had battered it, it had swayed and bent, sometimes bending right down to the ground. It had not tried to resist, not feeling strong and great, it had simply moved with the forces of nature, and with its light flexible stems had resisted the storm by surrendering to it.

Attitude

The longer I live,
the more I realize
the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude to me
is more important
than the past,
than education,
than money,
than circumstances,
than failures,
than success,
than what other people think, or say, or do.

It is more important
than appearance,
giftedness,
or skill.

It will make or break
an organization,
a school,
a home.

The remarkable thing is
we have a choice everyday
regarding the attitude
we will embrace for that day.

We cannot change our past.
We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way.
We cannot change the inevitable.

The only thing we can do
is play on the one string we have,
and that is our attitude.

I am convinced
that life is 10% what happens to me
and 90% how I react to it.

And so it is with you.

~ Charles Swindoll

The Mind of the Saintly Person

There are three kinds of people in the world. The first are those who are like letters carved in rock; they easily give way to anger and retain their angry thoughts for a long time. The second are like letters written in sand; they give way to anger also, but their angry thoughts quickly pass away. The third is those who are like letters written in running water; they do not retain their passing thoughts; they let abuse and uncomfortable gossip pass by unnoticed; their minds are always pure and undisturbed.

From the teachings of Buddha

The Merchant's Journey

There was once a rich merchant who had 4 daughters. He loved the 4th daughter the most and adorned her with rich robes and treated her to delicacies. He took great care of her and gave her nothing but the best, satisfying her every whim.

He also loved his 3rd daughter very much. She was very beautiful and he was very proud of her and always wanted to show her off to his friends. However, the merchant was always in great fear that she might run away with some ineligible suitor and guarded her very carefully.

He too, loved his 2nd daughter. She was a very considerate girl, always patient and in fact was the merchant's confidante. Whenever the merchant faced some problems, he always turned to his 2nd daughter and she would always help him out and tide him through difficult times.

Now, the merchant's 1st daughter was full of good qualities and loyal and kind, she made great contributions in maintaining his wealth and business as well as taking care of the household. However, the merchant had very little time for his first daughter and although she loved him deeply, he hardly took notice of her.

One day, the merchant needed to go on a long and arduous journey. He thought of what lay ahead and thought of how lonely he would be. Thus, he asked the 4th daughter, "I have loved you most, endowed you with the finest clothing and showered great care over you. Now that I am travelling, will you come with me and keep me company?"

"No! I am sorry but I prefer to stay here." replied the 4th daughter and she walked away without another word. The answer cut like a sharp knife right into the merchant's heart. The sad merchant then asked the 3rd daughter, "I have loved you so much for all your life. Now that I'm leaving, will you come with me and keep me company?"

"No!" replied the 3rd daughter. "Life is so good here! I am planning on getting married very soon and having my own family.” The merchant's heart sank and turned cold.

He then asked the 2nd daughter, "I always turned to you for help and you've always helped me out. Now I need your help again. When I travel, will you come with me and keep me company?" "I'm sorry, I can't help you out this time!" replied the 2nd daughter. "At the very most, I can only come with you to the end of town." The answer came like a bolt of thunder and the merchant was devastated.

Then a voice called out : "I'll leave with you. I'll come with you no matter where you go." The merchant looked up and there was his first daughter. She was so thin, almost like she suffered from malnutrition. Greatly grieved, the merchant saw how little help she could be in that unhealthy state and said, "I should have taken much better care of you while I could have !"

Actually, we all have 4 daughters in our lives and our arduous, if not dangerous, journey is our passing away from this body at death.

• The 4th daughter is our body. A precious possession to be cared for and maintained but no matter how much time and effort we lavish in making it look good, we will leave it when we die.


• Our 3rd daughter? Our possessions, status and wealth. We prize them highly and guard them carefully but when we die, they all go to others.


• The 2nd daughter is our family and friends. No matter how close they have been while we live, the furthest they can stand by us is up to the grave.


• The 1st daughter is our spiritual life, often neglected in our pursuit of other, more transient goals, and the only possession we have that we take with us when we leave our bodies, continuing on our eternal journey.
  Perhaps it's a good idea to cultivate and strengthen our spiritual lives now rather than waiting until we're on our deathbed to lament.
  
  

Our Fleeting Life.

Once there was a very wealthy king who had recourse to everything anyone could possibly want in life. He was surrounded by courtiers to amuse him, by sages to advise him and servants to attend to his every whim. One of his great amusements was to set seemingly impossible tasks for his underlings and enjoy the wonderful ways in which they fulfilled those tasks. One day he said to the 20 great sages who attended his court, ‘I want you to make me a ring which when I look at it will make me happy when I’m sad, and sad when I’m happy.’ The sages spent many hours consulting with one another as to how such a ring could be produced. Finally they came up with an answer and presented a small gold ring to the king on which was engraved , ‘This too will pass!’
The king realized that when he looked at the ring while he was sad he would happily remember that his suffering would soon pass and when he looked at the ring when he was happy he would sadly remember the temporary nature of this world.


According to Buddha the lack of acceptance that things are
temporary and always changing is one of the main sources of
suffering for humanity.

The Ascetic Who Wanted Some Comfort

Once there was a spiritual aspirant who had decided to take to a life of asceticism. He lived very simply on the bank of a river, taking shelter beneath the trees and eating the fruits and roots that nature provided. His morning ritual was to take a bath in the river and wash his clothing. However because he had only one suit of clothes it was a little uncomfortable to dress himself again in the damp clothing and wait for the sunshine to dry them while he was wearing them. He decided therefore to get another set of clothes to wear while the other set was drying.

Life was a lot more comfortable for the ascetic now, when he washed his clothing he would hang it on the branch of a tree and wear it the next day when it was nice a dry. However before long he noticed that as the clothes hung up to dry a mouse would come and nibble at the clothing, each day creating more and more holes. “I will get a cat to protect my clothing and keep the mouse away.,” thought the ascetic. So he got a cat, but the cat needed to be fed so he got a cow to get the milk to feed the cat. Now someone was needed to milk the cow to feed the cat so the ascetic found a wife. But his wife needed somewhere to live so he had to build a house. The unhappy ascetic approached a sage and complained to him how complicated his life had become.

“Nothing comes without a price,” said the sage. “If you had wanted to have a simple life you should have just tolerated your wet clothing.”

Looking For Happiness

Once a man, renowned for his arrogance, proudly rode into town on his fine horse and tethering it outside he swaggered into the local tavern to refresh himself. Meanwhile the townspeople, always happy to bring a proud man down, thought to play a trick on him. They hurriedly took his horse to the farrier and had him take the horse’s shoes off and put them back on the wrong way round. Then they returned the horse and left him tethered as if nothing had happened. Before too long the man came out, glanced disdainfully at the gathered crowd, mounted his horse and rode off.
Not many miles down the road the horse, feeling uncomfortable with the shoes on back to front, became very frisky and rearing up bucked the man onto the ground and galloped off. When the man got up he couldn’t see his horse anywhere so with great presence of mind sought out his horse’s hoof prints and followed them, certain that they would lead him to where his horse was. However because the shoes were on backwards the hoof prints led him back into town, right back to the same tavern where he had been drinking. Puzzled, the man enquired if anyone had seen his horse. The townspeople were laughing so much they could hardly speak until one old man pointed to the footprints and said, ‘Your horse’s shoes are on back to front so the footprints although appearing to go in the right direction are actually leading you backwards. It is a lesson in life that what may seem forward is actually backward. Indeed sometimes that for which we are looking is in a totally different direction!’

Adversity is the Mother of Solutions

Once a man came across a huge mango tree. It was abundantly filled with mangoes. The hungry man decided he would climb the tree to find a mango which was ready to eat. The higher the man climbed the more he could understand that the lower mangoes were not quite ready and it was the ones higher up which were riper. In fact, the man discerned, the mangoes at the very top of the tree were large and perfect for eating right away. So carefully the man edged his way up the tree to get the topmost mango, the largest and ripest one on the whole tree.

After securing the mango the man tried to make his way back down but alas it was impossible, he could find no way to get down. He was stuck up the tree. He called out loudly for help. Some people from a nearby village heard him and came to his assistance but they were afraid to climb to the top of the tree to assist lest they too got into the same predicament. So the man was up the top of the tree bewailing his predicament and the villagers were down the bottom, perplexed, not knowing how to help the man.

Onto this scene came a wandering holy man. ‘Ah,’ thought the villagers, ‘maybe this great wise person can help us. Maybe he has some mystic powers that will help the man down out of the tree or maybe he has some special mantras that can do wonderful things.’

The sage agreed to help them. He picked up some rocks and started throwing them at the man up the tree. Astonished the villagers asked, ‘Why are you doing this?’

‘You asked me to bring the man down out of the tree.’ replied the sage ‘Sometimes all we need in life to get going is a little push.’

Now the man was not only stuck up the top of the tree but also getting bombarded with rocks. Thunderstruck he angrily scrambled his way down the tree to deal good and strong with the so called holy man! But the sage was nowhere to be seen.

Namaste
From Margaret
Australian School of Meditation and Yoga

The Stolen Bag

The Stolen Bag
Once a man was walking forlornly down the dusty road with a large bag over his shoulder. A traveler fell into step beside him and they started talking. After some time the traveler could see that the man was deeply troubled. “You appear very miserable,” said the traveler, “what is the cause of your misery?” The man then proceeded to tell the traveler the long and involved story of how he had lost an immense fortune due to bad luck and bad management. Finishing his tale of woe the man stopped and took his bag off his shoulder. “See this bag?” he said despondently, “Now all my possessions in the world are in this bag.”

At that the traveler snatched the bag from him and ran off! “Hey!” called the man and began running after him. But the traveler was fleet of foot and was out of sight with no hope of the man catching up to him. Puffing and cursing and angry the man continued on his journey. Around a bend in the road the man could see an object on the road, coming closer he could see it was his bag. Now the man was as happy as could be he had his bag back and was thankful for what little he had.